World War 2 Essay, Research Paper
America’s Involvement in World War 2
When the War broke out in 1939 all of America wanted to be neutral. In-fact, in 1939 a Gallup poll showed that ninety-nine percent of Americans wanted to remain neutral. Throughout the years before Roosevelt was president, the presidents, like Warren G. Harding had America in an isolationist state. When Roosevelt became president, he was also in the isolationist state of mind. He wanted to keep America out of battle, but also stop the Nazi’s. In 1939, America brought itself one step closer to war, by passing the Neutrality Act. This Act let the Allies buy arms and ammunition from America if the supplies were transported in non-American ships. The production of the war supplies gave many Americans jobs and helped the economy. During this time the Germans were moving to control all of France and England, so Roosevelt was beginning to worry that if the Germans gained total control of Europe, that America would be next. Also at this time, Japan was growing in power and they were against all that America was doing. America grew a great deal closer to war with the Germans, when a German U-boat attacked the USS Greer. After this clash, Roosevelt told the battleships that they could shoot at the German boats. Then on December 7th, the Japanese boomed Pearl Harbor, which now gave America a reason to go to war against the Aggressors. The next day, Congress overwhelmingly declared war against Japan, then on the 11 of December, the aggressors declared war on us.