Unit #9 - US Neutrality in WWII

Neutrality Acts

Passed in 1937 and 1939; Americans were forbidden to sail on ships, give loans, or sell arms and munitions to warring nations.

Cash and Carry Policy

Non-military supplies had to be paid for in cash and be transferred on the ships of that nation; allowed US to loan supplies to Allies without officially taking sides in the war.

Appeasement

A diplomatic policy of making political or material concessions to an enemy power in order to avoid conflict; Britain and France allowed Hitler to take over Sudetenland with the promise that he would not take any more territory.

Lend-Lease

Authorized FDR to provide armament to any nation 'necessary in the interests of the defense of the U.S.'; signifies US move away from neutrality.

Destroyers-for-Bases

Gave Britain 50 WWI Navy ships in exchange for use of bases in Canada, Bermuda, and Caribbean.

Atlantic Charter

Signed by US and Britain; based on many ideas proposed in Wilson's 14 Points at the end of WWI; became part of the foundation of the United Nations; US and Britain are only getting involved for the sovereignty of all nations, not for their own national gain; Promoting free trade and economic opportunity for all nations; Attempt to create a lasting peace and prevent future wars.

Pearl Harbor

December 7th, 1941; US naval base attacked by Japan; brought US into WWII.

D-Day

Allied invasion of Normandy, France on June 6, 1944; pivotal in the eventual defeat of Nazi Germany.

Island Hopping

US military strategy in the Pacific of capturing only certain Japanese islands in the Pacific and bypassing others, leading to the Japanese mainland.

Homefront

US civilians supported the war effort; rationing food, victory gardens, women working in factories, buying war bonds, etc.

Four Freedoms

Proposed by FDR; freedom from want, freedom of expression, freedom from fear, freedom of worship.

Japanese Internment

Executive Order 9066; US gov't was authorized to imprison Japanese Americans in internment camps in the western US; suppression of civil rights.

Korematsu v United States

Supreme Court case that ruled that Japanese Internment was legal as it was in the interest of national security.

Manhattan Project

Top secret project by the US to develop the atomic bomb during WWII; bomb was used twice on Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.