1. THE SHADOW OF WAR International Affairs 1921-1941
A26q
7.3.20

2. GUIDING QUESTION
How and for what reasons did U.S. foreign policy change between 1920 and 1941?
(To what extent did the United States adopt an isolationist policy in the 1920s and 1930s?)
(2004B DBQ)

3. U.S. Foreign Policy to WWI
internationalism
isolationism
nationalism

4. DIPLOMACY IN THE 1920S: ENGAGEMENT WITHOUT ENTANGLEMENTS
Peace with Germany, 1921
League of Nations - “unofficial observers”
Washington Conference (1922)
Five-Power Naval Treaty of 1922
Four-Power Treaty
Nine-Power Treaty – “Open Door” in China
Significance: battleships and aircraft carriers only; no enforcement mechanism
Kellogg-Briand Pact (Pact of Paris) (1928)
Problems: “defensive wars”, no enforcement mechanism
Fordney-McCumber Tariff (1922)
Dawes Plan (1924)

5. DIPLOMACY IN THE 1930s: FROM ENGAGEMENT TO ISOLATIONISM
Manchuria (1931) - “Stimson Doctrine” (1932)
Hoover – troops out of Haiti (1932), Nicaragua (1933)
“Good Neighbor Policy”
1933 – US renounced intervention (Roosevelt Corollary)
Marines pulled out of Haiti
1934 – Cuba released from terms of Platt Amendment
1938 – Mexico nationalized oil cos.; money settlement instead armed intervention
U.S. recognized the Soviet Union (1933)
World Economic (London) Conference (1933)

6. FROM ISOLATIONISM TO WAR
Nye Committee (1934)
Neutrality Acts of 1935, 1936 and 1937
German aggression
1935 – compulsory military service; air force and armored divisions
Rhineland, 1936
Austria, 1938
Munich Conference (Sept 1938)
appeasement
March 1939 – Germany took remainder of Czechoslovakia
Carnes & Garrity, The American Nation 12e

7. FROM ISOLATIONISM TO WAR
Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact (August 1939)
Invasion of Poland (Sept 1, 1939)
blitzkrieg
Denmark
Norway
France
Dunkirk
Battle of Britain (Aug – June 1941)
Invasion of Soviet Union (June 1941)
Soviet Aggression
Eastern Poland (Sept 1939)
Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania (1940)
“moral embargo” against USSR
Pathways

8. FROM ISOLATIONISM TO WAR
FDR’s “Quarantine” speech (1937, after Japanese invasion of China)
“Preparedness”
Change in US Policy
Most alarmed by German conquests, but wanted no part in war
FDR: Britain essential to US defense; began chipping away at neutrality legislation any way he could to assist GB
cash-and-carry policy (1939)
Selective Service Act (Sept 1940)
Destroyers for Bases Deal (Sept 1940)
Election of 1940
Wendall Willkie
Opponents of Roosevelt took to wearing buttons like the ones shown here, expressing their distaste at the prospect of a third term.  In the end, however, it was the confidence instilled by eight years of having Roosevelt at the helm, coupled with fear of war in Europe and Asia (World War II had begun in September 1939), that won out, and Roosevelt was reelected to a third term, capturing just under 55 percent of the vote, or 5 million more votes than Willkie received.  It was his lowest percentage to date, but it was still decisive (and he won 38 states, with 449 electoral votes, to ten states and 82 electoral votes for Willkie). [ajo]
Anti-Third Term Buttons, 1940

9. Gallup Polls: European War and World War 1938–1940
Faragher, Out of Many, 3rd Ed.;

10. FROM ISOLATIONISM TO WAR
“Arsenal of Democracy”
Lend-Lease Act (March 1941)
America First Committee
“shoot on sight” (July 1941)
Atlantic Charter (Aug 1941)
America First bumper sticker: "Keep Our Boys at Home“ The isolationist America First Committee produced this bumper sticker in 1941 in a vain attempt to halt the United States descent into war. America First was organized in September of 1940 and attracted many prominent members, including the famed aviator Charles Lindbergh. (Herbert Hoover Presidential Library)
Roosevelt and Churchill at Atlantic Charter Meeting, 1941; President Franklin D. Roosevelt (left) and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill (1874–1965) confer on board a ship near Newfoundland during their summit meeting of August, During the conference, they signed the Atlantic Charter. Upon his return to Great Britain, Churchill told his advisers that Roosevelt had promised to "wage war" against Germany and do "everything" to "force an incident." (Franklin D. Roosevelt Library)
Roosevelt and Churchill at Atlantic Charter Meeting, (Franklin D. Roosevelt Library)
America First bumper sticker: "Keep Our Boys at Home"
(Herbert Hoover Presidential Library)

11. Japanese Aggression
Pathways

12. Japanese Aggression through 1941
Roark, American Promise 3e from

13. FROM ISOLATIONISM TO WAR
DISPUTES WITH JAPAN
economic pressure on Japan (steel, oil)
Pearl Harbor (Dec )
2400 killed (over 1100 on Arizona), 1200 wounded;
20 warships sunk or severely damaged; 150 planes destroyed
FDR before Congress asking for a Declaration of War against Japan, Dec. 8, 1941
The U.S.S. West Virginia, Pearl Harbor; The stricken U.S.S. West Virginia was one of the eight battleships caught in the surprise Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor, Hawai'i, on December 7, In this photograph, sailors on a launch attempt to rescue a crew member from the water as oil burns around the sinking ship. (U.S. Army)
FDR – American Journey Online
The U.S.S. West Virginia, Pearl Harbor
(U.S. Army)

15. Japanese Expansion and Early Battles in the Pacific
Thomson