April 26 2015 Kelsey Silverstein History 206 General Timeframe Exam II Study Guide The World at War 1937 1945 Isolation The NYE Committee After WWI America wanted to withdraw from foreign affairs Gerald P Nye progressive R South Dakota wanted to investigate why U S shifted toward WWI he thought it was profits for munitions makers Thus this led to the Neutrality Acts of 1935 36 37 Imposed an embargo on selling arms to warring countries and declared Americans traveling on the ships of belligerent nations did so at their own risk banned loans to belligerents and imposed a cash and carry requirement if a country in war wanted to purchase nonmilitary goods it had to pay cash and carry them in its own ships The Popular Front was interventionists However neither the U S nor France and Britain intervened and the League of Nations verbally condemned Germany and Japan s actions this all fueled the fascist powers Munich Conference 1938 Britain and France agreed to let Germany annex the Sudetenland a German speaking border area of Czechoslovakia Czech had alliance with France Hitler promised to seek no more territory This agreement declared British prime minister Chamberlain guaranteed peace for our time Within 6 months Hitler conquered all of Czech and was threatening to attack Poland Nonaggression Pact August 1939 Hitler and Stalin signed Hitler needed this to prevent a 2 front war against Britain and France in the west and Soviets in the East On September 1 1939 Hitler launched a blitzkrieg against Poland and 2 days later Britain and France declared war France fell in June 1940 Lend Lease 1941 Britain was no longer able to pay cash for arms so Roosevelt persuaded Congress to pass this act This allowed the president to lease lend or otherwise dispose of arms and equipment to Britain or any other country whose defense was considered vital to the security of the U S When Hitler abandoned the nonaggression pact and invaded the Soviets in 1941 this act also applied to them The Atlantic Charter 1941 meeting between Roosevelt and Churchill which provided ideological foundation for the Western cause Drew from Roosevelt s Four Freedoms and called for economic cooperation national self determination and guarantees of political stability after the war The Attack on Pearl Harbor After Japan occupied Indochina U S took a stance and placed an embargo no more supplying od scrap metal or oil By 1945 U S supplied more steel in a day than Japan had in a year On December 7 1941 Japanese bombers attacked Pearl Harbor in Hawaii killing more than 2 400 Americans They also destroyed tons of military equipment Roosevelt referred to this as a date which will live in infamy and asked Congress to declare war Thus the Allied powers were now in war against the Axis powers The War Powers Act December 1941 gave President Roosevelt unprecedented control over all aspects of the war effort This marked the beginning of the imperial presidency or the executive authority of the presidency used during the later part of the twentieth century 16 million Americans served in armed forces Unemployment was 17 8 by the end of 1942 it was 1 By Feb 1942 Fed gov t ordered that automobile companies stop making cars and make tanks instead General Electric world s largest creator of engines today began producing aircraft engines DuPont made 2X more explosives than during WWI Ordered by gov t to build first nuclear reactant as part of the Manhattan Project DuPont said no profit on bomb and no patent so they would not be accused did not know what atomic energy even was Agencies to Oversee War Effort Office of Price Administration was to see that things were rationed for the war butter eggs sugar etc Must present coupons in order to buy goods wanted to keep inflation low because everyone had jobs so lowered supplies The Office of War Information also disseminated news and promoted patriotism The National Wage Labor Board froze wages for all people and set wages for occupations to control inflation However gov t did not freeze overtime pay as a result take home pay increased by 70 Now billions of dollars in savings nothing to buy Also created system of modern benefits could offer insurance vacation time etc The War Production Board awarded defense contracts allocated scarce resources rubber copper and oil and persuaded businesses to convert to military production Organizing for Victory Gov t needed to conduct American economy and manufacturing with the war Revenue Act of 1942 For the first time ordinary people had money taken out of their paychecks before they received it Expanded the number of people paying income taxes from 3 9 million to 42 6 million Gov t said this was a one time thing but it was not War bonds People were asked to invest they money in the war idea if war ends badly American currency would disappear anyway They would receive their pay at the end of the war Total War Effort Social Impact Internment of Japanese Americans 1942 Executive order 9066 Roosevelt ordered special security zones and relocation of Japanese Americans from their west coast homes into camps for the remainder of the war More than 2 3 were native born American citizens 80 000 remainders parents were naturalized citizens Most were farmers small business people The Roosevelt administration believed that these people posed a threat that an attack from the West would be next and these people would assist Earl Warren later to become a judge that helps with civil liberties requested this Families had to leave behind everything German Americans and Italian Americans were not even discriminated against It was not until the 1980 s that Congress issued a national apology Migration and Factory Work During WWII new opportunities created for those previously left out of factory work 20 million women now worked in factories Because of the demands of private industries women could now become engineers and chemists for DuPont company pressured universities to allow girls to apply for masters in these fields Changes society and family structure for after war Rosie the Riveter illustration beckoned women to get a war job however after the war many women were back in the home where it seemed they belonged but because of this change many women now refused to be subjected to only house chores African Americans left the rural south for Northern city opportunities where factories were hiring Many are short lived and are released after war but still the beginning to civil