As demonstrated by Wilson’s League of Nations, Hitler’s reign, and the start of World War II, America gradually changed its foreign policy from avoiding foreign issues to becoming involved in global affairs, which in fact, was inevitable. During this period of time, many Americans still held an isolationist view. They were too arrogant at the time to not only become more aware but also more active in foreign affairs. With the presidency of Harding and Coolidge, the popular view of the time was the return to “normalcy”. In 1920, Harding made a speech opposing Wilson’s plan for the League of Nations (Doc A).
He felt strongly about keeping good relations with other countries, but at the same time warned Americans of the danger of remaining isolated from a world that was slowly being taken over by dictators in Germany, Italy, and Japan. He was in turn dominated by an isolationists Congress that felt that U.S involvement in World War I was a big mistake and were determined to prevent the United States from being drawn into another European war. When World War II broke out in Europe in 1939, Roosevelt called Congress into special session to revise neutrality acts to permit allies to buy American arms on a “cash-and-carry” basis. But Great Britain quickly became
FDR took a different approach with Japan, he viewed the German threat more prevalent than the Japanese. He strategy was to strangle the island into submission through an economic war. Japan was completely dependent on imports and raw materials from other countries, mainly the US to keep the production of wartime materials. In 1938, Roosevelt issued an embargo against Japan, restricting the trade of steel and oil in hopes to bring Japanese expansion to a halt. With only a six month supply of oil in reserve Japan was forced to make a quick decision that would have an enormous impact on world events.
Korea, China, and Vietnam all encountered conflict with Americans during the Cold War. The Cold War was a period of East-West competition, tension, and conflict short of full-scale war. It had many causes and was influenced by many events, including both the Yalta Conference and the spread of McCarthyism. Tensions between Democracy and Communism were so bad that in East Asia the U.S did not even recognize the People's Republic of China until Nixon became president. Because of the nuclear technology of the time, the Cold War could have drastically changed the face of the
Compare and contrast Herbert Hoover’s economic policies with those of Franklin Roosevelt. At the time of the stock market crash, nobody could foresee how long the downward slide would last. President Hoover was wrong, but not alone in thinking that prosperity would soon return. President Hoover believed the nation could get through the difficult times if the people took his advice about exercising voluntary action and restraint. Hoover urged businesses not to cut wages, unions not to strike and private charities to increase their efforts for the needy and jobless.
As World War II was beginning and conflict in Europe was rising, the American government was scared for the loss of democracy and the effects of the already weak economy on the American safety. However, America maintained the policy of isolationism as a defense to calm these concerns. As war became more pressing, America felt the pressure to take an official stance. Franklin Roosevelt’s foreign policy from 1937-1941 was impacted by all this in a way that resulted in the US joining and taking an extremely active role in World War II. The US was still suffering from the Great Depression at this time and was heavily depending on weapons and resource trade with Great Britain.
Why We Fight On December 7, 1941, the Japanese attacked upon American naval forces and air defenses at Pearl Harbor. This event gave Franklin Roosevelt the justification he needed to enter the United States in World War II. Other than that there were additional motivations for America’s entrance into the war. In 1931 Japanese invaded Manchuria. American had good relations with China so they told Japan if they don’t leave they will stop trading oil with them.
In conclusion the Cold War was caused by U.S. fear of the spread of communism and other events. The United States means of control was to contain communism at all cost. Many treaties were put in place to protect the two superpowers. The Soviet Union tried to influence other nations with communism and the United States tried with democracy. This battle of the superpowers lasted for fifty years.
At the beginning of the 1930’s, America hit a time known as the Great Depression. This didn’t just affect America, it also had a domino effect on other countries. This caused the United States to fall into Isolationism, when Franklin Delano Roosevelt pulled out of the London Conference deciding to fix this depression by ourselves. Roosevelt also made a command decision to ignore the aggressor nations. Japan acted as an aggressor nation in Document A, it shows Japan disregarding the International treaty agreements, which forced America to then go on its own and begin isolation.
The 1935 act, and the Neutrality Act of 1936 and 1937 that followed, were designed to prevent a recurrence of the events that many Americans now believed had pressured the U.S. into WWI. The 1935 law established a mandatory arms embargo against both victim and aggressor in any military conflict and empowered the president to warn American citizens that they might travel on the ships of warring nations only at their own risk. Thus, isolationists believed, the “protection of neutral rights” could not again become an excuse for American intervention in war. The 1936 Neutrality Act renewed these provisions. And in 1937, with world conditions growing even more precarious, Congress passed a still more stringent measure.