American Foreign Policy Between the Wars

Mar 26, 2025

Heimler's History: American Foreign Policy Between World Wars

Overview

  • Focus: American foreign policy between WWI and WWII.
  • Learning Objective: Explain similarities and differences in attitudes about the nation's role in the world.

Post-WWI Isolationism

  • Isolationism Defined: Desire to avoid European entanglements post-WWI.
  • Warren G. Harding's "Return to Normalcy":
    • Campaign for healing and restoration, not international involvement.

Economic Policies

  • Tariffs:
    • Fordney-McCumber Act (1922): Raised tariffs.
    • Smoot-Hawley Tariff (1930): Increased tariffs further.
    • Result: Decreased international trade, encouraged domestic buying.

Diplomatic Efforts

  • Kellogg-Briand Pact:
    • Signed by 63 nations, including the U.S., to renounce war.
    • Ineffective due to lack of enforcement mechanism.

Challenges to Isolationism in the 1930s

  • Rise of fascist and totalitarian regimes:
    • Italy: Benito Mussolini.
    • Germany: Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party.
    • Japan: Militaristic and authoritarian government.
  • Aggressive actions:
    • Japan's invasion of Manchuria (1931).
    • Germany's occupations: Rhineland (1936), Austria (1937), Czechoslovakia (1938).
    • Italy's invasion of Ethiopia (1936).

U.S. Neutrality and Isolationist Sentiments

  • World War II Begins: Hitler's invasion of Poland (1939).
  • Isolationist arguments:
    • Over 100,000 American deaths in WWI with unfulfilled promises of global safety.
    • Nye Committee: Suggested profit motives led to WWI involvement.
  • Interventionist arguments:
    • Technological advancements (submarines, airplanes) diminished Atlantic Ocean as a buffer.
    • Potential threat if Britain fell to Hitler.

Franklin D. Roosevelt's Policy

  • Intervening Isolationist:
    • Sympathetic to Britain, sought involvement without full public support.
  • Aid to Allies:
    • Cash and Carry Program: Belligerents could buy U.S. arms if paid in cash and transported by their own ships.
    • Destroyers for Bases: Exchanged American destroyers for British land rights.
    • Lend-Lease Act (1941): Allowed Britain to obtain arms on credit.

End of Isolationism

  • Attack on Pearl Harbor (December 7, 1941):
    • Japanese attack led to U.S. entry into WWII.
    • Roosevelt's request for war declaration against Japan.
    • Subsequent German declaration of war on America.
  • Additional resources available on Unit 7.
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Conclusion: The transition from isolationism to involvement in WWII was marked by increasing global threats and strategic aid to Allies, culminating in the direct attack on Pearl Harbor.

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