American Neutrality Acts of the 1930s, Arms and World War II Involvement

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During the 1930s, the Americans desire to avoid foreign entanglements became a priority for congress. Therefore in the beginning of 1935, lawmakers passed a series of Neutrality Acts that banned travel on ships and the sales of arms to countries at war. This policy was formed in hopes to avoid Japanese and German aggression. However during December 1940, Roosevelt announced the United States would become the “great arsenal of democracy (Foner 857),” providing Britain and China with military supplies in their fight against Germany and Japan. In addition to forming an alliance with Britain and China, president Roosevelt froze Japanese assets in the United States, halting all trade between the countries, including the sale of oil vital to Japan. Little did the United States realize, their contribution to the war efforts only involved them in the war, but why did the U.S policymaker decide to use the atomic bomb? One reason was that they wanted to be sure that the USSR did not occupy Manchuria, secondly the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor created fear and racism towards Japanese nation’s ominous power, and lastly due to Japanese demoralizing strategy of human bombs, it fueled the Americans’ hatred, further motivating them to end the war efforts quickly.
In the United States prejudices against Japanese descendants was common. However following the shocking attack on Pearl Harbor (November 1941) that resulted in 2,300 casualties, twelve sank ships, nine damaged ships, 160 destroyed aircraft, and 150 damaged ships, produced an unprecedented hatred of Japan. The disaster of Pearl Harbor’s bombing termed December 7th “a date which will live in infamy” quoted by Franklin D. Roosevelt (Foner 858). Ultimately lead to Congress declaration of w...

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...f becoming the great arsenal of democracy, they provided Britain and China with military supplies in the fight against Germany and Japan. The United States faced Japan’s ruthless strategies that incited fear towards anyone of the Japanese ethnicity. As a result, Americans felt that the war should end quickly in order to avoid further bloodshed. Following that statement, the United States bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki. By the end of World War II, there was a production of radical redistribution of world power. Japan and Germany, two dominant military powers in the beginning, has surrendered. Furthermore, Britain and France, though victorious were weakened, leaving the United States and Soviet Union to project significant influence beyond their national borders. Overall, the United States military demonstration during WW2 proved that it was clearly the dominant power.

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