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Section II (National Study): USA 1919-1941
Quick questions on From neutrality to intervention 1939-1941: HSC Modern History USA
13short Q&A pairs drawn directly from our worked dot-point answer. For full context and worked exam questions, read the parent dot-point page.
What is september 1939?Show answer
Germany invaded Poland on 1 September 1939; Britain and France declared war on 3 September. Roosevelt issued a Proclamation of Neutrality (5 September 1939) but, unlike Wilson in 1914, did not call on Americans to be neutral in thought.
What is the Neutrality Act of 4 November 1939?Show answer
Roosevelt summoned a special session of Congress on 21 September 1939 and asked for repeal of the arms embargo. After a six-week debate, the Neutrality Act of 4 November 1939 repealed the arms embargo and required all trade with belligerents (including arms) on a "cash and carry" basis: foreign buyers had to pay in cash and transport in their own ships.
What is the fall of France and the panic of June 1940?Show answer
The phoney war ended in April 1940 with the German invasion of Denmark and Norway. The invasion of the Low Countries and France followed on 10 May 1940. France surrendered on 22 June 1940.
What is the Destroyer-for-Bases Agreement?Show answer
Britain's escort destroyer force was being sunk faster than it could be replaced. Churchill pressed Roosevelt for American destroyers from May 1940.
What is the 1940 election?Show answer
Roosevelt sought an unprecedented third term. The Democratic National Convention nominated him on the first ballot on 17 July 1940. The Republican National Convention had nominated the businessman Wendell Willkie of Indiana, an internationalist who supported aid to Britain.
What is lend-Lease?Show answer
Britain ran out of dollars and gold by December 1940. Churchill's "give us the tools and we will finish the job" speech (9 February 1941) framed the request. Roosevelt's "garden hose" press conference (17 December 1940) framed the response: when your neighbour's house is on fire, you do not haggle over the hose.
What is operation Barbarossa and the extension to the USSR?Show answer
Germany invaded the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941. Roosevelt extended Lend-Lease to the USSR on 7 November 1941 after Harry Hopkins's mission to Moscow (July 1941). Around 17.5 million tons of supplies were sent through the Persian Corridor, the Pacific route, and the Arctic convoys.
What is the Atlantic Charter?Show answer
Roosevelt met Churchill secretly aboard USS Augusta and HMS Prince of Wales off Argentia, Newfoundland, from 9 to 12 August 1941. The Atlantic Charter (issued 14 August 1941) was a joint declaration of eight principles:
What is the undeclared Atlantic war?Show answer
US Navy escorts began protecting British convoys west of Iceland in April 1941. American forces occupied Greenland (April 1941) and Iceland (7 July 1941, replacing British troops).
What is the America First Committee?Show answer
The principal isolationist coalition was the America First Committee (founded 4 September 1940 at Yale Law School). At its peak it had around 800,000 members and 450 chapters. Its prominent spokesmen included Charles Lindbergh, Senator Burton Wheeler, businessman Robert E. Wood (Sears), and historian Charles Beard.
What is historiography?Show answer
Robert Dallek (Franklin D. Roosevelt and American Foreign Policy, 1979) is the standard.
What is treating Lindbergh as a fringe figure?Show answer
He drew crowds of around 25,000 and had real influence.
What is forgetting the order of the Neutrality Acts?Show answer
1935, 1936, 1937, 4 November 1939, 17 November 1941.