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U.S. Isolationism
The America First Committee (AFC) was formed on September 4, 1940 in response partially from the creation of the Committee to Defend America by Aiding Allies in May 1940 and supported strong isolationism and urged America to stay out of World War II. This group had several prominent political figures that opposed going to war in Europe. Its effect largely fell through once the attack on Pearl Harbor reached the press. -
International Investment
The Lend-Lease Act can be regarded as the United States' entry into the war. The act, signed on March 11, 1941 allowed the United States to lend firearms and military equipment to Great Britain or any other country the U.S. deemed vital to the survival of America without direct payment. U.S. President Roosevelt persuaded Congress to pass this particular legislation because he believed that Britain's survival in World War II was integral to American safety and security from the European conflict. -
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Interwar Foreign Policy
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Select Military Intervention
When escorting firearms and other militaristic supplies across the Atlantic to Europe over the months of March and November 1941 (until the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941), German submarines often fired upon American navy ships, which caused America's involvement in World War II more evident than ever. FDR considered declaring war on Germany, but isolationism was still apparent and relevant in American society as these attacks happened prior to December 7, 1941. -
Peace Treaties
With the Atlantic Charter statement taking place on August 14, 1941; Franklin Delano Roosevelt set up what would become the ideological and militaristic alliance formed between the United States and Great Britain. The charter for political stability after the war, economic cooperation and the release of trade borders, and also made it clear that the United States was aligned with the Axis Powers. -
Government Programs
The U.S. Office of Price Administration was created on August 28, 1941 and served to ration out valuable wartime resources such as food and clothes to conserve materials that would be used for World War II. They also published various political posters describing their efficacy and practicality in modern American life. -
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Mobilization
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Military
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War With Japan (Pearl Harbor)
On December 7, 1941, roughly 19 squadrons of aircraft (353 total) bombed the American naval base Pearl Harbor located on Hawaii, killing over 2,000 Americans and heavily damaging several naval vessels. This was the turning point for the American public opinion of World War II, eventually leading to the U.S. officially declaring war on the Empire of Japan just one day later and thus causing the official entrance of the United States into World War II. -
Opportunities/Economy
The War Production Board was established on January 16, 1942 and controlled convincing private companies to war production, allocating rare resources such as oil for use in war, and rationed resources needed for the war to the American people. The board was massively influential to American business as large businesses were chosen for the war effort more often, leading to massive corporations producing the large majority of domestic products. -
Executive Order 9066
After the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, Japanese Americans faced by far the most harassment from affairs in World War II. With Executive Order 9066 signed on February 19, 1942, it solidified that message by allowing the military to imprison almost all persons of Japanese descent in internment camps to be held until the end of the conflict. These out-of-touch and racist beliefs carried from previous beliefs in the previous decades from a rise in Asian immigration. -
Island Hopping
After a narrow victory in the Battle of Midway on June 6, 1942, General Douglas MacArthur and Admiral Chester W. Nimitz decided to slowly take Japanese islands via “island hopping”. The process followed several U.S. naval vessels sailing from Japanese-occupied island to island, slowly converging onto the Japanese mainland. -
Propaganda
The U.S. Office of War Influence was created on June 14, 1942 and controlled the psychological warfare of the Axis Powers by using leaflet propaganda to terrify and manipulate countries such as Italy and Germany during World War II. They also examined art and films in Hollywood to see if they propagated Allied values. -
American Motivations For War
Americans believed that they were fighting for not just their country, but for freedom and democracy itself. In the American eyes, the Axis Powers were ridding the world of all freedoms that Americans utterly have the unequivocal rights to. By December 20, 1942, the Allies had been suffering from countless defeats by the hands of the Axis Powers, however the ideas of saving freedom from the fascists couldn’t ever be higher. -
D-Day
The long awaited invasion of France commenced with an event known as D-Day that took place on June 6, 1944. With heavy casualties sustained by the U.S., U.K., and Canadian forces were not in vain as they established a foothold within France and (coupled with Stalin’s assault of Hitler’s army on the eastern front), allowed the Allies to progress into France and by August, they had liberated Paris from the Germans. -
Manhattan Project
On October 9, 1941, U.S. President Roosevelt agreed to a mysterious project that had to do with building bombs. The Manhattan Project developed the first atomic weapons and effectively ended World War II. Two of the bombs were used to annihilate two Japanese cities named Hiroshima and Nagasaki. With the already weakened army and navy from the recent advances of the U.S. navy as well as constant fighting for over a decade, the two bombs quickly siphoned a surrender from the Japanese government.