Global Crises
• You’ll recall that Henry Cabot Lodge, Republican
Senator from Massachusetts, was the primary
opponent of the Treaty of Paris at the end of
World War I
• Lodge was no friend of Woodrow Wilson and, as
a result of his efforts, the United States stayed
out of the League of Nations
• We remained essentially neutral on the world
stage for the two decades immediately after the
war, while attempting to increase our standing in
the eyes of other nations and avoiding alliances
of the type that had existed prior to the war
Global Crises
• Lodge was not an isolationist, however, he did
believe the United States should not be
obligated to any other nation, thus enabling us to
avoid a war we did not believe in
• While Lodge no doubt had the best interests of
the nation at heart, world events would soon
spiral out of control and there would be no way
for the United States to remain neutral in the
face of mounting international tensions, no way
for us to remain out of the most catastrophic war
in human history
Replacing the League of Nations
• By the time Warren Harding had succeeded Woodrow
Wilson in the White House, there was no longer any
reasonable chance that the United States would join the
League of Nations
• However, leaders of the Harding administration,
especially his Secretary of State, Charles Evans
Hughes, were interested in finding some other
mechanism to replace the league as a way of ensuring
peace and stability in the world
• One of the most important efforts along those lines was
the Washington Conference of 1921. The primary goal
of this gathering was to prevent a naval armaments race
among the United States, Great Britain, and Japan
Replacing the League of Nations
• Secretary Hughes put forth a plan that would reduce the
naval forces of all three nations and place a moratorium
on the building of large warships for ten years
• Despite much skepticism about the outcome the
participants did come to an accord that limited the total
number and size of warships each nation could have
• In 1927, the French foreign minister, Aristide Brand,
asked the United States to join an alliance against
Germany. As an alternative the American Secretary of
State, Frank Kellogg, suggested a multilateral treaty
outlawing war. Eventually over 60 nations signed what
became known as the Kellogg-Briand Pact – though
there was no language on enforcement
Diplomacy
• The primary goal of American diplomatic efforts at this
time, was to ensure that our overseas trading
partnerships faced no obstacles
• A key element in achieving that goal required that we
deal with international debt. As mentioned before, a
number of European nations had borrowed heavily from
American banks during and just after the war. They
were now struggling to repay that money
• In addition, Germany was saddled with having to pay
enormous reparations as a result of losing the war
• The United States had a possible solution
Diplomacy
• Our plan was to loan money to Germany so they could
pay reparations to England and France and those
countries could use the money to repay the loans that
had with American banks
• This arrangement worked until the world was hit by
Depression in 1931
• The United States had also made considerable loans to
nations in Latin America. As was the case with our
European debtors, the nations of Latin America were
also having trouble repaying the loans due in large
measure to the very high tariffs levied by the United
States on imported goods
Hoover’s Involvement
• By 1931, the financial crises that had begun in
1929, had caused the rise of ultra-nationalism in
Europe.
• Political leaders who had been fairly friendly with
the United States were being replaced by far
more belligerent leaders and governments who
were committed to expansion by any means
necessary
• A similar political philosophy had taken over in
Japan and this was creating expansionist
problems in Asia as well
Hoover’s Involvement
• Hoover took a benevolent approach to Latin
America
• He refrained from interfering in the affairs of our
Western Hemisphere neighbors and removed
troops from both Nicaragua and Haiti
• Hoover also repudiated the Roosevelt Corollary
to the Monroe Doctrine by not intervening in
Latin American nations that defaulted on their
loans from the United States
• Further, he granted diplomatic recognition to all
current governments in the region without regard
to how those governments had come to power
Hoover’s Involvement
• In Europe, Hoover was somewhat less
successful with regard to his diplomatic
maneuvering
• He refused to forgive the WWI debts of
European nations causing many of them to go
into default
• The 1921 naval agreement on the number and
size of ships that could be built, failed to take
hold because England and France did not trust
Germany and Japan to uphold the terms of the
agreement – of course time would prove them
right in their concerns
Hoover’s Involvement
• The inability of the United States to deal effectively with
Europe was all the more troubling because of the new
governments that were coming to power in the 1920s
• Benito Mussolini’s fascist government had been in
control of Italy since the early years of the decade
• Of even greater concern was the rise of the National
Socialist or Nazi Party in Germany. The success of the
Nazis was due in large measure to the total failure of the
Weimar Republic which had run Germany since the end
of the war. Now Germany was experiencing serious
economic problems most especially a ruinous level of
inflation
Hoover’s Involvement
• The leader of the Nazi Party, Adolf Hitler, was growing
in popularity with each passing moment and would
become the supreme leader of Germany in 1933
• Hitler believed the German people comprised a “master
or Aryan race” and that they were genetically superior to
others
• He also wanted to extend German territory to provide
“Lebensraum” (living space) for the German people
• In addition to all this, Hitler also had a pathological
hatred of all Jews – blaming them for Germany’s defeat
in the first world war and for the economic problems
Germany had experienced since the war ended
Hoover’s Involvement
• But of more immediate concern than the events in
Europe were those in Asia
• The Japanese were worried about the military power of
the Soviet Union and the insistence of Chinese leader
Chaing Kai-Shek that his government had control over
Manchuria. This was officially a part of China, however,
Japan had controlled the territory since their victory over
Russia in 1905
• In 1931, Japan’s military leaders took control of their
country and launched an invasion of Manchuria
• Hoover warned the Japanese but would not join the
League of Nations in imposing economic sanctions
• In 1932, Japan expanded their invasion to the rest of
China killing thousands of civilians in the process
Isolationism and Internationalism
• When Franklin Roosevelt succeeded Herbert
Hoover in March 1933, he had to face not only
the most serious economic crises in the nation’s
history, but also the growing threat of crises on
the international scene
• Hoover had based much of his economic
recovery efforts on the collection of war debts
from other nations
• But Roosevelt had significantly different views
on economic recovery and when he assume the
presidency many of Hoover’s initiatives were
abandoned
Isolationism and Internationalism
• Shortly after taking office Roosevelt stopped the
practice of making new loans to European
nations so they could pay off their World War I
related debt
• This had the effect of terminating all loan
repayments within a matter of months as no
country, in debt to U.S. banks, could afford to
repay those debts without taking out new loans
• On the international relations front, by 1933, the
United States still had not recognized the new
government of the Soviet Union
Isolationism and Internationalism
• However, pressure was mounting for us to do so as the
Soviet Union was being looked upon as a potentially
lucrative trading partner
• For their part, the Russians wanted better relations with
the United States in the hopes that we would assist them
in controlling Japan, which was becoming stronger
militarily with each passing year
• We did begin formal diplomatic relations with the Soviets
in 1933, but trade with Russia never became a
significant factor and we did little to reassure the Soviets
that we had a serious interest in controlling Japanese
expansion in East Asia
Isolationism and Internationalism
• By 1934, only a year after we recognized the
legitimacy of the Soviet government, the two
nations were once again acting suspicious of
each other
• At the same time the United States was also
taking a new approach with regard to Latin
America
• In what came to be called the “Good Neighbor
Policy” the United States acknowledged that no
nation had a right to intervene in the affairs of
other nations. This ran counter to the American
position in the early part of the 20th century
Isolationism
• With a major crises brewing on the international front,
America was faced with two choices
• We could either attempt to use our influence to stabilize
the world, or we could isolate ourselves from it
• Most Americans preferred the isolationist approach
• There was much disillusionment in the country over the
ability of the League of Nations to solve international
problems
• In addition, many Americans had come to believe that
business interests and major banks and conspired to
trick the country into becoming part of World War I and
those who believed that wanted no part of another war
Isolationism
• There was even a Congressional investigation
which supposedly developed evidence that
Wilson had been pressured into war by banking
interests whose only motivation was to protect
loans they had made in Europe – this has never
been proven and historians discredit this idea
• Despite the isolationist views of his countrymen,
Roosevelt hoped to keep the United States at
least somewhat involved in maintaining order in
the world
Isolationism
• In 1935, the Italians under Benito Mussolini
were on the verge of invading Ethiopia
• There was fear that such an act would trigger
another European war
• In an effort to keep the United States out of such
a conflict, Congress passed the Neutrality Act of
1935
• Under the provisions of this act the United
States was prohibited from selling arms to either
side in a war and Americans citizens were to be
warned not to travel on the ships of any nation at
war
Isolationism
• A later Congressional initiative in 1937,
stipulated that warring nations could purchase
non-military goods from the United States
• However, they would have to pay for those items
in cash, not credit, and they would have to make
arrangements to ship the products on their own
without the assistance of American shipping
• The hope was that these initiatives would
prevent the United States from being taken to
war under the guise of having to protect our
rights as neutrals
Isolationism
• The power of the isolationists was demonstrated once
again during the Spanish Civil War, 1936-37
• In the summer of 1936, the Spanish Falangists of
General Francisco Franco (a fascist group much like
that of Mussolini in Italy) revolted against the Spanish
government
• Hitler and Mussolini rushed to help the Spanish Fascists
– this turned out to be a testing ground for military
equipment and tactics to be used by the Nazis in World
War II which they knew would come
• American adventurers and communists volunteered to
aid the Republican government. The United States,
England and France had agreed to stay out of the
conflict
Isolationism
• Also in 1937, the Japanese further expanded
their invasion of Manchuria by attacking the
northern provinces of China
• In a speech that year Roosevelt warned of the
dangers of Japanese expansionism and
indicated that such nations should be
“quarantined” so as to prevent the spread of war
• When Japanese planes attacked and sank an
American gunboat on the Yangtze River in 1937,
Roosevelt accepted the claim that it had been an
accident so as not to inflame the isolationists
Munich
• In 1936, Hitler moved German troops into an
area between France and Germany called the
Rhineland
• This was a region of Germany that was
supposed to remain free of military personnel
under terms of the armistice that ended World
War I
• In early 1938, Hitler moved his forces into
Austria effectively taking over that country
• He proclaimed a union (or Anschluss) between
Austria, the country of his birth, and Germany,
the nation he now ruled
Munich
• The annexation of Austria led to yet another crises
• It meant that Germany occupied land on three sides of
western Czechoslovakia, yet another territory Hitler
wanted to add to the growing German empire
• This western section of Czechoslovakia was called the
Sudetenland and was home to a large number of ethnic
Germans
• The Czech military was ready to fight the Germans in
order to retain their land. However, for them to have any
chance they would have needed the support of the major
powers such as England and France and those nations
would do anything to appease Germany and avoid war
Munich
• In September 1939, representatives of France
and England met with Hitler at a conference in
Munich, Germany
• While the two nations agreed to meet Hitler’s
demands with regard to Czechoslovakia, Hitler
agreed to expand no further
• The prime architect of this appeasement was
British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, who
upon his return home declared that he had
achieved “peace in our time”
• Six months later Hitler seized the rest of
Czechoslovakia and threatened Poland
Munich
• This pushed France and England as far as they
were willing to go to avoid war
• They both promised the Polish government that
they would come to their aid in the event
Germany invaded
• France and England also tried to form an
alliance with the Soviets to fight with them
against Germany
• But Joseph Stalin, the Soviet leader, decided
that promises of assistance from France and
England were unreliable
Munich
• In August 1939, the Soviets signed a non-aggression
pact with Germany
• This freed Hitler from the threat of a two-front war and
allowed him to turn his full attention towards Poland
• In late August Hitler staged a fake attack on German
citizens near the Polish border and claimed it had been
perpetrated by the Poles
• Using this as an excuse he invaded Poland on
September 1, 1939
• France and England fulfilled their promise to the Poles,
declared war on Germany and World War II had begun
From Neutral to Participant
• Right after war began in Europe, President
Roosevelt declared that the United States was
neutral and would remain neutral
• However, Roosevelt also acknowledged that the
nation’s official position would not affect the
sentiments of individual Americans
• Clearly the nation’s sympathies lay with
England, France and the other nations allied
against Germany and Italy
• The big question was how much would we do to
assist those nations without crossing the line
and becoming a combatant
Neutrality
• Initially Roosevelt was of the belief that we
should provide arms to the allies to help them
overcome the large superiority Hitler had in
terms of his munitions industry – an industry he
had built during the 1930s in clear violation of
the armistice that ended World War I
• At the president’s request, Congress revised
their own Neutrality Act to permit nations at war
to purchase arms from the United States,
however, they retained the provision of the act
which prohibited American ships from
transporting those arms to the purchaser
Neutrality
• The German army and air force made quick
work of Poland in the early days of the war
• Making matters worse for the Poles was the fact
that the Soviet Union, under terms of their non-
aggression pact with Germany, used the
opportunity to invade Poland from the East and
seize a large portion of the country
• After this, however, there was a lull in the
fighting which lasted until the spring of 1940.
This period of often called the “phony war” in
that there were no combat operations by any of
the nations involved
Neutrality
• When spring arrived in 1940, the Germans employed a
new form of warfare which was called “blitzkrieg” or
“lighting war”
• Using this technique of overwhelming force moving as
rapidly as possible, they quickly overran Denmark,
Norway, Belgium, and Holland before driving into France
• As Hitler was invading France from the north and East,
Mussolini used the opportunity to attack France from the
south
• In the face of this France was forced to surrender in
June 1940. German troops marched into Paris and a
new French government, under Nazi control, assembled
in the town of Vichy
Neutrality
• While Germany’s spring 1940 offensive was still
underway, the new British Prime Minister, Winston
Churchill, made a series of requests for war supplies to
the United States
• Churchill told Roosevelt (with whom he developed a
close, personal relationship) that without these supplies
England could not hold out against Germany
• Roosevelt understood England’s position and agreed to
“loan” them 50 destroyers in exchange for the right to
build bases on British held islands in the Caribbean. He
said the ships were being leased to England rather than
given outright. This became known as the “lend/lease”
program and was the way in which Roosevelt got around
the Neutrality Act
Neutrality
• Roosevelt was successful in getting around the
Neutrality Act to assist England, because by 1940, a
growing number of Americans felt Germany posed a
serious threat to the United States
• In that same year, Congress passed the first peace time
draft in American history
• But everything did not come easily to the president in
this regard. There were still a number of influential
Americans, including Charles Lindbergh, who believed
we should remain neutral and who had a better opinion
of Germany than many of their countrymen
• The debate on America’s stance regarding the war was
further complicated by a presidential campaign
The 1940 Presidential Race
• The biggest political question in 1940, was
whether Franklin Roosevelt would do what none
of his predecessors had ever done and run for a
third term in the White House
• Roosevelt was evasive about what he planned
to do, however, by not taking his name out of the
process, he made it virtually impossible for any
other Democrat to seek the nomination
• Finally, just before the convention in July,
Roosevelt told party leaders that he would
accept another term
The 1940 Presidential Race
• The Republican nominee was an Indiana
businessman named Wendell Wilkie
• Their platform was not significantly different from
that of the Democrats
• They too would keep the nation out of war, but
would also supply military aid to the allies
• Wilkie had more charisma than any other
Republican candidate in some time. However,
he was little match for Roosevelt on election
day. The President received 55% of the popular
vote and 449 electoral votes to Wilkie’s 82
The End of Neutrality
• As 1940 drew to a close, Britain was in such
serious financial straits, they could not longer
afford to meet the “cash and carry” policy
mandated by the United States for the purchase
of military equipment
• Roosevelt, knowing he had to continue
supplying England, obtained Congressional
approval for a modified version of the policy.
• Essentially the United States agreed to continue
providing military equipment to England as long
as England promised to return it after the war
The End of Neutrality
• To further aid England, the United States began
patrolling the western Atlantic in the summer of 1941
• England was losing so many ships to German
submarines (U-boats) that they could not patrol the
entire convoy routes between Europe and America
• Initially Germany did not challenge American
involvement. However, in June 1941, Hitler invaded
Russia in violation of the non-aggression pact he had
signed with Stalin
• Most people expected the Soviets to surrender quickly,
when they did not, Roosevelt proposed extending the
lend-lease program to them
The End of Neutrality
• Now America was providing assistance to two of
Hitler’s foes and on two fronts
• So in September 1941, German U-boats began
targeting American ships protecting convoys in
the Atlantic
• Roosevelt in turn, ordered American ships to fire
on German submarines on sight
• When the Germans later sank an American
destroyer, killing a number of sailors, Roosevelt
ordered the arming of merchant ships and
began allowing them to carry their supplies all
the way to England
Pearl Harbor
• In the fall of 1940, Japan had signed an
agreement allying them with Germany and Italy
• In the summer of 1941, Japanese troops
invaded Indochina and seized territory in
Vietnam, at the time a French colony
• By this time we had broken the Japanese codes
and knew their next targets
• Roosevelt warned the Japanese to stop their
aggression. When they refused, he froze all
Japanese assets in the United States thus
cutting them off from the vital American supplies
they needed
Pearl Harbor
• Japan now realized they would either have give in to
American pressure and repair relations with the United
States, or find another source for the supplies they
needed
• The easiest way to accomplish the latter would be to
seize British and Dutch holdings in the Pacific
• In the fall of 1941, militants in the Japanese War Party
overthrew the prime minister and replaced him with their
own leader, General Hideki Tojo
• By the following month, November 1941, it had become
clear to America that there was no longer any chance of
finding a peaceful settlement to disagreements with
Japan
Pearl Harbor
• Intelligence reports at the time seemed to
indicate that Japan was planning to attack the
United States
• However, most senior government and military
leaders felt sure the Japanese would first attack
British and Dutch holdings
• This error in judgment proved most costly when,
on the morning of December 7, 1941, the
Japanese navy and air forces attacked the
American naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii
Pearl Harbor
• The attack was very successful for Japan
• They sank 15 of our ships, including 8 battleships
• They also destroyed nearly 200 planes and killed over
2400 sailors and soldiers
• Our Pacific forces were seriously damaged, fortunately,
however, none of our aircraft carriers were in port at the
time
• The next day, Congress approved a declaration of war
against Japan and three days later Germany and Italy
also declared war on the United States. Immediately
thereafter, Congress declared war on Germany and Italy
• The United States was no embroiled in the war many
Americans had hoped to avoid