Follow the United States' path from isolationism toward joining the Allied powers in World War II
Follow the United States' path from isolationism toward joining the Allied powers in World War II
Still with the hope of not directly engaging in the war, the United States provided defense materials and other support systems for the Allied forces at the dawn of the 1940s.
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Transcript
NARRATOR: President Roosevelt arranged to trade Great Britain fifty over-age destroyers in return for 99-year leases on a number of naval bases in the Atlantic.
With England in danger, Congress voted immense sums to build a fleet for the Atlantic Ocean, designed to give the United States the first two-ocean navy in its history.
Orders were placed for tens of thousands of planes and other war equipment. New factories were built to make this equipment.
In September, 1940, Congress passed the first peacetime draft in American history. The division of opinion in the United States was still such that this was approved by only one vote in the House of Representatives. Within the year, this program of preparedness had cost thirty-seven billion dollars--more than the entire cost of the First World War, and Roosevelt was able to say:
ROOSEVELT: Our most useful and immediate role is to act as an arsenal for them as well as for ourselves.
To most Americans this "arsenal" was the answer to Churchill's challenge:
CHURCHILL: Give us the tools, and we'll finish the job.
NARRATOR: They hoped that our industrial might would throw the balance on the side of the Western Allies, and that American boys would not have to fight the Axis forces.
The great debate in the United States raged with growing intensity. Roosevelt's re-election to an unprecedented third term in 1940 served to indicate that the majority favored the route he charted--a route which offered aid to the Allies but which also promised to most Americans the avoidance of war.
In February and March of 1941, Hitler moved to the southeast. Through political pressure and by military force, the Germans occupied the Balkan countries; Rumania, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, then Greece, the island of Crete, Libya, perilously close to Britain's life-line, the Suez Canal.
In the United States, Congress implemented the "arsenal of democracy" concept with the Lend-Lease bill passed in March, 1941, after a bitter debate. It gave the president authority to . . .
VOICE: . . . sell, transfer, exchange, lease, lend (defense materials and shipyard facilities) to the government of any country whose defense the President deems vital to the defense of the United States.
NARRATOR: That same month the United States seized all Axis shipping in American ports, and in June, 1941 closed Axis consulates.
Roosevelt worked in harmony with Prime Minister Churchill. In August, 1941, the two leaders met in mid-Atlantic, where they drew up a joint declaration of war aims to keep alive the spirit of resistance in the conquered nations.
VOICE: . . . sovereign rights and self-government restored; access, on equal terms, to trade and to raw materials; improved labor standards, economic advancement and social security; the final destruction of the Nazi tyranny . . .
NARRATOR: This was the Atlantic Charter, a statement of war aims around which the conquered nations of Europe and Asia could rally.
With England in danger, Congress voted immense sums to build a fleet for the Atlantic Ocean, designed to give the United States the first two-ocean navy in its history.
Orders were placed for tens of thousands of planes and other war equipment. New factories were built to make this equipment.
In September, 1940, Congress passed the first peacetime draft in American history. The division of opinion in the United States was still such that this was approved by only one vote in the House of Representatives. Within the year, this program of preparedness had cost thirty-seven billion dollars--more than the entire cost of the First World War, and Roosevelt was able to say:
ROOSEVELT: Our most useful and immediate role is to act as an arsenal for them as well as for ourselves.
To most Americans this "arsenal" was the answer to Churchill's challenge:
CHURCHILL: Give us the tools, and we'll finish the job.
NARRATOR: They hoped that our industrial might would throw the balance on the side of the Western Allies, and that American boys would not have to fight the Axis forces.
The great debate in the United States raged with growing intensity. Roosevelt's re-election to an unprecedented third term in 1940 served to indicate that the majority favored the route he charted--a route which offered aid to the Allies but which also promised to most Americans the avoidance of war.
In February and March of 1941, Hitler moved to the southeast. Through political pressure and by military force, the Germans occupied the Balkan countries; Rumania, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, then Greece, the island of Crete, Libya, perilously close to Britain's life-line, the Suez Canal.
In the United States, Congress implemented the "arsenal of democracy" concept with the Lend-Lease bill passed in March, 1941, after a bitter debate. It gave the president authority to . . .
VOICE: . . . sell, transfer, exchange, lease, lend (defense materials and shipyard facilities) to the government of any country whose defense the President deems vital to the defense of the United States.
NARRATOR: That same month the United States seized all Axis shipping in American ports, and in June, 1941 closed Axis consulates.
Roosevelt worked in harmony with Prime Minister Churchill. In August, 1941, the two leaders met in mid-Atlantic, where they drew up a joint declaration of war aims to keep alive the spirit of resistance in the conquered nations.
VOICE: . . . sovereign rights and self-government restored; access, on equal terms, to trade and to raw materials; improved labor standards, economic advancement and social security; the final destruction of the Nazi tyranny . . .
NARRATOR: This was the Atlantic Charter, a statement of war aims around which the conquered nations of Europe and Asia could rally.