F.D.R.'S Foreign Policy:
Formal recognition of U.S.S.R. in 1933
Good Neighbor Policy > withdrawal of American Marines from Haiti
Reciprocal trade agreement of 1934 led to tariff reductions as much as 50% which increased America's foreign trade
Isolationism as a result of Nye Committee report
Fascist agression in the 1930's:
Mussolini's invasion of Ethiopia in 1935
Japan's invasion of China in 1937
Hitler's invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1939
Franco's overthrow of the Republican government of Spain in 1939
U.S. reaction? Neutrality Acts of 1935, 1936, and 1937:
No Americans could travel on ships on belligerent nations, sell or transport munitions, or make loans to a belligerent nation (an embargo)
Munich Conference (Sept. 1939): British and French policy of appeasement gave in to the German demands for Czechoslovakia in return for "Peace in our time"
Hitler-Stalin Nonaggression Treaty (Aug. 1939)
> German invasion of Poland (Sept. 1939) which caused France and Britain to declare war on Germany > W.W. II began
Neutrality Act of 1939: European democracies could buy American war materials on a "Cash-and-Carry" basis
The fall of France in June, 1940 led to the passage of a Conscription Law - American's first peacetime draft and the Destroyer-Base Deal (Sept. 1940)
1940 Election: F.D.R. ( D ) v. Wilkie ( R )
"I will not send American boys to war"
"Better a third termer than a third rater"
British financial trouble > Lend-Lease Act (March, 1941) which "loaned" $50 billion worth of arms and equipment > U.S. became the "Arsenal of Democracy"
German invasion of Soviet Union (June, 1941) led to $11 billion in U.S. aid
Atlantic Charter (August, 1941) signed by F.D.R. and Churchill - outlined the hopes of the democracies for a better world at war's end (similar to Wilson's 14 Points)
U.S. decision to convoy merchant ships to England in the summer of 1941 led to German attacks on the Greer, the Kearny, and the Reuben James. As a result the U.S. began to arm all U.S. merchant ships
The Road to Pearl Harbor:
Late-1940: U.S. embargo on Japan-bound supplies
Mid-1941: Japanese assets are frozen in the U.S.
Nov-Dec, 1941: Negotiations in Washington
* Japan made decision to go to war but U.S. expected the attack would be in Malaya or the Philippines
December 7, 1941 - Surprise Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor led to U.S. declaration of war on Japan the following day
*Isolationism was officially dead!