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Isolationism
Prime minister Winston Churchill believed the U.S. needed to fight against Hitler to keep their freedoms and rights, While president Roosevelt shared Churchill's concerns, he knew the majority of Americans opposed U.S. intervention -
Criticizing Japan
The unrestrained violence of the 1937 Japanese attack on China shocked American's. The Japanese had killed three American sailors when Japanese warplanes sank the United States gunboat Panay on the Chang River. In the mist of these bloody events, President Roosevelt criticized Japan's aggression in a speech in Chicago. -
Neutrality Act of 1939
Roosevelt was anti-Nazi and wanted to aid the democracies of Europe. Congress then past the Neutrality Act of 1939, which included a cash and carry provision. This provision allowed belligerent nations to buy goods and arms in the United States if they paid cash and carried the merchandise on their own ships.
This showing that America has chosen its side, which many Americans disagreed with Roosevelt's openly pro-Allies position and said that it violated Americans neutrality. -
Peacetime draft
CBS reporter Edward R. Murrow was stationed in London during the blitz and brought the war into American living rooms through radio, emphasizing that the Germans weren't armies or bombing military sites but civilians- grandparents, parents, and children. That's when Americas realized they needed to at least prepare to defend themselves. -
Strengthening Britain
President Roosevelt took an additional step to strengthen Britain. He gave Britain 50 World War 1-era battleships in exchange for 8 British defense bases. If it didn't look like America was allies with Britain already it does now, -
Trying to stop expansion
President Roosevelt tried to stop expansion by placing an embargo on important naval and aviation supplies to japan, such as oil iron, ore, fuel, steel and rubber.
Japan was bent on further expansion , and the Untied States was firmly against it. Then they rejected Japans latest demands in November, 1941 -
supporting Allies
Hitler was not blind to America supporting the Allies nor did he fail to notice the fact that the United States had begun to escort arms shipments to Iceland , where the British picked them up and transported them to England.
In the fall of 1941, Hitler ordered his German U-boats to attack American ships. The U-boats shot and sunk the USS Reuben James, killing more than a hundred sailors. The attack shocked and angered Americans, moving them closer to declaring war on Germany. -
Lend-Lease Act
This act authorized Roosevelt to sell, transfer titles to, exchange, lease lend, supplies to Britain. By 1945. the United States had sent more than $40 billon of Lend-Lease aid to the Allies, including the Soviet Union, The Lend-Lease Act was nothing less than an economic declaration of war against Germany and the Axis Powers. -
Atlantic Charter
President Roosevelt and prime minister Churchill signed the Atlantic Charter, a document that endorsed national self-determination and an international system of "general security." The signing of the Atlantic Charter signaled the deepening alliance between the two nations. -
Rejecting demands
after the United States rejected Japans demands, General Hideki Tojo had given up on peace. He had made the decision to deliver a decisive first blow against the United States, The Attack on Pearl Harbor. The American's suffered heavy losses, nearly 2,500 people killed, 8 battleships severely damaged, 3 destroyers left unusable, 3 light cruisers damaged, 160 aircraft destroyers left unusable, and 128 more damaged. This left little doubt about declaring war on Japan.
