Topic 7.
11: Interwar Foreign Policy
Learning Objective
Explain the ____________________ and ____________________ in attitudes about the nation’s proper role in the
world.
Historical Thinking Skill
Comparison
Unilateral Foreign Policy - How does the U.S. promote international order while maintaining isolationism after
WWI and before WWII?
I. Why did Congress refuse to join the League of Nations and retreat back into isolationism?
A. U.S. membership might interfere with U.S. ____________________ and could cause European
nations to ____________________ in the Western Hemisphere
II. London Economic Conference (1933)
A. To coordinate an ________________________________________ to the
________________________________________, but FDR didn’t want anything to interfere with his own
plans for U.S. recovery → collapse strengthened the global trend towards ____________________ &
“every man for himself”
B. Reciprocal Trade Agreements (1934) - lifted some of the tariffs from Hoover leads to more free
trade
III. International Investment
A. Trade and investment agreements to
____________________________________________________________ and world order
B. Dawes Plan (1924)
1. Finance plan to fix German reparations and WWI debts
IV. Post-World War I Agreements: Washington Conference
A. Conferences and treaties in an attempt to ________________________________________ by
________________________________________ and placing ________________________________________
to minimize potential for war
B. Five-Power Treaty (1922)
1. Nations with the 5 largest navies agree to limit naval armaments
2. Britain & U.S. also agreed to not fortify their possessions in the Pacific
a) No limit for Japan
C. Nine Power Treaty (1922)
1. All 9 nations agreed to respect the ________________________________________ by
guaranteeing the territorial integrity of China
D. Kellogg-Briand Pact (1928)
1. An attempt to renounce __________ (made war illegal)
2. Allows wars for defense & failed to go after violators of the agreement
V. Military Interventions
A. Dominican Republic (1916 - 1924)
1. Concerns about possible German use of the Dominican Republic as a
________________________________________ on the United States during World War I
B. Haiti (1914 - 1934)
1. President Woodrow Wilson sent Marines into Haiti to
________________________________________ and maintain political and economic stability
after the assassination of the Haitian President in July of 1915
C. Nicaragua (1926 - 1933)
1. To support democracy by supervising a ________________________________________
D. “Good Neighbor” Policy in the 1930s during FDR’s administration
1. Pan-American Conferences
a) Pledged to never again ____________________ in the internal affairs of Latin
America
b) Warned if an European country attempted to commit acts of
____________________, the western hemisphere would be prepared
2. Cuba
a) Persuaded Congress to nullify the ______________________________
b) Only retained the U.S. rights to keep ______________________________ at
Guantanamo Bay
E. Mexico
a) Mexico violated the Good Neighbor Policy when its president
______________________________ properties owned by U.S. corporations
b) Roosevelt encouraged American companies to negotiate a settlement
F. Ended ____________________ policies of Taft & Wilson
1. 1) arranging for U.S. troops to leave Nicaragua by 1933 and (2) negotiating a treaty with
Haiti to remove all troops by 1934
G. Saudi Arabia (Middle East)
1. U.S. companies won oil-drilling rights
VI. U.S. Neutrality
A. Two days after Britain and France declared war on Germany, President Roosevelt declared the
U.S. ____________________
VII. America Needs $$$
A. The Neutrality Act of 1939 allowed warring countries to ______________________________ from the
United States as long as they paid ________________________________________ the arms away on
their own ships
B. President Roosevelt used a loophole in the Neutrality Act of 1939 and sent 50 old American
____________________ to Britain in exchange for the right to build American ____________________
on British-controlled islands
VIII. The America First Committee
A. To mobilize American public opinion against war
1. Opposed any American ______________________________ to the Allies
B. Charles Lindbergh
C. American public opinion throughout the decades
IX. The Election of 1940
A. President Roosevelt ran for an unprecedented third term as president
B. Both Roosevelt and the Republican candidate, Wendell Willkie, said they would keep the United
States ____________________ but assist the Allied forces
C. Roosevelt won by a large margin
1. a strong economic recovery
2. fear of war made Americans to stay w/ more experienced leader
X. Roosevelt’s Goals
A. Roosevelt’s primary goal was to help Britain and its allies
________________________________________
XI. Four Freedoms Speech
A. In an address to Congress on January 6, 1941, President Roosevelt delivered one of the most
famous speeches in American history
B. The Four Freedoms speech was an expression of the president’s ____________________ in which
the American ideals of ________________________________________ were extended throughout a
world already engaged in war
C. Roosevelt ended the speech with a description of four essential human freedoms
XII. Norman Rockwell
A. Norman Rockwell was so inspired by the speech he created ______________________________
reflecting each one of the described freedoms
B. The paintings were turned into War Time posters
C. Rockwell raised $130,000,000 for the government (war bonds)
XIII. Lend-Lease Program (Four Freedoms Speech)
A. Roosevelt also proposed an ambitious "lend-lease" program whereby the United States would
become the “________________________________________” by reinforcing Britain
B. "We Americans are vitally concerned in your defense of freedom. We are putting forth our
energies, our resources and our organizing powers to give you the strength to regain and
maintain a free world. We shall send you in ever-increasing numbers, ships, planes, tanks, guns.
That is our purpose and our pledge."
XIV. Moving Towards War
A. FDR proposed the Lend-Lease Act- the United States could lend or lease arms to any country
considered “vital to the ____________________ of the United States.”
B. Passed by Congress
XV. Hemispheric Defense Zone
A. FDR developed the hemispheric defense zone, which declared the western 1/2 of the Atlantic as
part of the Western Hemisphere and therefore ____________________
B. This allowed Roosevelt to order the U.S. Navy to patrol the western Atlantic Ocean and
__________________________________________________ of German submarines to the British
XVI. Atlantic Charter
A. Pledge signed by FDR & British prime minister Winston Churchill not to acquire
______________________________ as a result of WWII & to work for ____________________ after the
war
1. Includes: self-determination for all people, no territorial expansion, and free trade
XVII. Shoot on Sight
A. After a German U-boat fired on a American destroyer
B. American ships to follow a “______________________________” policy toward German submarines
C. Germans torpedoed and sank the American destroyer Reuben James in the North Atlantic
XVIII. Japan Seeks an Empire
A. Japan’s attempt to create an empire is conflicting with the U.S. goal of maintaining an
________________________________________ in Asia
XIX. America’s Stimson Doctrine
A. U.S. response to Japan’s violation of the Open Door Policy
B. Refused to recognize any regime like Manchukuo that has been established like force
XX. The Embargo
A. July 1941, Japan ____________________ French Indochina
B. U.S. responded by freezing all Japanese assets in the U.S. and reducing the amount of
__________ and __________ shipped to Japan
C. The U.S. offered to lift the embargo if Japan ended its war with China
D. Japan did not agree to America's terms, and it continued to fight
XXI. Japan Attacks the U.S.
A. The Japanese decided to attack resource-rich British and Dutch colonies in Southeast Asia,
seize the Philippines, and attack ______________________________r (located in Hawaii)
XXII. Why did Japan pick Pearl Harbor?
A. The place they could hurt the U.S. most was at Pearl Harbor
1. Where much of the U.S. Pacific fleet was docked
B. Plus invading the ____________________ was too dangerous
XXIII. Japan Attacks the U.S.
A. Japan attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, sinking or damaging 21 ships of the U.S.
Pacific Fleet, killing 2,403 Americans, and injuring hundreds more
B. The next day, President Roosevelt asked Congress to declare war on ____________________
C. On December 11, 1941, Japan’s allies-Germany and Italy-declared war on the United States