FDR won a third term as President.  That event meant that he would be America's leader in the coming war.

FDR, by the  year's end, had devised the program of Lend-Lease that would be crucial to sustaining the war effort of our future allies.

Winston Churchill was appointed Prime Minister of Great Britain, the office he would hold throughout the war.

Britain survived the Battle of Britain (July-Sept.) which meant that England would function as a staging point for the subsequent invasion of Hitler's empire. Her survival also made possible the partnership between Churchill and FDR which would profoundly  influence America's conduct of the war and the peace  to follow.

By June Hitler had conquored nearly all of his European empire making possible the Holocaust conducted covertly within the vast realm of the territory under his control.

The success of Hitler's blitzkreig served to isolate Britain, encouraging the "Special Relationship" with the U.S. as well as encouraging Hitler to employ the same strategy against the Soviet Union whose great expanse would defeat the blitzkrieg.

Hitler determined by July to launch Operation Barbarossa, his invasion plan of the Soviet Union.

Werner Heisenberg, Director of German atomic research miscalculated the critical mass of uranium necessary for a fusion explosion, precluding Germany's construction of an A bomb before war's end.

Japan seized North Vietnam  in the summer which triggered U.S. economic sanctions against her.  Those events were the first that would lead to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in Dec. 1941.   

    Your assignment:  To follow the web on a path back to 1940. You must retrieve information and share it with your classmates.  Be prepared to comment on the worth of your journey as a contribution to your understanding of the past. Below you will find a choice of destinations.  Please note the routes that  I have mapped out are by no means exhaustive.  You are encouraged to expand your journey via the web in order to make more extensive use of your time spent in 1940 should your curiosity prompt you.

The U.S., which had disdained involvement in Europe's conflicts when it rejected the Treaty of Versailles and hence membership in the League of Nations, had, by 1940, become crucial to Britain's survival in her struggle with Germany. This assignment will show you what American political attitudes were like just after Hitler had conquored much of Europe.

• the public's attitude toward FDR's third nomination as president?
• his campaign for a third term?
• the activities and influence of his wife Eleanor?
• the war in Europe

Alternative Journey/Alternative Medium

Hollywood went to war before America did. A significant portion of the Hollywood community was Jewish and had watched the growth of Nazi power with horror. Many popular films reflected America's (and Hollywood's) concern about the expanding European conflict.

What do the movies of 1939-1942 tell you about American attitudes to the war in Europe?

• What relationship do you see among the films?

• What do these films reveal about our attitudes to events in Europe?

• How do those attitudes change between 1939 and 1942 as reflected in the three films?

The relationship between Pres. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill was critical for both the conduct of the war and the peace that was made afterward.

• What does their correspondence tell you about their relationship?
• What issues consumed them?
• How were they attempting to forge a personal and diplomatic partnership?

* Key Words: Roosevelt and Churchill. NARA unit: FDR Library (Hyde Park)

Europe was at war for more than two years before the U.S. entered the conflict. In that interval the Germans, well aware of American isolationist sentiment, attempted to influence American opinion. In this assignment you will examine how.

• What kind of propaganda material did the Nazis distribute in the U.S. in that year?
• Compare that material to secret U.S. intelligence reports on the war in Europe. See FDR's Secret Files Box 6.
• Compare the editorial cartoons in Das Reich in 1940 with the cartoons on FDR's political career in 1940.

Britain fought the Germans at sea and in the air using new technologies. Radar was critical to securing victory in the Battle of Britain against the Luftwaffe. In the Battle of the Atlantic, the ingenuithy of code breaking was essential. The Germans believed that their Enigma machine made their encryption invulnerable. They were mistaken.

• What went on there during World War II that was so citical to Britain's survival?
• Why has what went on at Bletchley Park been Britain's Best Kept Secret?
• Who was Alan Turing and what contribution did he make to the work of Bletchley Park?

In 1940 air power proved the terrifying new weapon of war. Already used extensively in the Japanese conquest of China and in the Spanish Civil War, the airplane came into its own in 1940.

Travel back to the "unfriendly skies" of 1940.

• Describe a typical day in the life of an RAF pilot in the Battle of Britain.
• What was it like to fly a Spitfire against the Luftwaffe in 1940?
• Compare the life of an RAF pilot to that of a Luftwaffe pilot.
• Compare the life of an RAF pilot to that of a Japanese fighter pilot.