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Interwar Period: United States
Objectives
 Comprehend the factors that contributed to United
States’ national security and foreign policy during the
interwar years.
 Describe the factors that influenced United States’
military doctrine during the interwar period
Roaring Twenties
 The powerful economy might of
America from 1920 to October 1929
is frequently overlooked or simply
submerged by the more exciting
topics such as Prohibition and the
gangsters, the Jazz Age, etc.
 However, the strength of America
was generated and driven by its
vast economic power.
American Foreign Policy (1920s)
 Isolationism – belief that the U.S.
was falsely drawn into WWI
 Demobilization of Armed Forces
 Minimize Foreign Entanglements
that lead to WWI
 League of Nations
 World Court
 Promote Free Trade -- Economic
Prosperity would influence
international relations in preventing
conflict and war
Diplomacy of Peace
 Washington Conference (1921)
 Naval disarmament effort among Britain, Japan and the
United States
 Good Neighbor Policy (1933)
 Policy of U.S. non-intervention and non-interference in the
domestic affairs of Latin America. The United States would
be a “good neighbor” and engage in reciprocal exchanges
with Latin American countries
 Kellogg-Briand Pact (1928)
 Treaty between the United States and other Powers
providing for the renunciation of war as an instrument of
national policy. Signed in 1929 by:
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United States, Australia, Dominion of Canada, Czechoslovkia,
Germany, Great Britain, India, Irish Free State, Italy, New Zealand,
and Union of South Africa, Poland, Belgium, by France and Japan
The Great Depression
Signaled by the catastrophic collapse of
stock-market prices on the New York
Stock Exchange in October 1929
 12 million people out of work
 12,000 newly unemployed every day
 20,000 companies filed bankruptcy
 1616 banks filed bankruptcy
 1 farmer in 20 evicted
 23,000 people committed suicide in
one year - the highest ever
The New Deal
 Among the New Deal measures in 1933:
 Emergency Banking Act: Provided the president
with the means to reopen viable banks and
regulate banking;
 Economy Act: Cut federal costs through
reorganization of and cuts in salaries and
veterans' pensions;
 Civilian Conservation Corps Act : Three million
young men, between the ages of 18 to 25, found
work in road building, forestry labor , etc.
Federal Emergency Relief Act: distributed $500
million to states and localities for relief
 Tennessee Valley Authority Act: Allowed
government to build dams and power plants in
the Tennessee Valley, coupled with agricultural
and industrial planning, to generate and sell the
power, and to engage in area development.
U.S. Foreign Policy in the 1930’s
 Nation still struggling out of the Great Depression
 Isolationism and Peace Movements remain popular in
American public thought
 Journey to “The Arsenal of Democracy”
 Neutrality Act (1935): Designed to keep the United States out of a
possible European war by banning shipment of war materiel to
belligerents
 Cash and Carry (1939) The revision allowed the sale of materiel to
belligerents, as long as the recipients arranged for the transport
using their own ships and paid immediately in cash
 Lend lease (1940) European allies didn't have to pay cash or arrange
transportation any longer. Instead, the U.S. would demand payment
at a later time.
Interwar Defense Policy
 Demobilization
 Army from Division to Brigades
 Defense policy strongly influenced by:
 National Strategy: Isolationism and
diplomacy first
 Budgetary constraints
 Navy or Air Force
 Airmen begin an aggressive fight for
budgetary survival and institutional
existence
 Capture the public eye and interest
Air Corps Tactical School (ACTS)
 Arguably one of the most advanced schools
on airpower theory during the interwar
years
 Strong zealotry for airpower for defense, but
more importantly for strategic bombing.
 Established a fundamental doctrine:
 Modern great powers rely on industry and
economic centers for survival
 Disruption or paralysis of these systems
destroys the enemy’s capability and will to
fight
 Target select is vital: US industrial studies by
ACTS in 1930s.
 US Navy reaction
Fight for Independence
 While ACTS fought US Navy for dwindling
defense budget during the interwar period,
it also fought it own service…the US Army
 Army leadership very skeptical of ACTS
claims, but airpower was also drawing in
defense spending
 Court Marshall of Col Billy Mitchell (1925)
 Chief ACTS concerns:
 Failure to understand strategic bombing
 Inadequate equipment/training
 “Penny packing” use of airplanes
 General “Hap” Arnold
8:30-10:45
War Plan Development
 In late 1940, President Roosevelt tasks the armed services to develop a
series of war plans against the Axis Powers.
 The United States developed a series of plans, called Rainbow Plans,
that addressed array of potential adversaries. The primary war planning
institutions were the war colleges of the US Army and US Navy (Joint
Planning Board).
 Assumption of a defensive posture by the U.S.
 Provision of support for the British Commonwealth and China.
 Implementation of Rainbow 4 actions for defense of the hemisphere.
 Cooperation with certain South American countries.
 Undertaking of "progressive" mobilization including a draft and other
measures to accelerate production of war material and training of
personnel.
 Beginning of preparations for the "almost inevitable conflict" with
totalitarian powers.
War Plan Development
 Army Air Corps General Staff and ACTS
slip into the annex of the US Army’s plan,
Air War Plan Directive 1 (AWPD-1).
 AWPD-1 while agrees to provide an air
defense and support of land forces in case
of an invasion, it is largely a detailed
blueprint of daylight precision bombing.
 The Army’s overall War Plan is approved
(as is the AWPD-1 annex).
 AWPD-1 becomes the US air war strategy
for WWII.
Interwar Period: United States
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Battle proven
Joint Operations / Planning
Adequate Defense Budget
Adaptive to new technology
Consistency of command and
organization
Technologically advanced defense
industry
Industrial Capacity
Military Readiness
Political Unity