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Apush Ch. 27—The Global Crisis
The Diplomacy of the New Era
Replacing the League
Secretary of Charles Evan Hughes secured legislation from congress declaring the war with Germany at an
end, and proceeded to negotiate separate peace treaties with each of the Central Powers. Though America
did not put faith in the league, Hughes worked to make a new organization for world peace and stability.
He created the Washington Conference of 1921, which set limits on naval armaments in response to the
arms race between the US, Britain, and Japan. The Five-Power, Nine-Power, and Four Power act regulated
naval tonnage, maintained China’s open- door policy, and kept stability in the Pacific, respectively. The
Kellogg-Briand Pact, a multilateral treaty, outlawed war as a form of national policy.
Debts and Diplomacy
American diplomacy was most concerned with keeping potential for overseas trade expansion limitless.
The most effective way to do that was to prevent war and arms races, as well as international financial
health. America was owed $11 billion in loans from the Allies, and did not want to relieve them. Charles G.
Dawes, American banker and diplomat, proposed that American banks would loan to the Germans to help
pay off their Allied reparations, and in turn the Allies would reduce those reparations. The result was a
system of circular loans that survived only because of the monstrous amount of European debt. America as
a result had more economic presence in Europe than ever before, which continued until 1931. America had
similar expansion into Latin America, which was just as reckless
Hoover and the World Crisis
Hoover lacked the capability of dealing with the chaos that was leading to war. He tried to promote
goodwill in Latin America by recognizing any sitting government, regardless of how it came to power.
Hoover’s economic diplomacy was ineffective in Europe, which was in turmoil. In the late 1920’s
and early 30’s, both Mussolini’s fascist regime and Hitler’s National Socialist (Nazi) party were
gaining control. Hitler’s belief in Aryan racial superiority, his commitment to lebensraum (living
space) for Germans, his anti-Semitism and his militarism all posed threats to German peace.
More immediately alarming was the crisis in Manchuria, which was formally a part of Chiang Kai-Shek’s
china, but economically controlled by the Japanese. When Kai-Shek began to try to exercise
more control in the region, Japan staged a coup and a later invasion in fall of 1931. Secretary of
State Henry Stimson was left with few options to deal with the Japanese when Hoover forbade
him to cooperate with the League of Nations. His only real tool was refusing to recognize the
new Japanese territories. In early 1932, the conquest of Manchuria was complete, and Japan
pushed into shanghai, killing thousands of civilians. America’s stab at a peace policy based on
voluntary cooperation from nations had failed. America had two options: a more vigorous
internationalism and alignment with other countries, or a more vigorous nationalism and
dealing with problems alone. Both styles would be employed in the following years.
Isolationism and Internationalism
Depression Diplomacy
Hoover had committed America to attend the World Economic Conference in June 1933 to discuss how
war debts and reinforcing the gold standard could help the American economy. Yet by the time the
conference assembled, Roosevelt was president and had already rescinded the gold standard. At the
conference, Roosevelt issued a famous “bombshell”, chastising the orthodox views of the delegates and
rejecting Western currency stabilization (not until 1936 did the administration agree to stabilization
negotiations).
Though Roosevelt was not interested in currency stabilization or war debts (he created a bill preventing any
US bank to loan to defaulting nations), he was interested in America’s position in world trade. He approved
the Reciprocal Trade Agreement Act of 1934, which provided for treaties between nations concerning
mutual tariff reduction. By 1939, 21 nations had signed treaties and American exports had increased by
40%, however, these treaties only admitted products into the US that did not compete with American
products, so foreign nations were not obtaining American currency to buy American products or pay debts
to America.
America and the Soviet Union
There was tension and even open hostility between the US and Russia ever since the Bolshevik Revolution
in 1917. However, many were urging a change in policy in both nations. The US saw a trading partner, the
Russians saw an ally against the expanding Japanese to their southeast. In November 1933, Soviet
Foreign Minister Maxim Livitnov reached an agreement with FDR. Soviets would cease
propaganda efforts in the US and would protect US citizens, and the US would recognize the
communist regime. However, by 1934, relations had deteriorated due to a lack of trade
expansion into Russia by America and no interest from America to stop Japanese aggression
The Good Neighbor Policy
America aimed to enhance both diplomatic and economic relations with Latin America through the Good
Neighbor Policy. During the 1930’s, America increased its exports to and imports from all Latin American
countries by over 100%. At the Inter-American Conference in Montevideo, 1933, Secretary of State Hull
signed a formal convention stating “ no state has the right to intervene in the internal or
external affairs of another.” This affirmed the trend that Hoover had started of no military
influence in Latin America. FDR kept this pledge throughout his office, but Americans still
dominated Latin America through economic influence
The Rise of Isolationism
When faced with the choice to stabilize the world or isolate from it, many Americans chose isolationism.
Wilsonian internationalists had grown disillusioned with the League of Nations and its inability
to curb Japanese aggression. Other sources of isolationism were popular sentiment that big
business and Wall Street had manipulated America into World War I.
In order to prevent the US from being dragged into looming European war, the Neutrality Acts of 1935,
1936, and 1937. They established military arms embargos against both victim and aggressor in any military
conflict and warned citizens that travel on ships of warring nations was at their own risk. The 1937 act
created the cash and carry policy, which allowed belligerents to purchase nonmilitary goods only with cash
and transport them away with their own vessels.
When Mussolini invaded Ethiopia in October 1935, the League of Nations protested, and Mussolini
responded by withdrawing Italy and joining the Axis. This strengthened support for isolationism. The
Spanish Civil War also strengthened both US isolationism and neutrality (though America was
sympathetic to the existing Republican government defending against the Axis-supported fascist
Falangists).
FDR did not fully agree with isolationism. He was especially concerned with Japanese aggression. In a
1937 speech in Chicago, he warned that Japan should be “quarantined” from the global community if they
continued. Public response was hostile to his anti-isolationist view. However, only months later, Japanese
zeroes bombed the US gunboat Panay in China as it sailed the Yangtze River. Though it was in broad
daylight and the ship had a large American flag on it, Japan claimed it was an accident and
isolationists seized the Japanese apology and pressured the administration to overlook the
attack.
The Failure of Munich
Hitler began to show his aim for German expansion when he occupied France and pressured Austria into a
union. It also became clear that he planned on conquest of Czechoslovakia. Willing to prevent a crisis at all
costs, leaders of France and Britain met with Hitler in Munich on September 29, 1938. France and
Britain had agreed to Hitler’s claim in Czechoslovakia if Hitler swore to expand no farther. Prime
Minster Neville Chamberlain was credited with assuring peace for Europe. However, Munich
“appeasement” failed when Hitler fully occupied Czechoslovakia in March and in April began
issuing threats to Poland. Britain and France assured Poland that they would support them if
Hitler followed through on his threats, and they tried to get Russia to provide mutual defense.
However, miffed that he had not even been invited to the Munich Conference, he ignored their
requests and signed a nonaggression pact with Germany August 1939. Their greatest threat
handled, Germany staged an incident on the border of Poland, claiming he had been attacked
and launched a full-scale invasion of Poland. Britain and France declared war two days later,
September 3, 1939. World War II began.
From Neutrality to Intervention
Neutrality tested
FDR wanted to help the Allies by making armaments available to them. He asked for a revision of the
Neutrality Acts to allow sale of arms to warring nations. It was weaker than he would have liked, but it was
changed: American ships were still not allowed into war zones, but belligerents could purchase military
items on the same cash and carry basis as previously stated with nonmilitary items.
Taking advantage of the war, the Soviets overran Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania and later invaded Finland.
The US stopped shipments of arms to Russia, but little more than that.
Spring 1945, Hitler launched a Western invasion: first Denmark and Norway, then Netherlands and
th
Belgium, and finally deep into France. The Allies were futile against the Nazi blitzkrieg. June 10 ,
Mussolini brought Italy into the War, invading France from the south as Hitler fought from the
nd
north. France fell quickly, and on June 22 , Nazi forces marched into Paris.
FDR quickly began increasing both US defenses and support to the Allies, notably Britain. He was able to
do this without opposition because of shifting public opinion. Most people thought Germany was a direct
threat to the US. Several groups arose to lobby for their opinions. The Committee to Defend America
supported increased support for America; the Fight for Freedom Committee wanted an immediate
declaration of war; America First Committee was totally isolationist and supported by many
prominent Republican leaders (as well as fringe Nazi supporters and anti-Semites).
The Third Term Campaign
The president broke tradition and ran for an unprecedented third term, with Henry A. Wallace as a running
mate (considered by many to be too liberal). Since the issue of the 1940 election was the war, FDR took a
moderate stance, favoring neither extreme isolationism nor intervention. Because of this, the Republicans
had to nominate a moderate as well: the dynamic, attractive, but politically inexperienced businessman,
Wendell Willkie. Both parties took essentially the same stance of generous assistance to the
Allies but keeping the country out of war. Though Willkie attracted more Republican support
than anyone in decades, FDR won decisively, 55% of popular votes and 449 electoral votes to
Willkie’s 82.
Neutrality Abandoned
In December 1940, Britain was virtually bankrupt and could no longer meet cash-and-carry requirements.
FDR created the “lend-lease” system to continue aid to them, so they could lend and lease armaments to
any nation deemed vital to the US’s defense. To protect supplies from Nazi U-boats, America began
patrolling the Atlantic as far east as Iceland and radioing British ships about Nazi submarine
locations. Roosevelt argued this was “hemispheric defense,” and all US boats were still in a
neutral zone.
Fall 1941, Germany invaded the Soviet Union. When they did not surrender, FDR extended lend-lease
privileges to the USSR. Now that the US was aiding German enemies on two fronts, Nazi submarines
began a campaign against US ships. After several successful U-boat attacks, US merchant vessels began to
be fully armed and sent all the way into belligerent ports, in effect creating a naval war with Germany.
The Road to Pearl Harbor
In September 1940, Japan signed the Tripartite Act, essentially extending the Axis into Asia (though the
wars in the Pacific and Europe were mostly separate conflicts). When Tokyo failed to respond to FDR’s
harsh warnings against continued Japanese aggression, he froze all Japanese assets in the US and
established a complete trade embargo. Though ostensibly Japan wanted negotiations, war was imminent.
Intelligence had received notice of a Japanese attack after November 29 within a matter of days, but no way
to know where the attack would take place.
Though Pearl Harbor was warned, no one thought a Japanese attack could take place so far from Japan ,
and nothing was done. On Sunday December 7, 1941, Japanese bombers took off from aircraft
carriers and bombed Pearl Harbor in two waves. The US lost 8 battleships, 3 cruisers, 4 other
vessels, 188 airplanes, and several vital shore installations. More than 2000 soldiers and sailors
died, and another 1000 were injured.
On December 8, Roosevelt addressed a joint session of Congress and declared war on Japan, and by
December 11, Italy and Germany.