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https://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007306
The National WWII Museum | New Orleans: Learn: For Students: WWII History: America Goes to War
http://www.pbs.org/thewar/at_home_war_production.htm
https://www.army.mil/article/139620/America_s_entry_into_World_War_II_remembered_73_years_later

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Why were Americans neutral in the 1930s?

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Why were Americans neutral in the 1930s?

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America was neutral in the 1930S because of America’s isolationist state, war debts, and the recent great depression.

Traditionally, The US was in an isolationist state and wanted to stay that way. Rejection of the League of Nations was indicative of a return to pre-World War I attitudes. With FDR’s campaign, he was against joining the league as he thought that America is great by itself. Also, with Charles Lindbergh led America into their isolationism with his role in the America First committee, which was the most powerful isolation group in America before the US joined World War II.

The US’s isolationism was spurred by the war debts of World War I, which created hostile relations with both America and Europe. War debts owed to America totaled to $22 billion, just in loans. Payment from the debtors was difficult because they were recovering from the last war and struck from the great depression.

Among our strive for Isolationism, the US just got out of the Great depression which ended with the start of World War II. The great depression kept most Americans focused on domestic rather than international concerns. Leaders in Washington were too occupied with recovering to consider going into the war or intervening with the countries in the war.

Keesee, Timothy, and Mark Sidwell. United States History. Greenville, SC: BJU, 2012. Print.

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Social and economic changes on the American home front

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Social and economic changes on the American home front

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Upon entering the WWII, America was riding off the tail end of a depression that had previously consumed our nation's attention until Pearl Harbor "awoke the beast." After the jolting attack, American government and citizens came to the overwhelming agreement that this war needed to end and America was going to everything in its power to speed this along. Factories were quickly converted to mass military production machines which made more then "80,000 landing crafts, 100,000 tanks and armored cars, 300,000 airplanes, fifteen million guns, and forty-one billion rounds of ammunition." The huge increase in product demand and dearth of men (due to them all signing up to defend their country and fight for freedom!) gave discriminated groups, such as African Americans and women, the opportunity to prove their capability within the work force.
Unfortunately, while the situation improved for some minorities, there was a great backlash against ethnicities associated with the Axis powers. These social prejudices resulted in things like the Japanese Internment Camps in which thousands of potentially innocent Japanese immigrants were relocated in the name of "national security." Many of these dramatic social changes took place in America because of the influence the government's propaganda had on its citizens. Posters were published that encouraged extreme conservation and there were instant results. The same was true for the negative advertisements in which images and people stereotyped as Axis power supporters were villian-ized. However, while it had its downfalls, on the whole, the American propaganda served its purpose efficiently as the nation quickly invested in ways to support the war such as "victory gardens" and carpooling. These conservation methods became the patriotic duty of the average citizen as the social atmosphere shifted to efficiency and national pride. While the WWII was a horrific atrocity, historians cannot deny that the drive inspired by the war was what finally brought our economy out of the slumps of depression.

Work Cited
SecondThoughts3/8/16. "The World War II Home Front." The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. N.p., 16 Aug. 2012. Web. 28 Apr. 2017.

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What caused the shift in American thinking away from isolationism following the outbreak of war in Europe? Trace the series of events.

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What caused the shift in American thinking away from isolationism following the outbreak of war in Europe? Trace the series of events.

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At the beginning of WWII, America kept to its tradition of being an isolationist nation. The steady rise of Hitler during the 1930s began to alarm Americans at another bloody conflict in Europe. Nonetheless, Franklin Delano Roosevelt insisted on staying out of European affairs. This was known as the "good neighbor policy", in which you stay out of conflict and only help countries that are being threatened or attacked. Hitler's blitzkrieg invasion of several European countries and their siege of Britain finally encouraged America to play some part in the war. America gave Britain military supplies to help ward off the invading Germans.

Otherwise, America stayed out of the of the war thanks to Roosevelt's Neutrality Acts, providing help to their allies in supportive ways rather than all out aggression. This changed when Japan began threatening their colonies in the Pacific. The Japanese eventually took over the American territory of the Philippines which caused America to cut economic ties with Japan. Seeing this as an excuse to attack the main obstacle in the way of Pacific imperialism, Japan bombed the American naval base of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. This immediately prompted America to declare war on Japan and subsequently, its allies: Italy and Germany. Japan woke up a sleeping giant, and the Axis were about to experience the full wrath of America.

Keesee, Timothy, and Mark Sidwell. United States History. Greenville, SC: BJU, 2012. Print.

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After declaring war on Japan, the US had to prepare to go to war. Problem is, the US was still technically in the depression and had no military infrastructure. Before Pearl Harbor, the US's military was a mere 335,000 soldiers and grew to massive 12.2 million at the peak of the war. The American industry was struck into action, basically pulling us out of the great depression we had been in for a decade prior. Companies like General Motors, Chrysler, and Packard, built engines, fuselages, and entire planes as efficiently as possible. On the assembly line, American factories were pushing out a single B-27 Liberator with 1.5 million parts every hour. In 1944, the US produced more planes than Japan did between 1939 to 1945. American citizens and immigrants flocked to factories for the booming jobs that were needed to meet the demands of the military. It was these jobs that secured food back on the table for so many families.
With the countries sympathy and support after Pearl Harbor, President Roosevelt put General Douglas MacArthur and Admiral Chester Nimitz in charge of the Pacific front, where battles began around May of 1942, where the naval generals learned tactics to defeat the Japanese. General Dwight D. Eisenhower and Major General George Patton were set in charge of the European front, where Operation Torch began in November 1942. It took about an entire year for the US to build the military infrastructure that was necessary to take on the Nazi's in the Atlantic and the Japanese in the Pacific.