Describe the Response of America to the Rise of Nationalism in Japan, Italy, and Germany During the 1930s. How Did President Franklin D. Roosevelt Ready the Nation for War?

Fascism was a totalitarian political movement that developed after 1919 as a reaction against the political and social changes brought about by World War 1 and the spread of socialism and communism. It flourished between 1919 and 1945 in several countries, mainly Germany, Spain, Italy, and Japan. Fascism is a form of totalitarian dictatorship that had ideals such as extreme nationalism, economic self sufficiency and military strength. The dictators abolished all opposition against them and basically took complete control of the lives of everyone in their country.

While both Italian and German fascism in the interwar years were very similar, they were ultimately more different due to their political ideologies, foreign policies and the structure of their respective parties. Fascism, while not having a concrete definition can be defined by multiple attributes. Fascism usually consist of a ultra right wing, oppressive and authoritarian government that places a heavy emphasis on national identity. As such, fascist governments promote violence and the expansion through wars with the intent of imperialism.

On December 7, 1941, tragety struck America when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. During the aftermath of this horror, America declaired war on Japan thus taking a side in world war two. Presedent Franklin Delano Roosevelt presented a speech the next day to inform the nation of his declaration of war on Japan as well as to inspire Americans in to suport the war. Roosevelt used rhetorical devices including repetition, his perspective, and personification to further his point.

The 1930s were a difficult time for most Americans. Faced with colossal economic hardships—unprecedented in American history—many Americans turned inward to focus on the worsening situation at home. The United States became increasingly insensitive to the obliteration of fellow democracies at the hands of brutal fascist leaders like Hitler and Mussolini. The U.S. was determined to stay out of war at all costs—even if its allies were in trouble; Americans believed that they were immune from Europe’s problems as long as they refused to get involved. However, as the “free” countries fell, one by one, to the Nazi war machine, Americans began to realize the folly of their foolish optimism and clamored for increasing involvement in foreign

This effectively made it impossible to trade with Germany as Document C reinforces when reflecting on the war. The British navy was one of the strongest in the world for America to go against them would be suicide and they also depended much more on Britain for trade and economic reasons than Germany. Which meant America was to stick to their neutrality and do nothing. They continued trading to the countries they were able to and left alone the countries they could not. In the letter of secretary of state William Bryan to the Senate Committee of Foreign Relations (Document D) he implies that the U.S. is still neutral. He then goes on to explain what a tight place the U.S. is in. He addresses many of the points made in Document B and articulates why the U.S. has made some of the decisions it has and gives very convincing argument that the U.S. has had neutrality as its motivation the whole time. Germany was most likely irritated with the United States passive manner and upset that they did not come to German rescue when they still openly traded with they’re enemies and then claiming neutrality. In their eyes America’s standoffish attitude most likely justified they’re actions towards the U.S. but to the United States nothing could justify the German aggression they were going to receive as the war progressed.

By December of 1941, the second World War had been raging across Europe for more than two years and the United States was already, but not officially, involved. Deteriorating conditions in Europe and continual advancement of Nazi victory across nations was certainly cause for global concern, though many Americans were still clinging to anti-war neutrality. However, America had already proved to be less than neutral, aiding Great Britain with weapons and the lend-lease act, clearly siding with the Allied powers. But official involvement without support of public opinion was rather tricky. So you could say that, for many European nations, this tragedy might have been cause for celebration, as it was bringing the battle right to America’s back doorstep, and could no longer be ignored. With an overwhelming public majority opposed to involvement in European conflict, it should have come as no surprise that Roosevelt would use this as an opportunity to rally Americans in a war against Japan, and ultimately Germany and the other Axis powers.

Early in World War 11, the United States devised a plan to allow the Lend-Lease Act to help the nations that were struggling while fighting the Axis powers. This allowed President Roosevelt to sell and lend war supplies to any country who were allies to the United States. Many countries had benefited from the Lend-Lease Act. The Lend Lease program was overall successful even though it was a controversial program that faced much opposition.

Although Roosevelt was a great United States President, there is the matter of how exactly the United States entered World War II. There is no debate that Roosevelt thought that the United States should enter World War II. He knew that fascism was wrong and that the Axis Powers, led ultimately by Adolph Hitler of Germany, had to be defeated to protect democracy. Also, Roosevelt knew a war would boost the United State’s economy severely. Generally, in war time there is many more jobs, which decreases unemployment tremendously. However, the majority of the citizens of the United States wanted to take an isolated approach from the rest of the world as far as foreign affairs are concerned. As much as 85% of the public opposed entering the war.4 The United States did not want to enter into another world war, such as World War I, that costs so many lives and money. When World War II broke out in 1939 with Germany’s invasion of Poland, Roosevelt called Congress to revise the Neutrality Act in an attempt to enter the war. His attempt failed. Knowing the public would not agree to enter World War II, Roosevelt took several measures to make sure that

With such events occurring quickly in such a small time period, the second World War came as a massive shock. Yet again, Americans called for isolationism and neutrality as they believed America should focus on ending the Great Depression, not worrying about and dealing with the international issues of other nations and peoples. By analyzing Document 5, it is clear that many Americans still believe in isolationism during the Great Depression. Bennett Champ Clark states in his Defense of the First Neutrality Act that “the desire to keep the United States from becoming involved in any war between foreign nations seems practically unanimous among the rank and file of American citizens.” Americans influenced the US foreign policy yet again as the First Neutrality Act was passed in 1935. By analyzing Document 6, it is clear that President Franklin D. Roosevelt and the choices he made were still influenced by isolationist sentiment as he states in his Quarantine Speech that “it is my determination to adopt every practicable measure to avoid involvement in war.” However, it is clear in President Roosevelt's speech that he knew that entering the war was inevitable as he states that the “peace of the world and the welfare and security of every nation, including our own is today being threatened by that very thing (war).” Although the United States tried its best to not enter the second World War for many years, it could not avoided by the end of 1941. On December 7, 1941, Pearl Harbor was bombed by the Japanese. The federal government’s response to this attack can be analyzed in Document 7, President Roosevelt’s Pearl Harbor Address to the Congress of the United States. In response to the attack, Roosevelt calls for Congress to “declare . . . a state of war has existed between the United States and the

On December 7, 1941, with Japanese attack on Perl Harbor, all debate over avoiding war and the policy of American isolationism was gone. It was the beginning of a great war that brought death, devastation and finally the victory and power to United States. At the time of Roosevelt’s appointment in 1933, historically crucial events were taking place in Japan, Italy and Germany which had to shape the future and the fate of United States. This paper studies and analyses the major factors which contributed to American success both at home and abroad during WWII in addition to world’s view about American participation in war and bombings on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

During this period, President Roosevelt endured extremely intense emotional pressure due to the loss of America’s prestige and pride in the Pacific. At the same time he was expected to honor the British who were struggling with Hitler. Notably, just before the Japanese Pearl Harbor attack had taken place, Roosevelt had agreed that the first priority should be a defeat of Nazi Germany. This should have been until America was able to recover from its Pearl Harbor naval forces and consequently mobilize for a two-front war. The decision made focused on accepting the Philippines loss, Guam and Wake and instead put plenty of concentration on a defensive kind of triangle that was inclusive of Panama, Alaska and Hawaii.

World War II was a very important event in American history, but as bad as war is or seems to be there always seems to have better outcomes in the end. By the Japanese bombing Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 and bringing America into the war it opened the eyes of all Americans to the problems not only domestically but internationally and the biggest problem that was discovered after the completion of World War II was the level of social equality around the world. It had been a problem that had plagued the world for many years but the atrocities that brought about by the war coupled with the ever growing eye of the media caused for greater concern in the light of social equality in the world.

In September of 1939, a global war had begun when Hitler led the German forces to invade Poland. The American president was reluctant on entering the war because he was building allies in the western hemisphere and was focused on making life better on the home front. Tragedy struck America on the morning of December 7, 1941 when the Japanese conducted a surprise aerial attack against the United States naval base at pearl harbor. The lethal and deadly force of the attack spurred President Franklin Delano Roosevelt to realize it was time to enter the war. As American troops were being sent off to war citizens' lives on the home front changed dramatically. The soldiers were being taken care of before the people and did not experience the

Fascism is a government system led by an all-powerful dictator who emphasized racist and nationalist views. Some effects of Italy after the war caused numerous problems including negatively affecting the economy, riots, and unemployment (evidence). As fascism against democracy rose partially through nationalistic views, the people of Italy looked at fascist leaders like Mussolini to fix the many problems. Mussolini used the Black Shirts, his gangs of thugs, to promote the fascist views of anti-anarchy, while ironically causing chaos and suggesting that he was the ultimate champion of order and law (evidence). Although German and Italian Fascism contrasted in some ways the fascism of Italy allowed for Germany’s “final solution” to start being implemented in Germany, which was a cause of WW2.

Fascist Italy, Nazi Germany, and Imperial Japan all shared a global concept of fascism where the willingness to create a collective conscious of nationhood was justified through imperialism. Indeed, the importance of nationalism within Fascist culture would greatly affect the foreign policies of Italy, Germany, and Japan during the 1930s and 1940s. World War one had brought about revolutionary changes in the nature of war, society, and technology, where the advent of total war and mass mobilization showed the potential of a unified community run by the state. Fascists saw World War One as symbolizing the beginning of a new era where totalitarian governments sought to unify their nations by mobilizing the national community. In Italy, Benito Mussolini and his Fascist regime created one national community by eliminating the boundaries between the public and private sphere where the Nation would come before the Individual. In Germany, Hitler used nationalism to call for the unification of all German speaking peoples into a single empire known as the Volk. In Japan, the success of imperialism and the emphasis on collective belonging and shared past led to a nationalistic movement known as Pan Asianism where the Japanese aimed to unify all Asians. The respect of the state, a devotion to a strong leader, and the emphasis on militarism were all common features of the totalitarian states of Italy, Japan, and Germany but nationalism served as a pivotal feature in creating a