American
Foreign Policy:
1920-1941
IB History of the Americas
GUIDING QUESTIONS
To what extent did the United
States adopt an isolationist
policy in the 1920s and 1930s?
For what reasons did the United
States go from being isolationist
to interventionist?
Supplement to this Discussion
• As we discuss how the United States as a
Nation transformed from being isolationist to
engaging in war, we will be reading, analyzing,
and discussing the following speeches from
FDR:
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–
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“I Hate War” 1936
“Quarantine the Aggressors” 1937
“Arsenal of Democracy” 1939
“The Four Freedoms” January 1941
“Infamy” December 1941
Foreign Policy Tensions
Interventionism
Disarmament
•
Collective security
•
Isolationism
•
“Wilsonianism”
•
Nativists
•
Business interests
•
Anti-War movement
•
Conservative
Republicans
DIPLOMACY IN THE 1920S:
ENGAGEMENT WITHOUT
ENTANGLEMENTS
Failure of the League of Nations
• The US became
“unofficial observers”
• Senate voted down
membership into the
League, even though
it was the
cornerstone of
Wilson’s 14 Points
Punch Magazine December 1919
Failure of the League of Nations
• Collective security by the League
required nations to act against
states they considered friends, and
sometimes against national
interests, to support states in which
they had no interest.
Ex. Mussolini and Ethiopia
• The League depended on the Great
Powers to enforce its resolutions.
Britain and France, were reluctant to
use sanctions or military action on
behalf of the League.
• The League's advocacy of
disarmament for members while at
the same time advocating collective
security unwittingly deprived it of
the only forceful means by which its
authority could be upheld.
Moral Suasion in Punch Magazine 1920
Washington Disarmament
Conference
(1921-1922)
Long-standing Anglo-Japanese alliance (1902) obligated Britain
to aid Japan in the event of a Japanese war with the United
States.
Goals  naval disarmament and the political situation in the
Far East.
Five-Power Treaty (1922)
A battleship ratio was achieved through this ratio:
US
Britain
Japan
France
Italy
5
5
3
1.67
1.67
Japan got a guarantee that the US and Britain would
stop fortifying their Far East territories [including
the Philippines].
Loophole  no restrictions on small warships, no
enforcement mechanism
European Debts to the US
Hyper-Inflation in Germany:
1923
Dawes Plan (1924)
Kellogg-Briand Pact (1928)
15 nations dedicated to outlawing aggression and war as
tools of foreign policy.
62 nations signed.
Problems  no means of actual enforcement and gave
Americans a false sense of security.
DIPLOMACY IN THE 1930S:
ENGAGEMENT to Isolationism
Japanese Attack Manchuria
(1931)
League of Nations condemned the
action.
Japan leaves the League.
Hoover wanted no part in an American military action in the
Far East.
Hoover-Stimson 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.
Critics argue all this did was further alienate the
Japanese
Hoover’s Foreign Policy in Latin America
– 1928, goodwill tour,
Hoover renounces the
Roosevelt Corollary of
Monroe Doctrine of 1823Roosevelt asserted that
European nations should
not intervene in countries
to the south of the US,
however under certain
conditions, United States
intervention might be
justified.
Hoover’s Foreign Policy in Latin America
– Begins formulation of Good Neighbor Policy
(nonintervention policy)
– U.S. helped negotiate the Treaty of Lima
1929, ending a 60 yr conflict between Chile
and Peru
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.
FDR Recognizes the Soviet
Union
(late 1933)
FDR felt that
recognizing Moscow
might help the US
against Japan.
Maybe trade with the
USSR would help
the US economy
during the
Depression.
U.S. Isolationism
• Geneva Conference- arms limitation talks
– 1933, Hitler and Mussolini withdraw
– 1935, Japan withdraws from Washington Conference
naval agreements
• Reasons for U.S. isolationism:
– Failure of “internationalists” and the League to limit
aggression (ex. Japan-China and Italy-Ethiopia)
– Nye Committee Report blaming munitions & banking
industry for U.S. involvement in WWI.
– Public opinion against U.S. involvement in Europe,
leading to the Neutrality Acts
FDR’s “I hate war” Speech
(1936)
From Isolationism to War
Neutrality Acts: 1935, 1936,
1937
Congress responds to voters to prevent a repeat of the
events that led U.S. into WW I. 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
 Non-military goods must be purchased on a “cash-andcarry” basis  pay when goods are picked up, no loans
This limited the options of the President in a crisis.
America in the 1930s declined to build up its forces!
US Neutrality
U.S. Isolationism / Neutrality Acts 1937
• Neutrality Act 1937
– Sino-Japanese War. FDR supports China's efforts to
defend & did not invoke the Neutrality Acts and allowed
arms shipments to China.
– This outraged the isolationists in Congress who claimed
that the spirit of the law was being undermined.
Roosevelt stated that he would prohibit American ships
from transporting arms to the belligerents, but he
allowed British ships to transport American arms to
China.
– Extended 1939 to provide assistance to Great Britain
U.S. Isolationism / Quarantine Speech
• Chicago October 1937
– FDR warns that Japanese aggression is a
threat to world peace and that aggressors
should be “quarantined” by the world community
to prevent the spread of the “contagion of war”
– Public reaction to the speech was
overwhelmingly hostile. Most saw it as FDR’s
attempt to justify and further aid to belligerent
nations
Panay Incident (1937)
December 12, 1937.
Japan bombed USS
Panay gunboat & three
Standard Oil tankers on
the Yangtze River.
The river was an
international waterway.
Japan was testing US resolve!
Japan apologized, paid US an indemnity, and promised no
further attacks.
Most Americans, especially isolationists were satisfied with
the apology.
Results  Japanese interpreted US tone as a license for
further aggression against US interests.
German Aggression
– 1935 – compulsory
military service; revives
German army
– Occupies Rhineland,
1936
– Annexes Austria
(anschluss), 1938
– September 1938,
annexation of the
Sudetenland (western
Czechoslovakia)
Munich Conference
• Munich Conference- G.B., France and
Germany
– Hitler claims that his territorial claims are
complete and Neville Chamberlain declares
“peace in our time”
• Six months later Germany occupies all of
Czech. And turns his attention to Poland
– GB and France pledge to defend Poland from
Nazi attack
1939 Neutrality Act
September 1, 1939, Hitler invades Poland, GB and France declare
war on Germany
In response to Germany’s invasion of Poland.
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.
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.
America becomes the “Arsenal of Democracy.”
“This nation shall remain a
neutral nation. But I cannot ask
that every American remain
neutral in thought as well.” ~FDR
War Begins / US Intervention
• May 1940, FDR asks Congress for 1
billion in defense funds. Gets it!
• Fight for Freedom Committee- declare war
now
• America First Committee- nonintervention,
Lindberg, Sen. Gerald Nye, & Hearst
Publishing.
• FDR runs for unprecedented third term.
Beats Willkie with 55% of the popular vote
Gallup Polls: European War and World War
1938–1940
Selective Service Act of 1940
• the first peacetime conscription in United
States
• This Selective Service Act required that
men between the ages of 21 and 35
register with local draft boards.
• Later, when the U.S. entered World War II,
all men aged 18 to 45 were made liable for
military service, and all men aged 18 to 65
were required to register.
“America First” Committee
Charles Lindbergh
War Begins / US Intervention
• England near bankruptcy
and cannot afford “cash
& carry” FDR introduces
“Lend-Lease”
– Lend or lease arms to any
nation deemed “vital to
the defense of the United
States”
– GB (and other allies USSR) get weapons on
the “promise’ to pay later
“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
Atlantic Charter
• British Prime Minister
Winston Churchill and
U.S. President Franklin
D. Roosevelt
• aboard warships in a
secure anchorage in
Ship Harbor,
Newfoundland, and was
issued as a joint
declaration on 14 August
1941
• Outlines the war goals
and goals of the post war
world
Atlantic Charter
• In brief, the 8 points were:
– No territorial gains were to be sought by the United
States or the United Kingdom.
– Territorial adjustments must be in accord with the
wishes of the peoples concerned.
– All peoples had a right to self-determination.
– Trade barriers were to be lowered.
– There was to be global economic cooperation and
advancement of social welfare.
– Freedom from want and fear;
– Freedom of the seas;
– Disarmament of aggressor nations, postwar common
disarmament
Japanese Aggression 19311941
US / Japan
• Dec 7, 1941 Pearl Harbor
attacked
• U.S. naval force in the Pacific is
greatly reduced
• 2400 killed (over 1100 on
Arizona), 1200 wounded;
– 20 warships sunk or severely
damaged; 150 planes destroyed
• Dec 8, FDR asks for a declaration
of war.
• Dec 11 Germany & Italy declare
war on U.S.
– U.S. reciprocates
FDR before
Congress asking
for a Declaration
of War against
Japan, Dec. 8,
1941
FDR Signs the War
Declaration
Paying for the War
Betty Grable: Allied Pinup Girl
(She Reminded Men What They Were Fighting For)