1. Essential Question:
What factors led the United States to shift from isolation in the 1920s & 1930s to an active war participant by 1941?

2. American Isolationism & Foreign Policy in the 1920s & 1930s

3. Foreign Policy in the 1920s & 1930s
After WWI, the U.S. assumed a selective isolationist foreign policy focusing on economic issues at home and abroad

4. Foreign Policy: Economic Policy
In the 1920s, the most divisive international issue was war debts:
European nations owed the U.S. $10 billion; Attempts to reclaim these debts led to anti-American sentiment in Europe
When Germany could not repay $33 billion in reparations, the U.S. negotiated the Dawes Plan
The U.S. Foreign Debt Commission canceled a large portion of these debts, but insisted that some of the money be repaid

5. Foreign Policy: Economic Policy
In 1924, Hoover negotiated a reduction in German debt, an extended time period to repay debts, & U.S. loans to help Germany make payments to France & England
The Dawes Plan helped stabilize the German economy, allowed Germany to repay the Allies, and helped France & England repay their debts to the United States

6. European Debts to the U.S.
Hyper-inflation in Germany by 1923

7. Foreign Policy: Economic Policy
But the Great Depression made post- war recovery in Europe difficult in the 1930s:
The Hawley-Smoot Tariff in limited European attempts to sell their goods in the U.S.
The U.S. was unable to provide loans, leaving Germany unable to repay reparations & Europe unable to repay its war debts

8. Foreign Policy: International Peace
The USA never joined the League of Nations, but did play a role in attempts to avoid future wars:
At the Washington Disarmament Conference in 1921, world leaders agreed to disarmament, free trade, & collective security
In 1928, almost every nation, including the USA, signed the Kellogg-Briand Pact, renouncing war as a tool of foreign policy
England, USA, Japan, France signed the Four-Power Treaty agreeing to collective security
The USA, England, Japan, Italy, & France signed the Five-Power Treaty & agreed to limit construction of battleships & aircraft carriers
The Nine-Power Treaty reaffirmed the Chinese Open-Door Policy
But, neither the Nine- or Four-Power Acts had provisions to enforce these agreements

9. Foreign Policy: International Peace
These agreements did not last:
Japan needed raw materials to continue its industrial expansion
Japan began to create an Asian empire by attacking Manchuria in 1931 & China in 1937
In both occasions, the League of Nations reprimanded Japan but chose no punitive measures

10. Totalitarian Regimes: Hideki Tojo & Emperor Hirohito

11. Japan Invades Manchuria
In 1937, Japanese pilots bombed the USS Panay, a U.S. gunboat stationed in China, killing 3 Americans. The U.S. accepted Japan's apology & promise against future attacks
Unlike the USS Maine or Lusitania, few Americans called for war against Japan
In December 1937, Japanese aircraft bombed the Panay, a U.S. gunboat stationed on the Yangtze River near Nanking, killing three Americans. While the attack angered the public, few calls for war rang out, a similar response to those following the sinking of the Maine or the Lusitania. The United States quickly accepted Japan's apology, indemnities for the injured and relatives of the dead, promises against future attacks, and punishment of the pilots responsible for the bloodshed.

12. Totalitarian Regimes: Benito Mussolini

13. Totalitarian Regimes: Hitler

15. The Munich Pact
“Peace in our time”

16. Rome-Berlin-Tokyo Axis

17. Foreign Policy: International Peace
In the 1930s, FDR & Congress were too preoccupied with the Great Depression to adequately plan for new world conflicts involving totalitarian dictators
The rising threat of war in Europe & Asia strengthened Americans’ desire to avoid involvement in another world war

18. Foreign Policy: Citizen Attitudes
In the 1920s & 1930s, most Americans wanted to avoid another “meaningless war”
Munitions makers & bankers were labeled “merchants of death” & were blamed for American involvement in WWI
Passivism swept across college campuses; Students staged “walk-outs” & anti-war rallies
Historian Walter Millis’ America’s Road to War blamed Wilson & British propaganda for “duping” the U.S. into WWI

19. Veterans of FUTURE Wars

20. All Quiet on the Western Front portrayed WWI as brutal
The “Lost Generation”
Lost Generation is a phrase that was coined by American author F. Scott Fitzgerald in his first published novel This Side of Paradise[citation needed]. Often it is used to refer to a group of American literary notables who lived in Paris and other parts of Europe, some after military service in the First World War. People identified with the "Lost Generation" include authors and poets Ernest Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Ezra Pound, Sherwood Anderson, Waldo Peirce, and John Dos Passos.
There were many literary artists involved in the groups known as the Lost Generation. The three best known are F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway and John Dos Passos. Others usually included among the list are: Sherwood Anderson, Kay Boyle, Hart Crane, Ford Maddox Ford and Zelda Fitzgerald.
Ernest Hemingway was the Lost Generation's leader in the adaptation of the naturalistic technique in the novel. Hemingway volunteered to fight with the Italians in World War I and his Midwestern American ignorance was shattered during the resounding defeat of the Italians by the Central Powers at Caporetto. Newspapers of the time reported Hemingway, with dozens of pieces of shrapnel in his legs, had heroically carried another man out. That episode even made the newsreels in America. These war time experiences laid the groundwork of his novel, A Farewell to Arms (1929). Another of his books, The Sun Also Rises (1926) was a naturalistic and shocking expression of post-war disillusionment.
John Dos Passos had also seen the brutality of the war and questioned the meaning of contemporary life. His novel Manhatten Transfer reveals the extent of his pessimism as he indicated the hopeless futility of life in an American city.
F. Scott Fitzgerald is remembered as the portrayer of the spirit of the Jazz age. Though not strictly speaking an expatriate, he roamed Europe and visited North Africa, but returned to the US occasionally. Fitzgerald had at least two addresses in Paris between 1928 and He fulfilled the role of chronicler of the prohibition era.
All Quiet on the Western Front portrayed WWI as brutal

21. The Neutrality Acts
The “merchants of death” charges were led by North Dakota Senator Gerald Nye from to 1936:
Reaction to the Nye Committee report led to popular support to avoid making the same mistakes that led America to enter WW1
Congress passed 3 neutrality acts to avoid future wars

22. Neutrality Acts
Neutrality Act of 1935 banned arms sales to nations at war and warned citizens to avoid trans-Atlantic travel
Neutrality Act of 1936 banned loans to nations at war
Neutrality Act of 1937 required all trade with warring nations to be on “cash and carry” basis – made 1935 and 1936 Acts permanent

23. The Road Towards American Intervention

24. From Neutrality to Undeclared War
As Europe headed toward war, FDR openly expressed his favor for intervention & took steps to ready the U.S. for war
In 1937, FDR unsuccessfully tried to convince world leaders to “quarantine the aggressors”
Everything changed in with the Nazi-Soviet Pact & the German invasion of Poland

27. From Neutrality to Undeclared War
When WW2 began in 1939, Congress imposed a cash & carry policy to aid the Allies:
The U.S. would trade with the Allies but would not offer loans
The U.S. would not deliver American products to Europe
In addition, FDR traded 50 old destroyers with England for 8 naval bases in Western Europe
FDR responded with all-out aid to the Allies but did not call for war
Which eased the rigid restrictions of the Neutrality Acts of to allow the US to aid England & France
“The destroyer-for-bases deal is the most important action in the reinforcement of our national defense that has been taken since the Louisiana Purchase”
—FDR

28. From Neutrality to Undeclared War
Isolationists
Were appalled by this departure from neutrality & FDR’s involvement of the U.S. in foreign war
Their “fortress of America” idea argued that Germany was not a threat to the U.S.
Interventionists
Groups like the Committee to Defend America by Aiding the Allies called for unlimited aid to England
They argued that the events in Europe did impact the security of U.S.

29. From Neutrality to Undeclared War
By 1940, “interventionists” had the majority of American public sentiment on their side:
in 1940, Congress appropriated $10 billion for preparedness
FDR called for America’s first ever peacetime draft
In the election of 1940, FDR was overwhelmingly elected for an unprecedented 3rd term

30. From Neutrality to Undeclared War
By 1940, England remained the only active opposition to Hitler but was running out of money
FDR called for a Lend-Lease Act:
U.S. can sell or lend war supplies to Allied nations
Congress put $7 billion to allow England full access to U.S. arms

31. Lend-Lease Supply Routes

32. From Neutrality to Undeclared War
England desperately needed help escorting U.S.-made supplies through the U-boat infested Atlantic
FDR allowed for U.S. patrols in the western half of the Atlantic
German attacks on U.S. ships in led to an undeclared naval war between USA & Germany

33. From Neutrality to Undeclared War
In 1941, FDR & Churchill met to secretly draft the Atlantic Charter:
The U.S. & Britain discussed a military strategy if the USA were to enter the war
They discussed post- war goals of free trade & disarmament
In 1941, Germany broke the Nazi-Soviet Pact & invaded Russia

34. From Neutrality to Undeclared War
FDR brought U.S. to the brink of war & opened himself to criticism:
In Sept 1941, polls showed 80% of Americans supported remaining neutral in WW2
FDR had to wait for the Axis to make a decisive move…which Japan delivered on Dec 7, 1941

35. Pearl Harbor

36. Showdown in the Pacific
Japan took full advantage of the European war to expand in Asia:
Attacked coastal China
Seized French & Dutch colonies in East Indies & Indochina
Signed the Tripartite Pact with Germany & Italy in 1940
FDR retaliated against Japan with fuel, iron, & oil sanctions

37. Rich in Tin, Oil, Rubber

38. Showdown in the Pacific
In 1941, the U.S. & Japan were unable to diplomatically resolve their differences, so the USA:
Froze all Japanese assets in USA
Banned all oil sales to Japan
Hideki Tojo sent an envoy to negotiate for a resolution…but secretly ordered an attack on the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor
U.S. wanted the Japanese removed from China
Japan wanted an end to sanctions & a free hand to China

39. On Dec 7, 1941, the U.S. naval fleet in the Pacific was crippled by the attack; 8 battleships were sunk & 2,400 Americans were killed
On Dec 7, 1941, the U.S. naval fleet in the Pacific was crippled by the surprise attack; 8 battleships were sunk & 2,400 Americans were killed

40. Showdown in the Pacific
After Pearl Harbor:
Congress declared war against Japan on Dec 8, 1941
Italy & Germany declared war on the U.S. on Dec 11, 1941
American public opinion was now fully behind the war effort to defeat the fascist threat in Europe & to seek revenge against Japan

41. Compare & contrast the factors that drove the U. S
Compare & contrast the factors that drove the U.S. to war in 1917 & 1941
World War World War 2