Transcript American Foreign Policy in the 1920s & 1930s

American Foreign
Policy:
1920-1941
Ms. Susan M. Pojer
Horace Greeley HS Chappaqua, NY
Foreign Policy Tensions
Interventionism
Disarmament
•
Collective security
•
Isolationism
•
“Wilsonianism”
•
Nativists
•
Business interests
•
Anti-War movement
•
Conservative
Republicans
American Isolationism
5 Isolationists like
Senator Lodge, refused
to allow the US to sign
the Versailles Treaty.
5 Security treaty with
France also rejected by
the Senate.
5 July, 1921  Congress
passed a resolution
declaring WW I
officially over!
Sen. Henry Cabot
Lodge, Sr. [R-MA]
Washington Disarmament Conference
(1921-1922)
5 Long-standing Anglo-Japanese alliance (1902) obligated
Britain to aid Japan in the event of a Japanese war with the
United States.
5 Goals  naval disarmament and the political situation in the
Far East.
Five-Power Treaty (1922)
5 A battleship ratio was achieved through this ratio:
US
5
Britain
5
Japan
3
France
1.67
Italy
1.67
5 Japan got a guarantee that the US and Britain would
stop fortifying their Far East territories [including
the Philippines].
5 Loophole  no restrictions on small warships
European Debts to the US
Hyper-Inflation in Germany: 1923
Dawes Plan (1924)
Young Plan (1930)
5 For three generations, you’ll have to slave away!
5 $26,350,000,000 to be paid over a period of 58½
years.
5 By 1931, Hoover declared a debt moratorium.
Locarno Pact (1925)
5 Guaranteed the common boundaries of Belgium, France, and
Germany as specified in the Treaty of Versailles of 1919.
5 Germany signed treaties with Poland and Czechoslovakia,
agreeing to change the eastern borders of Germany by
arbitration only.
Clark Memorandum (1928)
5 Clark pledged that the
US would not intervene in
Latin American affairs in
order to protect US
property rights.
5 This was a complete
rebuke of the Roosevelt
Corollary to the Monroe
Doctrine!
Secretary of State
J. Reuben Clark
Kellogg-Briand Pact (1928)
5 15 nations dedicated to outlawing aggression and war as
tools of foreign policy.
5 62 nations signed.
5 Problems  no means of actual enforcement and gave
Americans a false sense of security.
Japanese Attack Manchuria
(1931)
5 League of Nations condemned the
action.
5 Japan leaves the League.
5 Hoover wanted no part in an American military action in
the Far East.
Hoover-Stimpson Doctrine
(1932)
5 US would not recognize any territorial
acquisitions that were achieved by force.
5 Japan was infuriated because the US had
conquered new
territories a few
decades earlier.
5 Japan bombed
Shanghai in
1932  massive
casualties.
1933 London Economic Conference
5 This highlights Roosevelt’s unwillingness to engage
in international affairs as a result of the depth
and depravity of the depression at home
 Conference called 66 nations
 Goals
 Coordinated attack against world depression
 Stabilize world currencies
5 But Roosevelt wanted to continue his gold and
inflationary policies at home to spur recovery
domestically.
 Basically, not willing to sacrifice domestic
recovery to help international recovery
 This every man for itself mentality hurt the
global recovery and reflected the isolationism
and also nationalism of many nations in the
1930’s.
Freedom for Philippines
5 Roosevelt also freed the Americans from
the Philippines (or vice-versa)
 Tydings-McDuffie Act of 1934
Independence given after a 12-year period
of economic and political tutelage
U.S. would keep naval bases but relinquish
army bases
5 Reflects isolationism in the early 1930’s
again, and many argue empowers Japan to
later attack the Philippines as the threat
of American defense diminished
FDR Recognizes the Soviet Union
(late 1933)
5 FDR felt that
recognizing Moscow
might bolster the
US against Japan.
5 Maybe trade with
the USSR would
help the US
economy during the
Depression.
FDR’s “Good Neighbor” Policy
5 Important to have all
nations in the Western
Hemisphere united in lieu
of foreign aggressions.
5 FDR  The good neighbor
respects himself and the
rights of others.
5 Policy of non-intervention
and cooperation.
5 Also perhaps speaks to a
regional role for America
as opposed to a world role
FDR’s “Good Neighbor” Policy
5 Basically, angry neighbors do
not help in the event you are
attacked. So Roosevelt
figures it is beneficial to not
point bayonets at the
Caribbean and Latin America.
5 Plus, must consider that a lot
of investment left these
areas, so not much to protect
5 Reversal of Roosevelt
Corollary
5 Examples
5 Marines leave Haiti
5 Cuba relieved of Platt
Overall, the policy made
Roosevelt well-liked and
Brought upon good relations.
Amendment
5 Panama grip relaxed
5 Mexico Oil Stuff
Reciprocal Trade Agreements
5 Roosevelt and his Secretary of State Hull both
believed that trade was a two way street and in low
tariffs (high tariffs meant trade wars which
precipitated shooting wars)
5 Reciprocal Trading Agreements Act of 1934
 Low tariffs
 Aimed at relief and recovery
 Allowed Roosevelt to lower rates as much as 50%
as long as other country involved did the same
thing
 Also by-passed the Senate, so easier to get done
5 Hull negotiated pacts with 21 countries
5 Trade increased
5 Important legislation as it changed the High Tariff
policies since Civil War and paved the way to
international free trade that occurred after WWII
Rise of Fascism
5 Post World War I Europe was a very chaotic time
and spawned totalitarian states in which the
individual was nothing and the state was
everything.
5 3 dictators rise and gain complete control
 Stalin-USSR
 Hitler- Germany
 Mussolini- Italy
5 Of the three, Hitler posed the largest threat
 Very impulsive and nationalistic. Able to gain
control of Germany through denunciation of
the Treaty of Versailles and the chaos of the
depression
 Hitler in many ways was the by-product of post
war policies of Europe and the United States
Specter of Japan
5 Another have-not power, Japan hoped to
enrich itself at the expense of its resource
rich neighbors.
 Angry at Treaty of Versailles
 Looking for resources
 Looking for space
5 1934, terminated the 12 year old
Washington Naval Treaty
5 1935, quit League of Nations. Building more
battleships
5 1940, joined with Germany and Italy in the
Tripartite Pact
Italy and Mussolini
5 In 1935, attacked Ethiopia. Italy was also a
have-not power
5 League of Nations does nothing, and an oil
embargo would have done the job
5 But United States remained neutral,
feeling protected by distance and oceans
 World War I seen as a blunder
 Fearful of debtors
 And blinded by depression
 America fearful of the rise of the have
nots, but more so in regards to having to
join the fray like in WWI
Nye Committee Hearings
(1934-1936)
5 The Nye Committee I
investigated the charge
that WW I was needless and
the US entered so munitions
owners could make big profits
[“merchants of death.”]
5 The Committee did charge
Senator Gerald P. Nye [R-ND]
that bankers wanted war to
protect their loans & arms manufacturers to make
money.
5 Claimed that Wilson had provoked Germany by sailing
in to warring nations’ waters.
5 Resulted in Congress passing several Neutrality Acts.
FDR’s “I hate war” Speech (1936)
Ludlow Amendment (1938)
5 A proposed amendment
to the Constitution
that called for a
national referendum on
any declaration of war
by Congress.
5 Introduced several
Congressman Louis Ludlow
[D-IN]
times by Congressman
Ludlow.
5 Never actually passed.
Neutrality Acts: 1935, 1936, 1937
5 When the President proclaimed the existence of a
foreign war, certain restrictions would automatically
go into effect:
 Prohibited sales of arms to belligerent nations.
 Prohibited loans and credits to belligerent nations.
 Forbade Americans to travel on vessels of nations at
war [in contrast to WW I].
 Non-military goods must be purchased on a “cash-andcarry” basis  pay when goods are picked up.
 Banned involvement in the Spanish Civil War.
5 This limited the options of the President in a crisis.
5 America in the 1930s declined to build up its forces!
US Neutrality
U.S Neutrality
5 Head-in-the Sand Neutrality
 Abandonment of policy of freedom of the seas
 Tailored for World War I, but one war too late
 Assumed the decision for war or not lay in the
solely in the hands of the Americans, not the
satanic forces unleashed in the world
 Prisoner of its own fears, did not realize its
enormous power could have been used for good.
Instead, U.S simply stood on the sidelines
refusing to go in and play.
 Worst of all, U.S. made it clear it would make
no distinction between aggressor and innocent,
which tipped the scales in favor of the
aggressors
Spanish Civil War (1936-1939)
The American “Lincoln Brigade”
Spanish Civil War (1936-1939)
5 Fought between fascist leader Francisco Franco,
and the leftist leaning Spanish government
 Dress rehearsal for World War II
 Hitler and Mussolini aided Franco
 Soviets aided Spanish government
5 As a result of the Neutrality Acts, U.S. did not
sell arms to either belligerent, even though the
U.S. continued to formally recognize the Spanish
Loyalist Government
5 By doing so, U.S., along with other democracies
allowed another democracy to be strangled to
death and helped establish a dictatorship in Spain
Invasion of China (1937)
5 Japan invaded in 1937
5 Roosevelt shrewdly did not declare it a war,
so munitions sold to Chinese, but also
Japan.
5 Quarantine Speech
 Chicago 1937
Called for a quarantine of the aggressors,
most likely through economic embargoes
Speech not well received and Roosevelt
back down. Many feared the moral
quarantine was a prelude to a shooting war
Panay Incident (1937)
5 December 12, 1937.
5 Japan bombed USS
Panay gunboat & three
Standard Oil tankers on
the Yangtze River.
5 The river was an
international waterway.
5 Japan was testing US resolve!
5 Japan apologized, paid US an indemnity, and promised no
further attacks.
5 Most Americans were satisfied with the apology.
5 Results  Japanese interpreted US tone as a license for
further aggression against US interests.
Fascist Aggression
5 1935: Hitler denounced the Versailles Treaty &
the League of Nations [re-arming!]
Mussolini attacks Ethiopia.
5 1936: German troops sent into the Rhineland.
Fascist forces sent to fight with Franco in Spain.
5 1938: Austrian Anschluss.
Rome-Berlin Tokyo Pact [AXIS]
Munich Agreement  Sudetenland
APPEASEMENT!
5 1939: German troops march into the rest of
Czechoslovakia.
Hitler-Stalin Non-Aggression Pact.
5 September 1, 1939: German troops march into
Poland  blitzkrieg  WW II
begins!!!
European response
5 France and Britain declare war on Germany
after the attack on Poland.
5 However, it is clear at this point that the
policy of appeasement was ill-fated.
5 Simply empowered Dictators to continue
their aggressive nature.
5 Stalin also took half of Poland per the
agreement with Hitler.
1939 Neutrality Act
5 In response to Germany’s invasion of Poland.
5 FDR persuades Congress in special session to allow
the US to aid European democracies in a limited way:
 The US could sell weapons to the European
democracies on a “cash-and-carry” basis.
 FDR was authorized to proclaim danger zones which
US ships and citizens could not enter.
5 Results of the 1939 Neutrality Act:
 Aggressors could not send ships to buy US munitions.
 The US economy improved as European demands for
war goods helped bring the country out of the
1937-38 recession.
5 America becomes the “Arsenal of Democracy.”
Phony War and 1940
5 Nothing happened until 1940, then Hitler attacked and
defeated the following:
 Denmark
 Norway
 Netherlands
 Belgium
 June 1940, France surrenders after only a couple of
weeks of fighting.
 Remember Dunkirk
 Defeat of France shocked Americans and they finally
realized the folly of neutrality, especially since all that
stood was Britain
 37 billion (5 times larger than New Deal spending)
appropriated to build military and navy so U.S. would be
ready for war and to aid Britain and its Western
European Allies
 Conscription Law also passed late 1940, first peace time
draft
“America First” Committee
and
Committee to Defend America
by Aiding its Allies
Charles Lindbergh
Pro-British
Propaganda
5 This patriotic
poster was put out
by the Committee
to Defend America
by Aiding the
Allies.
Imperial War Museum
Destroyer Deal
5 During the Battle of Britain, the United States
had a tough choice of either remaining neutral or
directly aiding the British.
 America First v Committee to Defend America
5 However, Roosevelt decided to aid Britain and
first move was in Sept 1940, when he enacted the
Destroyer Deal
 Britain needed destroyers to defend against
U-Boats
 US gave 50 WWI destroyers for free in
return for 8 bases from Newfoundland to
South America
 Public opinion for most part supported this move,
“all aid short of war.”
A Campaign Poster from the Election of
1940
5 Roosevelt emerged as the only president
ever to break the two-term tradition.
FDR Library
Presidential Election of 1940
5 Willkie referred to Roosevelt only as “the third-term candidate.” On
election eve FDR hinted that communists and fascists were among
Willkie’s supporters. Despite these campaign conflicts, the two men
respected each other. FDR later asked Willkie to serve as his
emissary abroad and even suggested that they run together on a
Copyright (c) Houghton Mifflin Company. All Rights Reserved.
coalition ticket in 1944.
“Lend-Lease” Act (1941)
Great Britain.........................$31 billion
Soviet Union...........................$11 billion
France......................................$ 3 billion
China.......................................$1.5 billion
Other European.................$500 million
South America...................$400 million
The amount totaled: $48,601,365,000
No to Lend-Lease
5 Members of the Massachusetts Woman’s Political Club presented
President Roosevelt with a petition protesting adoption of the LendLease Bill and picketed the White House. They feared that
America’s increasing involvement with the Allied cause would
eventually draw their sons into battle--as it did, despite the
Brown Brothers
president’s assurances to the contrary.
Main Flow of Lend-Lease Aid (width of arrows
indicates relative amount)
5 The proud but desperate British prime minister, Winston
Churchill, declared in early 1941, “Give us the tools and we
will finish the job.” Lend-lease eventually provided the
British and other Allies with $50 billion worth of “tools.”
Copyright (c) Houghton Mifflin Company. All Rights Reserved.
Unexpected
Guest, 1941
Detroit News
Atlantic Charter
5 Off the coast of Newfoundland, Roosevelt
and Churchill met on a warship
5 They constructed the Atlantic Charter:
 Had 8 points, in many ways similar to
Wilson’s 14 points
 It outlined the world that the world
democracies imagined at the war’s end
 Calls for self-determination and a new
League of Nations
 Precursor to NATO
8 points of Atlantic Charter
5
Their countries seek no aggrandissement, territorial or other.
5
THEY DESIRE TO SEE NO TERRITORIAL CHANGES THAT DO NOT ACCORD WITH THE FREELY EXPRESSED
WISHES OF THE PEOPLES CONCERNED.
5
They respect the right of all peoples to choose the form of Government under which they will live; and they wish
to see sovereign rights and self-government restored to those who have been forcibly deprived of them.
5
THEY WILL ENDEAVOUR WITH DUE RESPECT FOR THEIR EXISTING OBLIGATIONS, TO FURTHER
ENJOYMENT BY ALL STATES, GREAT OR SMALL, VICTOR OR VANQUISHED, OF ACCESS, ON EQUAL
TERMS, TO THE TRADE AND TO THE RAW MATERIALS OF THE WORLD WHICH ARE NEEDED FOR THEIR
ECONOMIC PROSPERITY.
5
THEY DESIRE TO BRING ABOUT THE FULLEST COLLABORATION BETWEEN ALL NATIONS IN THE
ECONOMIC FIELD, WITH THE OBJECT OF SECURING FOR ALL IMPROVED LABOUR STANDARDS,
ECONOMIC ADVANCEMENT, AND SOCIAL SECURITY.
5
AFTER THE FINAL DESTRUCTION OF NAZI TYRANNY, THEY HOPE TO SEE ESTABLISHED A PEACE WHICH
WILL AFFORD TO ALL NATIONS THE MEANS OF DWELLING IN SAFETY WITHIN THEIR OWN
BOUNDARIES, AND WHICH WILL AFFORD ASSURANCE THAT ALL THE MEN IN ALL THE LANDS MAY LIVE
OUT THEIR LIVES IN FREEDOM FROM FEAR AND WANT.
5
SUCH A PEACE SHOULD ENABLE ALL MEN TO TRAVERSE THE HIGH SEAS AND OCEANS WITHOUT
HINDRANCE.
5
THEY BELIEVE ALL OF THE NATIONS OF THE WORLD, FOR REALISTIC AS WELL SPIRITUAL REASONS,
MUST COME TO THE ABANDONMENT OF THE USE OF FORCE. SINCE NO FUTURE PEACE CAN BE
MAINTAINED IF LAND, SEA, OR AIR ARMAMENTS CONTINUE TO BE EMPLOYED BY NATIONS WHICH
THREATEN, OR MAY THREATEN AGGRESSION OUTSIDE OF THEIR FRONTIERS, THEY BELIEVE, PENDING
THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A WIDER AND PERMANENT SYSTEM OF GENERAL SECURITY, THAT THE
DISARMAMENT OF SUCH NATIONS IS ESSENTIAL. THEY WILL LIKEWISE AID AND ENCOURAGE ALL
OTHER PRACTICABLE MEASURES WHICH WILL LIGHTEN FOR PEACE-LOVING PEOPLES THE CRUSHING
BURDEN OF ARMAMENT."
To convoy or Not to convoy
5 Know the significance of the following
ships:
 Robert Moor
 Greer
 Kearny
 Reuben James
Pearl Harbor
5 Why?
 U.S embargo on oil
 Freezing of Japanese assets
 Negotiations and diplomacy failed
5 So Japan left with a choice:
 Comply with embargo and change aggressive
nature
 Or strike U.S and attack oil-rich neighbors
5 U.S. knew Japan was going to strike, but where?
 Most felt it would be Philippines, not Hawaii
5 December 7, 1941, Japan strikes the Pacific fleet
stationed at Hawaii.
Pearl Harbor
Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto
Pearl Harbor from the Cockpit of
a Japanese Plane
Pearl Harbor – Dec. 7, 1941
A date which will live in infamy!
FDR Signs the War Declaration
USS Arizona, Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor Memorial
2,887 Americans Dead!
Pacific Theater of Operations
“Tokyo Rose”
Paying for the War
Paying for the War
Paying for the War
Betty Grable: Allied Pinup Girl
(She Reminded Men What They Were Fighting For)