In March 1941, United States President Franklin Roosevelt passed the lend-lease bill. This “removed the dollar sign” and modified the American Neutrality Laws. Roosevelt agreed to lend or lease United States supplies if after the war, we get the munitions back. However, this bill was greatly debated among Americans. A few months later, Hitler attacked the USSR.
Through most of 1897, McKinley pursued an international agreement to include silver and gold as the major European currencies. Negotiations over bimetallism with England, France, Russia, and Italy failed, so William signed the Gold Standard Act; this formally placed U.S. money on gold standard. McKinley called a special session of Congress to increase the tariff. Alcohol taxes brought $114.5 million, tobacco brought $30.7 million, and stamp taxes earned $260,000. William yearned to increase the tariff income in order to reduce internal taxes and encourage the growth of industry and employment.
Between the year 1920 and 1941, the United States had many issues with the stock market crash to the involvement in World War ll. To resolve the issues, president Franklin D. Roosevelt made many programs called the New Deal, to resolve America economic problems and had dropped an atomic bomb to end World War ll. To the extent to which United States foreign policy changed between 1920 and 1941, foreign policy changed the United States tremendously. Reasons for the dramatic change was because of Japan not agreeing to the Kellogg-Briand pact, defending the Monroe Doctrine and military preparedness.
Wilson took extreme measures and dedicated many hours to keep the U.S out of the war. Wilson claimed the U.S’s neutrality because of the Wilsonian system. Wilson’s policy of peace was the reason why the U.S stayed neutral as long as it did. The American citizen’s support for isolationism backed up Wilson’s choice of being neutral. . Wilson wanted to keep the U.S out of the violence of WWI.
Explain the reasons for U.S. neutrality during the 1920s and 1930s. How did ideas about neutrality change during the period from the end of World War I to the passage of the Lend-Lease Act? Be sure to include any events, terms, or people that may support your response. One of the main reasons that the U.S. was practicing neutrality during the 1920s and 1930s was because they no longer wished to be involved in Foreign wars, such as WW1. They were hoping to "return to normalcy" under the taking of office from Harding.
The first neutrality act was in 1937, which allowed trade with other countries under the condition that American ships were not used called the Cash and Carry Policy, later renewed in 1939. Many Americans did not want another war and that they were convinced that they could avoid it through appeasement. On the other hand, many Americans believed we should engage because Germany would not back down, which lead to a divide between American citizens. (Document
Nativism is described as “the political idea that people who were born in a country are more important than immigrants”( "Nativism Definition in the Cambridge English Dictionary"). Nativism was most seen during the 1870’s through the 1920’s. Nativism was a major cause in middle-class disputes since middle-class workers feared that the immigrant workers would drop wage prices and that they “...threatened social stability”(The Many Faces of Immigration). Many Catholic immigrants were blamed for the overflow of immigrants in the poverty sections of cities.
American foreign policy showed a lot of signs of pacifism after WW1. Pacifism is the opposition to war. The United States showed this opposition to war in the Washington Naval conference for example, which was called together by Senator William E. Borah in order to “engage [The United States] two principal competitors in the naval arms race” (Office Of The Historian 1). The United States engaged Japan and the United Kingdom in an attempt to negotiate for disarmament. This attempt at disarmament was meant to help prevent war in the future between the countries.
George Washington encouraged the United States to take a neutral approach, to avoid wars with nations in the future. Woodrow Wilson wanted to continue the policy of neutrality. He eventually asked Congress to declare war on Germany. The Government failed to sign the Treaty of Versailles and join the League of Nations. Many thought that joining the League of Nations would lead to war.
One of the most prominent social biases, both in the 1920’s specifically and throughout American history, is race. In the period after WWI, race tensions were heightening. Tom clearly does not approve of the idea that black people could rise socially and “infiltrate” his world. Even though Tom himself has a mistress, he says, “Nowadays people begin by sneering at family life and family institutions and next they'll throw everything overboard and have intermarriage between black and white. ”(Fitzgerald p130)
World War I started in the heart of the Progressive era. The Progressive era was a time of efficiency, economic growth, and skill. By “1914 [the United States had] produced over one-third of the world’s manufactured goods,” (Foner, 680) making the U.S. “the leading industrial power” (Foner, 680). Europeans had already “complained of an “American invasion” of steel, oil, agricultural equipment, and consumer goods” (Foner, 680). At this time, America had both the economy and population to produce enough soldiers, supplies, and money to win any war.
Government policies dramatically changed in the 1920s which were a consequence to the Treaty of Versailles since the period was so soon after the war and many of the policies concerned post-war aspects. The Allies have varied views and in many cases Britain is the country to be in a different position in terms of the perceived aftermath of the Treaty of Versailles. The Dawes Plan in 1924 was a policy agreed by the Allies to cut the total amount of reparations and allow Germany a realistic time frame to repay the amounts owed to them. It also proposed the removal of French troops from the Ruhr in Germany as the reparations which they were demanding payment of were no longer needed to be paid. The reparation put Germany in a very vulnerable and weak position within Europe and opened them to the feared threat of communism from Soviet Russia.
The 1920’s was a new era for America; the post-war economy gave rise to unprecedented levels of economic growth and new wealth to many Americans. With enough hard work, any person of any background could rise up the social ladder and make a great fortune for themselves in a land of freedom and opportunity in which”all men are created equal.” Through rose colored lenses, these ideals of equality, hard work, and success was the American Dream, but a dream was all it ever was for most. As the greed for wealth surpassed regards for morals, entire social classes, genders, and race were exploited by the established and powerful upper class. In the endless chase of consumerism and excess, the American Dream was corrupted by money.
America experienced a sudden disregard of Victorian values following World War I, causing the generation of the 1920s to dramatically contrast the previous. This severe degree of change produced three major manifestations of the contradictions in the twenties. There were massive conflicts to the Jazz Age, technological advancements, and Black Migration. The contradictions of the 1920s reflect America’s conflicted state between advancement and convention, as the cultural and technological developments of the era coincide with the inability of individuals to stray from traditional norms and racist attitudes.
The 1920’s were a major step backwards for many reasons, including what I believe, to be the most important issue which was racism. After WWI, many people began to feel frightened about foreigners, “Immigrants were also despised due to the postwar flood of available workers and the dwindling of available positions.” (From Lecture) A strong hatred was directed towards African Americans who began migrating to more urban areas during WWI due to available job positions, especially by the renown organization the Ku Klux Klan who, “…did it’s part to take social justice into their own hands and discriminate against immigrants, African Americans, and numerous other “undesirables”.” The KKK would savagely hunt, perform “surgery below the belt”, and
