Heimler's History: American Foreign Policy Between the World Wars

Introduction

• Focus on 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

• Context: Post-WWI America leaned towards isolationism, avoiding European conflicts
• Presidential Influence:
  • 1920 election of Warren G. Harding
  • Campaign for "return to normalcy" emphasizing healing and restoration
• Economic Policy:
  • Increase in tariffs (Fordney-McCumber Act 1922, Smoot-Hawley Tariff 1930)
  • Aim to make foreign goods expensive, encouraging domestic purchases, reducing international trade

Kellogg-Briand Pact

• Purpose: Attempt to make war illegal or renounce it
• Outcome: Signed by 63 nations but unenforceable as it was outside League of Nations authority
• Significance: Reflects American desire to avoid international conflicts

Challenges to Isolationism in the 1930s

• Rise of Totalitarian Regimes:
  • Italy: Benito Mussolini's Fascist Party
  • Germany: Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party
  • Japan: Militaristic authoritarian shift
• Aggressions Noted by Americans:
  • Japan's invasion of Manchuria (1931)
  • Germany's occupations: Rhineland (1936), Austria (1937), Czechoslovakia (1938)
  • Italy's invasion of Ethiopia (1936)

Outbreak of WWII

• September 1939: Hitler's invasion of Poland prompts WWII
• American Neutrality Debate:
  • Isolationists vs. Interventionists
  • Isolationist argument: Previous war losses, profiteering corporations
  • Interventionist argument: Atlantic Ocean no longer a buffer due to technological advances

President Franklin D. Roosevelt's Policy

• Position: Intervening isolationist
  • Sympathetic to Britain, supporting involvement without public support
• Programs to Aid Allies:
  • Cash and Carry Program: Looser Neutrality Act, allowed armament sales to belligerents paying cash and transporting via their ships
  • Destroyers for Bases Program: Exchange of American destroyers for British land rights
  • Lend-Lease Act (1941): Allowed Britain to obtain arms on credit

Pearl Harbor and U.S. Entry into WWII

• December 7, 1941:
  • Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, over 2400 American casualties
• Aftermath:
  • Roosevelt requested a declaration of war against Japan
  • Hitler declared war on America
  • Marked the end of American isolationism and entry into WWII

Conclusion

• Video Resources:
  • Additional videos on Unit 7
  • Encouragement to subscribe for further educational content

This summary captures the main points of American foreign policy between the world wars, highlighting isolationism, the shift towards intervention, and the eventual U.S. entry into WWII following Pearl Harbor.