.
Japan felt her land was not enough and was determined to conquer her neighbours. This included China, Korea, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam. America feared that her Philippine and Guam islands would soon fall into Japan conquest. While trying to study their enemy, America managed to crack a code the Japanese used in relaying secret messages. In an attempt to suppress Japan, Roosevelt ordered oil supplies to Japan to be cut off. However, this did not work as the Japanese continued with their conquest. On December 7th, the Pearl Harbour in Hawaii fell under attack from the Japanese. Additionally, in Europe, Germany and Italy joined hand together with Japan to wage war against the United States. It is then that Roosevelt addressed the Congress and declared war on Japan. .
The United States was faced with two enormous tasks; fighting on two different fronts- in the Pacific and Europe. Secondly, a large number of her military had been wound. This forces the US government to conduct a recruitment exercise. With such a high demand for servicemen, the US government had to siphon them from the members of the community to make up civil soldiers. The inductee had to be trained to be army men and women, which included construed civil freedom they enjoyed before joining the armed forces. After the training sessions, they were incorporated into the battalions ready to be deployed. The men registration for the draft were those within the age bracket of 18-64. This attracted more than 35 million men. There were over 6000 boards that would assess these men. Some of the factors that determined whether a person would be accepted included family situation, his health condition, the position that the person would occupy in the war. The inductees then underwent physical, medical, and psychiatric examination. He would then be asked his preference in the type of service. Such a large scale recruitment depleted the country's economy heavily though it was necessary.
