20th century (1st half)

Question 1

1903

Answer 1

Big Stick Policy or Gunboat Diplomacy: by advocating strong methods in meeting foreign and domestic problems, Theodore Roosevelt refers to U.S. policy as “speaking softly and carrying a big stick” the means of which is a strong Navy; the big stick policy was applied the same year by assisting Panama’s independence movement from Colombia, which served U.S. interests to build the Panama Canal (construction betw. 1904-1914; the Panama Canal Zone run by U.S. as a rented territory until 1999).

Question 2

1904

Answer 2

Roosevelt Corollary to Monroe Doctrine: developed out of Big Stick policy and the debt protocol and customs receivership in the Dominican Republic; according to Roosevelt’s interpretation of the Monroe Doctrine, the U.S. is justified to intervene in Latin America to prevent European interference with their internal affairs (European creditors in Latin America); U.S. seen as international police power.

Question 3

1911-20

Answer 3

Mexican Revolution; hundreds of thousands of refugees flee to America; President William Howard Taft recognizes Francisco I. Madero’s regime; Madero assassinated by Victoriano Huerta, not recognized by America.

Question 4

1914

Answer 4

Veracruz Incident: a standoff between the U.S. and Mexican president Huerta; Congress authorizes force at president’s discretion; U.S. seizes Veracruz; Huerta breaks diplomatic relations; war seems near with Mexico.

Question 5

1915

Answer 5

British passenger liner RMS Lusitania torpedoed off Irish coast by German submarine; 1,200 dead include 128 Americans; ex-president Theodore Roosevelt demands war; President Woodrow Wilson issues strong protest.

Question 6

1916

Answer 6

Mexican revolutionary leader Pancho Villa’s raid into American territory in New Mexico; the Mexican Punitive Expedition under John J. Pershing chases Villa deep into Mexico; on the verge of war with Mexico.

Question 7

1917

Answer 7

March - Zimmermann Telegram: Germany proposes military alliance between Germany and Mexico against U.S.; Mexico rejects proposal; publication of telegram major shock and outrages American opinion; public becomes ready to accept U.S. entrance into WWI;
 April - U.S. declares war on Germany and Austria (but not Turkey or Bulgaria); remains independent of Great Britain and France.

Question 8

1918

Answer 8

Fourteen Points: Statement of U.S. war aims by Wilson, served as basis for Treaty of Versailles ending WWI, and the League of Nations. The Fourteen points give the essence of Wilsonian idealism or Wilsonianism: “spreading democracy and peace under American auspices.” His vision materialized after WWII and also continued into G.W. Bush’s nation building in the 21st century.

Question 9

1919

Answer 9

June - Treaty of Versailles: result of the Versailles Peace Conference; Wilson one of “The Big Five” negotiators (next to British Lloyd George, French Clemenceau, Italian Orlando, and Japanese Saionji); signed by Wilson but not ratified by Senate; League of Nations set up - part of Versailles Treaty; U.S. does not join.

Question 10

1928/30

Answer 10

Clark Memorandum; reinterpretation of the Monroe Doctrine ends era of interventionism in Latin America.

Question 11

1931

Answer 11

Stimson Doctrine: U.S. will not recognize Japanese takeover of parts of China; policy endorsed by the League of Nations.

Question 12

1933

Answer 12

At the Montevideo Convention, President Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) declares the “Good Neighbor Policy”; after decades of U.S. interventionism in Latin America, it stands for U.S. opposition to armed intervention in inter-American affairs.

Question 13

1935

Answer 13

Neutrality Act of 1935; when war breaks out, it prohibits all arms shipments (allowing shipment of oil, steel, chemicals); U.S. citizens can travel on belligerent ships only at their own risk; followed up by Neutrality Act of 1936 and 1939; no loans to belligerents.

Question 14

1939

Answer 14

September - World War II begins (Germany invades Poland); U.S. initially neutral.

Question 15

1941

Answer 15

August - Atlantic Charter (closely resembling Wilson’s Fourteen Points): FDR and Winston Churchill agree (1) no territorial gains sought by U.S. or Great Britain, (2) territorial adjustments must conform to people involved, (3) people have right to choose their own govt. (4) trade barriers lowered, (5) there must be disarmament, (6) there must be freedom from want and fear (from 4 Freedoms of FDR), (7) there must be freedom of the seas, (8) there must be an association of nations.
 December 7 - Japanese attack on U.S. Naval Base in Pearl Harbor, Honolulu, Hawaii, bringing U.S. into WWII on December 8.

Question 16

1944

Answer 16

July - United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference held in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire; International Monetary Fund and International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (World Bank) created to aid nations devastated by the war and to stabilize the international monetary system.
 August - Dumbarton Oaks Conference: held in Washington, D.C. United Nations was formulated, followed up by San Francisco Conference on International Organization. Security Council veto powers established.

Question 17

1945

Answer 17

February 4-11 - Yalta Conference: in Crimea Peninsula, SU, FDR meets Joseph Stalin and Churchill; agreement on division of Eastern Europe.
Surrender of Germany (May 8, V-E Day) and Japan (September 2, V-J Day).
 July 17-August 2 - Potsdam Conference, in Germany: U.S. President Harry S. Truman meets with Stalin and new U.K. Prime Minister Clement Attlee; tells Stalin of atomic bomb; gives Japan last warning to surrender; Germany (and Austria) divided into 4 zones of occupation.
 June - United Nations Charter signed in San Francisco; U.S. becomes a founding member and has veto power on the Security Council along with Great Britain, France, China and the Soviet Union.

Question 18

1947-89

Answer 18

Cold War: from the enunciation of the Truman Doctrine (containment policy) to the collapse of the Eastern Bloc; the period of tension and hostility between U.S., Western Europe, and Japan on the one hand and the Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, and China on the other.

Question 19

1948

Answer 19

“European Recovery Plan” (called Marshall Plan); America gives out $11 billion to rebuild and modernize Western European economies (aim: make communism less appealing, secure markets for Americans goods, and contribute to stabilization of world trade). Increased trade between Western Europe and U.S.; no repayment asked for.

Question 20

1949

Answer 20

U.S. and eleven other nations sign the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, creating NATO, a military alliance with the purpose of countering the Soviet Union and its allies.

Question 21

1950-53

Answer 21

Korean War - first cold War conflict; U.N. orders defense of South Korea against invasion by communist North Korea aided by the Soviets and China. (Soviet Union boycotted U.N. and did not veto.) U.S. forces deployed in Korea exceeded 300,000 during the last year of the conflict. Ceasefire declared in 1953 and demilitarized zone (DMZ) established along 38th parallel; no peace treaty signed; Koreas remain divided to date.

Question 22

1956

Answer 22

October - the Twin Crisis: 1) Hungarian Revolution of 1956 crushed by the Soviets; U.S. admits 32,000 Hungarian refugees above the immigration quotas. 2) The Suez Canal crisis arising from a British, French, Israeli joint attack on Egypt due to the nationalization of the Suez Canal; attack ends disastrously when Eisenhower forcefully rebukes his NATO allies.

Question 23

1957

Answer 23

March - Eisenhower Doctrine (Middle East Doctrine); upon Great Britain’s withdrawal from the region, the existing power vacuum in the Middle East should be filled by the U.S. to forestall Soviet penetration. Eisenhower asked Congress to authorize the commitment of U.S. forces to aid Middle Eastern nations “requesting such aid against overt armed aggression from any nation controlled by International Communism”; applied in Lebanon in 1958, when Eisenhower landed U.S. troops toprotect a pro-western government.U.S. embarrassed when Soviets launch Sputnik space satellite and leapfrog America in high technology.

Question 24

1959

Answer 24

January - Cuba. Fidel Castro comes to power; first of 1 million Cuban exiles go to U.S., concentrating in Miami, Florida.

Question 25

1960

Answer 25

Nikita Khrushchev cancels summit conference with Eisenhower after U.S. U-2 spy plane shot down over the Soviet Union.

Question 26

1961

Answer 26

President John F. Kennedy launches Space Race, promising Americans on the Moon (they landed on July 20, 1969);
 U.S. breaks diplomatic and consular relations with Cuba as Castro aligns with Soviet Union;
 Alliance for Progress: inter-regional agreement with Latin America funded by U.S. to counter the growing regional appeal of the Cuban Revolution and communism in general.
 April - Bay of Pigs Invasion: CIA-trained Cuban exiles invade Cuba and are defeated at the Bay of Pigs; exiles captured but finally ransomed by President Kennedy.