1. US Foreign Policy:
From WWI to WWII

2. To what extent was the US “isolationist” between the two world wars?
Key Question:
To what extent was the US “isolationist” between the two world wars?

3. World War I:
US policy of non-intervention in the first 3 years of the Great War
BUT, financial and material aid to European nations, especially US’ European allies
Merchant ships sunk + Zimmerman Telegram 
Official US entry, April 6, 1917

4. End of WWI and TofV
- US President Wilson played a central role in developing the principles of post-war peace in the Treaty of Versailles: - moral concerns - economic concerns - political concerns

5. Wilson’s “Moral Diplomacy”
The U. S. should be the conscience of the world.
Spread democracy.
Promote peace.
Condemn colonialism.

6. “Wilsonianism” US foreign policies that:
Pursue the spread of democracy
Spread capitalism
Promote internationalism

7. US economic priorities
Maintain “Open Door” policy
In the 14 points:
- Absolute freedom of navigation upon the seas (II)
- The removal, so far as possible, of all economic barriers and the establishment of equality of trade conditions among all the nations consenting to the peace and associating themselves for its maintenance (III)

8. Political plan for peace
League of Nations: - internationalism - collective security - “to promote international cooperation and to achieve international peace and security.”

9. US Senate rejection of Treaty of Versailles, 1919
Art. 10 “Members of the League undertake to respect and preserve as against external aggression the territorial integrity and existing political independence of all Members…. In the case of any such aggression… the Council shall advise upon the means by which this obligation shall be fulfilled.”
Why?
League of Nations too interventionist
Problematic Article 10
Party politics

10. Military intervention in Russian Civil War, 1918-1920
- Polar Bear Expedition
- 5,000 US troops
Am. Expeditionary Force Siberia
- 8,000 US troops

11. Washington Disarmament Conference, 1921-1922
Long-standing Anglo-Japanese alliance (1902) obligated Britain to aid Japan in the event of a Japanese war with the United States.
Goals  naval disarmament and the political situation in the Far East.

12. Washington Naval Treaty, 1922
US initiative for disarmament
Result was 5:5:3 ratio for
US: Great Britain: Japan
- Five-Power Treaty

13. Five-Power Treaty, 1922
- A battleship ratio was achieved through this ratio: US Britain Japan France Italy
- Japan got a guarantee that the US and Britain would stop fortifying their Far East territories [including the Philippines].
- Loophole  no restrictions on small warships

14. Hyper-Inflation in Germany, 1923

15. Dawes Plan, 1924 US banker Charles Dawes drew up a plan:
1. froze German reparations payments for 2 years
2. reduced level of repayments
3. provided loans to German industry

16. Dawes Plan, 1924

17. Kellogg-Briand Pact, 1928
- 15 nations agreed to renounce the use of force for national objectives.
- Eventually, over 62 nations signed.
- Problem = no means of actual enforcement and gave Americans a false sense of security.

18. Secretary of State J. Reuben Clark
Clark Memorandum, 1928
- Clark pledged that the US would not intervene in Latin American affairs in order to protect US property rights.
- This was a complete rebuke of the Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine!
Secretary of State J. Reuben Clark

19. Young Plan, 1929
By 1929 Germany not keeping up with Dawes Plan  2nd US initiative
Terms:
1. more US loans to Germany
2. reduced payments over 50 years
- Negative response from Germany

20. Young Plan, 1929 - For three generations, you’ll have to slave away!
- $26,350,000,000 to be paid over a period of 58½ years.
- By 1931, Hoover declared a debt moratorium.

21. European Debts to the US

22. US-French relations
Tense post-WWI due to: - US pressure to repay war debts - 5 years between end of war and Dawes Plan (1924) - rejection of France’s proposals for military and economic cooperation

23. Wall Street Crash, Oct. 1929 Late October 1929
Record 28.8 million shares changed hands at low prices
Domestic economic chaos
Worldwide economic crisis followed

24. The Great Depression

27. By 1932 25% of US workforce unemployed
US increasingly preoccupied by domestic challenges
Hoovervilles to The New Deal

30. By 1932 25% of US workforce unemployed
US increasingly preoccupied by domestic challenges
Hoovervilles to The New Deal
Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act
International situation worsening

31. 1930s Internationally Japan invaded China - Manchuria, 1931
- mainland China, 1937
Fascism on the rise in Europe
- Nazi Germany’s expansion, 1936
- Mussolini’s invasion of Ethiopia, 1936
Italy and Germany openly interested in influence in South America

32. US responses Monroe Doctrine remained US policy Stimson Doctrine, 1932
- Open-Door Policy
Good Neighbor Policy, 1933

33. FDR’s “Good Neighbor Policy”
1933 policy toward Latin America
Non-intervention & non-interference in domestic affairs
Maintain & increase econ. opportunities

34. Cultural evidence of: Disney goes Latin! Shoring up support for WWII
Premiered in Rio de Janeiro August 1942

35. During WWII

36. US responses, cont’d Neutrality Acts Ludlow Amendment
FDR’s national addresses
- The Fireside Chat

38. US responses, cont’d Neutrality Acts Ludlow Amendment
FDR’s national addresses
- The Fireside Chat
Pan-American Conference, 1938