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The Neutrality Acts
To try to keep the United States out of foreign wars, The government created a series of laws from 1935 to 1939 called The Neutrality Acts. The laws kept America out of major wars until World War II, but passage of the 1941 Lend-Lease Act repealed several key provisions of the Neutrality Acts. -
The Nye Committee Ruling
After World War I, some politicians and other Americans thought that the country had been led to war by profiteering arms makers. A committee led by Senator Gerald P. Nye held hearings from 1934 to 1936. to investigate these allegations . The Nye Committee found that these industries had profited during WW I, which created the impression that the businesses influenced this decision to go to war. The result of these rulings were that isolationism became stronger in America. -
Start of WW II
World War II (WWII) was a horrendous war in Europe and the Pacific for about six year.. Officially beginning on September 1, 1939, when Germany invaded Poland, World War II lasted until both the Germans and the Japanese had surrendered to the Allies in 1945. -
Destroyers for Bases
President Franklin Roosevelt managed to maintain neutrality early in WW II by making a deal with England. England was experiencing great losses to the Nazis, so he made a presidential agreement between the United States and England to send US Navy destroyers to the English Navy from the US Navy in exchange for rights to bases in Newfoundland and Bermuda. -
Hemispheric Defense Zone
President Roosevelt used this method to allow the United States to help the allies during WW II without actually engaging in the war directly, which the public didn't want. He claimed the western half of the Atlantic as part of the Western Hemisphere and neutral territory. This allowed Roosevelt to order the U.S. Navy to patrol the western Atlantic Ocean and provide the locations of German submarines to the England. -
Lend-Lease Act
Related to the Destroyers for Bases agreement, The Lend-Lease Act allowed the president to "sell, transfer title to provide a transfer of military materials to Britain with the understanding that they would be paid for or returned if they were not destroyed. Roosevelt created the Office of Lend-Lease Administration. The program expanded while still allowing for American neutrality early in WW II. -
The Atlantic Charter
Because of the Nazi's aggressive war against England, Roosevelt and Churchill established The Atlantic Charter. It was created to show cooperation between England and the United States against the Nazis. -
Pearl Harbor Attack
On December 7, 1941, the U.S. Naval Base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, suffered a surprise air attack from the Japanese The attack killed more than 2,400 Americans, 21 ships in the American fleet had either been sunk or badly damaged. The attack also destroyed 188 U.S. airplanes. The attack changed Americans' views of the war and the United States stopped its isolationism and officially entered WW II.