The Americas Respond: Neutrality, the Good Neighbor Policy and Entry into War

Answer

Franklin D Roosevelt's pledge from 1933 that the US would not militarily intervene in Latin American affairs, aiming to build hemispheric trust and unity.

Answer

The US formally accepted the principle of non-intervention in the affairs of other American states.

Answer

That no European colony in the Americas could be transferred to another hostile power.

Answer

The 1935, 1936 and 1937 Neutrality Acts banned arms sales and loans to countries at war, reflecting US isolationism.

Answer

A US policy letting warring nations buy US arms if they paid cash and transported the goods themselves — it favoured Britain, which controlled the Atlantic.

Answer

It let the US lend or lease weapons and supplies to any country whose defence was seen as vital to US security, mainly Britain and later the USSR.

Answer

Japan attacked Pearl Harbor; the US declared war on Japan the next day, and Germany and Italy then declared war on the US.

Answer

The authoritarian president of Brazil (1930–1945) who balanced relations with Germany and the US before committing Brazil to the Allies in 1942.

Answer

German U-boats sank several Brazilian merchant ships in 1942, causing public outrage that forced Vargas to abandon neutrality.

Answer

Around 25,000 Brazilian troops who fought alongside the US Fifth Army in the Italian campaign, 1944–1945 — Brazil was the only South American country to send combat troops to Europe.

Answer

The US was pushed in by a direct attack on its own territory (Pearl Harbor); Brazil was pushed in by attacks on its shipping plus years of US diplomatic and economic groundwork under the Good Neighbor policy.

Answer

A term for how US industry converted to war production and supplied huge quantities of tanks, planes and ships to the Allies after 1941.