preview

Theodore Roosevelt Isolationism

Decent Essays

In the early 1900s, the world was at war. Germany was on a mission to take over the world and mess with as many countries as possible. The world joined together and valiantly fought back, embarking on an effort that would take years to complete. After the war was over, the world was in shambles. In america, the economy was driven by war. Without that war, the economy suffered, causing the Great Depression. Many americans called for a system of isolationism. People were tired of being the worlds police force and were focused on affairs at home. As american focused shifted from afar to home, our leaders were smart enough to keep one foot in the international side of affairs. America as a whole was split, some favoring internationalism and interventionism …show more content…

He enacted the Good Neighbor Policy, a policy stating that the U.S would adopt a sense of isolationism involving the western Hemisphere. The U.S would not intervene in any Western affairs with military force. This is called non-militarism or non-military interventionism. Simply put, America went back to Theodore Roosevelt's policy of "Speak softly and carry a big stick." meaning if you dont mess with us, we wont mess with you. If you do mes with us though, we'll destroy you. America also was present at the Pan-American Conference in December of 1933 where all countries in the western hemisphere accepted non-interventionism. Finally, the Neutrality Act of 1935 prohibited the sale of firearms and munitions to countries at war. That way, no country could accuse America of taking sides in foreign conflicts by the selling of arms or munitions to one side of the warring conflict. This Act also prohibited Americans from traveling on the ships of warring countries. This was put in place to avoid any future "Lusitania-like" incidents or …show more content…

The Great Depression was tearing the economy apart and ruining thousands of lives. The government realized this problem and realized that their focus needed to return home to U.S soil. In 1936 another Neutrality Act was pushed through. This act stated that the U.S would no longer make loans to nations at war. This Act worked in the same way as the first. Instead of picking sides in foreign affairs and loaning one conflicting side above the other and in turn dragging the U.S into the war, America chose to not loan anyone money, allowing us to focus on whats going on at home. When Woodrow Wilson was called to join the League of Nations, he politely refused, opting out for the sake of non-interventionism. It seemed like the U.S was forced to play bad-cop/good-cop during World War I everyone was sick of all the problems that caused. The League of Nations attempted to be the World's Police Force, and the U.S wanted nothing to do with it. Finally, the U.S passed the Kellogg-Briand Peace Pact that outlawed the use of military force and war as an instrument of foreign

Get Access