KEY TERMS Key Terms and People to Know for the Regents Exam
Neutrality Acts
As the threat of WWII increased in the 1930s, the US passed neutrality acts that outlawed the sale of weapons and materials to warring nations because America wanted to avoid the mistakes that drawn the US into WWI.
Lend-Lease Act
After WWII began, America realized that neutrality might hurt the US by allowing Germany and Japan to gain power, so the US began supplying the Allies (Great Britain, France, the Soviet Union, China) with weapons and materials to fight the war.
Pearl Harbor
Japan wanted to defeat the US so they could control the Pacific, so on Dec 7th, 1941 (before the US had entered WWII), Japan launched a sneak attack on the US naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Over 3,000 sailors were killed and the US entered WWII.