Isolationism In 1930s

Why was isolationism such a powerful rallying cry in the 1930s?

Isolationism is a broad foreign affair doctrine held by people who believe that their country should stay away from others nations’ political and economic affairs in order to be prosperous and to develop safely. To that extent, it, on the one hand, advocates non-military intervention in foreign countries to avoid human and material losses, and on the other hand, stands for Protectionism, to guarantee economic safety. In the United States of America, isolationism has historically proved to be very powerful, particularly in the post-First-World-War-era as “ American of both sexes, of all ages, religions, and political persuasions, from all ethnic groups and all regions, shared
in the postwar years a feeling of apathy toward Europe, not to mention the rest of the wretchedly quarrelsome world, that bordered on disgust.”2 Although the 1920s, as well shown by the US’s refusal to join the League of Nations, was defined by a strong isolationism feeling among the American population, the 1930s, characterized by a background of economic depression and rising tensions between western countries, were when it reached its zenith.
Thus, on the aftermaths of a harsh and useless war, and in the middle of Depression and misery, isolationism seduced US people mainly because it would provide them with economic security and peace. In addition to that, there are other reasons that would explain why isolationism was such a powerful rallying cry in the 1930s, however minor they may be.

One of the main reasons behind the success of isolationism in the 1930s was Americans’ reluctance to engage in a foreign war, which essentially resulted from the bad memories of World War I. Indeed, as Historian David Kennedy says it “ No people came to believe more emphatically than the Americans that the Great War was an unalloyed tragedy, an unpardonably costly mistake never to be repeated”.3 America had suffered from World War I as more than 50 000 young men were killed in it.4 Moreover, their pain became much worst on the aftermaths on the war. First, because they reconsidered the horrible and deeply inhuman dimension of it,5 then, because they realised its uselessness. As a matter of fact, the treaty of Versailles of 1919, which mistreated Germany, disappointed US people, as they understood that the warmongering of
the Old World had still not been overcome.6 Also, the difficult rehabilitation of veterans, which did not get their job back when returning to the U.S,7 strengthened the belief that the Great War had been a costly mistake. In the 1930s, which were defined by a background of strong political tensions between western powers, isolationism was very popular among veterans8 who saw it as a way to stay out of potential future armed conflicts, as a guarantee that they would not have to endure the Great War’s terrific experience once again. Also, it seduced the American youth that claimed for “school, not battleships”,9 especially in the late 1930s with the advent of the First America Committee10, because they did not wish to risk their lives for a foreign war that did not openly threaten their country. Moreover, in a context of strong economic depression, the American public opinion came to believe that the First World War was fought to serve the interest of Wall Street bankers and arm manufacturers, rather than to preserve the free democratic world.11This idea was claimed by numerous books that came out during this period such as The Merchants of Death (1934),12 and, as dubious as it seems, yet led to the creation of a special Committee, directed by senator Gerald Nye, which role was to confirm the veracity of the charges raised by these writings.13 Thus, within a catastrophic economic situation that resulted from the misconduct of money powers, this theory fell on receptive ears, and, to that extent, strengthened the isolationism feeling. The 1930s found their selves in a background of increasing tensions between the western powers, in which freshly born totalitarian states such as Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy as well as militarized Japan Empire were seeking to expand their territory by invading other countries. These violent and unjustified aggressions against free countries would entail the intervention of Democratic powers such as the US in order to protect them, but as Americans were deeply shocked by their previous experience of war, they opted for political isolationism. Because they all considered the Great War as a useless and painful experience, which was not led to serve any of their interest but to rescue an old world to which they did not belong, Americans united around isolationism to ensure that it would never happen again. Also, as the Nye committee concluded it after its investigation, the Great War was due to America’s financial dealings with foreign countries.14 Those who shared this belief, such as senators John Borah and Hamilton Fish Junior, would support a very aggressive isolationism that shall prevent war at all cost, even if this implied to avoid international trades.15 The Neutrality act of 1935, which imposed a general embargo on trading in arms and war materials with all parties in a war, seems to have resulted from it.

The other essential reason why isolationism was so powerful during this period is that American citizens saw it as a mean to secure their economic situation.
Indeed, in the early 1930s, when the Great Depression reached its peak, many had came to believe that their nation should withdraw from foreign affairs in order to focus more on its internal problems such as the economic crisis.16 This implied no more foreign military interventions, immigration, or even international economic alliances. As a matter of fact, Americans were considering that their economy needed to be closed from foreign markets in order to develop. To that extent, protectionist measures, such as the Smooth-Hawley Tariff that closed the U.S market to Japan17, abounded from 1929 trough 1934, protecting American endangered industries against foreign competition.18 As Democrat President Franklin Roosevelt said so, “our international trade relations, though vastly important, are in point of time and necessity secondary to the establishment of a sound national economy”19. In that sense, we may think that little American business owners, generally belonging to the middle class, supported isolationism, as it would allow them to keep their business alive. Furthermore, the government’s decision to withdraw from the previous monetary system of Gold Standard in order to devaluate the dollar, which would better support domestic recovery, caused the failure of the London Economic conference of 1933, which aim was to
conclude agreements between the western powers to fight global depression at an international level.20Thus, even FDR, who was later known as a convinced internationalist, supported isolationism, as he believed that it would help his state’s economy to recover from the Great Depression. This clearly demonstrates that the popularity of isolationism was not only due to the fact that it advocated peace. Moreover, it was a powerful rallying cry because the government and the American people saw it as a mean to overcome the Great Depression. To that extent, this argument could explain why foreign immigration, which included a high number of Jewish people, was considerably restricted during that period. Thus, government and American people, who, by 1938, were at 95% against the raising of immigration as shown by a Fortune survey,21 supported immigration restriction as they thought their economy was too weak to make room for more people.22 However, this view must be reconsidered, as the 1924 National Origins Act, which governed immigration policy, was a constraint to FDR’s refugee policy.23

Even though the fear from war and the desire to recover from depression at a national level seem to be the two main reasons that justify the power of isolationism in the 1930s, we can also linked its strength to American culture. Thus, isolationism is a doctrine deeply rooted in the U.S culture, yet under several different kinds. One of them, known as “American Exceptionalism”, stipulates that “America is a special place and Americans are special people”24 who, in that sense, have a particular role to play in the world. Thus, the U.S would refer to a “New world” detached from the imperfect old one, a land of opportunity where freedom and justice could be peacefully achieved without being interfered by the old nations’ actions25. But in order to do so, the U.S must not have any contact with foreign nations, as this isolation would allow them to have a “healthy” development and therefore to serve as an example of success for others nations from the “Old World”.26 In the 1930s, many isolationists seem to use this doctrine, aiming to justify why the U.S should stay away from the Old World’s conflicts and should not be maintaining economic links with them as this could lead to a new Great War. We can see this with Pennsylvania’s liberal Democratic governor George Earle, declaring in 1935: “Let us turn our eyes inward (…) If the world is to become a wilderness of waste, hatred, and bitterness, let us all the more earnestly protect and preserve our own oasis and liberty”.27Also, isolationist historian Charles Beard’s writings, such as The Open Door at Home, a book that portrays an alternative future in which the U.S, politically and economically disconnected from the world, would be a prosperous country at all levels, reflect well this idea.28 Moreover, the idea following which a new neutrality policy began to settle in this period is interesting. By 1936, the old American neutrality policy, according to which the U.S should extend their economic relations to other nations as long as they do not build political connections with them, would have been transformed into a new neutrality, which main aim was to avoid war at all costs, even if that implied to cut-off economic relations with other countries.29 According to all this, we could think that Isolationism became extremely popular in the 1930s, as Americans did not want to repeat the mistake of the Great War, which would never, happened if their nation did not have commercial relations with the world. Thus, remembering the old traditions, they decided to stay away from the world at all levels. The protectionist measures, which were settled throughout the 1930s, as well as the Neutrality Acts of 1935, 1936 and 1939, could well illustrate this view. However, the onset of the cash and carry policy in 1937, which Robert Divine describes as “a compromise that reflected the contradictory desire of the American people to remain economically in the world and politically out of it” highlights the fact that the U.S. still kept foreign economic relations during these years.30

To a certain extent, some other reasons might explain the popularity of Isolationism throughout the 1930s. Indeed the fact that many popular figures, such as famous aviator Charles Lindbergh, cartoonist Walt Disney, automobile constructor Henry Ford or Alice Roosevelt Longworth, were supporting it, 31 might have attracted some people. Also, it has been proved that some Americans did admire the strength of totalitarian regimes, which did not take long to recover from the Depression,32 and who advocated convictions, such as Anti-Semitism, which some Americans shared. 33 In a background of increasing tensions between democracies and these dictatorships, as shown by the 1938 Munich Agreement, those people were very likely to opt for isolationism as they did not want to confront them. Moreover, it is important to bear in mind that the U.S still remains a multi-cultural society, whose people are from many different communities. This could have laid to a feeling of sympathy from a community towards the country its members came from, and to that extent, these members could become isolationist if the U.S were very likely to wage war against this nation. Thus, as historian Frank Ninkovich said so, Mussolini allowed “Italian Americans to feel an enhanced pride as Americans in the new status of their ancestral homeland”.34 Also, by 1940, as Roosevelt was shifting his previous isolationist policy into an internationalist one, his national share of the 1940 presidential vote declined by seven percentage points from 1936. Of the 20 counties in which his share was significantly reduced, 19 were largely German speaking.35 In that sense, we could suppose that these Americans from a German origin were supporting isolationism, as they did not want to be involved in a war against the nation of their ancestors.

The 1930s took place against a backdrop of worldwide instability within which conflicts opposing Democracies and totalitarian regimes were very likely to happen. However, the American people was strongly against the advent of a new large-scaled conflict, as it did not want to repeat the costly mistake of the Great war, and therefore opted for political isolationism. Similarly, as these years also occurred within a background of economic depression, isolationism strengthened because the U.S government and people wanted to focus on their internal economic issues rather than to intervene in international affairs. As the whole American society was, on one hand, seeking to preserve peace at all costs, and on the other hand, willing to overcome depression in a domestic way, Isolationism became a very powerful rallying cry in the 1930s. Nevertheless, as Isolationism is deeply rooted in American culture, we should keep in mind that its incredible success also lies in the fact that Americans were already familiar with it.

Bibliography

Secondary sources:

David M. Kennedy, Freedom from fear: The American People in Depression and War, 1929-1945, New York, N.Y ; Oxford : Oxford University Press 1999
Frank Ninkovich, The Wilsonian Century: U.S. Foreign Policy since 1900, Chicago ; London : University of Chicago Press, 1999
Robert D. Schulzinger, U.S. Diplomacy since 1900, New York ; Oxford : Oxford University Press 6th ed.. c2008
Stanley Coben, A Study in Nativism: The American Red Scare of 1919-20 (Political Science Quarterly, 1964, Vol.79(1), pp.52-75 [Peer Reviewed Journal])
Akira Iriye, The Cambridge history of American Foreign Relations, Volume III: The Globalizing of America, 1913–1945, Cambridge University press, 1993
Lubell, Samuel, The Future of American Politics, (2nd ed.). Anchor Press, 1956
Lane Crothers, The cultural roots of isolationism and internationalism in American foreign policy, Journal of Transatlantic Studies, 2011, Vol.9(1), p.21-34 [Peer Reviewed Journal]
Christopher McKnight Nichols, The Enduring Power of Isolationism: An Historical Perspective, Orbis, 2013, Vol.57(3), pp.390-407 [Peer Reviewed Journal]