KELLOGG-BRIAND PACT – 1928Frank Kellogg – U.S. Secretary of StateAristide Briand – French Foreign Minister
55 nations of the world sign• Renounces ‘aggressive’ war.• Signers agree to not use war as an tool of foreign policy• Self-defense military use OK
MAIN LEGACY: legal basis for “international crimes against peace” – the key aspect of the Nuremberg Trialsafter World War II.
AMERICA’S ISOLATIONISM• World War I legacy• European chaos• Emergence of totalitarianism
Stalin Hitler Franco Mussolini
SECOND WORLD WAR – CAUSES1. Treaty of Versailles 2. League of Nations failure3. Economics4. Nationalism5. Totalitarianism
Germany condemned to death.
Sec of State Cordell Hull
• 66 nations• Goal = organize a coordinated attack on global depression• Find agreement to revive international trade & stabilize currency exchange rates• FDR concerned agreement on currency exchanges rates would hurt US recovery•Much of debt was owed to U.S. many in Europe wanted simply forgive debt• FDR orders withdrawal of U.S. team
WHY IMPORTANT:• Example of American nationalism that leads to greater tension between U.S. & Europe as well as creating more difficulty for European relations.
LONDON CONFERENCE – 1933
FDR 1st Inaugural Address (1933)• endorses nonintervention in the internal affairs of Latin America
• Create a united Western Hemisphere?
• Consolidate regional power
• United resistance to growing Asian and European threat
NYE COMMITTEE•Purpose was to investigate financial and banking interests that under laid American entry to WWI•Conducted 93 hearings, interviewed 200+ people•Documented huge profits made by American arms manufacturing companies in WWI era•Found that banking leaders pressured Wilson to enter war to protect financial interests Loans to Germany = $27 million 1915-1917 Loans to U.K. & Allies = $2.3 billion
OVERALL: Caused Nye and many Americans to believe U.S. entered WWI for reasons of profit not policy. Bolsters isolationism.Leads to passage of Neutrality Acts.
Sen. Gerald NyeR – North Dakota
Upon U.S. presidential proclamation ‘War Exists’ No American on a ship of belligerent No American trade of munitions to a belligerent No American loans to belligerent
SHOWS1. Strength of isolationism2. Abandonment of ‘Freedom of the Sea’3. An attempt to avoid WWI prelude
CONNECT WITH THE ACTIONS OF NYE COMMITEE
• Loyalists (Republicans) vs. Franco (Nationalists)
• Spanish Loyalist government a democracy. Americans generally sympathetic.Volunteers form ‘Abraham Lincoln Brigade’.
• America struggles to remain neutral, but applies embargo to belligerents
• Hitler sends aid to Franco & Nationalists.
• Loyalists lose! Franco begins era of military dictatorship in Spain.
• Ernest Hemingway as war reporter & writes For Whom the Bell Tolls.
QUARANTINE SPEECH – 1937• Chicago – ‘Isolationist Capital of America’• FDR: Must make an attempt to ‘quarantine’ European aggressors
RESULTS: Major protests FDR must publicly back down War prep becomes very difficult
AMERICA FIRST COMMITTEE (1940-41)• The United States must build an impregnable defense for America.• No foreign power, nor group of powers, can successfully attack a prepared America.• American democracy can be preserved only by keeping out of the European war.• "Aid short of war" weakens national defense at home and threatens to involve America in war abroad.
800,000 members Opposed to Lend-Lease
Prime goal to have FDR enforce/stand by Neutrality ActsDisbands shortly after Pearl Harbor
“Instead of agitating for war the Jewish groups in this country should be opposing it in every possible way, for they will be among the first to
feel its consequences. Tolerance is a virtue that depends upon peace and strength. History shows that it cannot survive war and devastation.”
“A few farsighted Jewish people realize this and stand opposed to intervention. But the majority still do not. Their greatest danger to this country lies in their large ownership and influence in our motion pictures, our press, our radio, and our government.”
Charles LindberghAmerica First Rally – Des Moines, IowaSept 11, 1941
THE BELLAMY SALUTE – Original salute to flag in use 1892 – 1941.Developed by Francis Bellamy author of ‘Pledge’. Nazi salute inspiredby ‘Roman salute’ NOT Bellamy. FDR approves hand over change 1942.
March 1941 Incorrect Interpretation
“THE LONDON BLITZ” • Nightly bombing raids• Role of radar ends daytime blitz (early warning and sight)• Winston Churchill “I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears, and sweat.” “This was our finest hour.”
GERMAN COST ENGLISH IMPACT• 2600 planes * 40,000 deaths• 190,000 tons of bombs * 1 million homes wiped out
OVERALL: A TURNING POINT
• March 11, 1941• The president may “sell, transfer title to, exchange, lease, lend, or otherwise dispose of, to any such government any defense article".• by October $1 billion committed to Britain
FDR Quote:“Suppose my neighbor’s home catches fire and I have a gardenhose that he could use to help put out the fire. Do I ask himto pay me for it before he takes it and uses it? I just want mygarden hose back and if it is unusable for him to replace it.”
FDR signing Lend-Lease legislation - 1941
• August 14, 1941• Result of secret meeting FDR and Churchill• America still technically & legally neutral• summer polls of U.S. citizens overwhelmingly against involvement in Europe’s conflict• Churchill had hoped for America’s commitment to war
PROVISIONS IN BRIEF1. No territorial gains were to be sought by the U.S. or U.K. 2. Territorial adjustments must be in accord with the wishes of the peoples concerned. 3. All peoples had a right to self-determination. 4. Trade barriers were to be lowered. 5. There was to be global economic cooperation and advancement of social welfare. 6. Freedom from want and fear. 7. Freedom of the seas. 8. Disarmament of aggressor nations, postwar common disarmament.
PEARL HARBOR: WHY?1.Poor diplomatic relations. Japan invasion of Manchuria 1931.2.U.S. trade embargo. Oil & other key needs. Effective!?3.U.S. Pacific fleet relatively small. The hope to limit further U.S. military presence in Pacific.4.Warning shot to U.S. U.S. military relatively unprepared. *Supporting evidence: No planned follow up invasion of mainland.5.U.S. public opinion. Still heavily isolationist. Force political “backing down”.
EXECUTIVE ORDER 9066 – FEB. 19, 1942• 120,000 Americans of Japanese descent (2/3rds US citizens)• ‘Relocation’ begins in April of 1942• Know Hirabayashi v. US & Korematsu v. US
HIROSHIMA AND NAGASAKI HIROSHIMA - August 6, 1945• Headquarters 5th Division Japanese Army• approximately 43,000 troops• Communication center• Supply base• No P.O.W. camps• approximately 250,000 civilians
NAGASAKI – August 9, 1945• Important seaport• Major producer of war materials
Soviet Union Invades Manchuria – August 9, 1945
Japan formally surrenders – August 15, 1945
HIROSHIMA BOMBING FACTS• Radius of immediate, total destruction: 1 mile• 90% of the buildings and infrastructure wiped out• bomb “Little Boy” detonated 2,000 feet above city• approximately 70,000 die instantly
NAGASAKI BOMBING FACTS• Secondary target – weather and logistics force crew to Nagasaki• Heat generated = 7,000 degrees Fahrenheit• Winds generated = 635 m.p.h.• approximately 40,000 die instantly
SECOND WORLD WAR FACTS1. Total Deaths All Nations – 55 million2. U.S. Deaths - 300,0003. Total Cost – 1.5 trillion dollars (1945 dollars) 4. U.S. Cost – 288 billion (1945 dollars) - 3 TRILLION dollars today
5. U.S. spends more than all other wars combined* 1940 national debt – 42 billion* 1946 national debt – 269 billion