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Hitler began WWII by invading Poland.
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Two weeks after the outbreak of war in Europe, Roosevelt called Congress into special session to revise the neutrality legislation. Congress passed the revised neutrality policy by heavy margins in early November 1939.
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The Germans unleashed the blitzkrieg (lightning war) on the western front. Using tanks, armored columns, and dive-bombers in close coordination, the German army cut deep into the Allied lines, dividing the British and French forces. Within 3 weeks, British were driven off the Continent. In another 3 weeks, France fell to Hitler's victorious armies.
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In a speech at Charlottesville, Virginia, in june (just after Italy entered the war by invading France), he denounced Germany and Italy as representing "the gods of force and hate" and vowed, "The whole of our sympathies lies with those nations that are giving their life blood in combat against these forces." It was too late to help France, but in early Sep., FDR announced the transfer of fifty old destroyers to England in exchange for rights to build air and naval bases on British possessions.
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In July, FDR signed an order setting up a licensing and quota system for the exports of these crucial materials to Japan and banned the sale of aviation gasoline altogether.
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Frightened by the events in Europe, Congress approved large sums for preparedness, increasing the defense budget from $2 billion to $10 billion during 1940.
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Congress voted by substantial margins to authorize the president to "sell, transfer title to, exchange, lease, lead, or otherwise dispose of" war supplies to "any country the President deems vital to the defnse of the United States."
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in 1941, black leader A. Philip Randolph threatened a massive march on Washington to force FDR to end racial discrimination in defense industries and government employment and to integrate the armed forces.
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In July 1941, Japan invaded southern Indochina, beginning the Chain of events that led to war. Washington knew of this aggression before it occurred. Naval intelligence experts had broken the Japanese diplomatic code and were intercepting messages between Tokyo and the Japanese embassy. FDR responded with an order freezing all Japanese assets in the U.S.
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A German submarine damaged the U.S. destroyer Kearney; ten days later, another U-boat sank the Reuben James, killing more than one hundred American sailors. FDR ordered for the destroyers to shoot U-boats on sight.
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Dec. 6th: the 1st thirteen parts of the reply came with the 14th to follow the next morning. Naval intelligence actually decoded the message faster than the Japanese embassy clerks. A messenger delievered the text to FDR late that night; after glancing at it, he commented, "This means war." The next day, dec. 7th. the 14th part arived, revealing that Japan totally rejected the American position. @ 7:55 am, Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor.
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IN 1942, FDR appointed Donald Nelson, a seas, Roebuck executive to head a War Production Board.
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After Pearl Harbor, President Roosevelt approved an army order in Feb. 1942 to move all Japanese Americans on the West Coast to concentration camps in the interior.
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American forces launched their first Pacific offensive in the Solomon Islands, east of New Guinea, in Aug. 1942.
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beginning in 1943, individual Nisei could win release by pledging their loyalty and finding a job away from the West Coast.
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by early 1943, the defensive phase of the war with Japan was over.
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The breakthrough came on july 25 when General Omar Bradley decimated the enemy with a massive artillery and aerial bombardment at Saint-Lo, opening a gap for General George Patton's third army.
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Hitler took advantage of this breathing spell to deliver a daring counterattack. in mid-december, the remaining German armored divishions burst through a weak point in the Allied lines in the Ardennes Forest, planning a breakout to the coast that would have cut off nearly one-third of Eisenhower's forces.
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In early april, FDR left the capital for Warm Springs, Georgia, where he had always been able to relax. he was sitting for his portrait at midday on april 12, 1945, when he suddenly complained of a "terrific headache," then slumped over and died
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The Americans and British mat the Russians at the Elbe in late April. with the red Army already in the suburbs of Berlin, Adolf Hitler committed suicide on April 30.