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American Foreign
Policy:
1920-1941
Foreign Policy Tensions
Isolationism and
Disarmament
Internationalism
•
Collective security
•
Isolationists
•
“Wilsonianism”
•
Nativists-why?
•
Business interestswhy?
Democrats
•
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
A Definition of Fascism
Fascism is the totalitarian philosophy of
government that glorifies the state and nation
and assigns to the state control over every aspect
of national life.
•Key Aspects:
•Extreme Nationalism and racism
•Militaristic Expansion
•Forceful, charismatic leader
•Private property, but with strong national controls
•Ardently anticommunist
•No free speech or civil rights
The Fasces Symbol
Comes from the
Latin word fasces.
In ancient Rome,
the fasces were
cylindrical bundles
of wooden rods,
tied tightly
together around an
axe.
They symbolize
unity and power.
Mussolini: The First Fascist
5 Italy in chaos after WW1
5 Unemployment and inflation
high. Widespread strikes.
5 Middle and upper classes
feared the rise of communism
and demanded stronger
leadership
5 The king appoints him head of
the government in October
1922. He crushes all opposition
and becomes the first fascist
dictator of Europe.
Mussolini Was Hitler’s Role Model
Hitler Takes Power
5 Germans desperate and
angry because of Treaty
of Versailles
5 German economy in a
shambles because of
reparations and the Great
Depression
5 Germans turn to Hitler as
their last hope. He is
appointed Chancellor in
Jan. 1933
5 He quickly dismantles
Germany’s democracy and
declares himself dictator.
Hitler’s Nazi Dream
5 Unite all German speaking
people into a great German
empire.
5 Purify Germany racially.
Only Aryans, or the
“master race” should have
rights. Inferior races
(Jews, Slavs, non-whites)
should be exterminated or
enslaved.
5 Provide living space or
lebensraum for the master
race through conquest.
Greater Germany
Map Based on Nazi plans of conquest in 1940
Spanish Civil War (1936-1939)
Francisco Franco
•Fascist military leader,
Francisco Franco rebelled
against the democratically
elected government of
Spain
•Hitler and Mussolini both
sent troops and weapons to
help Franco
•The US refused to help
because it would violate our
neutrality
•Spain falls to the Fascists
Stalin’s Soviet Union
•Totalitarian communist
dictatorship
•No private property,
everything owned by the
government
•No free speech or civil
rights
•Theoretically no racism,
but USSR dominated by
Russians
How did we respond
to these events in
Europe?
NEUTRALITY!
NEUTRALITY!
NEUTRALITY!
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.
Hoover-Stimson 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.
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.
Nye Committee Hearings
(1934-1936)
5 The Nye Committee investigated
the charge the US entered WWI so
weapons manufacturers could make
big profits [“merchants of death.”]
5 The Committee found 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.
Senator Gerald P. Nye [R-ND]
FDR’s “Quarantine” Speech (1937)
•Condemned Japan and
Ethiopia for their
aggressive actions.
•Urged democracies to
"quarantine" the aggressors
by economic embargoes.
•Criticized by isolationists
fearing FDR might lead US
into war.
•FDR retreated and sought
less direct means to address
totalitarianism.
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!
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.
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  Germany seizes the
Sudatenland.
APPEASEMENT!
"You were given the choice between war and dishonor.
You chose dishonor and you will have war." –Winston
Churchill, commenting on the 1938 Munich Agreement that surrendered
Czechoslovakia to Hitler
The Fate of Czechoslovakia(1938)
•1939: German
troops seize
the rest of
Czechoslovakia.
•France and
England do
nothing.
US Neutrality
The Polish Corridor-1939
Nazi-Soviet Pact-August 1939
5 Hoping to avoid war
with the USSR, Hitler
signs a non-aggression
pact with Stalin.
5 Both countries pledged
to never attack each
other.
5 They also agree
secretly to divide
Poland between them
once war starts.
Nazi Invasion of Poland
5 September 1, 1939: German troops march
into Poland  blitzkrieg  WW II begins!!!
Germany Invades Poland-Sept.1, 1939
1939 Neutrality Act (Cash and Carry)
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.”
The “Phony War” Ends:
Spring, 1940
Germany Invades France
Spring 1940
Dunkirk Evacuated
June 4, 1940
France Surrenders: June,1940
Selective Services Act-1940
5 Provides for the first
peacetime draft in the
nations history
5 Congress reacts to the
unexpected and rapid fall
of France
5 All American men between
the ages of 21 and 35 must
register.
5 1.2 million troops to be
trained in one year.
5 Isolationist howled, but
the public was moving away
from strict neutrality.
Now Britain Stands Alone!
The Battle of Britain-Summer 1940
Britain Stands alone!
“America First” Committee
Charles Lindbergh
Destroyers for Bases Deal-July 1940
5 FDR trades 50 old destroyers to Britain in exchange for use of
Caribbean bases.
5 Agreement achieved by simple presidential agreement.
5 Isolationists charged FDR had circumvented Congress and was
trying to get U.S. into the war.
The Four Freedoms Speech-1941
5 FDR proposes lending
money to Britain in
defense of the four
freedoms.
5 -Freedom of Speech
5 -Freedom of Religion
5 -Freedom from Want
5 -Freedom from Fear
Effect: US edging away
from neutrality.
“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
The Atlantic Charter-August 1941
5 FDR meets secretly
with Churchill of the
coast of Newfoundland.
5 The two leaders agree
on peace objectives
when the war is over.
These include:
 Self-determination
for all people
 No territorial
expansion
 Free trade
 An international
peace-keeping
organization
Shoot on Sight Orders-Sept. 1941
5 FDR orders US ships to escort
British lend-lease ships as far
as Iceland.
5 The USS Greer is attacked by a
U-boat it was hunting.
5 FDR extends orders to all ships
to attack all German ships on
sight.
5 In effect, US is fighting an
undeclared naval war with
Germany.
5 Neutrality now a sham.
What is the
situation with
Japan?
Japanese Attack Manchuria
(1931)
5 League of Nations condemned the
action.
5 Japan leaves the League.
5 The US does nothing-wants to stay neutral.
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.
Japan Invades the rest of China-1937
5 The Japanese invade the
rest of China, intent on
acquiring more living
space for the Japanese
people.
5 The Japanese Army
butchers millions of
Chinese in their efforts
to capture and colonize
mainland China.
5 The US is outraged, and
sends more weapons to
the Chinese Army
U.S. Embargoes Japan
5 July 1941- Japan seizes French military bases in
Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos.
5 US responds to this aggression imposing an
embargo on Japan cutting them off from oil and
scrap metal, which they needed to run their
military machine.
5 The US would lift the embargo when the Japanese
withdrew their forces from China and Vietnamain’t gonna happen.
5 November 1941- Japan prepares sneak attack on
Pearl Harbor while pretending to negotiate peace
at the same time.
5 December 1941-The US decodes a Japanese
message—the attack is coming. We just don’t know
where.
Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto
Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor Memorial
2,887 Americans Dead!
FDR Signs the War Declaration
Pacific Theater of Operations