American Isolationism

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American Isolationism

Overview

• In the 18th century, America gained its independence from Great Britain and emerged as a nation.
• Washington took a decisive stance to isolate the United States from interacting on the world stage.
• US foreign policy had evolved away from isolationism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
• United States had become an imperial nation itself.
• When a global conflict erupted in Europe in 1914, many American citizens wanted their country to avoid war.

rejected Wilson’s plan for the League of Nations because America would wield less power in an international organization. The country plunged back into the mindset of isolationism.

US foreign policy had evolved away from isolationism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. By then, the United States had become an imperial nation itself. But when a global conflict erupted in Europe in 1914, many American citizens wanted their country to avoid war. But public opinion shifted due to news of the Zimmermann Telegram and of German U-boats sinking ships with Americans aboard. These two events prompted President Wilson to draft the Fourteen Points, his plan to end World War I. These events also prompted the formation of the League of Nations, an international organization aimed at preventing another world war. However, the US Senate

american isolation and wwI

D. Roosevelt maintained a stance of neutrality. Yet, the fall of France made him become increasingly concerned about the Fascist Nazi threat in Europe. In late 1940, Roosevelt urged Congress to pass the Lend-Lease Act to aid Great Britain in its defense against Germany. Through this measure, the United States provided much-needed war supplies to Britain without payment. The US government expected its materials to be returned after the war. Not only was that expectation unrealistic, the Lend-Lease Act also served to bring the United States closer to war in Europe.

Postwar isolationism

After World War I, the United States remained isolated. America shut out the problems of the rest of the world and worked on mending its broken economy. By the 1930s, Americans were busy struggling against the despair brought on by the Great Depression. During this time, Germany began to rise again under the leadership of Adolf Hitler. France and Great Britain feared another large-scale war. They tried to prevent this happening by appeasing Hitler’s demands for territory in the Sudetenland in western Czechoslovakia. But when the Nazis invaded Poland on September 1, 1939, France and Great Britain declared war on Germany.An aggressive Nazi blitzkrieg assaulted and conquered large parts of Europe, including France in 1940. In public, US President Franklin

Axis and AlliesThe economic decline of the Great Depression was felt around the industrialized world. Each country handled its economic woes in a different way. Germany and Japan improved their economies through military expansion. Their mutual needs would lead the two aggressor nations to make an alliance. Germany and its allies would be called the Axis Powers.

Postwar isolationism (continued)

Empire of Japan Japan was an island nation with few resources. The need to control resources in mainland Asia spurred Japan to expand. Japan also looked to become a more dominant industrialized nation. This concerned the United States, which banned the exporting of needed resources to Japan. President Roosevelt also froze Japanese assets in the United States. Japan observed that the United States was an isolationist country and believed that if it destroyed the American fleet at Pearl Harbor, America would give up its efforts in East Asia. On December 7, 1941, Japan struck Pearl Harbor on Oahu Island in Hawaii. This attack led the United States to declare war on Japan and enter World War II. This marked the beginning of the end of American isolationism.

Iosif Dzhugashvili, aka Joseph Stalin Soviet Bolshevik Dictator December 18, 1878–March 5, 1953 Biography: Born Iosif Dzhugashvili, Stalin was a power-mad political monster. Stalin used the Communist Party to seize power in 1924. His goal of “collectivizing the farm system” resulted in famine that starved millions of Ukrainians. To suppress any opposition, Stalin purged intellectuals by instituting the forced-labor camps of the Gulag, where untold millions died horribly in the frozen Siberian wastelands. Other enemies were exiled or executed. For 30 years, Stalin used fear to make the Soviet Union a superpower while his secret police, the NKVD, tortured, murdered, and terrorized citizens. In 1956, his successor Nikita Khrushchev officially denounced Stalin’s brutal regime. Anecdote: Dzhugashvili’s assumed name, Stalin, means “man of steel.” While Stalin’s operatives murdered millions of citizens, the biggest casualty of Stalinism was the truth. Stalin remolded his nation’s history to accommodate his warped version of reality.

Franklin RooseveltAmerican Politician | 32nd US President January 30, 1882 – April 12, 1945 Biography: Like his distant cousin Teddy, Franklin Roosevelt attended Harvard and Columbia Law School. He started in politics as a New York State senator and became assistant secretary of the Navy in 1913. In 1920, he ran as vice president on James Cox’s unsuccessful Democratic ticket. In 1921, he became seriously ill while vacationing and was paralyzed. Despite his disability, he returned to politics, becoming governor of New York in 1928. He won the Democratic presidential nomination for the first time in 1932 and led the nation through the Great Depression and World War II. He was elected three more times, becoming the only US president to serve more than two terms. Anecdote: Franklin Roosevelt is the first president to serve with a disability. He concealed his paralysis as much as possible. However, not wanting to appear helpless, he devised a way of “walking” that required the use of leg braces, a cane, and the arm of his son or an aide to provide balance.

Harry S. Truman American Politician | President 1945–1953 May 8, 1884–December 26, 1972 Biography: Harry S. Truman became president just weeks after becoming vice president. Untried as a world leader, Truman came to office at the end of World War II and the beginning of the Cold War. He stood by his approval of using the atomic bomb against Japan and took a tough stance in dealing with Russia and China. The Korean War began in 1950, becoming an ongoing quagmire that he could not end. This precipitated a military buildup and a worldwide atmosphere of increasing paranoia. Meanwhile, worsening domestic situations like McCarthyism continued unchecked. Truman refused to run for reelection in 1952. Anecdote: Truman’s middle name was simply S. His grandfathers’ names were Shipp and Solomon, and Truman’s mother wanted his middle name to stand for both. So using an S with or without a period is acceptable.

Winston Churchill British Prime Minister | First Lord of the Admiralty | Author November 30, 1874 – January 24, 1965 Biography: After graduating from military school, Winston Churchill became a soldier and journalist, covering the Boer War in 1899. He was captured by enemy soldiers, but his daring escape earned him renown in Britain, and he began his political career. He was named prime minister in May 1940 and led Great Britain during World War II. When the United States entered the war in 1941, Churchill worked closely with US President Franklin Roosevelt and Soviet leader Joseph Stalin to defeat the Axis powers. In 1946, he made his famous “Iron Curtain” speech, which warned of Soviet domination of Eastern Europe. Anecdote: Winston Churchill was a lackluster student who was often punished for having a rebellious streak. His father, noticing Churchill’s passion for toy soldiers, decided to send him to military school. However, he didn’t pass the entrance exam until his third attempt.