Us Foreign Policy Dbq Essay

Almost as soon as the First World War ended the US retreated into isolationism just like George Washington wanted the country to do when he spoke about it in his farewell address. Many people were content with being an isolationist country because they did not want their country to get caught in another huge European war; this is the reason the US ultimately decided not to join the League of Nations which the US proposed to Europe. Despite the US becoming isolationist again there were quite a few people who saw what was going on in Europe and felt like the US needed to help their allies and stop Adolf Hitler. As the war continued and more people began to see the brutality of the war and the concentration camps, the US’s foreign policy began

This is exactly the opposite of what President Roosevelt says during a press conference in 1940 (Document H). He uses an analogy and compares Britain to a neighbor with a burning home and the US has a hose they can use to put out the fire. At the same time he speaks about the US foreign policy in terms of using the hose, he tries to make the current policy look ridiculous and then speaks about another way to help the neighbor by lending the hose and getting it back later. He is speaking about the Lend Lease Act and believes that the US should do more to help its allies in need in Europe by lending them money and supplies and have it returned later. He is attempting to get away from old US foreign policy which was hurting the economies

They wanted to avoid a foreign war at all costs but they also wanted to be prepared in case the US was to be attacked. The Republican Party bashes on the New Deal by stating that it has a huge lack of military preparedness and the Democrat Party states that the US needs to build its military to be strong enough not only to defend itself but to defend all countries guarded by the Monroe Doctrine. This is not a huge change as to American foreign policy but it is a huge step as far as the American military is concerned because both parties are calling for the US to build an army to fend off any attacks from outside countries and prove that they are a large world power. A cartoon in the Chicago Daily News ridicules this new idea of “hemispheric defense” instead of getting involved in the war (Document G). The cartoon has many signs that represent isolationist beliefs but these ideas look a lot like appeasement which is what allowed Hitler to take land, grow stronger, and eventually start WWII. The cartoon is implying that national defense is not the way to go about things if war is imminent, instead the US should take action while they can against the Axis Powers in Europe. The Cartoon is titled “Pattern for Disaster” which means if the US continues to follow these isolationist ideals things will only end badly