Chapter 34: Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Shadow Of War (1933-1941)

London Economic Conference

A 66-nation economic conference organized to stabilize international currency rates. FDR's decision to revoke American participation contributed to a deepening world economic crisis as he did not send Secretary of State Cordell Hull to attend. This achieved nothing but higher nationalism.

Tydings-McDuffie Act of 1934

Act that provided for the independence of the Philippines by 1946 and the gradual removal of US military presence for the islands. In 1935, the Philippines people elected a president under a new constitution. However, this allowed the expansion of the Empire of Japan.

Recognition of the Soviet Union (1933)

In this, the U.S. opened diplomatic relations with the USSR for the first time since the 1917 Russian Revolution and the First Red Scare. This was done to boost the US economy during the depression and also to limit German aggression and Japanese expansionism in Asia. However, the financial results were disappointing.

FDR's Good Neighbor Policy

Foreign policy doctrine adopted by FDR for the United States in Latin America. FDR would withdraw marines from Haiti, the Dominican Republic and other areas (1933-1934); America stayed out of the Cuban Revolution (1933); settled with Mexico on American oil properties in that country; lifted Cuba from the Platt Amendment (1934). Successful policy as FDR improved America's image in Latin American eyes

Reciprocal Trade Agreements Act of 1934

This act reversed traditional high-protective-tariff policies by allowing the president to negotiate lower tariffs with trade partners, without Senate approval. Its chief architect was Secretary of State Cordell Hull, who believed that tariff barriers choked off foreign trade. Reduced the high rates of the Smoot-Hawley Tariff. Trade increased with 21 countries, as they lowered their tariffs along with America. Reversed the high-tariff policy that damaged America before & after WWI.

Dictators after WWI

Benito Mussolini in Italy (1922); Joseph Stalin in the Soviet Union (1924); Hirohito in Japan (1926); Adolf Hitler in Germany (1933)

Italian invasion of Ethiopia (1935)

An armed conflict that resulted in Ethiopia's subjection to Italian rule. Often seen as one of the episodes that prepared the way for World War II, the war demonstrated the ineffectiveness of the League of Nations when League decisions were not supported by the great powers. This would have happened if an oil embargo was placed on them.

Johnson Debt Default Act of 1934

This act forbade any country that still owed US money from borrowing any more cash, after WWI. Americans maintained the isolationist mentality due to the ocean borders. Only Finland fully repaid the U.S. after WWI. There was even a movement to forbid declaring war except for defensive purposes.

Nye Committee (1934)

Senate committee led by South Dakota Senator Gerald Nye to investigate why America became involved in WWI. Theory that big business had conspired to have America enter WWI so that they could make money selling war materials. Called bankers and arms producers "merchants of death."

Neutrality Acts of 1935, 1936, 1937

Short-sighted acts that were passed to prevent American participation in a European war. They provided that Americans could not ship weapons and munitions, loan money, travel on belligerent ships, extend credit, or deliver goods to any belligerent countries; they were high tide of isolationism, and all were repealed between 1939 to 1941. Tried to prevent America into getting into a war like WWI but ultimately failed.

Spanish Civil War (1936-1939)

A conflict in which the Francoists or Nationalists, led by General Francisco Franco, and supported by Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, defeated the Republicans or Loyalists of the Second Spanish Republic, supported by the USSR and Mexico. America did not help Republican Spain and let them fall. Francisco Franco would call FDR a "complete gentleman."

Marco Polo Bridge Incident (1937)

A clash between Japanese and Chinese troops on the outskirts of Beijing on July 7, 1937. The Japanese government used this as an excuse to occupy Beijing. When Chiang Kai Shek refused to give way, a full-scale war broke out between China and Japan- began the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945)

Quarantine Speech (1937)

An important speech delivered by FDR in which he called for "positive endeavors" to "quarantine" land-hungry dictators, presumably through economic embargoes. The speech flew in the face of isolationist politicians. Called for a "Quarantine" of Japan.

Munich Conference (1938)

Agreement between France, Britain, Italy, and Germany. Britain and France met with Hitler, allowing him to take over Czechoslovakia (the Sudetenland part) as long as he agreed to expand no further. The agreement was seen as an assurance of peace, but 6 months later, in 1939, Hitler took over all of Czechoslovakia.

USS Panay Incident (December 12, 1937)

This incident was when Japan bombed an American gunboat that was trying to help Americans overseas. This greatly strained U.S-Japanese relations and pushed the U.S. further away from isolationism even though Japan apologized. No "Remember the Maine" slogans??

September 1, 1939

The date when Nazi Germany, under the order of Adolf Hitler, invaded Poland and began the Second World War (World War II). The UK and France declared war on Germany 2 days later.

Blitzkrieg

"Lighting war", it was a type of fast-moving warfare used by German forces against Poland, Finland, Denmark, Norway, Netherlands, Belgium, and lastly, France (1939-1941).

Kristallnacht

The "Night of the Broken Glass," it saw 91 Jews killed and 30,000 sent to concentration camps after the November 9th, 1938 ransacking of more than 7,000 Jewish shops and nearly all synagogues.

MS St. Louis

A German oceanliner that set off on a voyage in 1939, which its captain, Gustav Schröder, tried to find homes for over 900 Jewish refugees, escaping Nazi persecution in Germany. It was denied landing in Cuba, the United States, and Canada, and had to turn back to Europe. The refugees were taken to the Low Countries of Belgium and the Netherlands for asylum, but Germany invaded both a year later, with many of them being murdered in concentration camps.

War Refugees Board

Agency arranged in 1944 for refugees to stay at centers in Italy and North Africa, as well as in former army camps in the United States. Did not really work out for Jewish refugees as only 150,000 made it out.

Destroyers for Bases Deal (1940)

Roosevelt's compromise for helping Britain was that he could not sell the UK some U.S. destroyers without defying the Neutrality Act; Britain received 50 WWI-era-US destroyers in exchange for giving the U.S. the right to build military bases on the British Islands in the Caribbean. The context behind this was the Blitz on London, the Battle of Britain

"all aid short of war"

A term that FDR used when describing the aid he provided England during WWII. It means that he was trying to provide as much aid as he can without it being considered entering the war.

1940 election

Campaign. Roosevelt wins for the unprecedented third time against Wendell Willkie, the closest of the four elections he wins because of the recovering army and the voters who want a more experienced leader for war. Roosevelt would BREAK the traditional 2-term precedent set by George Washington, 147 years later. The popular total was 27,307,819 to 22,321,018, and the electoral count was 449 to 82.

Lend-Lease Act of 1941

The program under which the US supplied the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, China, France and other Allied nations with vast amounts of war materiel between 1941 and 1945; loaned arms and ships. It was basically an abandonment of neutrality, and Hitler knew this. German subs would now more directly target U.S. ships.

Operation Barbarossa (1941-1942)

Codename for the Axis invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II. Huge failure for the Axis and huge losses for the Soviet Union, as harsh winters gave the Soviets an advantage (Battle of Moscow).

Atlantic Conference

Meeting held in August 1941; Winston Churchill secretly met with Roosevelt on a warship off the coast of Newfoundland; the first of a series of history-making conferences between the two statesmen for the discussion of common problems, including the menace of Japan. The result was the eight-point Atlantic Charter, which was suggestive of Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points

Attack on Pearl Harbor (December 7, 1941)

A surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii Territory. Because of this action, the United States entered World War II on the Allied side.

Day of Infamy Speech

December 8, 1941. U.S. declares war on Japan.