American Isolationism & Foreign Policy in the 1920s & 1930s

1. American Isolationism & Foreign Policy in the 1920s & 1930s

2. Foreign Policy in the 1920s & 1930s • After WWI, US foreign policy was selectively isolationist • US wanted to maintain economic boom of 20s / desperate for an answer to the Depression in 30s • US was active in attempts at international disarmament& economic stability

3. Foreign Policy: Economic Policy 1924: Hoover negotiated reduction in German debt, extended time period to repay, & US loans to help Germany make payments to France & England US Foreign Debt Commsn canceled large % of the debts, but insisted some be repaid • In 20s most divisive intl issue was war debts: • Euronations owed US $10B • Attempts to reclaim debts led to anti-US sentiment in Europe • When Germany could not repay $33 billion in reparations, the US negotiated the Dawes Plan Dawes Plan helped stabilize G economy, allowed G to repay Allies, and helped F & GB to repay debts to the US

4. European Debts to the U.S. Hyper-inflation in Germany by 1923

5. Foreign Policy: Economic Policy • Great Depression made Euro postwar recovery tough in the 30s: • Hawley-Smoot Tariff (1930) limited Euro exports to US • US unable to loan $, leaving G unable to repay reparations & F/GB unable to repay war debts

6. Foreign Policy: International Peace The USA, England, Japan, Italy, & France signed the Five-Power Treaty & agreed to limit construction of battleships & aircraft carriers But, neither the Nine- or Four-Power Acts had provisions to enforce these agreements The Nine-Power Treaty reaffirmed the Chinese Open-Door Policy England, USA, Japan, France signed the Four-Power Treaty agreeing to collective security • US never joined League of Nations, but did participate in attempts to avoid future wars: • Washington Disarmament Conf (1921): world leaders agreed to disarmament, free trade, & collective security • 1928: almost every nation, including US, signed the Kellogg-Briand Pact, renouncing war as a tool of foreign policy

7. Foreign Policy: International Peace • These agreements didn’t last: • Japan needed raw materials to continue its industrial expansion • Japan began to create an Asian empire by attacking Manchuria (1931) / rest of China (1937) • In both occasions, the League of Nations reprimanded Japan but chose no punitive measures

8. Totalitarian Regimes: Hideki Tojo & Emperor Hirohito

9. 1937: Japanese pilots bombed USSPanay, a US gunboat stationed in China, killing 3 Americans. US accepted Japan's apology / promise against future attacks Japan Invades Manchuria Unlike USS Maine or Lusitania, few Americans called for war against Japan

10. Totalitarian Regimes: Benito Mussolini

11. Totalitarian Regimes: Hitler

13. The Munich Pact “Peace in our time”

14. Rome-Berlin-Tokyo Axis

15. Foreign Policy: International Peace • 30s: FDR / Congress too preoccupied w/Great Depression to plan for world conflicts involving totalitarian dictators • Rising threat of war in Euro & Asia strengthened Ams’ desire to avoid involvement in another world war

16. Foreign Policy: Citizen Attitudes • 1920s & 30s: most Ams wanted to avoid another “meaningless war” • Munitions makers & bankers labeled “merchants of death” & blamed for US involvement in WWI • Pacifism swept across college campuses; students staged “walk-outs” & anti-war rallies Historian Walter Millis’ America’s Road to War blamed Wilson & GB propaganda for “duping” US into WWI

17. Veterans of FUTURE Wars

18. The “Lost Generation” All Quiet on the Western Front portrayed WWI as brutal

19. The Neutrality Acts Neutrality Act (1935) banned arms sales to nations at war & warned citizens not to sail on belligerent ships • “Merchants of death” charges led by ND Sen Gerald Nye from 1934-36: • Reaction to Nye Committee report led to popular support to avoid making same mistakes that led US to enter WW1 • Congress passed 3 neutrality acts to avoid future wars Neutrality Act (1936) banned loans to any warring nation Neutrality Act (1937) made 1935 & 1936 acts permanent

20. The Road Towards American Intervention

21. From Neutrality to Undeclared War But FDR was able to get $1B from Congress to expand the navy • As Euro headed to war, FDR openly expressed favor for intervention & took steps to ready US for war • 1937: FDR unsuccessfully tried to convince world leaders to “quarantine the aggressors” • Everything changed in 1939 w/the Nazi-Soviet Pact & the German invasion of Poland

24. From Neutrality to Undeclared War “The destroyer-for-bases deal is the most important action in the reinforcement of our national defense that has been taken since the Louisiana Purchase” —FDR Still attempting to avoid more “merchants of death” in the banking industry • When WW2 began (1939): • Congress imposed a cash & carry policy to aid the Allies: • US would trade w/Allies but not offer loans • US would not deliver products to Europe • FDR traded 50 old destroyers to UK for 8 naval bases on Brit territory in Caribbean/S America FDR responded with all-out aid to the Allies but did not call for war Eased rigid restrictions of Neutrality Acts of 1935-37 to allow the US to aid UK & France Still trying to avoid losing US lives at sea by German U-boats

25. Isolationists Angered by FDR’s involvement of the US in foreign war “Fortress America” idea argued Germany was not a threat to US Interventionists Committee to Defend America by Aiding the Allies called for unlimited aid to UK Argued that events in Europe did impact security of US From Neutrality to Undeclared War “The future of western civilization is being decided upon the battlefield of Europe” —CDAAA chair, William Allen White St. Louis Dispatch headline: “Dictator Roosevelt Commits Act of War”

26. From Neutrality to Undeclared War • By 1940, “interventionists” had majority of public sentiment: • 1940: • Congress appropriated $10 billion for preparedness • 1st ever peacetime draft • Election of 1940 – FDR overwhelmingly elected for unprecedented 3rd term

27. From Neutrality to Undeclared War • 1940: UK remained only active opposition to Hitler but was running out of money • FDR called for Lend-Lease Act: • US could sell or lend war supplies to Allied nations • Congress gave UK $7B in credit to allow fullaccesstoUS arms U.S. Cash and Carry Program X

28. Lend-Lease Supply Routes

29. From Neutrality to Undeclared War • UK needed help escorting US-made supplies thru U-boat infested Atlantic • FDR allowed US patrols in western half of the Atlantic • 1941: German attacks on US ships in led to undeclared naval war between US & Germany U.S. Cash and Carry Program X X

30. From Neutrality to Undeclared War • 1941: FDR & Churchill met to secretly draft Atlantic Charter: • US & UK discussed military strategy if US were to enter the war • Discussed post-war goals of free trade & disarmament • 1941: Germany broke the Nazi-SovietPact&invadedRussia

32. From Neutrality to Undeclared War • FDR brought US to the brink of war & opened himself to criticism: • Sep 1941: polls showed 80% of US supported neutrality • FDR had to wait for the Axis to make a decisive move…which Japan delivered on Dec 7, 1941

33. Pearl Harbor

34. Showdown in the Pacific • Japan took advantage of Euro war to expand in Asia: • Attacked coastal China • Seized French & Dutch colonies in East Indies & Indochina • Signed the Tripartite Pact with Germany & Italy in 1940 • FDR retaliated against Japan with fuel, iron, & oil sanctions

35. The Greater East Asia-Prosperity Company Rich in Tin, Oil, Rubber

36. Showdown in the Pacific • 1941: US & Japan unable to resolve their differences diplomatically, so US: • FrozeallJapaneseassetsinUS • Banned all oil sales to Japan • Hideki Tojo sent envoy to negotiate for resolution • Secretly ordered attack on US naval base at Pearl Harbor Really a stall tactic intended to hide Japanese military preparations for an attack on Pearl Harbor U.S. wanted Japanese removed from China Japan wanted end to sanctions & control of China

37. Dec 7, 1941: US naval fleet in Pacific crippled by the attack; 8 battleships sunk & 2400 killed

38. Showdown in the Pacific • After Pearl Harbor: • Congress declared war against Japan Dec 8, 1941 • Italy & Germany declared war on the U.S. Dec 11, 1941 • Public opinion now fully behind war effort to defeat fascism in Europe & seek revenge against Japan The U.S. now faced a possible 2-ocean war… but Germany still seen as primary danger