Name_________________________________ Date_______ Period____

America Enters WWIIFireside Chat 16: "Arsenal of Democracy" (Dec 29, 1940) Franklin Delano Roosevelt

…This is not a fireside chat on war. It is a talk on national security, because the nub of the whole purpose of your President is to keep you now, and your children later, and your grandchildren much later, out of a last-ditch war for the preservation of American independence and all of the things that American independence means to you and to me and to ours.

…Never before since Jamestown and Plymouth Rock has our American civilization been in such danger as now.

For, on September 27th, 1940, this year, by an agreement signed in Berlin, three powerful nations, two in Europe and one in Asia, joined themselves together in the threat that if the United States of America interfered with or blocked the expansion program of these three nations -- a program aimed at world control -- they would unite in ultimate action against the United States.

The Nazi masters of Germany have made it clear that they intend not only to dominate all life and thought in their own country, but also to enslave the whole of Europe, and then to use the resources of Europe to dominate the rest of the world.

…If Great Britain goes down, the Axis powers will control the continents of Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, and the high seas -- and they will be in a position to bring enormous military and naval resources against this hemisphere. It is no exaggeration to say that all of us, in all the Americas, would be living at the point of a gun -- a gun loaded with explosive bullets, economic as well as military.

…The people of Europe who are defending themselves do not ask us to do their fighting. They ask us for the implements of war, the planes, the tanks, the guns, the freighters which will enable them to fight for their liberty and for our security. Emphatically we must get these weapons to them, get them to them in sufficient volume and quickly enough, so that we and our children will be saved the agony and suffering of war which others have had to endure.

…In a military sense Great Britain and the British Empire are today the spearhead of resistance to world conquest. And they are putting up a fight which will live forever in the story of human gallantry.

…The nation expects our defense industries to continue operation without interruption by strikes or lockouts. It expects and insists that management and workers will reconcile their differences…to continue to produce the supplies that are so sorely needed…Guns, planes, (and) ships and many other things have to be built in the factories and the arsenals of America…We have the men -- the skill -- the wealth -- and above all, the will.

…We must be the great arsenal of democracy. For us this is an emergency as serious as war itself. We must apply ourselves to our task with the same resolution, the same sense of urgency, the same spirit of patriotism and sacrifice as we would show were we at war…I believe that the Axis powers are not going to win this war…

1. What does FDR want the United States to start doing? Why?

arsenal – collection, store or weapons

Jamestown – allusion to the first English settlements in North America

hemisphere - area of the world – (North and South America)

emphatic – determined, energetic

gallant – brave, courageous, chivalry

reconcile– resolve, stop fighting

“…our defense industries to continue operation without interruption by strikes or lockouts. It expects and insists that management and workers will reconcile their differences…”

2. What demand is FDR making on industrial owners and the workers or unions? Why?

3. What did FDR mean by the United States becoming the “arsenal of democracy”?

4. What is the message of this propaganda poster?

5. How does participation in a war unite a country?

Navy Report on Japan’s Oil Situation: Memorandum, Harry Dexter White. April 4, 1941

Treasury Department

Division of Monetary Research

To: Secretary Morgenthau

From: Mr. White

Navy Report on Japan’s Oil Situation

1. The Navy confirms our opinion that Japan is receiving all the

aviation gasoline she wants from the U.S. The Navy’s report is

quite critical of the State Department for freely licensing this

material.

2. The Navy believes Japan has large stocks of tetraethyl lead and

“boosters”.

3. The Navy attaches great importance to oil in Japan’s intensions

toward a southward move. Since Japan is not sure that we will

not embargo oil and since she fears that the Netherland’s East

Indies wells might be destroyed, Japan’s policy necessarily is to

build up stocks.

4. The Navy estimates that Japan will need 41 million barrels per

year in a major war.

5. The Navy estimates the Japanese stocks, December 31, at 75

million barrels. This figure is subject to the same errors as was

the August estimate of 74 million barrels. (We feel the stocks

are nearer to 35 million barrels).

Mr. White

6. Who does Japan rely on for oil?

7. How does the Navy feel about the U.S.’s oil trade with Japan?

8. What is Japan doing to prepare for continued invasion of Indochina?

9. How much oil would Japan need for war?

DO THE MATH10. How quickly would Japan run out of oil according to the Navy?

11. How quickly would Japan run out of oil according to the Treasury?

Executive Order No. 9066

The President

Executive Order

Authorizing the Secretary of War to Prescribe Military Areas

Whereas the successful prosecution of the war requires every possible protection against espionage and against sabotage to national-defense material, national-defense premises, and national-defense utilities as defined in Section 4, Act of April 20, 1918…

Now, therefore, by virtue of the authority vested in me as President of the United States, and Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy, I hereby authorize and direct the Secretary of War, and the Military Commanders whom he may from time to time designate, whenever he or any designated Commander deems such action necessary or desirable, to prescribe military areas in such places and of such extent as he or the appropriate Military Commander may determine, from which any or all persons may be excluded, and with respect to which, the right of any person to enter, remain in, or leave shall be subject to whatever restrictions the Secretary of War or the appropriate Military Commander may impose in his discretion. The Secretary of War is hereby authorized to provide for residents of any such area who are excluded therefrom, such transportation, food, shelter, and other accommodations as may be necessary, in the judgment of the Secretary of War or the said Military Commander, and until other arrangements are made, to accomplish the purpose of this order. The designation of military areas in any region or locality shall supersede designations of prohibited and restricted areas by the Attorney General under the Proclamations of December 7 and 8, 1941, and shall supersede the responsibility and authority of the Attorney General under the said Proclamations in respect of such prohibited and restricted areas.

…This order shall not be construed as modifying or limiting in any way the authority heretofore granted under Executive Order No. 8972, dated December 12, 1941, nor shall it be construed as limiting or modifying the duty and responsibility of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, with respect to the investigation of alleged acts of sabotage or the duty and responsibility of the Attorney General and the Department of Justice under the Proclamations of December 7 and 8, 1941, prescribing regulations for the conduct and control of alien enemies, except as such duty and responsibility is superseded by the designation of military areas hereunder.

Franklin D. Roosevelt

The White House,

February 19, 1942.

12. What did Executive Order 9066 do?

13. Why were Japanese Americans targeted?

14. Who are the three people rubbing their eyes from industrial smoke?

15.How does this propaganda poster make use of famous people to make their message more meaningful?

16.What is the message of this propaganda poster?

17.The poster on the left is a representation of Rosie the Riveter. What is it trying to inspire women to do in WWII?

18.Why did women need to join the workforce during WWII?

“Listen, maestro… if you want to get real harmony, use the black keys as well as the white” Dr. Seuss

19.Why do the black keys have cobwebs?

20.What is the message of

this 1942 political cartoon?

21.What assertion can you make about problems the war industry must have had?