WORLD WAR II IN THE USAAN INTRODUCTION TO WARTIME FOREIGN POLCIES

1920-1941

QUICK FACTS

WAR COSTSUS Debt 1940 - $9 billionUS Debt 1945 - $98 billionThe war cost $330 billion -- 10 times the cost of WWI & as much as all previous federal spending since 1776

QUICK FACTS

WHEN?

1939

Sept.1 - Germany invades Poland (official start to the war)

Sept. 3 -Britain &

France declare war on

Germany

Dec. 7 – Japan

bombs Pearl Harbor; US enters the

War

1941

May - Germans Surrende

r

Sept. - Atomic

Bombing Japanese Surrende

r

1945

•1939-1945•US involvement 1941-1945

THE AFTERMATH OF THE GREAT WAR

In the aftermath of the Great War, as American troops came home from Europe, the United States became permeated by a sense of disillusionment as people observed the turmoil continuing in Europe in the years following that terrible conflict.

WASHINGTON NAVAL CONFERENCE 1921Convened in November 1921Secretary Charles Hughes

declared that “the way to disarm is to disarm,” and that the time to begin was immediately.

Japan attended the Washington Conference (1921-22) with both hope and concern. Global reduction of naval capacity was welcome for Japan which was facing a fiscal crisis.

WASHINGTON NAVAL CONFERENCE 1921

The agreement that was finally reached would limit the ratio of capital ship tonnage among the five major powers:

United States (5) Great Britain (5) Japan (3) France (1.67) Italy (1.67)

FIVE-POWER NAVAL TREATY

Signed in February, 1922, and was to remain in effect until 1936.

The treaty placed a limitation on the numbers and sizes of major warships

It did not affect smaller vessels such as destroyers, submarines and cruisers

It called for a construction “holiday” of ten years.

CONTINUED …

The conference also agreed on a four-power treaty in which Great Britain, the United States, Japan, and France agreed to respect each other's interests in the Pacific.

Finally, a Nine Power Treaty endorsed the Open Door policy in China.

Kellogg-Briand Pact 1927 France approached the United States

with a proposal that the two nations enter into a defensive alliance an obvious attempt to provide protection in

advance in case of German retaliation.

Kellogg-Briand Pact Secretary of State

Kellogg, not wanting to become snarled in an alliance, suggested a wider pact that would “outlaw” war.

The resulting Kellogg-Briand Pact was signed in 1928, though many realized that its goals were illusory, since its intent was indeed to make war illegal.

AMERICAN INTEREST IN EUROPEInterest in the German situation

resulted from the fact that the allies owed large sums of money to the United States.

It was clear that if Germany could not indemnify the allies, they would not be in a position to repay the United States. 

But by the 1930s with the world depression affecting everyone, all debts were eventually defaulted or cancelled.

THE GOOD NEIGHBOR POLICY The U.S. had a history of

intervention in Latin America

By the 1920s Presidents Hoover and Roosevelt and many others slowly began to recognize the basic unfairness of America’s Latin American policy.

President Hoover rejected Wilson’s interventionist policies and went on a goodwill tour after the 1928 election.

THE GOOD NEIGHBOR POLICY The gradual removal of all American

occupying forces began and was completed by 1934.

The United States also renounced its right to intervene in Cuban affairs by terminating the Platt Amendment.

Many problem areas still existed, and the U.S. had to resolve with various individual nations

The Good Neighbor policy improved relations enormously, so that by World War II the Western Hemisphere was reasonably unified

THE GOOD NEIGHBOR POLICY The United States

was still seen as the “colossus of the North.”

In 1936 President Franklin Roosevelt attended the Buenos Aires Inter-American Conference.

THE GOOD NEIGHBOR POLICY FDR’s address to the delegates was

well received—he called himself a “traveling salesman for peace” and preached “mutual safety.”

The Lima Declaration of 1938 reinforced inter-American solidarity.

THE TRIUMPH OF ISOLATIONISM During the crisis years of 1931-1939

Americans found themselves in the depths of the Great Depression

did not want to think of further war, so the country retreated into a deeper position of isolationism.

Americans saw themselves as “innocent bystanders” in world affairs and began to feel as trouble arose in Europe that America’s participation in the First World War may have been a waste.

THE TRIUMPH OF ISOLATIONISM

In 1933 the U.S. finally recognized the Soviet government and established formal relations with the USSR—primarily for business reasons.

By 1936, as  Hitler was beginning to menace Europe,

Americans wanted to stay out of it, but how?

THE TRIUMPH OF ISOLATIONISM

Secretary of State Henry Stimson claimed:

“The only sure way to stay out of war is to prevent it.”

But how was the United States, which had refused even to join the League of Nations and had reduced its armaments to a dangerously low level, supposed to accomplish that?

FRANKLIN DELANO ROOSEVELT AKA FDR

Democratic President from 1933-1945, after Herbert Hoover, and followed through till the end of WWII (died three weeks before Nazis’ surrender)

Very focused on the domestic front in the beginning, and preferred neutrality (Neutrality Acts 1935-39)

His consent to give US aid to the Allies (‘destroyers-for-bases’, Lend-Lease, technological advancements, convoy) secured the turn of the tide in their favor, and America’s entry to war brought about the loss of Germany

HISTORIOGRAPHY

Conrad Black – Franklin Delano Roosevelt: Champion of Freedom, 2003FDR understood that the war wasn’t just a

struggle between nations but it was a fight for democracy

FDR’s deep belief in the ideals of democracy united the American peoples to this realization as well

HISTORIOGRAPHY

Waldo Heinrichs – Threshold of War: Franklin D. Roosevelt and American Entry into WWII, 1990Goes against the popular portrayal of a

hesitant and impulsive manPortrays FDR as a great leader who acted

with extreme caution and deliberation

HISTORIOGRAPHY

Bryce Wood – The Making of the Good neighbor Policy, 1961FDR advocated for isolationism from the

rest of the world and had “no desire for conquest, or need for defense”

America felt that is it aided its neighboring nations and was indeed a good neighbor it would receive the same aid from other nations

THE NYE COMMITTEE HEARINGS

In 1934 Senator Gerald Nye of North Dakota began a series of hearings that tried to show that munitions makers had made “huge” profits during World War I

Therefore they were somehow responsible for America’s involvement in the conflict.

They were called the “Merchants of Death.”

The results of the Nye Committee investigation were inconclusive

THE NYE COMMITTEE HEARINGS

However the isolationists won the day and several Neutrality Acts were the result.

The Committee concluded that American freedom of the seas doctrine had become unreasonable because of the submarine.

Neutrals, they concluded, should keep out of war zones.

THE NEUTRALITY ACTS

As the hearings went forward, the isolationists were in control.

Reading the political winds, FDR asked the Nye Committee to prepare legislation.

THE NEUTRALITY ACTS 1935

Forbade sale of arms to belligerents.

Civilians would enter war zones on belligerent ships at their own risk.

FDR signed the bill in August 1935.

THE NEUTRALITY ACTS 1935

The Arms embargo on all nations portion of the bill was opposed by FDR because it made it impossible for the U.S. to influence the action.

The Act was non-specific on trade. Cordell Hull called it a “moral embargo,” but

there were problems in execution of the Act.

THE NEUTRALITY ACTS 1935

The Neutrality Act was invoked in 1935 when Italy invaded Ethiopia.

No neutrals were allowed on belligerent ships. Italy was

insulted.

THE NEUTRALITY ACTS 1935

Lesson learned: Don't go around insulting belligerents when trying to stay out of war.

Half-hearted sanctions made things worse.

Historian A.J.P. Taylor said, “Fifty two nations opposed Italian aggression, and all they accomplished was that Haile Selassie lost all of his country [Ethiopia] instead of only half.”

THE NEUTRALITY ACTS

Further neutrality acts were passed in 1936 and 1937

The net result of those laws was to handcuff the United States

Even if it had a legitimate desire to assist nations that were victims of international aggression.

President Roosevelt made no attempt to block this legislation, but refused to invoke the laws when Japan invaded China, thereby allowing China to buy arms from the United States.

SUMMARY OF NEUTRALITY ACTS 1935

General embargo on arms and war materials with all parties in war

“Moral” embargo against belligerents (decided by FDR whether they were good or bad), called after Italy’s invasion of Ethiopia, covered other trade

1936 Renewed 1935 act Forbade loans to belligerents

1937 US ships forbidden from transporting passengers or

items belonging to belligerents US citizens could not travel on belligerent nations’

ships 1939

Allowed for arms sales on a cash and carry basis 1935 and 1937 acts repealed

CASH AND CARRY SEPTEMBER 1939

Allowed sale of material to belligerents as long as they used their own ships to transport and paid up front with cash

DESTROYERS FOR BASES SEPTEMBER 1940

Exchanged 50 US Navy destroyers for rent-free leases on British bases such as in Newfoundland, and in the Caribbean

LEND-LEASE MARCH 1941Allowed for the sale of war goods to the Allies (including China)

Provided aid for Allies without actually entering the war

**Decisive step away from American isolationism to European intervention

LEND-LEASE MARCH 1941

End of the Neutrality ActsAllowed the sale or lend or leasing of defense materials (war goods) to any country’s government which FDR deemed would be vital to US’s defense as well

THE LURE PACIFISM

Looking back at World War I as a meaningless effort, many Americans sought security in pacifism as well as in legal neutrality.

They wanted a way to ensure that the United States would not be drawn into another European conflict.

Most Americans suspected that they had been duped by the politicians, munitions makers and bankers into going to war in 1917 and resolved never again to fight a meaningless war.

THE LURE PACIFISM

Romantic notions of pacifism were not exclusive to the United States: in Great Britain college students pledged that they would never again fight in any kind of war.

Many of those same young men would die during World War II

A gradual breakdown of attempts at international cooperation developed as militaristic nations asserted their will with no regard for consequences or for maintaining the peace—conquest and revenge were their motives.

THE LURE PACIFISM The concept of collective security was, in effect,

the same idea as the old “Concert of Europe,” but a toothless League of Nations brought nothing but head-in-the-sand optimism, not action.

Aggressor nations ignored the League.

REASONS FOR ISOLATIONISM

Belief that the depression had been caused by World War I

Belief that Europe was unworthy of our support

Belief in Pacifism—people hated and abhorred war

Belief that arms manufacturers, bankers had caused World War I

Belief that World War I had been a tragic mistake for the U.S.