US Entry into World War II &
Foreign Policy
, INTRODUCTION
While World War II had been raging in Europe since 1939, the United States did not
intervene until after Japanese planes bombed Pearl Harbor in 1941. As Japan had an
alliance with Germany and Italy, both nations declared war on the United States on
December 11th, 1941, four days after the Pearl Harbor attack. This brought the US
officially into the war, though there are other reasons why the US entered the war
beyond the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. With regard to World War II, there has
been an impassioned debate on American foreign policy.
While on one hand, advocates of the USA suggest that the entry had to do with the
noble American cause with making the world ‘safe for democracy’, the opposing side
argued for American interests in ‘German defeat’. In the years after 194, historians
would be clubbed into various schools as they argued for isolationist versus
interventionist interpretations as well as internationalist versus revisionist
interpretations.
, Good Neighbour Policy
While the war was nearing in Europe in the 1930s, the Americans were
preoccupied with economic crisis at home and thus, international
relations played only a minor role in public affairs. According to Waldo
Heinrichs, three attitudes dominated American world policy in the mid-
thirties: isolationism, preoccupation with internal affairs, and
complacency. American practice had been to stand aloof from Europe's
quarrels. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, elected on a platform of
recovery and reform, spent his energies and influence on enacting the
New Deal, raising prices, and putting people back to work. Yet, Foner
remarks that from the very outset of his administration, Roosevelt also
embarked on a number of departures in foreign policy.
Foreign Policy
, INTRODUCTION
While World War II had been raging in Europe since 1939, the United States did not
intervene until after Japanese planes bombed Pearl Harbor in 1941. As Japan had an
alliance with Germany and Italy, both nations declared war on the United States on
December 11th, 1941, four days after the Pearl Harbor attack. This brought the US
officially into the war, though there are other reasons why the US entered the war
beyond the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. With regard to World War II, there has
been an impassioned debate on American foreign policy.
While on one hand, advocates of the USA suggest that the entry had to do with the
noble American cause with making the world ‘safe for democracy’, the opposing side
argued for American interests in ‘German defeat’. In the years after 194, historians
would be clubbed into various schools as they argued for isolationist versus
interventionist interpretations as well as internationalist versus revisionist
interpretations.
, Good Neighbour Policy
While the war was nearing in Europe in the 1930s, the Americans were
preoccupied with economic crisis at home and thus, international
relations played only a minor role in public affairs. According to Waldo
Heinrichs, three attitudes dominated American world policy in the mid-
thirties: isolationism, preoccupation with internal affairs, and
complacency. American practice had been to stand aloof from Europe's
quarrels. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, elected on a platform of
recovery and reform, spent his energies and influence on enacting the
New Deal, raising prices, and putting people back to work. Yet, Foner
remarks that from the very outset of his administration, Roosevelt also
embarked on a number of departures in foreign policy.
