Hi Armand!
Let me translate the carefully crafted "word salad" for you -
In 1940, Japan invaded northern Indochina. In July of 1941 it moved its army deeper into Southeast Asia,
>>>>> Japan did not "invade" French Indochina. It negotiated an agreement with the new Vichy French government to occupy and oversee French Indochina.
ultimately threatening Singapore.
>>>>> Technically speaking, this was a threat to British colonial interests and had nothing to do with US interests in the Pacific. The British asked the USA to take over defense of Singapore (and by inference Britain's Malayan colonial possessions). The US government declined the request.
Roosevelt hoped to force Tokyo to withdraw through a series of economic measures. The White House announced a qualified freeze on Japanese funds in U.S. financial institutions to prevent oil exports to Japan. Each request for funds transfer was to be evaluated.
>>>>> Allow me to explain how this "embargo" actually worked. The Japanese government had negotiated a huge oil purchase with a group of major US oil producers. The purchase represented two entire years worth of Japanese oil requirements. The contracts were signed. The US State Department issued the Export Licenses. The Japanese transferred payment IN FULL to US banks. The US State Department then unilaterally cancelled the Export Licenses and seized the Japanese funds.
A denial to release money would punish Japan for the Indo-China occupation. However, if Japan changed course, funding requests for oil exports would be approved. Roosevelt said he wanted to bring Tokyo to its senses, not to its knees and was optimistic the policy would not lead to war with Japan.
>>>>> And all this time we've been taught that it was all about the Rape of Nanking and Japanese aggression in China. Go figure.
Roosevelt's policy towards Japan was headed up by Assistant Secretary of State Dean Acheson. Acheson, exceeding his mandate, imposed a total freeze on oil shipments from the United States.
>>>>> Translation of "exceeded his mandate": Roosevelt instructed Acheson from the background in order to preserve personal "deniability". Clinton was far from the first politician to play dumb when it suited him.
He expected this would force Japan out of southern Indochina. Japan, after all, imported almost all its petroleum; the bulk of it came from the United States. Washington even pressured other potential exporters to Japan to cut off the flow of oil, as well.
>>>>> Yes, Britain and the Netherlands were in on the oil embargo arrangement as well.
The policy worked too well; Tokyo faced economic and military collapse.
>>>>> This was no "accidental outcome". The US knew exactly the effect an outright oil and steel embargo would produce upon Japan. The history of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff in the Pacific War makes this clear; in fact, the US negotiators had assured their British counterparts in previous discussions that the US could collapse the Japanese economy in very short order simply by implementing such an embargo.
Washington might have softened its stance, but after years of European powers placating Hitler's aggression having led to war, held fast. In effect, overruling Acheson smacked of appeasement.
>>>>> Always leave the best for last. Hitler's actions in Europe did not seem to move the US government toward any such economic sanctions against Germany – Ford and IBM, for example, seem to have continued doing business with large branch operations in Germany without any interference from the US government that I am aware of.
B