Us Foreign Policy Dbq

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Foreign policy has been a struggle for the US, ever since immigration was started. However, many advancements were made, both for good and bad as a more modern America progressed. As Pearl Harbor was bombed, as the League of Nations failed, and as the US tried to stay neutral and isolated, the advancements of foreign policy were changed drastically. From 1920 to 1945 those changes were the most profound, as America became a more modern, civilized society. One of the vital pivot points of foreign policy was in 1941, when Pearl Harbor was bombed. As night fell upon the military base stationed in Hawaii, the Japanese attacked. Hundreds of planes were destroyed, and not all of them could be salvaged. As the US grew aware of this, the US declared …show more content…
At this point even though the League of Nations was founded to help prevent a war, it had ultimately failed. The US had never joined, which they believed was a good decision. What follows is an excerpt from a speech from Warren G. Harding. “I oppose the league not because I fail to understand what... ‘we are being let in for,’ but because I believe I understand precisely what we are being let in for.” (Document A). This was a common belief through many Americans at the time, and the main part of that belief was so that we wouldn’t be subject to the will of other nations. This was a big change to our foreign policy because the US had always helped out our “fellow nations” or allies, and this time we had tried differently, as we had been dealing with a crisis of our …show more content…
Before Pearl Harbor, most Americans were isolationists. That is, they didn’t want to get involved in a war that was taking place across the entire world. The US did this because we didn’t want to waste supplies, resources, and money on a war when we could be using all of that to help the depression that we were still recovering from. The Republicans famously reported, “The Republican Party is firmly opposed to involving this nation in a foreign war. We are still suffering from the ill effects of the last World War…” (Document E). A month later, the Democrats also confirmed this, stating “We will not participate in foreign wars, and we will not send our army, naval or air forces to fight in the foreign lands outside of the Americas, except in case of attack.” (Document F). Then, Pearl Harbor happened, and while some Americans were still isolationists, the majority of people pushed Congress to get involved with the

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