Mark Scott Smith's Blog: Enemy in the Mirror, page 127

U.S. Selective Service Extension – August 1941

Wikimedia Commons

In August 1941, President Franklin Roosevelt signed a law which permitted the U.S. Army to keep draftees in service 18 months longer.

Read excellent Encyclopaedia Britannica article about selective service in the USA.

Britain Pledges Support if U.S.- Japan War Erupts – August 1941

Winston Churchill 1941; Wikimedia Commons

In the event that negotiations failed and the United States became involved in a war with the Japanese, Prime Minister Winston Churchill pledged British military aid to the U.S.

Britain Pledges Support If War Erupts between Japan & USA – August 1941

Winston Churchill 1941; Wikimedia Commons

In the event that negotiations failed and the United States became involved in a war with the Japanese, Prime Minister Winston Churchill pledged British military aid to the U.S.

The post Britain Pledges Support If War Erupts between Japan & USA – August 1941 appeared first on Enemy in the Mirror.

Atlantic Charter – August 1941

Churchill & Roosevelt off Newfoundland August 1941; Wikimedia Commons

In August 1941, Prime Minister Churchill and President Roosevelt met on a ship off Newfoundland and agreed on a plan for large-scale assistance to the USSR.

They also drafted the Atlantic Charter which stated the ideal goals of the war:

no territorial aggrandizement
no territorial changes made against the wishes of the people
restoration of self-government to those deprived of it
free access to raw materials
reduction of trade restrictions
global cooperation to secure better economic and social conditions for all
freedom from fear and want
freedom of the seas
abandonment of the use of force, as well as disarmament of aggressor nations.

 

Japan Urges Summit Meeting With USA – August 1941

Fumimaro Konoe; Wikimedia Commons

In August 1941, Prime Minister Fumimaro Konoe  sent a message to President Franklin Roosevelt that emphasized the importance of a summit meeting between the two countries’ leaders.

太平洋戦争についての本 – Kindle Lending Library Japan

鏡の中の敵

私の本のKindleのバージョンが、日本で利用可能になりました。

My book Enemy in the Mirror: Love and Fury in the Pacific War  is  now available in the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library in Japan.

U.S. Warning to the Japanese – August 1941

FDR   

Kichisaburō Nomura

In August 1941, President Franklin Roosevelt warned Admiral Nomura, the Japanese ambassador to the United States, that the U.S. would be forced to take immediate action to safeguard American rights and interests in the Far East if the Japanese took new military actions in the region.

Television – 1941

The development of television was truly an international endeavor. In 1926, Kenjiro Takayanagi demonstrated the first working example of a fully electronic television receiver.

Although the American public was introduced to TV at the 1939 World’s Fair in Chicago, the onset of WWII delayed large scale manufacture until the war’s end.

 

American River Gunboat Tutuila Bombed by Japanese – July 30, 1941

U.S. gunboat Tutuila; Wikimedia Commons

On July 30, 1941 the stern superstructure of the American river gunboat Tutuila (PR-4) was damaged by Japanese bombers in an air raid on the Chinese capital of Chunking. No casualties were reported.The gunboat was anchored across the Yangtze river from the capital. The Japanese subsequently apologized.

Read news report

Japanese Assets in the USA Frozen – July 1941

FDR in Oval Office 1941; Wikimedia Commons

Viewing the Japanese move into southern Indochina, as an overt and flagrant act of aggression, FDR issued an executive order on July 26,1941 that froze all Japanese assets in the United States. The order, which placed all import and export transactions with Japanese interests under U.S. government control, resulted in the virtual cessation of trade between the United States and Japan.