Usa Foreign Policy - Nature, Aims and Strategies of Us Foreign Policy 1919-1941

HSC Modern History, USA 1919-41, Part Four

US foreign policy

Nature, aims and strategies of US foreign policy 1919-1941

Chronological Examination of the Nature, Aims and Strategies of US Foreign Policy

Overview of the 1920s

> Background to foreign policy

• Congress has declared war on a series of nations in a series of instances: Spain [Spanish-American War] (1898); Germany and allies [WWI] (1917); Germany, Japan and allies [WWII] (1941)

• Requires consent, popular support of people thr democratically elected congress

• Examples of active foreign policy include: trade, tariff policy; international treaties; international aid
• Contradictory examples of growing isolationism and interventionism evident in 1920s:

• Isolationism: non-membership w League of Nations and World Court
• Interventionism: debt restructuring program for 13 European powers (1923-26), financial aid to Germany (1924-28, 1930), financial assistance to China, ongoing protection of the Philippines, intervention in Latin America thr application of the Monroe Doctrine, Roosevelt Corollary)

• Specific presidents may be viewed in terms of their foreign policy:

• Theodore Roosevelt (1901-09); ‘speak softly and carry a big stick’; interventionalist, advocated ‘gunboat diplomacy’
• William Taft (1909-13); ‘we must deal with the problems of our external relations by a diplomacy modern, resourceful, magnanimous’ (1912); interventionalist and uses ‘dollar diplomacy’ to stabilise and control foreign govs
• Woodrow Wilson (1913-21); ‘the world must be made safe for democracy’ (1917); isolationist (1913-17) except for brief April 1914 invasion of Mexico, interventionalist with WWI (1917)
• Warren Harding (1921-23); ‘return to normalcy’ (1920); isolationist
• Calvin Coolidge (1923-29); ‘the chief business of the American people is business’ (1925); isolationist
• Herbert Hoover (1929-33); ‘I have no fears for the future of our country’ (1929); isolationist
• FDR (1933-45); ‘the only thing we have to fear is fear itself’ (1933); isolationist (-1941), interventionalist (1941-)

• Specific secretaries of state may be viewed in terms of their foreign policy:

• Elihu Root (1905-09); Second Hague Peace Conference (1906) and Root-Takahira Agreement (1908) in affirmation of the ‘Open Door Policy’ w China

• Domestic implications: improved American, Japanese diplomatic and trade relations

• Philander C. Knox (1909-13); dollar diplomacy (1909-20s)

• Domestic implications: promotion of international businesses, wider profit margins for global transnational businesses, financial control of loan-defaulting nations

• William Jennings Bryan (1913-15); neutrality (resigned June 9 w disagreement over this)

• Domestic implications: growth of counter-neutrality movement, economic boom

• Robert Lansing (1915-20); WWI (1917), Treaty of Versailles (1919), rejection of Treaty of Versailles and membership of League of Nations (1920)

• Domestic implications: loss of union bargaining power, growth of racism, growth of isolationism, economic downturn, industrial unrest

• Charles E. Hughes (1921-25); Washington Disarmament Conference (1921-22), peace treaties w Germany, Austria, Hungry (1921), refusal to diplomatically recognise Russia

• Domestic implications: growth of isolationism, collapse of foreign markets, economic boom

• Frank B. Kellogg (1925-29); Kellogg-Briand Anti-War Treaty (1929) bw US, Germany, Italy, Japan and refusal to diplomatically recognise Russia

• Domestic implications: growth of isolationism, end to economic boom, domestic security

• Henry L. Stimson (1929-33); rejection of US participation in World Court, no recognition of Russia

• Domestic implications: continuation of isolationism, emerging fear of European turmoil

• Cordell Hull (1933-45); withdrew from London Currency Conference (1933), diplomatic recognition of Russia (1933), renewed rejection of US participation in World Court (1935), Neutrality Acts (1935, 36, 37)

• Domestic implications: continuation of isolationism and economic depression, growth of fear of Nazism, fascism and communism, end to isolationism w declaration of war (1941

> Development of isolationism

• Background to the World Court

• Permanent international court of law proposed by secretaries of state John Hay (1898-1905) and Elihu Root (1905-09) at the first and second Hague Peace Conferences
• US signed arbitration treaty w Austria-Hungry to agree to send trade disputes to Hague Court of Arbitration in 1909
• Establishment of the League of Nations made necessary that of a World Court as its 14th article required ‘the establishment of a permanent court of international peace’

• Establishment of the World Court

• League of nations declared the World Court open to all nations on May 12 1922

• To settle disputes bw nations regarding interpretation of treaty, international law, international obligations, reparations to be paid for breaching law/obligations
• To be governed by 15 judges, no 2 judges of same nationality

• By 1922, the world court had 48 members

• Potential US participation in the World Court

• Retained widespread popular support

• Eg from majority of press (excluding Hearst newspapers), US Chamber of Commerce, American Federation of Labour, National Association of Manufactures

• Retained support of a majority of senators

• Eg House of Representatives passed a resolution 301 to 28 in favour of membership

• Coolidge becomes president in 1923 and declares support for participation in the World Court
• Proposal for participation transferred to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on February 24 1923

• Contained four conditions: US to have no relationship w league, laws of the court could not be changed without US agreement, US was to pay its shares of expenses of the court, US could elect judges to court
• Led by hard core isolationist Senator Borah who viewed the court as the ‘league court’

• Senate Foreign Relations Committee refused to pass the legislation on to the senate

• Delaying tactics used to stop the Senate from voting on the proposal

• Senate Foreign Relations Committee allowed the resolution into the senate in 1926

• This was with two additional conditions; Senate to veto any referral from the World Court, participation no to contradict Monroe Doctrine
• Failed to pass through the World Court immediately

• Economic downturn delayed any further decision on the matter

• However, later decisions were negative: Hoover (1930), FDR (1935)

• Failure to join the World Court a demonstration of growing isolationism

• Eg firmly blocked by the isolationist-led Senate Foreign Relations Committee
• Eg firmly opposed by isolationist Hearst press
• Eg radio priest, extreme isolationist Father Charles E. Coughlin urged listeners to vote against ‘this great World Court, which has... at its command the troops of the world’
• Eg Louisianan senator, extreme isolationist Huey ‘Kingfish’ Long suggested that war debts by European powers would be cancelled if the US participated in the World Court

• Process of isolationism augmented by:

• Development of domestic policy, including the introduction of Prohibition and development of economic policy
• Prevalence of social tensions, including the Red Scare, racial conflict and North-South divide  
• Restricted immigration

> Development of interventionalism

• Washington Conference (1921-22) to end international naval arms race

• Included Five-Power-Treaty (signed February 6 1922)

• Outlined naval strength of US(1), UK(1), Japan(2), France(3), Italy(3) in 22 yrs time

• Included Nine-Power-Treaty

• Also involved Belgium, Portugal, Holland China; aimed to protect peace

• Included Four-Power-Treaty (signed December 13 1921)

• Involved US, Britain, Japan, France
• To end Japan-Anglo treaty, Japan to respect US interests in Philippines, Japan to formally accept the ODP

• Kellogg-Briand Pact or Pact of Paris (1929) to renounce the use of war as an instrument of national policy

• Between US, France: Kellogg (US Secretary of State), Briand (French Foreign Minister)
• Passed by US Senate, proclaimed by Hoover on July 24 1929

• Efforts to facilitate the repayment of $20b debt by European governments (by 1928)

• Included establishment of World War Foreign Debt Commission (by Congress, February 9 1922)

• Facilitated 75% reduction to the total owed in loan period  through lower interest rates, debt cancellation

• Included establishment of the Dawes Plan (September 1924-28)

• Sought to restore German economy through development of industry, loans

• Included establishment of the Young Plan (December 1930-)

• Continued to support German economy with reduced economic support

Overview of the 1930s and 1940s

> Background to relevant peace-war issues

• Applicable to Asia

• Japanese expansion in the Pacific marked by violation of Open Door truce w China (July 1937)

• This was supported by the formation of a closed ‘Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere’
• This was necessary for the acquisition of raw materials (oil, scrap iron, rubber, etc.)
• Elicited by the invasion of Manchuria (1931), China (1937), violation of Washington Conference (1934)
• This stirred criticism from the US but public opinion did not permit offensive action
• This was followed by the announcement of a new economic order for East Asia by Japan (Nov 1938) such that other Asian nations were left open to occupation, exploitation

• Formation of the Tripartite Pact w Germany, Italy on September 27 1940

• Mutual recognition of aims, strategies and agreement to ‘assist one another with all political, economic and military means’ if invaded or engaged in war

• Formation of a five-year neutrality pact w Russia on April 13 1941

• Mutual commitment to neutrality if either nation became engaged in war  

• Applicable to Europe

• Popular hatred for Germany, Italy evolved for a variety of reasons

• Eg disapproval of domestic policies, condemnation of fascism and offensive strategies, sympathy for democratic nations vulnerable to them, residual sentiment from WWI

• Joint German, Russian invasion of Poland in September 1939, following the establishment of a German-Russian non-aggression alliance on August 23 1939

• Followed by declaration of war by Great Britain, France against Germany on September 3
• Followed by Russian invasion and usurpation of Finland in November 1939
• Followed by German invasion and usurpation of neutral Denmark and Norway in April 1940
• Followed by German invasion and usurpation of Belgium, Holland, France in May 1940
• Followed by declaration of war by Canada against Germany in fall of 1939
• Followed by Germany invasion of Russia on June 22 1941

• Within 5 months, area west of Leningrad, Moscow, Rostov under German occupation

> Development of isolationism

• Personified by:

• Institutions: The America First Committee led by Colonel Lindbergh
• Groups: majority of university students, particularly from Princeton, Harvard, Columbia, Chicago; majority of mid-west populous; majority of the press, including the Hearst newspapers; many central European ethnic minorities; German, Italian, Japanese, Irish migrants; Catholics; pacifists
• Individuals: Ambassador Joseph Kennedy; Colonel Lindbergh; literary figures such as Ernest Hemingway, John Dos Passos, Maxwell Anderson, Laurence Stallings, E.E. Cummings, Dalton Trumbo; Republican progressives such as Hiram Johnson (California), William E. Borah (Idaho), Robert M. La Follette Jr. (Wisconsin); Democrat progressives such as Burton K. Wheeler (Montana); fascist left, communist right

• Political examples:

• Establishment of the Neutrality Acts (see below)
• Development of domestic policy

• Eg Volstead Act (1920), Immigration Restriction acts (1921-24), Hawley Smoot Tariff Act (1930), Fordney McCumber Tariff Act (1921), First (1933-34) and Second (1935-41) New Deals

• Failure to declare war w two torpedoes launched by a German submarine at American destroyer Greer in the North Atlantic on September 4 1941

• Popular examples:

• Declining popular support for foreign policy under FDR

• Eg in a mid-1930s public poll, less than a third of the responders favoured the conduct of neutrality by FDR as opposed to stricter neutrality laws
• Eg FDR’s political strength at its lowest in 1937-38
• ‘The American President (FDR) was... a weak and resourceless leader of an unarmed, economically wounded, and diplomatically isolated country’ David Kennedy

• No popular demand for retribution w December 1937 Japanese destruction of US gunboat Panay in Yangtze River
• A public opinion poll revealed that less than 35% of the population would vote for war if there was a referendum in November 1941

> Development of interventionalism

• Personified by:

• Institutions: Committee to Defend America by Aiding the Allies as chaired by the newspaper publisher William Allen White from Kansas
• Groups: majority of faculties of university faculties; some aspects of the press; majority of eastern liberals; those affiliated with Britain
• Individuals: president FDR; columnist Walter Lippmann; John F. Kennedy

• Political examples:

• Evolution of the Neutrality Acts (see below)
• Received increasing support from FDR

• Eg October 5, 1937 ‘quarantine’ speech in Chicago expressed support for offensive strategy

• ‘The epidemic of world lawlessness is spreading... war is a contagion, whether it be declared or undeclared... there is no except through mere isolation or neutrality... there must be positive endeavours to preserve peace’

• Eg denounced axis powers in radio speech on December 29 1940

• ‘We must be the great arsenal of democracy’

• Institution of the ‘Good Neighbour policy’

• Referred to in his first inaugural speech

• ‘In the field of World policy I would dedicate this nation to the policy of the Good Neighbour who resolutely respects himself and, because he does so, respects the rights of others’

• Involved nations such as Brazil, Cuba, Chile, Peru, Paraguay
• Purpose suggested by FDR in 1936

• ‘Peace, like charity, begins at home; and that’s why we have begun at home, here in North and South and Central America... to banish wars for ever from this vast portion of the earth’

• Included measures such as:

• Withdrawal of US troops from Haiti in 1934 (present since 1901)
• Trade agreements made w Haiti, Honduras, Brazil, Colombia in 1935 succeeded/followed by conferences in Montevideo (1933), Buenos Aires (1936), Lima (1938)
• Resolution signed in Montevideo (1933) stating ‘no sate has the right to intervene’
• Renouncement of the Platt amendment (1901) which conceded to the US the right to intervene politically and economically in Cuba
• Withdrawal of unilateral control over the Panama canal
• Permitted the nationalisation of Mexican oil fields, included some of those owned by the US

• Prohibition of sale of oil, metal scrap to Japan with US withdrawal from 1911 Japanese-American Commercial Treaty on July 26 1939
• Lending of funds to China through the Export-Import Bank (1940-)
• Introduction of peace time conscription (measure passed through Congress September 16 1940, seven weeks before 1940 presidential election)

• This registered all men between 21 and 36 for military draft; number of draftees per year limited to 900,000; first draftees left in late November after 12 months training; draftees not to be sent outside western hemisphere

• Introduction of legislation allowing executive to call National Guard units into federal services (passed through Congress in late 1940)
• Formation of the Destroyer-Bases Deal (signed in early September 1940)

• This permitted the exchange of 50 US destroyers with 95 year use of a selection of air and naval bases in the Caribbean, Bermuda and Newfoundland
• This was consistent w the Neutrality Acts as the ships had not been built specifically for the belligerent nation and the naval appropriations bill as the transfer was certified by chiefs of army, naval operations
• This was inconsistent w the spirit of neutrality and acquired some protest
• This was only approved by public opinion polls

• Formation of the Lend-Lease Bill (passed through Congress on January 10 1941)

• Passed through the House of Representatives at 260 to 154, Senate at 60 to 31
• This formed the US response to an appeal by Churchill to expend arms, planes
• This was the result of bitter congressional debate, in which Roosevelt famously likened the matter to a man lending his garden hose to a neighbour whose house was on fire (December 1939)
• This empowered the president to ‘sell, transfer, exchange, lease, lend or otherwise dispose of’ any commodities ‘to the government of any country whose defence the president deems vital to the defence of the United States’
• $7b was initially appropriated by Congress

• This extended to $50b in total

• Various responses to German submarine activity in 1941 under which 500,000 tonnes of shipping sunk monthly

• Eg Britain permitted to repair a battleship at an American port (March 1941)
• Eg Axis, French shipping in American ports to be seized (March 1941)
• Eg German, Italian assets frozen and consulates closed (June 1941)
• Eg American troops moved overseas to defend Iceland from axis (July 7 1941)

• Various responses to Japanese usurpation of French Indochina, announced in July 1941

• Eg Japanese assets frozen
• Eg Panama Canal closed to Japanese shipping
• Eg Philippine armed forces transferred into American army
• Eg inability to diplomatically negotiate situation in China, Indochina and US expectation of imminent Japanese offensive by November 1941

• Strengthened diplomatic relations with Britain

• Eg sea meeting between Roosevelt, Churchill off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada (August 9-12 1941) and the institution of its resulting Atlantic Charter

• The Atlantic Charter was a declaration of common interests bw US, Britain, China, USSR and 27 other Allied nations

• Amendment to Selective Service Act (narrowly passed by Congress on August 7 1941)

• This extended the duration of the draft from 12 months to the duration of the emergency, removed the ban on draftees serving overseas

• Strengthened diplomatic relations with Russia

• Eg extension of US, British anti-axis alliance to include Russia w German invasion (July 1941)
• Eg extension of lend-lease act to include Russia (November 1941)

• In total, Russia received $11b in equipment under the act

• Launch of a shoot-on-sight order to the Atlantic naval fleet w 2 torpedoes launched by German submarine at American destroyer Greer in the North Atlantic, September 4 1941

• Followed by; torpedo to destroyer Kearny killing 11, torpedo to destroyer Reuben James sinking it

• Popular examples:

• Inclining popular support for intervention in Europe in late-1930s (eg w the bombing of Britain, usurpation of France, a 1939 public poll indicated for the first time that a majority supported assistance to Britain over neutrality)

> Development of the Neutrality Acts

• Response to widespread public demand that neutrality be maintained in the event of another war
• First Neutrality Act (made law August 31 1935)

• To be in effect until end of February 1936
• This: required embargo  on arms to belligerent nations in the event of war, prohibited American ships from carrying arms to or for belligerent nations, created a gov agency to monitor the exportation of arms
• Application: embargo on arms, ‘moral embargo’ on oil on Italy w invasion of Ethiopia

• Second Neutrality Act (made law February 1936)

• To be in effect until May 1 1937
• This: extended the provisions of the First Neutrality Act, forbade any person in the US from lending money to a belligerent foreign government, American nations at war with non-American nations exempted

• Third Neutrality Act (made law April 30 1937)

• This: extended the provisions of the Second Neutrality Act, extended to civil as well as international wars, forbade American citizens from travelling on ships belonging to belligerent nations
• Application: did not formally apply to the Sino-Japanese war as it would benefit Japan more than China

• However: government loans made to China, US firms encouraged not to engage in trade w Japan, ban placed on government vessels from transporting arms to either nation

• Fourth Neutrality Act (made law November 1939)

• This: empowered the president to prohibit American ships from sailing in combat areas, allowed belligerent nations to buy commodities (including arms) on a ‘cash and carry’ basis, whereby belligerents may trade where goods are carried by the nation’s own merchant ships, paid for in gold or $US
• Application: Roosevelt banned ships sailing to ports of European belligerent nations (in Baltic, North seas and waters around UK), ‘cash and carry’ made applicable UK but not Germany, Italy

• Subsequent changes to the Neutrality Acts

• Repeal of prohibition on the arming of US merchant ships (October 1941)
• Repeal of prohibition on US ships travelling to belligerent nations (October 1941)

> Development of national security

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