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CHAPTER 11: THE NEW DEAL AND WORLD WAR IIOUTLINE OF U.S. HISTORYWorld War II, isolationist sentimentincreased, even though Americansclearly favored the victims of Hitler’saggression and supported the Allieddemocracies, Britain and France.Roosevelt could only wait until publicopinion regarding U.S. involvementwas altered by events.After the fall of France and thebeginning of the German air waragainst Britain in mid-1940, the debateintensified between those in theUnited States who favored aiding thedemocracies and the antiwar factionknown as the isolationists. Rooseveltdid what he could to nudgepublic opinion toward intervention.The United States joined Canadain a Mutual Board of Defense, andaligned with the Latin American republicsin extending collective protectionto the nations in the WesternHemisphere.Congress, confronted with themounting crisis, voted immensesums for rearmament, and in September1940 passed the first peacetimeconscription bill ever enactedin the United States. In that monthalso, Roosevelt concluded a daringexecutive agreement with BritishPrime Minister Winston Churchill.The United States gave the BritishNavy 50 “overage” destroyers in returnfor British air and naval basesin Newfoundland and the NorthAtlantic.The 1940 presidential electioncampaign demonstrated that theisolationists, while vocal, were aminority. Roosevelt’s Republicanopponent, Wendell Wilkie, leanedtoward intervention. Thus the Novemberelection yielded anothermajority for the president, makingRoosevelt the first, and last, U. S.chief executive to be elected to athird term.In early 1941, Roosevelt got Congressto approve the Lend-LeaseProgram, which enabled him totransfer arms and equipment toany nation (notably Great Britain,later the Soviet Union and China)deemed vital to the defense of theUnited States. Total Lend-Lease aidby war’s end would amount to morethan $50,000 million.Most remarkably, in August, hemet with Prime Minister Churchilloff the coast of Newfoundland. Thetwo leaders issued a “joint statementof war aims,” which theycalled the Atlantic Charter. Bearinga remarkable resemblance to WoodrowWilson’s Fourteen Points, itcalled for these objectives: no territorialaggrandizement; no territorialchanges without the consent ofthe people concerned; the right ofall people to choose their own formof government; the restoration ofself-government to those deprivedof it; economic collaboration betweenall nations; freedom fromwar, from fear, and from want forall peoples; freedom of the seas;and the abandonment of the useof force as an instrument of internationalpolicy.America was now neutral inname only.JAPAN, PEARL HARBOR,AND WARWhile most Americans anxiouslywatched the course of the Europeanwar, tension mounted in Asia. Takingadvantage of an opportunity toimprove its strategic position, Japanboldly announced a “new order” inwhich it would exercise hegemonyover all of the Pacific. Battling forsurvival against Nazi Germany, Britainwas unable to resist, abandoningits concession in Shanghai and temporarilyclosing the Chinese supplyroute from Burma. In the summerof 1940, Japan won permissionfrom the weak Vichy government inFrance to use airfields in northernIndochina (North Vietnam). ThatSeptember the Japanese formallyjoined the Rome-Berlin Axis. TheUnited States countered with anembargo on the export of scrap ironto Japan.In July 1941 the Japanese occupiedsouthern Indochina (SouthVietnam), signaling a probablemove southward toward the oil, tin,and rubber of British Malaya andthe Dutch East Indies. The UnitedStates, in response, froze Japaneseassets and initiated an embargo onthe one commodity Japan neededabove all others — oil.General Hideki Tojo becameprime minister of Japan that October.In mid-November, he sent aspecial envoy to the United Statesto meet with Secretary of StateCordell Hull. Among other things,Japan demanded that the UnitedStates release Japanese assets andstop U.S. naval expansion in thePacific. Hull countered with a proposalfor Japanese withdrawal fromall its conquests. The swift Japaneserejection on December 1 left thetalks stalemated.On the morning of December 7,Japanese carrier-based planes executeda devastating surprise attackagainst the U.S. Pacific Fleet at PearlHarbor, Hawaii.Twenty-one ships were destroyedor temporarily disabled; 323 aircraftwere destroyed or damaged; 2,388soldiers, sailors, and civilians werekilled. However, the U.S. aircraftcarriers that would play such a criticalrole in the ensuing naval war inthe Pacific were at sea and not anchoredat Pearl Harbor.American opinion, still dividedabout the war in Europe, was unifiedovernight by what PresidentRoosevelt called “a day that willlive in infamy.” On December 8,Congress declared a state of warwith Japan; three days later Germanyand Italy declared war on theUnited States.MOBILIZATION FORTOTAL WARThe nation rapidly geared itself formobilization of its people and itsentire industrial capacity. Over thenext three-and-a-half years, war industryachieved staggering productiongoals — 300,000 aircraft, 5,000cargo ships, 60,000 landing craft,86,000 tanks. Women workers, ex-220221