History of the United States II / Unit 12 USH2 1663 worked example, 60 to 90 seconds
Neutral in Name
The idea
From nineteen thirty-five to nineteen forty-one the United States claimed neutrality at every step while moving toward war. The Neutrality Acts banned arms sales, loans and American shipping to belligerents. After Germany invaded Poland, Roosevelt won cash and carry, letting the Allies buy arms if they paid cash and carried the goods on their own ships, as the Yawp describes. Then came fifty destroyers for British bases, the embargo on Japan, Lend-Lease, and a joint charter of war aims with Britain.
In practice
A column of dates reading downward from nineteen thirty-five, each measure a step closer to belligerence.
Where people slip
The misreading is that the United States stayed neutral until Pearl Harbor. By the Yawp's account it was giving the Allies direct material support months before, while American soldiers were not yet fighting. Each step moved from neutrality toward belligerence while the claim of neutrality stood, and the last of them, the embargo, fell on the nation that attacked.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
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