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The United States and the World

The United States and the World. 1921-1941. U.S. Foreign Policy, 1921-1933. Europe

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The United States and the World

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  1. The United States and the World 1921-1941

  2. U.S. Foreign Policy, 1921-1933 • Europe • America fought World War I as an idealistic crusade to “make the world safe for democracy.” However, the war left many Americans bitterly disillusioned. Although the United States emerged from World War I as the world’s richest and most powerful nation, it rejected the principle of collective security and never joined the League of Nations. • Economically, however, the U.S. was not isolated at all. Under the Dawes Plan loans from American banks helped Germany recover from a disastrous 1923 inflation. At the same time, the United States became a major trading partner with countries around the world.

  3. 1923-issue 50 million mark banknote. Worth approximately US$1 when printed, this sum would have been worth approximately US$12 million, nine years earlier. The note was practically worthless a few weeks later, because of continued inflation.

  4. U.S. Foreign Policy, 1921-1933 • Latin America • Both TR’s Big Stick Diplomacy and Taft’s Dollar Diplomacy promoted America’s twin goals of achieving political dominance and economic advantage in Latin America. During the 1920s, however, the three Republican administrations began the process of withdrawing American marines from the Caribbean and Central America. • In 1933, Franklin Roosevelt opened a new chapter in America’s relationship with Latin America by proclaiming the beginning of a Good Neighbor Policy. The new policy renounced U.S. armed intervention in Latin America. It is important to note that the United States continued to pursue commercial opportunities in Latin America. During the 1930s the Good Neighbor Policy promoted a common hemispheric front against fascism.

  5. U.S. Foreign Policy, 1921-1933 • Japan and China • Although the United States refused to join the League of Nations it was not completely isolated from global affairs. The U.S. could not ignore Japan’s growing threat to American interests in China. In 1921, the Harding administration invited Japan, Great Britain, and other European nations to send representatives to Washington to discuss a range of Asian problems. • The expensive and growing naval arms race among the U.S., Great Britain, and Japan posed the most pressing problem. After much negotiation the powers agreed to limit battleship and aircraft carrier production in a ratio of 5:3:3 for the United States, Britain, and Japan. The Japanese also signed a treaty agreeing to respect China’s independence and America’s Open Door policy.

  6. U.S. Foreign Policy, 1921-1933 • Japan and China • The Washington Conference appeared to reduce the dangerous escalation of tensions between the United States and Japan. But the pause proved to be temporary. The global depression delivered a devastating blow to the Japanese economy. A group of militarists soon dominated Japan’s government. In 1931, Japan broke its treaty promises by invading China’s northern province, Manchuria. Secretary of State Henry Stimson responded by declaring a policy of nonrecognition called the Stimson Doctrine. The Japanese ignored the toothless Stimson Doctrine and incorporated Manchuria’s rich iron and coal resources into their rapidly expanding empire.

  7. Isolationism, 1934-1937 • The resurgence of militarism in Italy, Germany, and Japan • Mussolini, Hitler, and a group of ironfisted Japanese militarists all emerged from the chaos and economic depression following World War I. Each seized power promising to restore national pride. • Mussolini dreamed of resurrecting the glories of ancient Rome by building an Italian colonial empire in Africa. In October 1935, Mussolini ordered a massive invasion of Ethiopia. The invasion represented a crucial test of the League of Nation’s system of collective security. Although the League condemned the attack, its membership did nothing to stop Mussolini.

  8. Isolationism, 1934-1937 • The resurgence of militarism in Italy, Germany, and Japan • The League’s failure to deter Mussolini encouraged Hitler to defy the Treaty of Versailles. In 1936 Hitler sent troops into the Rhineland, German territory that had been demilitarized by the Treaty of Versailles. Although Hitler expected France to resist, its leaders were unwilling to risk a new war. Hitler later admitted that, “The forty-eight hours after the march into the Rhineland were the most nerve-wracking in my life. If the French had then marched into the Rhineland, we would have had to withdraw.” Emboldened by French inaction, Hitler now planned for additional aggressive actions. • The Japanese also took advantage of the League’s failure to stop aggression. By 1936 the Japanese renounced the Washington Conference treaties and left the League of Nations. In 1937, Japan invaded northern China touching off a full-scale war that marked the beginning of World War II in Asia. Few seemed to notice that the Japanese invasion violated the 1928 Kellogg-Briand Pact condemning recourse to aggressive war.

  9. Isolationism, 1934-1937 • The Nye Committee • The horrible costs of World War I created a deep desire for peace. In America isolationists argued that the United States avoid political commitments to other nations. They urged their fellow countrymen to remember George Washington’s Farewell Address admonition to avoid being involved in European affairs. • In 1934, Senator Gerald P. Nye, a North Dakota Republican, chaired a special Senate committee that investigated American munitions dealers. After two years, the Nye Committee concluded that America had been duped into entering World War I by avaricious (greedy) “merchants of death” who earned enormous profits during the war.

  10. Isolationism, 1934-1937 • The Neutrality Acts • The Nye Committee’s revelations led isolationists to demand that Congress pass laws to prevent a repeat of the mistakes that pushed the United States into World War I. • Between 1935 and 1937 Congress passed a series of three Neutrality Acts. These laws banned loans and the sale of arms to nations at war. They also warned Americans not to sail on ships of countries at war. The isolationists were convinced that these laws would keep the United States out of a new foreign war.

  11. The Road to War, 1938-1941 • The war in Europe, 1939-1940 • While America tried to remain at peace, Hitler plunged Europe into war. On September 1, 1939 Germany launched a sudden and massive blitzkrieg or “lightening war” against Poland. France and Britain responded by immediately declaring war on Germany.

  12. The Road to War, 1938-1941 • The war in Europe, 1939-1940 • After six-months full of fighting, devastating German blitzkriegs led to the fall of Denmark, Norway, Belgium, and France. Only Great Britain, now led by Winston Churchill, held out against Hitler. Churchill defiantly vowed that Britain would “defend our Island, whatever the cost may be…we shall never surrender.” • The frightening events in Europe persuaded many Americans to support rebuilding the nation’s military strength. In 1940 Congress increased the defense budget from $2 billion to $10 billion. Later that year, Congress also approved a Selective Service Act providing for the country’s first military draft during peacetime.

  13. The Road to War, 1938-1941 • The Lend-Lease Act • Roosevelt was aware of the continuing strong isolationist sentiment in the United States. He therefore moved cautiously to help Britain resist Nazi Germany. In 1939, Roosevelt persuaded Congress to allow the sale of weapons and other goods to belligerent (fighting) nations by a cash-and-carry policy. Countries at war could buy needed goods as long as they paid for them immediately and took them away on their own ships. In September 1940, during the Battle of Britain, Roosevelt went a step further by giving Churchill 50 overage destroyers in return for British air and naval bases in the Western Hemisphere. • Despite the American aid, the British faced an increasingly dire need for food and war materials. Roosevelt recognized that America’s national interests demanded that it help Britain in its fight against Hitler. In a fireside chat on December 29, 1940, FDR explained that America must become an “arsenal of democracy” by providing war supplies to Great Britain. He then asked Congress to approve a Lend-Lease Act allowing him to send war materials to any country whose defense he considered vital to the United States.

  14. The Road to War, 1938-1941 • The Lend-Lease Act • Congress passed the Lend-Lease Act in March 1941. The new law marked an important turning point. America’s mighty industries now roared to life producing weapons to fight Hitler and Mussolini. By the fall of 1941, the U.S. was arming merchant ships and using its navy to protect British ships in the North Atlantic. Although a state of undeclared war existed between the United States and Germany, polls showed that 80 percent of the American people still wanted to stay out of World War II.

  15. The Road to War, 1938-1941 • Pearl Harbor • The Battle of Britain and the debate over the Lend-Lease Act overshadowed ominous events taking place in Asia. The long-standing rivalry between the U.S. and Japan for Pacific supremacy further escalated when Japanese forces overran French Indochina in July 1941. President Roosevelt retaliated by ordering a total embargo on all trade with Japan. At that time, Japan imported about 80 percent of its oil and scrap iron from the United States. • The embargo forced the Japanese leaders to make a fateful decision. They could either give into the U.S. demand that they withdraw from China and Indochina or they could attack the American fleet at Pearl Harbor and then seize the rich oil fields in the Dutch East Indies. When negotiations with the United States reached an impasse, the Japanese decided to launch a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor.

  16. The Road to War, 1938-1941 • Pearl Harbor • In late November 1941, a Japanese fleet secretly headed into the vast and empty waters of the North Pacific. The fleet included six aircraft carriers equipped with more than 400 warplanes. At 7:55 AM on December 7, 1941 the first of three waves of planes attacked Pearl Harbor. Within less than two hours the Japanese sank or damaged 18 ships and killed 2,403 men. • The next day President Roosevelt asked Congress for a declaration of war on Japan. Four days later, Germany and Italy declared war against the United States. An angry and now united America entered World War II determined to crush the Axis powers.

  17. Prompt #7 • To what extent did U.S. foreign policy in the 1920s and 1930s lead America to war?

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