Foreign Policy Tensions
Interventionism
• Collective
security
• “Wilsonianism”
• Business
interests
Disarmament
• Isolationism
• Nativists
• 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]
Four-Power Pact
(December 13, 1921).
Britain, France, Japan and the United
States agreed to submit disputes
among themselves over Pacific issues to
a conference for resolution.
Pledged mutual respect for the
possessions and mandates of other
signatories (participants) in the Pacific.
Five-Power Naval Limitation Treaty
(February 6, 1922).
The leading naval powers, Britain, France,
Italy, Japan and the United States pledged
adherence to limitations on the tonnage of
capital ships and accepted a moratorium on
new naval construction. 5-3-1 ration
Britain could only have 1 ship for every 3
ships in Japan, and Japan could only have 3
ships for every 5 ships in the U.S. Britain,
U.S. and Japan agreed to dismantle some
existing vessels to meet the ratio.
Five-Power Naval Limitation Treaty
(February 6, 1922).
Agreed on a series of rules for the use
of submarines in future warfare and also
outlawed the use of poisonous gases as
a military weapon.
Nine-Power Treaty
(February 6, 1922).
Big Four, plus Italy, Belgium, the
Netherlands, Portugal and China endorsed
the Open Door Policy and pledged mutual
respect for Chinese territorial integrity and
independence.
In the following months, the U.S.
Senate ratified all of the treaties
from the Washington Conference.
The Kellogg-Briand Pact provided for
outlawing war as an “an instrument of national
policy,” and was further notable for the
following:
The pact was signed in August 1928 by 15
nations.
In the following months, more than 60 countries
joined in this renunciation of war.
The U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee
studied the matter and issued a report that
maintained that the pact did not impair the nation’s
ability to act to protect the Monroe Doctrine.
US Senate ratified this treaty.
Afghanistan
Finland
Peru
Albania
Guatemala
Portugal
Austria
Hungary
Rumania
Bulgaria
Iceland
Russia
China
Latvia
Kingdom of the Serbs
Cuba
Liberia
Croats and Slovenes
Denmark
Lithuania
Siam
Dominican Republic
Netherlands
Spain
Egypt
Nicaragua
Sweden
Estonia
Norway
Turkey
Ethiopia
Panama
Additional countries which join by July 24, 1929. Persia, July 2, 1929; Greece,
August 3, 1929; Honduras, August 6, 1929; Chile, August 12, 1929; Luxemburg August
14, 1929; Danzig, September 11, 1929; Costa Rica, October 1, 1929; Venezuela,
October 24, 1929.
The Kellogg-Briand Pact provided for outlawing war
as an “an instrument of national policy,” and was
further notable for the following:
Major problems with this treaty
1. No enforcement mechanism was provided for changing the
behavior of warring signatories.
2. The agreement was interpreted by most of the signatories
to permit “defensive” war.
3. No expiration date was provided.
4. No provision existed for amending the agreement was
included.
FDR’s “Good Neighbor” Policy
 Important to have all
nations in the Western
Hemisphere united in
lieu of foreign
aggressions.
 FDR  The good
neighbor respects
himself and the rights
of others.
 Policy of non-
intervention and
cooperation.
Hoover-Stimpson Doctrine
(1932)
 US would not recognize any territorial acquisitions
that were achieved by force.
 Japan was infuriated because the US had
conquered new
territories a few
decades earlier.
 Japan bombed
Shanghai in
1932  massive
casualties.
FDR Recognizes the Soviet
Union (late 1933)
 FDR felt that
recognizing Moscow
might bolster the
US against Japan.
 Maybe trade with
the USSR would
help the US
economy during the
Depression.
Ludlow Amendment (1938)
 A proposed amendment
to the Constitution
that called for a
national referendum on
any declaration of war
by Congress.
 Introduced several
Congressman Louis Ludlow
[D-IN]
times by Congressman
Ludlow.
 Never actually passed.
•1935: prohibited
arms shipments to
all belligerent
countries.
•1936: forbid loans
to all belligerents
•1939: prohibited
Americans from
traveling on ships of
belligerent nations
•FDR responds to Fascist aggression in
Europe by protecting democracies and
preparing the US for war…..BUT TRYING TO
Neutral
REMAIN ISOLATED AND NEUTRAL
1939 Cash – Carry Program Any nation can
buy from US as long as they pay cash and
Carry it back to Europe
1940 Destroyer for Bases deal - Brits need
submarine hunters, US has a bunch of old
destroyers in dry dock.
•US trades the Brits the ships for leases and
bases in the Caribbean
•FDR talking neutrality but prepares for war
•Americans wanted to
remain neutral.
•America First
Committee
•Committee to Defend
America by Aiding the
Allies
•Feb. 21, 1940: If
Germany is defeating
England & France,
should the U.S. declare
war on Germany and
send our Army and Navy
to Europe to fight
against Hitler?
Yes: 23%
Neutral
No 77%
LEND LEASE
•RENTING, LEASING, GIVING BRITAIN AND LATER
SOVIET UNION AND CHINA, MILITARY WEAPONS TO
ARM THEM AGAINST THE GERMANS AND
JAPANESE…
•FDR’s FINAL ATTEMPT TO REMAIN NEUTRAL!
•USA BECOMES THE “ARSENAL OF DEMOCRACY”
•“If your neighbor’s house is on fire you lend them a
garden hose, you do not ask when you are going to
get it back” FDR
U. S. Lend-Lease Act,
1941, “ US becomes the arsenal
of democracy”
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
lend lease
US offered Lend Lease as a last defense to stay out of war. It was given to
Britain during the Battle of Britain in 1940, the Soviet Union after Hitler’s
invasion in 1941 and China. The US became the “arsenal of democracy”.
atlantic1
•FDR and Winston
Churchill meet on
the USS Augusta in
the North Atlantic to
sign the Atlantic
Charter, August 12,
1941.
•They met together to make known certain common
principles of their respective countries on which they
base their hopes for a better future
for the world.
atlantic1
FIRST, we seek not conquest of land or
territory…..
SECOND, no territorial changes of land
between nations.
THIRD, Restoration of sovereign rights and
self-government
FOURTH, Access to raw materials for all
FIFTH, World economic cooperation
SIXTH, Freedom from fear and want
SEVENTH, freedom of the seas
EIGHTH, Disarmament of aggressors
NINTH, a United Nations for world peace.
•
Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto
•
Commander of the Japanese
Navy
•
Responsible for the success
of the Japanese attack of
Pearl Harbor.
•
Captain Mitsuo Fuchida
•
Led the attack at Pearl
Harbor.
•
“Tora, Tora, Tora”
•
“Attack, Attack,
Attack”
WWII Military Leaders
In
less than 2 hours, the Pacific Fleet
lost two battleships, six others were
heavily battered and nearly a dozen
lesser vessels put out of action.
More than 150 planes were wrecked;
over 2,300 servicemen were killed and
1,100 wounded.
Blame was widespread, both on the
Officials in Washington and on the
Admiral and the General in Hawaii.
•After FDR’s Day
of Infamy speech
asking for a
declaration of
war against
Japan, Congress
approved the
declaration….
•FDR signed the
declaration of
war against
Japan on Dec. 8,
1941