From isolationism to world war

From isolationism to world war

America followed a policy of isolationism after WW1 to keep out of the affairs of other countries. When war began in Europe in 1939, America declared support for Britain and France against Germany and its allies. November 1929 : the USA began to help Britain and France against Germany. The Cash and Carry Plan : America sold Britain and France US weapons. Lend Lease : from March 1941, America started to “lend” weapons to Britain. The USA struck a similar deal with the USSR when Germany attacked it in June 1941

Japan and Pearl Harbour

During the 1930s, Japan began to invade surrounding countries, seizing food and raw materials. In protest at Japan’s aggression, FDR stopped selling oil or steel to Japan which angered the Japanese. 7 December 1941 : Japanese bomber planes attacked Pearl Harbour, an American naval base in Hawaii. The next day, America and Britain declared war on Japan. Three days after, Germany and Italy (Japan’s allies) declared war on America

Weapon making

The War Production Board was created to convert industries from peacetime work to war work. Each factory received all the materials needed to produce war goods in the fastest time. 1943 : US factories produced 86 000 planes and 96 000 in 1944

Unemployment

Dropped as America began to rearm. By 1941 : around 4 million people had found jobs in the armed forces or building fighter planes, battleships, tanks. 1939-1944 unemployment dropped from 9.5 million to 670 000. The traditional industries of coal, iron, steel and oil boosted by the demands of war

Women

Before the war women had worked in traditional “female” jobs. As millions of men joined up, women began to fill their places in factories, railways, shipyards. Around 350 000 women joined women’s sections of the armed forces. 1940 - 1945 : the number of women in work rose from 12 million to nearly 19 million. Women occupied a third of all America’s jobs

African-Americans

June 1941 : the government set up the Fair Employment Practice Committee to help prevent discrimination against African-Americans in defence and government jobs. The FEPC couldn’t force companies to change. Some companies improved their politics in relation to African-American workers. Around a million African-American workers fought in war but faced discrimination. Black sailors were only allowed to work in ships’ kitchens and black soldiers weren’t allowed to train as soldiers and the air force wouldn’t train black pilots. The racial barriers became to break . The airforce allowed African-Americans to train as pilots, all armed services trained black officers and African-American women were permitted to become nursery’s but were only allowed to treat black soldiers