20’s and 30’s
Foreign Relations
Unit II- U.S. Foreign Policy History
Chapter 22 Sect. 1 + 2 and
Chapter 23 Sect. 3
Chapter 22 and 23 Reading Quiz
1. Why were U.S. troops in Russia from 1918-1920?
2. Why was Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer
attacking the Bolsheviks?
3. Who were Sacco and Vanzetti?
4. What were the Washington Treaties (Five Power,
Four Power and Nine Power) trying to do?
5. How did Harding feel about the League of
Nations and the Versailles Treaty?
6. How did Harding feel about the $9 billion in war
debts owed to the United States?
7. What was the Kellogg-Briand Pact?
8. How did the Japanese end the peace in 1931?
Allied Intervention in Russia 1918-1921.
1917- Bolsheviks led by Lenin, took over Russia from the
Tsar and pulled the country out of WWI. Made a peace
agreement with Germany.
To stop the Germans from moving their troops out to the
Western Front, the Allies stepped in to Russia
The other purpose for the intervention was to help Russia
form a stable government- keeping the Communists
from taking over.
After the Armistice came in 1918, American troops stayed in
Russia to fight against communism. Along with English,
French and Japanese troops
This helped prolong the Civil War in Russia as the Allies
joined the White side.
This eventually failed and the Allies pulled out (no clear
mission, no rules of engagement, no agreement, lack of
understanding of Russian history and people, and too
many parties to deal with. However, it would help lead
to the Cold War and the Soviet distrust of Western
powers.
Post WWI Reaction
The war actually
created new
problems- starvation,
death, revolution in
countries,
governments and
even factories.
Labor Strife- in 1919 over 4 million
workers went on strike. Union
violence- such as in Boston. The
government, businesses, courts and
public opinion helped to break up the
strikes and the unions.
Urban Riots- In crease of racial
friction after the War. 70 blacks
lynched after the war. 1919-25 race
riots. Chicago was the worst. Attorney
General A. Mitchell Palmer blamed the
riots and rioters of being Communist
agitators.
Bomb scares- Epidemic of terrorism.
Letter bombs being sent to public
officials. Lunch time bomb on Wall
street killed 38 and wounded 100’s/
A. Mitchell Palmer pursues the
Bolsheviks
To Palmer, the Attorney General, the
strikes, bombs and riots were the work of
revolutionaries
He believed the country was infested with
Bolsheviks and Anarchists.
He began a campaign against them.
Deportations to Russia, raids on Communist
meetings, jail, illegal arrests. Palmer
recruited John Edgar Hoover as his special
assistant and together they used the
Espionage Act (1917) and the Sedition Act
(1918) to launch a campaign against
radicals and left-wing organizations.
Citizens followed his example and vented
their fears on Jews, blacks, Catholics, and
all reformers, and mostly on Foreigners.
The Fear of Foreigners
Immigration Restriction League- This organization
was founded in 1894 by a group of Boston
lawyers, professors, and philanthropists who were
alarmed by the large number of immigrants
entering America each year. Got Congress to
pass a law during WWI – every immigrant must
be able to read and write- Literacy.
The restrictionists believed in superior and
inferior races- and this law kept the inferior ones
out. Prejudice against Eastern and Southern
Europeans. By 1917, Congress had expanded the
legal definition of those "likely to become a public
charge" to include: "all idiots, imbeciles,
feebleminded persons, epileptics, insane
persons…," "persons of constitutional
psychopathic inferiority…, and" "mentally or
physically defective..,"
1921- National immigration quotas introduced.
Sacco and Vanzetti
Two Italian immigrants, who
became unwilling martyrs for
the struggle of equal justice
for all.
Arrested for a hold up at a
shoe factory in which one
person was killed.
They had no criminal record
but were anarchists.
Tried, found guilty and
sentenced to die with real
hard evidence.
Were they victims of fear and
prejudice?
President Harding and Return to Normalcy
President Harding was out
of his depth in dealing with
most foreign affairs. But he
tried to be decisive. He
would not join the League of
Nations and ignored the
Versailles Treaty. Instead
the U.S. made a separate
peace with Germany- July 2,
1921.
When the world was at war
no one could feel at peace.
Washington Naval Conference 1921
Arms race was too expensive for America so a peace
conference was a better idea.
Five power treaty- Great Britain, Japan, France, U.S.A and
Italy agree to limit their ships to 500,000 tons. Japan
300,000, and France and Italy – 175,000 tons. No more
naval bases or forts in the Pacific.
Nine Power Treaty- Protected western interests in Asia by
binding all nine countries to the Open Door policy
regarding China
Four Power Treaty- US, Great Britain, Japan and France.respect each others possessions in the Pacific
Washington Conference was the first successful
disarmament conference in modern history. But, there was
no way to enforce the agreements and Japan began to
organize and become a great Asian power.
World Finances- 1930
The Depression of 1930 left a mark on foreign
affairs. US banks had made large loans to
European Banks. Many of these were on the verge
of financial collapse after World War I.
Debt Moratorium- the US and banks would
postpone for one year any payments by our former
allies. Hoover asked the same for German
reparation payments. This did not save the
situation.
Nations gave up the gold standard.- the value of
their money no longer tied to gold
Hoover would not just cancel the war debts.
All of the nations that owed us money defaulted on
the loans except Finland.
Europeans felt their own depression was brought
on worse by the war debts and high U.S. tariffs.
The U.S. should be more charitable.
Kellogg-Briand Pact- 1928
Great Britain, France, Italy, Germany and Japan and 60
other nations signed a peace pact
They all promised to “renounce war as an instrument of
national policy in their relations with one another.”
The agreed to seek the solution of all disputes or conflicts
by peaceful means.
Signed in Paris- August 1928
Opponents- Pact was just pious hope. America is not
secure just because it hates war.
Proponents- Had confidence in the peace pact to now make
it safe to reduce the size of the costly American navy
New Forces in Europe
Mussolini
Hitler
Mussolini in ItalyFascism 1922. Refuses
to sign any more
agreements.
France refused to limit
its naval power
Hitler rising to power
in Germany in
defiance of the
Versailles Treaty. Nazi
party
Coolidge in Latin America
Both Dollar Diplomacy and Good Neighbor
1916-1924 U.S. marines in Dominican Republic
to protect U.S. sugar and fruit holdings
Nicaragua- 1912- U.S. Marines put a friendly
power back in charge. But revolution still
continued. Marines there to protect U.S.
interests in coffee, bananas, and sugar. U.S.
gives up and pulls out in 1933.
Mexico 1917- Mexican constitution declares all
oil deposits belong to the Mexican government.
Expropriation- national takeover. U.S. oil
companies lost their leases. 1925 Mexico takes
over all oil fields. Coolidge objects to the
confiscation of American property.
1927- Congress settles the issue peacefully.
Ambassador Morrow, and Charles Lindbergh
(“Ambassador of Goodwill”)
Hoover and Latin America
Good will to Latin America
Roosevelt Corollary was no
longer the policy of the U.S.
Monroe doctrine was a
declaration of the U.S vs..
Europe not U.S. vs. Latin
America.
Hoover would recognize any
“de facto” government.
Because it in fact controlled
the country.
Japan - 1931
Japanese Army seizes Manchuria and
make it a puppet state Manchuko.
This shattered the firm agreements of the 9
power treaty and Kellogg-Briand pact.
US protested in a letter.
League of Nations invoked the KelloggBriand pact to outlaw Japan. The League
was powerless to stop a powerful,
determined country.
Japan bombs and attacked the city of
Shanghai, China, but neither the League or
the United States did anything to risk war.
America to concerned about the
Depression.
Hoover refused to boycott, or put economic
sanctions on Japan for fear this would be
the first step to war.