FDR & The Shadow of War

1. FDR & The Shadow of War

2. Isolationism in Depression-Era America • In response to the Great Depression, the US adopted isolationist economic policies. • As a reaction to WWIs failures to secure a “lasting peace,” the US adopted an isolationist foreign policy in the 1920s and 30s.

3. Economic Isolationism

4. Economic Isolationism • Smoot-Hawley Tariff • London Economic Conference • 66 nations gather in London to develop an international response to economic recovery. • Debt relief and currency stabilization programs top the agenda. • FDR announces his resistance to such plans  abandons the gold standard in 1933  problems at home must be dealt with first.

5. Isolationism in Foreign Policy • United States begins withdrawing from its commitments throughout the world • Good Neighbor Policy 1933 • FDR announces a new policy toward Central and South America • A reversal of the interventionism of TR, Taft, and Woodrow Wilson • Platt Amendment Repealed • US withdraws troops from Haiti, relaxes control of Panama, etc. • Purpose?

6. Nye Committee (1934) • Sen. Gerald Nye (R-North Dakota), isolationist • Holds hearings examining the causes of WWI • Determines that loans and munitions sales drew the US into the conflict • Results in the passage of Neutrality Acts in 1935, 36, 37

7. Neutrality Acts • A series of laws passed in 1935, ’36, and ’37 • Forbids Americans from traveling on belligerent ships , the sale of weapons to nations at war, and loans to nations at war. • Tested by the Spanish Civil War in 1936 • Fascist Francisco Franco overthrows democratically elected (but leftist) Spanish Gov’t • Hitler and Mussolini give aid • Guernica • Abraham Lincoln Brigade

8. Guernica by Pablo Picasso (1937)

9. The World at War, Part Deux • Totalitarians on the rise in the 1930s • Fascists • Francisco Franco – Spain • Benito Mussolini – Italy • Promises a “return to glory” and a new Roman Empire. • Invades Ethiopia in 1935 • Adolph Hitler – Germany • Promises to restore Germany’s economy, military, and pride! • Calls for the “Third Reich”  1000 year empire. • “Lebensraum” (living space)…joins with Austria; moves troops into Czechoslovakia (1938); invades Poland in 1939 (begins WWII) • Communist • Josef Stalin – USSR • Militarists • Hideki Tojo – Japan • Military commander; invades China in 1935.

10. Outbreak of WWII • Germany-Italy-Japan = Axis Powers • Britain-France-China = Allies • USSR – signed a “Non-Aggression Pact” with Germany • Agreement not to attack each other and split Poland between the two. • Germany invades Poland in 1939 • Blitzkrieg tactics • Falls in less than a month • Allies declare war against Germany. • By 1940 • Germany has taken France and is bombing Britain • London Blitz

11. America First Committee (1940) • Charles Lindbergh • Isolationist organization that argued the US should stay out of the war in Europe • Lindbergh travels the country, along with Gerald Nye and Burton K. Wheeler • Committee to Defend the Allies

12. Mr. Charlie Lindbergh, he flew to old Berlin, Got him a big Iron Cross, and he flew right back again To Washington, Washington. Mrs. Charlie Lindbergh, she come dressed in red, Said, “I’d like to sleep in that pretty White House bed In Washington, Washington.” Lindy said to Annie: “We’ll get there by and by, But we’ll have to split the bed up with Wheeler, Clark, and Nye In Washington, Washington.” Hitler wrote to Lindy, said “Do your very worst,” Lindy started an outfit that he called America First In Washington, Washington. All around the country, Lindbergh he did fly, Gasoline was paid for by Hoover, Clark, and Nye In Washington, Washington. Lindy said to Hoover: “We’ll do the same as France: Make a deal with Hitler, and then we’ll get our chance In Washington, Washington Then they had a meetin’, and all the Firsters come, Come on the walk and they come on the run In Washington, Washington Yonder comes Father Coughlin, wearin’ the silver chain, Cash on his stomach and Hitler on the brain. In Washington, Washington Mister John L. Lewis would sit and straddle the fence, His daughter signed with Lindbergh, and we ain’t seen her since In Washington, Washington Hitler said to Lindy: “Stall ‘em all you can, Gonna bomb Pearl Harbor with the help of old Japan.” In Washington, Washington Then on a December mornin’, the bombs come from Japan, Wake Island and Pearl Harbor, kill fifteen hundred men. Washington, Washington Now Lindy tried to join the army, but they wouldn’t let ‘im in, ‘Fraid he’d sell to Hitler a few more million men. In Washington, Washington So I’m gonna tell you people, if Hitler’s gonna be beat, The common working people have got to take the seat In Washington, Washington. And I’m gonna tell you workers, ‘fore you cash in your checks: They say America First, but they mean America Next “Lindbergh” by Woody Guthrie

13. Abandoning Isolationism