Maxwell School News and Commentary

“The Roosevelt administration had attempted to reign in the Japanese, particularly by the use of economic boycotts. In mid-1941, especially, the Roosevelt administration had boycotted all sales of gasoline and aviation fuel to the Japanese. Now the idea was that this would be a detterent to the Japanese. It would persuade them to withdraw from China. But ironically, it ended up having the opposite effect,” says Alan Allport, professor of history.