The Coming of World War II
The role of American public opinion
in the shaping of American foreign
policy.
I. U.S. Foreign Policy: 1920’s
and 1930’s
• Retreat from
internationalism to
traditional isolationism
• Rejection of League of
Nations membership
• Desire to be engaged
economically with the
world
• Washington Conference
on Naval Disarmament
(1921)
• Kellogg-Briand Pact
(1928)
II. Remaining European Debt to
the United States
• Two types of debt owed to the U.S.
• European argument for forgiveness of this
debt
• American defense of repayment
• Debt finally renegotiated and cut by 50%
• Debt remains $22 billion including interest
payable over 62 years
III. Early Signs of War in the
1930’s
• Origins of the tension and war between
Japan and China—the battle over
Manchuria
• European economic problems weakened the
popularity of democratic governments in
Europe
• Roosevelt ignores these developments at
first, but all that began to change in 1937
IV. Intensified American
Isolationism
• The Nye Commission
(1934-1937)
• Historical arguments
justifying isolationism
• Congressional neutrality
acts (1934-1937)
• The Johnson Act (1934)
• FDR’s “Good Neighbor
Policy” in Latin America
IV. Intensified American
Isolationism (cont.)
• Japanese attack on U.S.
gunboat in China (1937)
• Ludlow amendment
proposed (1938)
• FDR’s indecision
• CDAAA organized (1940)
• “America First”
movement (1940)
• FDR’s “Quarantine
Speech” (1937)
V. The 1930’s: A Volatile World
•
•
•
•
“Have-Not” nations
Japan
The Soviet Union
Growing Soviet
aggression
• Soviet recognition in
1933
• Italy and Ethiopia
• Spanish Civil War
VI. The Early Aggression of
Adolf Hitler
• Violation of the Treaty of
Versailles
• Reoccupation of the
Rhineland (1936)
• The “Anschluss” (1938)
• Crisis in Czechoslovakia
(1938-1939)
-- “Sudetenland”
• Non-Aggression Pact with
the USSR
• Invasion of Poland
(September 1, 1939)
VII. U.S. Reaction to Hitler’s
Aggression
• Isolationism at its peak in
the late 1930’s
• Neutrality in action but
not thought
• “Cash and Carry”
weapons
• German “blitzkrieg”
• Europe after the fall of
France in June of 1940
• US assumptions regarding
the war in Europe
VII. U.S. Reaction to Hitler’s
Aggression (cont.)
• US military build-up
and provisions for
Britain
• “Destroyers for bases”
deal (Sept., 1940)
• The Lend-Lease Act
(March, 1941)
• Lend-Lease Aid to the
Soviets (June, 1941)
VII. U.S. Reaction to Hitler’s
Aggression (cont.)
• American “neutrality
patrols”
• The Atlantic Charter
(August, 1941)
• The “Greer” incident
(September, 1941)
• Undeclared naval war
with the Germans in
the Atlantic ocean
VIII. Japanese Aggression in the
Far East
• Continuing war
between Japan and
China
• Japanese need for oil
• US restrictions on oil
exports to Japan
• Japan began to look
around southeast Asia
for oil
VIII. Japanese Aggression in the
Far East (cont.)
• Japan invades northern
Indochina (Summer of
1940)
• Tripartite Pact (Sept.,
1940)
• Invasion of southern
Indochina (July, 1941)
• The threat to US national
security and the US
response
• Japanese strategy to deal
with the US
IX. The Japanese Attack on Pearl
Harbor
• A “Surprise” Attack
• The significance of the
aircraft carrier
• “Tora, Tora, Tora!”
(December 7, 1941)
• The “limited” goals of the
Admiral Yamamoto
• The problem created by
the attack for the Japanese
• Conspiracy theory
• Congressional resolution
for war