London Economic Conference
66-nation meeting held in Summer 1933 which sought to stabilize world currencies, Roosevelt’s withdrawal caused a more severe economic crisis
Tydings-McDuffie Act
1934 law giving the Philippines independence by 1946 after a 12 year period of supervision, relinquishing Army bases on Filipino soil
Good Neighbor Policy
Hoover and Roosevelt’s policy of nonintervention in Latin America
Reciprocal Trade Agreements Act
1934 law allowing the President to negotiate lower tariffs with other countries without Congressional Approval
Rome-Berlin Axis
1936 treaty between Italy and Germany which created an alliance since both nations helped Francisco Franco in the Spanish Civil War
Tripartie Pact
1940 agreement in which Japan became military and political allies with Italy and Germany
Johnson Debt Default Act
1934 law preventing nations defaulting on debts to the United States from borrowing further from the Federal Government
Neutrality Acts
1935, 1936, and 1937 laws that banned Americans from traveling on belligerent ships, trading arms with belligerents, or loaning money to belligerents of a foreign war, as declared by the president
Abraham Lincoln Brigade
3000 American volunteer soldiers who helped loyalists during the Spanish Civil War
Quarantine Speech
1937 speech given by FDR in Chicago which called for “positive actions” like embargoes against fascist nations to slow aggressors
Appeasement
French and British policy at the 1938 Munich Conference to let Germany take the Czech Sudetenland in hopes of avoiding war, failed when Hitler took the rest of Czechoslovakia
Hitler-Stalin Pact
Agreement signed on 8/23/1939 in which Russia and Germany agreed not to fight each other, allowed Germany to invade Poland nine days later
Neutrality Act
1939 law allowing for the sale of American arms to at-war nations if they were paid for in cash and transported on ships owned by the country of purchase, banning American merchant ships from entering war zones
Dunkirk
French port which the British Army successfully evacuated from in 1940
Havana Conference
1940 delegation of Latin American nations in which the nations took shared responsibility for enforcing Monroe’s Doctrine
Kristallnacht
Anti-semitic riots on 11/9/1938 in which thousands of Jewish businesses and temples were destroyed, “Night of the Broken Glass”
Josef Goebbels
Nazi propaganda master whose sentiments fueled Kristallnacht attacks
MS St. Louis
Passenger ship which carried 973 Jewish refugees from Germany to the Americas, rejected at Havana and Miami, despite sympathy from FDR
Cordell Hull
Secretary of State under FDR who negotiated lower tariffs with other nations and tried to enforce neutrality laws, opposed the entry of Jewish refugees
War Refugee Board
Federal agency created by FDR in 1942 to save Jewish refugees from concentration camps
Battle of Britain
Nazi bombing campaign in Britain, meant to prepare for a ground invasion, known as The Blitz
Committee to Defend America by Aiding the Allies
Pro-Britain propaganda group which advocated for aid to Great Britain as a means of protecting American interest and democracies, appealed to Interventionists and Isolationists
America First Committee
Isolationist group which opposed intervention in Europe, supporting defending American shores to deter Nazi attacks, supported by Charles Lindbergh
1940 Election
FDR defeats Liberal Republican Wendell L. Wilkie, 449-82, and won the popular vote by 5 million
Lend Lease Law
1941 law authorizing the unlimited sale of weapons to countries defending themselves from the Axis, allowed debts to be cancelled for the purchase when weapons were returned
SS Robin Moor
Unarmed American merchant ship which was sunk by a German U-Boat on 5/21/1941 in response to the Land Lease Law, ended era of U-Boats not attacking American ships
Atlantic Conference
Meeting in 1941 between FDR and Winston Churchill off the coast of Newfoundland in which both leaders discussed problems and signed Atlantic Charter
Atlantic Charter
1941 agreement similar to the Fourteen Points which sought self-determination of populations, end to dictatorship, and a new security agreement to enforce peace and disarmament, signed by USA, UK, and USSR
Pearl Harbor
American naval base in Hawaii which was attacked by Japanese planes on 12/7/1941, destroying all 8 destroyers kept there
Burton Wheeler
(R-MT) Senator who was fiercely isolationist until Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, then said the only solution was to “lick the hell out of them”
Adolf Hitler
Nazi German dictator who was fiercely antisemitic, calling for the death of anyone who wasn’t “Aryan”, ordered the invasion of Britain, France, Austria, and Russia
Josef Stalin
Communist dictator of the Soviet Union who allied with Hitler until Germany invaded Russia
Winston Churchill
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom who successfully negotiated for arms from the US, encouraged Britons to hold on and stay fortuitous
Francisco Franco
Leader of fascist rebels in the Spanish Civil War, allied with Hitler and Mussolini, became dictator of Spain
Rhineland
Area in Western Germany which Hitler marched troops into despite being specifically banned by the Treaty of Versailles
Moscow
Capital of the Soviet Union, German offensive to take it was stalled
Berlin
Capital of Nazi Germany
Rome
Capital of Fascist Italy