1920-1945 The USA and international relations: the extent of isolationism; FDR and the end of isolationism and the Second World War Flashcards
To what extent was the US isolationist in the 1920s?
In 1920, the US Senate refused to join the League of Nations.
This has led some historians to believe that the USA followed a policy of isolationism in the 1920s. Others have suggested that in reality, the USA was too powerful and influential to be completely isolationist and became involved in European affairs, particularly with the Dawes and Young Plans, as well as international disarmament with the Washington Naval Disarmament Conference.
Aims of foreign policy 139
Why did the use give Loans to European countries?
The USA was prepared to lend money to countries after the war to restore prosperity and prevent the spread of Communism - but not to the USSR and China. They insisted that all war debts had to be repaid. Indeed, the USA used debt repayments as a threat to European powers, particularly when Britain tried to force up the price of rubber by restricting supplies in the British Empire. The USA retaliated by threatening harsher repayment terms for war debts.
What was the Young plan?
The Young Plan of 1929 was drawn up by Owen Young, head of the General Electric Company. This scaled-down reparation payments to $26 billion, to be paid over a period of 59 years.
Overall, the USA was lending money to Germany which was using these loans to pay reparations to the Allies who, in turn, were using these payments to repay loans to the USA. In other words, the USA was effectively paying itself back with its own money. The situation became even more confused with the Dawes and Young Plans scaling down German reparation payments. Germany was paying less to the Allies who, in turn, paid less to the USA.
Why did the US pursue and protect its interests in Latin America?
Although the USA, for the most part, did revert to isolationism, they did continue to pursue and protect their interests in Latin America. There was increased involvement by the USA in Latin American in the 1920s. This was partly due to the Monroe Doctrine as well as the emergence of the Good Neighbor Policy which cultivated good relations with Latin America. Much of this increased involvement was economic which, in turn, often encouraged more political and military intervention in order to safeguard these economic interests.
What economic involvement did the US have in Latin America?
US investment in Latin America doubled in the years 1924-29 from $1.5 billion to $3 billion. This included automobile firms such as General Motors which manufactured vehicles in Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay. In 1923, General Electric set up the American and Foreign Power Company and controlled the provision of electricity in eight Latin American countries. In addition, US companies dominated the media such as the movies and radio.
The State Department even hired economists such as Edwin Kemmerer to develop plans for countries that requested US investment. The Kemmerer Plans helped to stabilise and develop the economies of such countries by offering advice on sound currency and central banks.
However, such investment did bring problems and increase US involvement in order to protect these investments. For example, it would intervene to prevent US loans being spent by corrupt officials on luxuries. However, the USA was reluctant to sanction military intervention because it was expensive and unpopular with taxpayers.
What disputes did the US have to settle with Latin American countries?
During the 1920s, where possible, the US settled disputes with troops. These were often replaced by loyal local militia.
The USA gave Colombia $25 million in compensation for its support for the independence of Panama in 1903.
There was an ongoing dispute with Mexico after the latter defaulted on its international debts, much of which were from the USA, in 1914. In 1922, the Mexican Government agreed to repay $500,000 and, in the following year, the Bucareli Accords provided compensation for damage caused to foreign property during the Mexican Revolution.
In 1925, US troops were withdrawn from Nicaragua in order to improve relations between the two countries. However, the following year 5,000 troops were sent back in due to the outbreak of civil war. A US diplomat, Henry Stimson, organised the Peace Treaty of Tipitapa which led to the election of Juan Bautista Sacasa in 1928.
How did Roosevelt introduce the Good Neighbouring policy?
Overcoming the economic crisis facing the USA was President Roosevelt’s foremost task. He encouraged economic and diplomatic co-operation through the idea of the ‘Good Neighbor’ policy, which was in a sense a continuation of Hoover’s policies of persuasion and economic pressure to exert influence on Latin America. Roosevelt saw his policy as transforming the Monroe Doctrine into arrangements for mutual hemispheric action against aggressors.
What was the Good Neighbouring policy?
When Roosevelt became president in 1933, the majority of members of Congress were isolationists. Roosevelt did not intend becoming involved in European affairs. He wanted the USA to follow a policy of friendship towards other countries and thought the USA could act as a ‘moral force’ for good in the world, especially to his American neighbours.
Why did the US follow a policy of neutrality in the 1930s?
The widespread feeling that involvement in the First World War had been a mistake continued in the USA throughout the 1930s. It was made evident when Congress passed a series of Neutrality Acts, which intended to keep the USA out of future wars. It was felt that the USA had unnecessarily lost men and military equipment, and that Europe was drifting towards further conflict as a result of the growth of totalitarianism.
What were the Neutrality Acts?
The first Neutrality Act of 1935 gave the president the power to prohibit US ships from carrying US-made munitions to countries at war. The Neutrality Act could also prevent US citizens from travelling on ships of those countries at war except at their own risk. This was to avoid situations like the Lusitania incident, 1915.
The second Neutrality Act, the following year, banned loans or credits to countries at war. The Act set no limits on trade in materials useful for war and US companies such as Texaco, Standard Oil and Ford were thus able to sell such items on credit to General Franco in the Spanish Civil War.
A third Neutrality Act of 1937 forbade the export of munitions for use by either of the opposing forces in Spain. It did, however, permit nations involved in a war to buy goods other than munitions from the USA, provided they paid cash and used their own ships. This became known as ‘cash and carry.
The fourth Neutrality Act, of the same year, authorised the US president to determine what could and could not be bought, other than munitions, to be paid for on delivery, and made travel on ships of countries at war unlawful.
To what extent did Roosevelt remain neutral?
In the 1930s, the totalitarian and militaristic states of Germany, Italy and Japan openly built up large armed forces. Roosevelt despised the spread of totalitarianism in Germany and Italy and, by 1937, began to see that the USA might need to become involved in European affairs. His views differed from those of Congress and, most importantly, the majority of the American people. For some, the idea of US involvement in others’ problems was completely abhorrent. For others, going to war would end the reforms of the New Deal.
In 1937, a Gallup Poll indicated that almost 70 per cent of Americans thought that US involvement in the First World War had been a mistake and 95 per cent opposed any future involvement in war. Although Roosevelt was aware of public opinion, in October of that year he made a speech in Chicago, warning the people of the USA about the situation in Europe and the Far East and the consequent dangers of war. It became known as the ‘Quarantine Speech’. He had been appalled by the Nationalist bombing of civilians in Spain and the aggressive nature of Japan in declaring war on China in 1937. He had to tread a delicate path, and his speech warned the USA not only of the horrors of war but also the problems with neutrality. Roosevelt suggested a quarantine of the aggressors but was careful not to mention specific countries.
To what extent did the US move away from neutrality in the years 1939-1941?
Roosevelt began to express his strong support for the Western democratic states. After the Munich Agreement Hitler announced further rearmament and so did Roosevelt with a further $300 million granted to the defence budget. In October 1938, Roosevelt opened secret talks with the French on how to bypass US neutrality laws and allow the French to buy US aircraft. After tortuous negotiations in 1939, the French government placed large orders with the US aircraft industry.
The USA censured Germany in March 1939, and recalled its ambassador for breaking the Munich Agreement and seizing parts of Czechoslovakia. As tensions heightened in Europe, Roosevelt called on Germany and Italy to give assurances that they would not attack any European country over a period of ten years.
How did the changing situation in Europe lead to Roosevelt becoming less neutral?
When Britain and France went to war with Germany in September 1939, Roosevelt summoned Congress into special session to repeal the arms embargo terms of the Neutrality Acts. Most Americans sympathised with the Allied cause and wanted to see Germany defeated. This was because they disliked the aggression of Nazi Germany. Many feared that if it conquered the European continent it would threaten the USA next.
In November 1939, in a vote on party lines, Congress agreed to sell arms on a strictly cash-and-carry basis. No American ships would carry weapons.
However, it was felt the sales would benefit the Allies rather than Germany as British warships could protect their own vessels and destroy German carriers.
Clearly Congress had not anticipated the threat to British shipping from German U-boats.
Most Americans wanted Britain and France to win, but as German successes mounted, this seemed decreasingly likely. The problem was compounded in the summer of 1940 when France was defeated and Britain stood alone against Germany. Britain had placed orders for 14,000 aircraft and 25,000 aero-engines, but was increasingly unable to pay. Roosevelt had overestimated Britain’s wealth and began to realise that the USA would have to help more if Britain was to stay in the war.
In 1940, Roosevelt ‘traded’ Britain 50 destroyers for six Caribbean bases.
British bases on Bermuda and Newfoundland were also leased to the USA. This was good business for Roosevelt. He had swapped some elderly destroyers for valuable bases. Nevertheless, it marked a shift to active support for Britain in the war that allowed her to continue to defend her merchant ships.
What was Lend-Lease and the Atlantic Charter?
Lend-Lease was introduced with Congressional approval in May 1941. Britain would be loaned’ the means to keep fighting. Roosevelt likened it to lending a neighbour a garden hose to fight a fire that might otherwise have spread to his own property, but everyone knew you did not lend weapons. The USA was effectively giving Britain the means to remain in the war. This too showed a switch in policy. Roosevelt had been reluctant to give Britain weapons in 1940 in case she was defeated and Germany subsequently used America’s own weapons against her.
In the meantime, in August, Roosevelt had met with the British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, on the British battleship Prince of Wales, anchored off the Newfoundland coast of Canada. After three days of talks, they issued the Atlantic Charter. This was a powerful expression of a vision of what the world should be like after ‘the final destruction of Nazi tyranny’, with international peace, national self-determination and freedom of the seas. Roosevelt agreed to send aid to the USSR, which had been invaded by Germany in June 1941. In November 1941, Lend-Lease was extended to the USSR.
Roosevelt was clearly giving Britain ‘all aid short of war’ but he still was not prepared to formally go to war with Germany. He had no wish to be a president who took his country into war. He had made great play throughout his career of how much he hated war. He realised that, while the majority of Americans supported Britain, they still wished to keep out of the conflict, although a Gallup Poll in May 1941 showed only nineteen per cent of respondents thought he had gone too far in helping Britain.
