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The '''history of U.S. foreign policy from 1913–1933''' concerns the foreign policy of the United States during [[World War I]] and much of the [[Interwar period]]. The administrations of Presidents [[Woodrow Wilson]], [[Warren G. Harding]], [[Calvin Coolidge]], and [[Herbert Hoover]] successively handled U.S. foreign policy during this period.
Wilson initially sought to remain neutral in World War I, but in 1917 he led the United States into the war on the side of the [[Allied Powers]] of [[United Kingdom|Britain]], [[France]], and other countries. In 1918, [[Germany]] sued for peace, and Wilson was one of the key Allied leaders at the post-war [[Paris Peace Conference, 1919|Paris Peace Conference]]. He advocated for the option of his "[[Fourteen Points]]", which called for the establishment of "an organized common peace" that would help prevent future conflicts. Other Allied leaders pushed back against some of Wilson's goals, but the Allied leaders agreed to join the newly-formed [[League of Nations]]. In the United States, Senator [[Henry Cabot Lodge]] led a successful effort to prevent ratification of the [[Treaty of Versailles]], and the treaty remained unratified when Wilson left office.
Campaigning against Wilson's policies, Harding won election in 1920 and took office in 1921. Harding repudiated the Treaty of Versailles, and the United States never joined the League. Secretary of State [[Charles Evans Hughes]] led the negotiations that resulted in the 1922 [[Washington Naval Treaty]], under which the major naval powers agreed to avoid a naval arms race. Efforts for disarmament would continue after 1922, leading to the signing of the 1930 [[London Naval Treaty]]. European war debts and reparations also emerged as a major issue in the 1920s; the U.S. consistently refused to forgive the debts, but Harding, Coolidge, and Hoover all reached agreements to lower the burden of debts on various European countries. Coolidge's main foreign policy initiative was the [[Kellogg–Briand Pact]], under which the signatories agreed to renounce war as an "instrument of national policy". The [[Great Depression]] began during Hoover's tenure, leaving the worldwide economy in crisis. In the midst of the depression, [[Japan]] [[Japanese invasion of Manchuria|invaded Manchuria]] and [[Adolf Hitler]] came to power in Germany.
In Latin America, Wilson emulated his predecessors in sending soldiers to support U.S.-backed governments, but Hoover eventually wound down the "[[Banana Wars]]". The U.S. became involved in the [[Mexican Revolution]] during Wilson's presidency, and Mexico would remain a foreign policy issue throughout the 1920s. After the [[October Revolution]], Wilson dispatched American soldiers to [[Russia]] in as part of a [[Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War|broader Allied intervention]]. Russia was succeeded by the [[Soviet Union]] in 1922, and the United States would refuse to extend diplomatic recognition to the Soviet Union until 1933.
==Leadership==
===Wilson administration===
Following his victory in the [[1912 United States presidential election]], [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrat]] [[Woodrow Wilson]] served as [[President of the United States]] from 1913 to 1921. Major foreign policy figures in the Wilson administration include Secretary of State [[William Jennings Bryan]],<ref>Cooper 2009, pp. 185</ref> and "Colonel" [[Edward M. House]], Wilson's key foreign policy adviser until 1919.<ref>Arthur Walworth, "Considerations on Woodrow Wilson and Edward M. House", ''Presidential Studies Quarterly'' 1994 24(1): 79–86. </ref> Bryan resigned in 1915 due to his opposition to Wilson hard line's towards [[German Empire|Germany]] in the aftermath of the [[Sinking of the RMS Lusitania]]<ref>Cooper 2009, pp. 290–292</ref> and was replaced by [[Robert Lansing]]. Following Bryan's resignation, Wilson took more direct control of his administration's foreign policy.<ref>Cooper 2009, pp. 294–295</ref>
Wilson's foreign policy was based on an idealistic approach to [[liberal internationalism]] that sharply contrasted with [[Realism (international relations)|realist]] conservative nationalism of [[William Howard Taft]], [[Theodore Roosevelt]], and [[William McKinley]]. Since 1900, the consensus of Democrats had, according to Arthur Link:
:consistently condemned militarism, imperialism, and interventionism in foreign policy. They instead advocated world involvement along liberal-internationalist lines. Wilson's appointment of William Jennings Bryan as Secretary of State indicated a new departure, for Bryan had long been the leading opponent of imperialism and militarism and a pioneer in the world peace movement.<ref>William A. Link and Arthur S. Link, ''American Epoch: A History of the United States Since 1900. Vol. 1. War, Reform, and Society, 1900-1945'' (7th ed, 1993) p 127.</ref>
===Harding administration===
Republican [[Warren G. Harding]] succeeded Wilson in 1921 following his victory in [[1920 United States presidential election|1920 presidential election]], and he served as president until his death in August 1923. Harding selected former Supreme Court Justice and 1916 Republican presidential nominee [[Charles Evans Hughes]] as his Secretary of State.<ref name="dean8292"></ref> Harding made it clear when he appointed Hughes as Secretary of State that the former justice would run foreign policy, a change from Wilson's close management of international affairs, though Hughes did have to work within some broad outlines set by the president. Harding and Hughes frequently communicated, and the president remained well-informed regarding the state of foreign affairs, but he rarely overrode any of Hughes's decisions.
===Coolidge administration===
Republican [[Calvin Coolidge]] succeeded Harding upon the latter's death in August 1923; he won election to a full term in the [[1924 United States presidential election|1924 presidential election]] and served until 1929. Secretary of State Charles Evans Hughes directed Coolidge's foreign policy until he resigned in 1925 following Coolidge's re-election. He was replaced by [[Frank B. Kellogg]], who had previously served as a senator and as the ambassador to Great Britain. Other prominent Cabinet officials include Secretary of the Treasury [[Andrew Mellon]] and Secretary of Commerce [[Herbert Hoover]], both of whom had served in the Harding administration.
===Hoover administration===
Republican Herbert Hoover, who served as Secretary of Commerce from 1921 to 1928, succeeded Coolidge after winning the [[1928 United States presidential election|1928 presidential election]]. As the third consecutive Republican president to take office, Hoover retained many of the previous administration's personnel, including Secretary of the Treasury [[Andrew Mellon]] [[Henry Stimson]], the [[Governor-General of the Philippines]] and a former Secretary of War, became Hoover's Secretary of State.
==World War I==
[[File:World 1914 empires colonies territory.PNG|thumb|right|upright=1.7|Map of the [[great power]]s and other selected countries in 1914]]
===Neutrality in World War I===
[[World War I]] broke out in July 1914, pitting the [[Central Powers]] (Germany, [[Austria-Hungary]], the [[Ottoman Empire]], and Bulgaria) against the [[Allies of World War I|Allied Powers]] (Great Britain, France, Russia, and several other countries). The war fell into a long stalemate after the German advance was halted in September 1914 at the [[First Battle of the Marne]].<ref>Clements 1992, pp. 116–117</ref> From 1914 until early 1917, Wilson's primary foreign policy objective was to keep the United States out of the war in Europe.<ref>Heckscher 1991, p. 339.</ref> Wilson insisted that all government actions be neutral, and that the belligerents must respect that neutrality according to the norms of international law. After the war began, Wilson told the Senate that the United States, "must be impartial in thought as well as in action, must put a curb upon our sentiments as well as upon every transaction that might be construed as a preference of one party to the struggle before another." He was ambiguous whether he meant the United States as a nation or meant all Americans as individuals.<ref>Link 1960, 66</ref> Though Wilson was determined to keep the United States out of the war, and he thought that the [[Causes of World War I|causes of the war]] were complex, he personally believed that the U.S. shared more values with the Allies than the Central Powers.<ref>Clements 1992, pp. 122–123</ref>
[[File:The American War-Dog by Oscar Cesare 1916.jpg|thumb|Wilson and "Jingo", the American War Dog. The editorial cartoon ridicules jingoes baying for war.]]
Wilson and House sought to position the United States as a mediator in the conflict, but European leaders rejected Houses's offers to help end the conflict.<ref>Clements 1992, pp. 123–124</ref> At the urging of Bryan, Wilson also discouraged American companies from extending loans to belligerents. The policy hurt the Allies more than the Central Powers, since the Allies were more dependent on American goods. The administration relaxed the policy of discouraging loans in October 1914 and then ended it in October 1915 due to fears about the policy's effect on the American economy.<ref>Clements 1992, pp. 117–118</ref> The United States sought to trade with both the Allied Powers and the Central Powers, but the British attempted to impose a [[Blockade of Germany]], and, after a period of negotiations, Wilson essentially assented to the British blockade. The U.S. had relatively little direct trade with the Central Powers, and Wilson was unwilling to wage war against Britain over trade issues.<ref name=clements119123/> The British also made their blockade more acceptable to American leaders by buying, rather than seizing without compensation, intercepted goods.<ref name="Clements 1992, pp. 128–129">Clements 1992, pp. 128–129</ref> Many Germans viewed American trade with the Allies as decidedly unneutral.<ref name=clements119123>Clements 1992, pp. 119–123</ref>
====Growing tensions====
In response to the British blockade of the Central Powers, the Germans launched a [[U-boat Campaign (World War I)|submarine campaign]] against merchant vessels in the seas surrounding the British Isles. Wilson strongly protested the policy, which had a much stronger effect on American trade than the British blockade.<ref>Clements 1992, pp. 124–125</ref> In the March 1915 [[Thrasher Incident]], the commercial British steamship ''Falaba'' was sunk by a German submarine with the loss of 111 lives, including one American.<ref>Heckscher 1991, p. 361</ref> In early 1915, a German bomb struck an American ship, the ''Cushing'', and a German submarine torpedoed an American tanker, the ''Gulflight''. Wilson took the view, based on some reasonable evidence, that both incidents were accidental, and that a settlement of claims could be postponed to the end of the war.<ref>Heckscher 1991, p. 362.</ref> A German submarine torpedoed and sank the British ocean liner [[RMS Lusitania|RMS ''Lusitania'']] in May 1915; over a thousand perished, including many Americans.<ref>Oscar Handlin, "A Liner, a U-Boat . . . and History. '' American Heritage'' (June 1954) 6#3 [https://ift.tt/2XGKYG0 online].</ref> Wilson did not call for war; instead he said, "There is such a thing as a man being too proud to fight. There is such a thing as a nation being so right that it does not need to convince others by force that it is right". He realized he had chosen the wrong words when critics lashed out at his rhetoric.<ref></ref> Wilson sent a protest to Germany which demanded that the German government "take immediate steps to prevent the recurrence" of incidents like the sinking of the ''Lusitania''. In response, Bryan, who believed that Wilson had placed the defense of American trade rights above neutrality, resigned from the cabinet.<ref>Clements 1992, pp. 125–127</ref>
The White Star liner the [[SS Arabic (1902)|SS ''Arabic'']] was torpedoed in August 1915, with two American casualties. The U.S. threatened a diplomatic break unless Germany repudiated the action. The Germans agreed to warn unarmed merchant ships before attacking them.<ref>Heckscher 1991, pp. 366–369.</ref> In March 1916, the [[SS Sussex|SS ''Sussex'']], an unarmed ferry under the French flag, was torpedoed in the English Channel and four Americans were counted among the dead; the Germans had flouted the post-''Lusitania'' exchanges. Wilson drew praise when he succeeded in wringing from Germany a pledge to constrain submarine warfare to the rules of cruiser warfare. This was a clear departure from existing practices—a diplomatic concession from which Germany could only more brazenly withdraw.<ref>Heckscher 1991, pp 384-87.</ref> In January 1917, the Germans initiated a new policy of [[unrestricted submarine warfare]] against ships in the seas around the British Isles. German leaders knew that the policy would likely provoke U.S. entrance into the war, but they hoped to defeat the Allied Powers before the U.S. could fully mobilize.<ref>Clements 1992, pp. 137–138</ref>
====Preparedness====
Military "preparedness," or building up the small army and navy—became a major dynamic of public opinion.<ref>Link 1954, pp 74-96.</ref><ref>Ross A. Kennedy, "Preparedness," in Ross A. Kennedy, ed., ''A Companion to Woodrow Wilson'' (2013) pp 270-86.</ref> New, well-funded organizations sprang up to appeal to the grassroots, including the [[American Defense Society]] (ADS) and the [[National Security League]], both of which favored entering the war on the side of the Allies.<ref>John Patrick Finnegan, ''Against the specter of a dragon: The campaign for American military preparedness, 1914-1917'' (1974). [https://ift.tt/2LRZJik online]</ref><ref>Robert D. Ward, "The Origin and Activities of the National Security League, 1914-1919," ''Mississippi Valley Historical Review'' (1960) 47#1 pp 51-65 [https://ift.tt/2XPrZcJ in JSTOR]</ref> Interventionists, led by Theodore Roosevelt, wanted war with Germany and attacked Wilson's refusal to build up the [[U.S. Army]] in anticipation of war.<ref>Ryan Floyd, ''Abandoning American Neutrality: Woodrow Wilson and the Beginning of the Great War, August 1914–December 1915'' (Springer, 2013).</ref> Wilson resistance to preparedness was partly due to the powerful anti-war element of the Democratic Party, which was led by Bryan. Anti-war sentiment was strong among many groups inside and outside of the party, including women,<ref>Frances H. Early, ''A World without War: How U.S. Feminists and Pacifists Resisted World War I.'' (1997).</ref> Protestant churches,<ref>Andrew Preston, ''Sword of the Spirit, Shield of Faith: Religion in American War and Diplomacy'' (2012), pp 240-45.</ref> labor unions,<ref>Simeon Larson, "The American Federation of Labor and the Preparedness Controversy." ''Historian'' 37.1 (1974): 67-81.</ref> and Southern Democrats like [[Claude Kitchin]], chairman of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee. Biographer [[John Morton Blum]] says:
:Wilson's long silence about preparedness had permitted such a spread and such a hardening of antipreparedness attitudes within his party and across the nation that when he came in at late last to his task, neither Congress to the country was amenable to much persuasion.<ref>John Morton Blum, ''Woodrow Wilson and the Politics of Morality'' (1956) p 121.</ref>
After the sinking of the ''Lusitania'' and the resignation of Bryan, Wilson publicly committed himself to preparedness and began to build up the army and the navy.<ref name="Clements 1992, pp. 128–129"/> Wilson was constrained by America's traditional commitment to military nonintervention. Wilson believed that a massive military mobilization could only take place after a declaration of war, even though that meant a long delay in sending troops to Europe. Many Democrats felt that no American soldiers would be needed, only American money and munitions.<ref>David Esposito, David. "Political and Institutional Constraints on Wilson's Defense Policy." ''Presidential Studies Quarterly'' 26.4 (1996): 1114-1125.</ref> Wilson had more success in his request for a dramatic expansion of the Navy. Congress passed a Naval Expansion Act in 1916 that encapsulated the planning by the Navy's professional officers to build a fleet of top-rank status, but it would take several years to become operational.<ref>Link 1954, p 179.</ref>
===Entering the war===
[[File:General John Joseph Pershing head on shoulders.jpg|thumb|Gen. [[John J. Pershing]]]]
[[File:Portrait of Colonel Edward M. House.jpg|right|thumb|Colonel [[Edward M. House]]]]
In early 1917, German ambassador [[Johann Heinrich von Bernstorff|Johann von Bernstorf]] informed Secretary of State Lansing of Germany's commitment to unrestricted submarine warfare.<ref>Heckscher 1991, p. 427.</ref> In late February, the U.S. public learned of the [[Zimmermann Telegram]], a secret diplomatic communication in which Germany sought to convince Mexico to join it in a war against the United States.<ref>Clements 1992, pp. 138–139</ref> Wilson's reaction after consulting the Cabinet and with Congress was a minimal one—that diplomatic relations with the Germans be brought to a halt. The president said, "We are the sincere friends of the German people and earnestly desire to remain at peace with them. We shall not believe they are hostile to us unless or until we are obliged to believe it".<ref>Heckscher 1991, pp. 428–429</ref> After a series of attacks on American ships, Wilson held a Cabinet meeting on March 20; all Cabinet members agreed that the time had come for the United States to enter the war. Wilson called Congress into a special session, which would begin on April 2.<ref>Clements 1992, pp. 139–140</ref>
March 1917 also brought the first of two revolutions in Russia, which impacted the strategic role of the U.S. in the war. The overthrow of the imperial government removed a serious barrier to America's entry into the European conflict, while the second revolution in November relieved the Germans of a major threat on their eastern front, and allowed them to dedicate more troops to the Western front, thus making U.S. forces central to Allied success in battles of 1918. Wilson initially rebuffed pleas from the Allies to dedicate military resources to an intervention in Russia against the [[Bolshevik]]s, based partially on his experience from attempted intervention in Mexico; nevertheless he ultimately was convinced of the potential benefit and agreed to dispatch a limited force to assist the Allies on the eastern front.<ref>Georg Schild, review of Carl J. Richard "When the United States Invaded Russia: Woodrow Wilson's Siberian Disaster." ''Journal of American History'' 100.3 (2013): 864–864.[https://ift.tt/2jWae8u online]</ref>
Wilson addressed Congress on April 2, calling for a declaration of war against Germany. He argued that the Germans were engaged in "nothing less than war against the government and people of the United States." He asked for a military draft to raise the army, increased taxes to pay for military expenses, loans to Allied governments, and increased industrial and agricultural production.<ref>Clements 1992, pp. 140–141</ref> The [[declaration of war by the United States]] [[1917 United States declaration of war on Germany|against Germany]] passed Congress by strong bipartisan majorities on April 6, 1917, with opposition from ethnic German strongholds and remote rural areas in the South. The United States would also later [[1917 United States declaration of war on Austria-Hungary|declare war against]] Austria-Hungary in December 1917. The U.S. did not sign a formal alliance with Britain or France but operated as an "associated" power—an informal ally with military cooperation through the [[Supreme War Council]] in London.<ref>David F. Trask, ''The United States in the Supreme War Council: American War Aims and Inter-Allied Strategy, 1917–1918'' (1961).</ref>
Generals [[Frederick Funston]] and [[Leonard Wood]] had been contenders for the command of American army forces in Europe, but Funston died just weeks before the United States entered the war, and Wilson distrusted Wood, who was a close ally of Theodore Roosevelt. Wilson instead gave command to General John J. Pershing, who had led the expedition against Pancho Villa.<ref>Berg (2013), pp. 463–464</ref> Pershing would have complete authority as to tactics, strategy, and some diplomacy.<ref>Edward M. Coffman, ''The War to End All Wars'' (1968) ch. 3</ref> Edward House became the president's main channel of communication with the British government, and [[Sir William Wiseman, 10th Baronet|William Wiseman]], a British naval attaché, was House's principal contact in England. Their personal relationship succeeded in serving the powers well, by overcoming strained relations in order to achieve essential understandings between the two governments. House also became the U.S. representative on the Allies' Supreme War Council.<ref>Heckscher 1991, pp. 460–462.</ref>
===The Fourteen Points===
Wilson sought the establishment of "an organized common peace" that would help prevent future conflicts. In this goal, he was opposed not just by the Central Powers, but also the other Allied Powers, who, to various degrees, sought to win concessions and oppose a punitive peace agreement on the Central Powers.<ref>Clements 1992, pp. 164–165</ref> He initiated a secret study group named the [[The Inquiry]], directed by Colonel House, to prepare for post-ware negotiations.<ref>Heckscher 1991, p. 470.</ref> The Inquiry's studies culminated in a speech by Wilson to Congress on January 8, 1918, wherein he articulated America's long term war objectives. It was the clearest expression of intention made by any of the belligerent nations. The speech, known as the Fourteen Points, was authored mainly by [[Walter Lippmann]] and projected Wilson's progressive domestic policies into the international arena. The first six points dealt with diplomacy, freedom of the seas, and settlement of colonial claims. Then territorial issues were addressed and the final point, the establishment of an association of nations to guarantee the independence and territorial integrity of all nations—a [[League of Nations]]. The address was translated into many languages for global dissemination.<ref>Heckscher 1991, p. 471.</ref>
Aside from post-war considerations, Wilson's Fourteen Points were motivated by several factors. Unlike some of the other Allied leaders, Wilson did not call for the total break-up of the Ottoman Empire or the Austro-Hungarian Empire. In offering a non-punitive peace to these nations as well as Germany, Wilson hoped to quickly began negotiations to end the war. Wilson's liberal pronouncements were also targeted at pacifistic and war-weary elements within the Allied countries, including the United States. Additionally, Wilson hoped to woo the Russians back into the war, although he failed in this goal.<ref>Cooper 2009, pp. 423–424</ref>
===Course of the war===
With the U.S. entrance into the war, Wilson and Secretary of War Baker launched an expansion of the army, with the goal of creating a 300,000-member [[Regular Army (United States)|Regular Army]], a 440,000-member [[Army National Guard|National Guard]], and a 500,000-member conscripted force known as the "[[Army of the United States|National Army]]." Despite some resistance to conscription and to the commitment of American soldiers abroad, large majorities of both houses of Congress voted to impose conscription with the [[Selective Service Act of 1917]]. Seeking to avoid the draft riots of the Civil War, the bill established local draft boards that were charged with determining who should be drafted. By the end of the war, nearly 3 million men would be drafted.<ref>Clements 1992, pp. 143–146</ref> The Navy also saw tremendous expansion, and, at the urging of Admiral [[William Sims]], focused on building anti-submarine vessels. Allied shipping losses dropped substantially due to U.S. contributions and a new emphasis on the [[Convoys in World War I|convoy system]].<ref>Clements 1992, pp. 147–149</ref>
The [[American Expeditionary Forces]] first arrived in France in mid-1917.<ref>Clements 1992, p. 144</ref> Wilson and Pershing rejected the British and French proposal that American soldiers integrate into existing Allied units, giving the United States more freedom of action but requiring for the creation of new organizations and supply chains.<ref>Clements 1992, p. 150</ref> There were only 175,000 American soldiers in Europe at the end of 1917, but by mid-1918 10,000 Americans were arriving in Europe per day. Russia exited the war after the March 1918 signing of the [[Treaty of Brest-Litovsk]], allowing Germany to shift soldiers from the [[Eastern Front (World War I)|Eastern Front]] of the war. The Germans launched a [[Spring Offensive]] against the Allies that inflicted heavy casualties but failed to break the Allied line. Beginning in August, the Allies launched the [[Hundred Days Offensive]] that pushed back the exhausted German army.<ref>Clements 1992, pp. 149–151</ref>
By the end of September 1918, the German leadership no longer believed it could win the war. Recognizing that Wilson would be more likely to accept a peace deal from a democratic government, Kaiser [[Wilhelm II, German Emperor|Wilhelm II]] appointed a new government led by [[Prince Maximilian of Baden]]; Baden immediately sought an armistice with Wilson.<ref>Clements 1992, pp. 165–166</ref> In the exchange of notes, German and American leaders agreed to incorporate the Fourteen Points in the armistice; House then procured agreement from France and Britain, but only after threatening to conclude a unilateral armistice without them. Wilson ignored Pershing's plea to drop the armistice and instead demand an unconditional surrender by Germany.<ref>Heckscher 1991, pp. 479–88.</ref> The Germans signed the [[Armistice of 11 November 1918]], bringing an end to the fighting. Austria-Hungary had signed the [[Armistice of Villa Giusti]] eight days earlier, while the Ottoman Empire had signed the [[Armistice of Mudros]] in October.
==Aftermath of World War I==
===Paris Peace Conference===
[[File:Big four.jpg|thumb|The "Big Four" at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919, following the end of World War I. Wilson is standing next to [[Georges Clemenceau]] at right.]]
After the signing of the armistice, Wilson traveled to Europe to attend the [[Paris Peace Conference, 1919|Paris Peace Conference]], thereby becoming the first U.S. president to travel to Europe while in office.<ref>Heckscher 1991, p. 458.</ref> Save for a two-week return to the United States, Wilson remained in Europe for six months, where he focused on reaching a peace treaty to formally end the war. The defeated Central Powers had not been invited to the conference, and anxiously awaited their fate.<ref name="herring417420"/> Wilson proposed that the competing factions of the [[Russian Civil War]] declare a truce and send a joint delegation to the Paris Peace Conference, but other Allied leaders opposed the proposal and no delegation was sent.<ref>Berg (2013), pp. 532–533</ref> Wilson, British Prime Minister [[David Lloyd George]], French Prime Minister [[Georges Clemenceau]], and Italian Prime Minister [[Vittorio Emanuele Orlando]] made up the "[[The Big Four (World War I)|Big Four]]," the Allied leaders with the most influence at the Paris Peace Conference. Though Wilson continued to advocate his idealistic Fourteen Points, many of the other allies desired revenge. Clemenceau especially sought onerous terms for Germany, while Lloyd George supported some of Wilson's ideas but feared public backlash if the treaty proved too favorable to the Central Powers.<ref name="herring417420">Herring 2008, pp. 417-420</ref>
[[File:Map Europe 1923-en.svg|thumb|right|upright=1.2|Several new European states were established at the Paris Peace Conference]]
In pursuit of his League of Nations, Wilson conceded several points to the other powers present at the conference. France pressed for the dismemberment of Germany and the payment of a huge sum in [[war reparation]]s. Wilson resisted these ideas, but Germany was still required to pay war reparations and subjected to [[Allied occupation of the Rhineland|military occupation in the Rhineland]]. Additionally, a [[Article 231 of the Treaty of Versailles|clause]] in the treaty specifically named Germany as responsible for the war. Wilson agreed to the creation of [[League of Nations mandate|mandates]] in former German and Ottoman territories, allowing the European powers and Japan to establish de facto colonies in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. The Japanese acquisition of German interests in the [[Shandong Peninsula]] of China proved especially [[Shandong Problem|unpopular]], as it undercut Wilson's promise of self-government. However, Wilson won the creation of several new states in Central Europe and the Balkans, including Poland, [[Yugoslavia]], and [[Czechoslovakia]], and the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Ottoman Empire were partitioned.<ref>Herring 2008, pp. 421-423</ref> Wilson refused to concede to Italy's demands for territory on the [[Adriatic Sea|Adriatic coast]], leading to a dispute between Yugoslavia and Italy that would not be settled until the signing of the 1920 [[Treaty of Rapallo (1920)|Treaty of Rapallo]].<ref>Clements 1992, pp. 182–183</ref> Japan proposed that the conference endorse a [[Racial Equality Proposal, 1919|racial equality clause]]. Wilson was indifferent to the issue, but acceded to strong opposition from Australia and Britain.<ref></ref>
The [[Covenant of the League of Nations]] was incorporated into the conference's [[Treaty of Versailles]], which ended the war with Germany.<ref>Clements 1992, pp. 180–185</ref> Wilson himself presided over the committee that drafted the covenant, which bound members to oppose "external aggression" and to agree to peacefully settle disputes through organizations like the [[Permanent Court of International Justice]].<ref>Clements 1992, pp. 177–178</ref> During the conference, former President Taft cabled to Wilson three proposed amendments to the League covenant which he thought would considerably increase its acceptability—the right of withdrawal from the League, the exemption of domestic issues from the League, and the inviolability of the Monroe Doctrine. Wilson very reluctantly accepted these amendments. In addition to the Treaty of Versailles, the Allies also wrote treaties with Austria (the [[Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye (1919)|Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye]]), Hungary (the [[Treaty of Trianon]]), the Ottoman Empire (the [[Treaty of Sèvres]]), and Bulgaria (the [[Treaty of Neuilly-sur-Seine]]), all of which incorporated the League of Nations charter.<ref>Heckscher 1991, pp. 551–553.</ref>
The conference finished negotiations in May 1919, at which point German leaders viewed the treaty for the first time. Some German leaders favored repudiating the treaty, but Germany signed the treaty on June 28, 1919.<ref>Clements 1992, pp. 185–186</ref> For his peace-making efforts, Wilson was awarded the 1919 [[Nobel Peace Prize]].<ref name="nobelprize1919"></ref> However, the defeated Central Powers protested the harsh terms of the treaty, and several colonial representatives pointed out the hypocrisy of a treaty that established new nations in Europe but allowed continued colonialism in Asia and Africa. Wilson also faced an uncertain domestic battle to ratify the treaty, as Republicans largely opposed it.<ref>Herring 2008, pp. 426-427</ref>
===Treaty ratification debate===
[[File:WoodrowWilsonVersailles.jpg|upright|thumb|Wilson returning from the Versailles Peace Conference, 1919.]]
The chances were less than favorable for ratification of the treaty by a two-thirds vote of the Senate, in which Republicans held a narrow majority.<ref name="Clements 1992, pp. 190–191">Clements 1992, pp. 190–191</ref> Public opinion on the treaty was mixed, with intense opposition from most Republicans, Germans, and Irish Catholic Democrats. In numerous meetings with Senators, Wilson discovered opposition had hardened. Despite his weakened physical condition following the Paris Peace Conference, Wilson decided to barnstorm the Western states, scheduling 29 major speeches and many short ones to rally support.<ref>Berg 2013, pp. 619–34</ref> Wilson suffered a series of debilitating strokes and had to cut short his trip on in September 1919. He became an invalid in the White House, closely monitored by his wife, who insulated him from negative news and downplayed for him the gravity of his condition.<ref>Berg 2013, pp. 635–43</ref>
Senator [[Henry Cabot Lodge]] led the opposition to the treaty; he despised Wilson and hoped to humiliate him in the ratification battle. Republicans were outraged by Wilson's failure to discuss the war or its aftermath with them. An intensely partisan battle developed in the Senate, as Republicans opposed the treaty and Democrats largely supported it. The debate over the treaty centered around a debate over the American role in the world community in the post-war era, and Senators fell into three main groups. Most Democrats favored the treaty.<ref name="Clements 1992, pp. 190–191"/> Fourteen Senators, mostly Republicans, become known as the "[[irreconcilables]]," as they completely opposed U.S. entrance into the League of Nations. Some of these irreconcilables, such as [[George W. Norris]], opposed the treaty for its failure to support decolonization and disarmament. Other irreconcilables, such as [[Hiram Johnson]], feared surrendering American freedom of action to an international organization. Most sought the removal of Article X the League covenant, which purported to bind nations to defend each other against aggression.<ref name="herring427430">Herring 2008, pp. 427-430</ref> The remaining group of Senators, known as "reservationists," accepted the idea of the league, but sought varying degrees of change to the League to ensure the protection of U.S. sovereignty.<ref name="herring427430"/> Former President Taft and former Secretary of State [[Elihu Root]] both favored ratification of the treaty with some modifications, and their public support for the treaty gave Wilson some chance of winning significant Republican support for ratification.<ref name="Clements 1992, pp. 190–191"/>
Despite the difficulty of winning ratification, Wilson consistently refused to accede to reservations, partly due to concerns about having to re-open negotiations with the other powers if reservations were added.<ref>Clements 1992, pp. 191–192, 200</ref> In mid-November 1919, Lodge and his Republicans formed a coalition with the pro-treaty Democrats to pass a treaty with reservations, but the seriously indisposed Wilson rejected this compromise and enough Democrats followed his lead to defeat ratification. Cooper and Bailey suggest that Wilson's stroke in September had debilitated him from negotiating effectively with Lodge.<ref>Cooper 2009, 544, 557–560; Bailey calls Wilson's rejection, "The Supreme Infanticide," ''Woodrow Wilson and the Great Betrayal'' (1945) p. 271.</ref>
==Foreign policy in the 1920s==
===Harding takes office===
[[File:Map Europe 1923-en.svg|thumb|right|upright=1.5|By the time Harding took office, several new European states had been established in the [[Aftermath of World War I]]]]
Campaigning against Wilson's policies and on the the promise of a "[[return to normalcy]],"<ref></ref> Republican [[Warren G. Harding]] won a landslide victory in the [[1920 United States presidential election]]. With the Treaty of Versailles still unratified, the U.S. remained technically at war with Germany, Austria, and Hungary. Peacemaking began with the [[Knox–Porter Resolution]], declaring the U.S. at peace and reserving any rights granted under Versailles. Treaties [[U.S.–German Peace Treaty (1921)|with Germany]], [[U.S.–Austrian Peace Treaty (1921)|Austria]] and [[U.S.–Hungarian Peace Treaty (1921)|Hungary]], each containing many of the non-League provisions of the Treaty of Versailles, were ratified in 1921. This still left the question of relations between the U.S. and the League. Hughes' State Department initially ignored communications from the League, or tried to bypass it through direct communications with member nations. By 1922, though, the U.S., through its consul in Geneva, was dealing with the League. The U.S. refused to participate in any League meeting with political implications, but it sent observers to sessions on technical and humanitarian matters.
Harding stunned the capital when he sent to the Senate a message supporting the participation of the U.S. in the proposed [[Permanent Court of International Justice]] (also known as the "World Court"). His proposal was not favorably received by most senators, and a resolution supporting U.S. membership in the World Court was drafted and promptly buried in the Foreign Affairs Committee.<ref name="Russell_560"></ref> In 1926, the Senate approved joining the Court with reservations. The League of Nations accepted the reservations, but it suggested some modifications of its own. The Senate failed to act on the modifications, and the United States never joined the World Court.
===Disarmament===
[[File:Charles Evans Hughes-01.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Charles Evans Hughes]], former Supreme Court Justice and Harding's Secretary of State]]
At the end of World War I, the United States had the largest navy and one of the largest armies in the world. With no serious threat to the United States itself, Harding and his successors presided over the disarmament of the navy and the army. The army shrank to 140,000 men, while naval reduction was based on a policy of parity with Britain.<ref></ref> Seeking to prevent an arms race, Senator [[William Borah]] won passage of a congressional resolution calling for a 50 percent reduction of the American Navy, the British Navy, and the Japanese Navy. With Congress's backing, Harding and Hughes began preparations to hold a naval disarmament conference in Washington.<ref></ref> The [[Washington Naval Conference]] convened in November 1921, with representatives from the U.S., [[Japan]], Britain, [[France]], [[Italy]], [[China]], [[Belgium]], the [[Netherlands]], and [[Portugal]]. Secretary of State Hughes assumed a primary role in the conference and made the pivotal proposal—the U.S. would reduce its number of warships by 30 if Great Britain decommissioned 19 ships and Japan decommissioned 17 ships.<ref></ref> A journalist covering the conference wrote that "Hughes sank in thirty-five minutes more ships than all of the admirals of the world have sunk in a cycle of centuries.<ref></ref>
The conference produced six treaties and twelve resolutions among the participating nations, which ranged from limiting the [[tonnage]] of naval ships to custom tariffs.<ref></ref> The United States, Britain, Japan, and France reached the [[Four-Power Treaty]], in which each country agreed to respect the territorial integrity of one another in the [[Pacific Ocean]]. Those four powers as well as Italy also reached the [[Washington Naval Treaty]], which established a ratio of battleship tonnage that each country agreed to respect. In the [[Nine-Power Treaty]], each signatory agreed to respect the [[Open Door Policy]] in China, and Japan agreed to return [[Shandong]] to China.<ref></ref>
===Debt reduction===
By the time Harding took office, there were calls from foreign governments for the reduction of the massive war debt owed to the United States, and the German government sought to reduce the [[World War I reparations|reparations]] that it was required to pay. The U.S. refused to consider any multilateral settlement. Harding sought passage of a plan proposed by Mellon to give the administration broad authority to reduce war debts in negotiation, but Congress, in 1922, passed [[World War Foreign Debts Commission Act|a more restrictive bill]]. Hughes negotiated an agreement for Britain to pay off its war debt over 62 years at low interest, effectively reducing the [[present value]] of the obligations. This agreement, approved by Congress in 1923, set a pattern for negotiations with other nations.
Coolidge initially rejected calls to forgive Europe's debt or lower tariffs on European goods, but the [[Occupation of the Ruhr]] in 1923 stirred him to action. On Secretary of State Hughes's initiative, Coolidge appointed [[Charles Dawes]] to lead an international commission to reach an agreement on Germany's reparations. The resulting [[Dawes Plan]] provided for restructuring of the German debt, and the United States loaned money to Germany to help it repay its debt other countries. The Dawes Plan led to a boom in the German economy, as well as a sentiment of international cooperation.
===Renunciation of war===
Building on the success of the Dawes Plan, U.S. ambassador [[Alanson B. Houghton]] helped organize the Locarno Conference in October 1925. The conference was designed to ease tensions between Germany and France, the latter of which feared a German rearmament. In the [[Locarno Treaties]], France, Belgium, and Germany each agreed to respect the borders established by the [[Treaty of Versailles]] and pledged not to attack each other. Germany also agreed to arbitrate its eastern boundaries with the states created in the Treaty of Versailles.<ref></ref>
Coolidge's primary foreign policy initiative was the [[Kellogg–Briand Pact]] of 1928, named for Secretary of State Kellogg and French foreign minister [[Aristide Briand]]. The treaty, ratified in 1929, committed signatories—the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, and Japan—to "renounce war, as an instrument of national policy in their relations with one another." The treaty did not achieve its intended result—the outlawry of war—but it did provide the founding principle for international law after [[World War II]]. Coolidge's policy of international disarmament allowed the administration to decrease military spending, a part of Coolidge's broader policy of decreasing government spending. Coolidge also favored an extension of the Washington Naval Treaty to cover [[cruiser]]s, but the U.S., Britain, and Japan were unable to come to an agreement at the [[Geneva Naval Conference]].
===Immigration===
Immigration to the United States had increased during the first two decades of the twentieth century, with many of the immigrants coming from [[Southern Europe]] and [[Eastern Europe]] rather than [[Western Europe]]. Many Americans viewed these new immigrants with suspicion, and World War I and the [[First Red Scare]] further heightened [[Nativism (politics)|nativist]] fears. A constituent writing to Senator [[William Borah]] reflected the opinion of many who favored immigration restriction, stating "immigration should be completely stopped for at least one generation until we can assimilate and Americanize the millions who are in our midst." The [[Emergency Quota Act|Per Centum Act of 1921]], signed by Harding on May 19, 1921, reduced the numbers of [[Immigration to the United States|immigrants]] to 3 percent of a country's represented population based on the [[1910 United States Census|1910 Census]]. The act, which had been vetoed by President Wilson in the previous Congress, also allowed unauthorized immigrants to be deported.<ref></ref> Immigration to the United States fell from roughly 800,000 in 1920 to approximately 300,000 in 1922.
In the years after the passage of the Emergency Quota Act, members of Congress debated the substance of a permanent immigration bill. Most leaders of both parties favored a permanent bill that would greatly restrict immigration, with the major exception being [[Al Smith]] and other urban Democrats. Business leaders had previously favored unlimited immigration to the United States, but mechanization, the entrance of women into the labor force, and the migration of Southern blacks into the North had all contributed to a reduced demand for foreign-born labor. Coolidge endorsed an extension of the cap on immigration in his 1923 State of the Union, but his administration was less supportive of the continuation of the [[National Origins Formula]], which effectively restricted immigration from countries outside of [[Northwestern Europe]]. Secretary of State Hughes strongly opposed the quotas, particularly the total ban on Japanese immigration, which violated the [[Gentlemen's Agreement of 1907]] with Japan. Despite his own reservations, Coolidge choose to sign the restrictive [[Immigration Act of 1924]]. The Emergency Quota Act had limited annual immigration from any given country to 3 percent of the immigrant population from that country living in the United States in 1920; the Immigration Act of 1924 changed this to 2% percent of the immigrant population from a given country living in the United States in 1890.
==Onset of the Great Depression==
In late October 1929, the [[Stock Market Crash of 1929]] occurred, and the worldwide economy began to spiral downward into the [[Great Depression]]. In the midst of a worldwide depression, Hoover and Secretary of State Henry Stimson became more closely involved in world affairs than Hoover's Republican predecessors had been. According to Leuchtenberg, Hoover was "the last American president to take office with no conspicuous need to pay attention to the rest of the world." But during Hoover's term, the world order established with the 1919 [[Treaty of Versailles]] began to crumble.
When Hoover took office, an international committee meeting in Paris promulgated the [[Young Plan]], which created the [[Bank for International Settlements]] and stipulated the partial forgiveness of German [[World War I reparations]]. Hoover was wary of agreeing to the plan, as he feared that it would be linked to reduced payments on loans the U.S. extended to France and Britain in World War I. He ultimately agreed to support the proposal at the urging of [[Owen D. Young]], the American industrialist who chaired the committee. Despite the settlement reached by the Young Plan, the German economy collapsed in the early 1930s, and Germany announced that it could not pay reparations. In response, Hoover issued the [[Hoover Moratorium]], a one-year halt on Allied war loans conditional on a suspension of German reparations payments. Hoover also made American bankers agree to refrain from demanding payment on private loans from Germans. Hoover hoped that the moratorium would help stabilize the European economy, which he viewed as a major cause of economic troubles in the United States. As the moratorium neared its expiration the following year, an attempt to find a permanent solution was made at the [[Lausanne Conference of 1932]]. A working compromise was never established, and reparations payments virtually stopped.<ref>Halina Parafianowicz, "Hoover's Moratorium and Some Aspects of American Policy Towards Eastern and Central Europe in 1931," ''American Studies''. (1987) v. 6 pp 63–84.</ref>
Hoover placed a priority on disarmament, which he hoped would allow the United States to shift money from the military to domestic needs. Hoover and Stimson focused on extending the 1922 [[Washington Naval Treaty]], which sought to prevent a naval [[arms race]]. A previous effort to extend the Washington Naval Treaty, the [[Geneva Naval Conference]], had failed to produce results, but the Hoover administration convinced the British to re-open negotiations.<ref>B. J. C. McKercher, "'A Certain Irritation': The White House, the State Department, and the Desire for a Naval Settlement with Great Britain, 1927–1930." ''Diplomatic History'' 31.5 (2007): 829-863.</ref> In 1930, the United States and other major naval powers signed the [[London Naval Treaty]]. The treaty represented the first time that the naval powers had agreed to cap their tonnage of auxiliary vessels (previous agreements had focused on [[capital ship]]s), but the treaty did not include France or Italy. The treaty provoked a nationalist backlash in Japan due to its reconfirmation of the "5–5–3" ratio which limited Japan to a smaller fleet than the United States or the United Kingdom. At the 1932 [[World Disarmament Conference]], Hoover urged worldwide cutbacks in armaments and the outlawing of tanks and bombers, but his proposals were not adopted.
===Japanese invasion of Manchuria===
In 1931, Japan [[Japanese invasion of Manchuria|invaded]] [[Manchuria]], defeating the [[Republic of China (1912–49)|Republic of China]]'s military forces and establishing [[Manchukuo]], a puppet state. The Hoover administration deplored the invasion, but also sought to avoid antagonizing the Japanese, fearing that taking too strong of a stand would weaken the moderate forces in the Japanese government. Hoover also viewed the Japanese as a potential ally against the [[Soviet Union]], which he saw as a much greater threat. In response to the Japanese invasion, Hoover and Secretary of State Stimson outlined the [[Stimson Doctrine]], which held that the United States would not recognize territories gained by force. The Hoover administration based this declaration on the 1928 [[Kellogg–Briand Pact]], in which several nations (including Japan and the United States) renounced war and promised to peacefully solve disputes. In the aftermath of invasion of Manchuria, Stimson and other members of the Cabinet came to believe that war with Japan might be inevitable, though Hoover continued to push for [[disarmament]] among the world powers.<ref>Richard N. Current, "The Stimson Doctrine and the Hoover Doctrine," ''American Historical Review'' Vol. 59, No. 3 (Apr. 1954), pp. 513–42 [https://ift.tt/2XId2sT in JSTOR]</ref>
===Rise of Hitler===
In early 1933, during Hoover's last days in office, [[Adolf Hitler]] and the [[Nazi Party]] came into power in [[Germany]]. At first, many in the United States thought of Hitler as a something of a comic figure, but Hitler quickly consolidated his power in Germany and attacked the post-war order established by the [[Treaty of Versailles]].<ref>[[#Burns|Burns (1956)]], p. 261.</ref> Hitler preached a [[Racial policy of Nazi Germany|racist doctrine]] of [[Aryan race|Aryan]] superiority, and his central foreign policy goal was the [[Lebensraum|acquisition of territory]] to Germany's east, which he sought to repopulate with [[Germans]].
==Latin America, 1913–1933==
===Panama Canal===
The [[Panama Canal]] opened in 1914, fulfilling the long-term American goal of building a canal across Central America. The canal provided quick passage between the [[Pacific Ocean]] with the [[Atlantic Ocean]], presenting new opportunities to the shippers and allowing the Navy to quickly transfer warships between the two oceans.Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (1 for 2) In April 1921, Harding gained the ratification of the [[Thomson–Urrutia Treaty]] with [[Colombia]], granting that nation $25,000,000 as settlement for the U.S.-provoked [[Separation of Panama from Colombia|Panamanian revolution of 1903]]. The Latin American nations were not fully satisfied, as the U.S. refused to renounce interventionism, though Hughes pledged to limit it to nations near the Panama Canal and to make it clear what the U.S. aims were.
===Interventions===
Wilson sought closer relations with [[Latin America]], and he hoped to create a [[Pan-Americanism|Pan-American]] organization to arbitrate international disputes. He also negotiated a treaty with Colombia that would have paid that country an indemnity for the U.S. role in the [[Separation of Panama from Colombia|secession]] of [[Panama]], but the Senate defeated this treaty.<ref>Cooper 2009, pp. 245–247</ref> However, Wilson frequently intervened in Latin American affairs, saying in 1913: "I am going to teach the South American republics to elect good men."<ref>Paul Horgan, ''Great River: the Rio Grande in North American History'' (Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 1984), 913</ref> The [[Dominican Republic]] had been a de facto American [[protectorate]] since Roosevelt's presidency, but suffered from instability. In 1916, Wilson [[United States occupation of the Dominican Republic (1916–24)|sent troops to occupy]] the island, and the U.S. soldiers would remain until 1924. In 1915, the U.S. [[United States occupation of Haiti|intervened]] in [[Haiti]] after a revolt overthrew the Haitian government, beginning an occupation that would last until 1919. Wilson also authorized military interventions in [[Cuba]], [[Panama]], and [[Honduras]]. The 1914 [[Bryan–Chamorro Treaty]] converted [[Nicaragua]] into another de facto protectorate, and the U.S. [[United States occupation of Nicaragua|stationed soldiers]] there throughout Wilson's presidency.<ref>Herring 2008, pp. 388-390</ref>
Intervention in Latin America became a minor campaign issue in the 1920 presidential election as Harding spoke against Wilson's decision to [[United States occupation of the Dominican Republic (1916–24)|send U.S. troops]] to the [[Dominican Republic]], and attacked the Democratic vice presidential candidate, [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]], for his role in the [[United States occupation of Haiti|Haitian intervention]]. Secretary of State Hughes worked to improve relations with Latin American countries who were wary of the American use of the [[Monroe Doctrine]] to justify intervention; at the time of Harding's inauguration, the U.S. also had troops in [[Cuba]] and [[Nicaragua]]. The troops stationed in Cuba to protect American interests were withdrawn in 1921, but U.S. forces remained in the other three nations through Harding's presidency.
The United States' occupation of [[United States occupation of Nicaragua|Nicaragua]] and [[United States occupation of Haiti|Haiti]] continued under Coolidge's administration, though Coolidge withdrew American troops from the [[1916 United States occupation of the Dominican Republic|Dominican Republic]] in 1924. The U.S. established a domestic constabulary in the Dominican Republic to promote internal order without the need for U.S. intervention, but the constabulary's leader, [[Rafael Trujillo]], eventually seized power.<ref></ref> Coolidge led the U.S. delegation to the [[Pan-American Conference|Sixth International Conference of American States]], January 15–17, 1928, in [[Havana]], [[Cuba]]. There, he extended an [[olive branch]] to Latin American leaders embittered over America's [[Banana Wars|interventionist policies]] in [[Central America]] and the [[Caribbean]].<ref></ref>
President Hoover largely made good on a pledge made prior to assuming office not to interfere in Latin America's internal affairs. In 1930, he released the [[Clark Memorandum]], a rejection of the [[Roosevelt Corollary]] and a move towards non-interventionism in Latin America. Hoover did not completely refrain from the use of the military in Latin American affairs; he thrice threatened intervention in the [[Dominican Republic]], and he sent warships to [[El Salvador]] to support the government against a left-wing revolution. But he wound down the [[Banana Wars]], ending the [[United States occupation of Nicaragua|occupation of Nicaragua]] and nearly bringing an end to the [[United States occupation of Haiti|occupation of Haiti]]. Franklin Roosevelt's [[Good Neighbor policy]] would continue the trend towards non-interventionism in Latin America.
===Mexico===
====Mexican Revolution====
Wilson took office during the [[Mexican Revolution]], which had begun in 1911 after liberals overthrew the military dictatorship of [[Porfirio Díaz]]. Shortly before Wilson took office, conservatives retook power through a coup led by [[Victoriano Huerta]].<ref>Clements 1992, pp. 96–97</ref> Wilson rejected the legitimacy of Huerta's "government of butchers" and demanded Mexico hold democratic elections. Wilson's unprecedented approach meant no recognition and doomed Huerta's prospects for establishing a stable government.<ref>Peter V. N. Henderson, "Woodrow Wilson, Victoriano Huerta, and the Recognition Issue in Mexico", ''The Americas'' (1984) 41#2 pp. 151-176 [https://ift.tt/2jWasMS in JSTOR]</ref> After Huerta arrested U.S. Navy personnel who had accidentally landed in a restricted zone near the northern port town of [[Tampico]], Wilson [[United States occupation of Veracruz|dispatched the Navy to occupy]] the Mexican city of [[Veracruz]]. A strong backlash against the American intervention among Mexicans of all political affiliations convinced Wilson to abandon his plans to expand the U.S. military intervention, but the intervention nonetheless helped convince Huerta to flee from the country.<ref>Clements 1992, pp. 98–99</ref> A group led by [[Venustiano Carranza]] established control over a significant proportion of Mexico, and Wilson recognized Carranza's government in October 1915.<ref name="Clements 1992, pp. 99–100">Clements 1992, pp. 99–100</ref>
Carranza continued to face various opponents within Mexico, including [[Pancho Villa]], whom Wilson had earlier described as "a sort of [[Robin Hood]]."<ref name="Clements 1992, pp. 99–100"/> In early 1916, Pancho Villa raided an American town in New Mexico, killing or wounding dozens of Americans and causing an enormous nationwide American demand for his punishment. Wilson ordered General [[John J. Pershing]] and 4000 troops across the border to capture Villa. By April, Pershing's forces had broken up and dispersed Villas bands, but Villa remained on the loose and Pershing continued his pursuit deep into Mexico. Carranza then pivoted against the Americans and accused them of a punitive invasion; a confrontation with a mob in Parral on April 12 resulted in two dead Americans and six wounded, plus hundreds of Mexican casualties. Further incidents led to the brink of war by late June, when Wilson demanded an immediate release of American soldiers held prisoner. The prisoners were released, tensions subsided, and bilateral negotiations began under the auspices of the Mexican-American Joint High Commission. Eager to withdraw from Mexico due to World War I, Wilson ordered Pershing to withdraw, and the last American soldiers left in February 1917.<ref>Link 1964, 194–221, 280–318; Link 1965, 51–54, 328–339</ref>
====Post-revolution====
A new Mexican government under President [[Álvaro Obregón]] sought recognition, but the Wilson administration refused. Under Harding, both Hughes and Secretary of the Interior Fall opposed recognition; Hughes instead sent a draft treaty to the Mexicans in May 1921, which included pledges to reimburse Americans for losses in Mexico since the [[Mexican Revolution|1910 revolution]] there. Obregón was unwilling to sign a treaty before being recognized, and he and worked to improve the relationship between American businesses and Mexico, reaching agreement with creditors and mounting a public relations campaign in the United States. This had its effect, and by mid-1922, Fall was less influential than he had been, lessening the resistance to recognition. The two presidents appointed commissioners to reach a deal, and the U.S. recognized the Obregón government on August 31, 1923, just under a month after Harding's death, substantially on the terms proffered by Mexico.
In 1924, [[Plutarco Elías Calles]] took office as President of Mexico, and Calles sought to limit American property claims and take control of the holdings of the Catholic Church. However, Ambassador [[Dwight Morrow]] convinced Calles to allow Americans to retain their rights to property purchased before 1917, and Mexico and the United States enjoyed good relations for the remainder of Coolidge's presidency. With the aid of a Catholic priest from the U.S., Morrow also helped bring an end to the [[Cristero War]], a Catholic revolt against Calles's government.<ref></ref>
As part of his efforts to limit unemployment, Hoover sought to cut [[immigration to the United States]], and in 1930 he promulgated an executive order requiring individuals to have employment before migrating to the United States. With the goal of opening up more jobs for U.S. citizens, Secretary of Labor [[William N. Doak]] began a campaign to prosecute [[Illegal immigration to the United States|illegal immigrants]] in the United States. Though Doak did not seek to deport one specific group of immigrants, his campaign most strongly affected [[Mexican Americans]], especially Mexican Americans living in [[Southern California]]. Many of the deportations were overseen by state and local authorities who acted on the encouragement of Doak the and Department of Labor. During the 1930s, approximately one million Mexican Americans were forcibly "repatriated" to Mexico; approximately sixty percent of those deported were [[Birthright citizenship in the United States|birthright citizens]].
===American investment and trade===
Under the leadership of economist [[Edwin W. Kemmerer]], the U.S. extended its influence in Latin America through financial advisers. With the support of the State Department, Kemmerer negotiated agreements with [[Colombia]], [[Chile]], and other countries in which the countries received loans and agreed to follow the advice of U.S. financial advisers. These "Kemmerized" countries received substantial investments and became increasingly dependent on trade with the United States.<ref></ref>
==Other countries and regions, 1913–1933==
===Russia and the Soviet Union===
After Russia left World War I following the [[Bolshevik Revolution]] of 1917, the Allies sent troops there to prevent a German or [[Bolshevik]] takeover of weapons, munitions and other supplies previously shipped as aid to the pre-revolutionary government.<ref>[[George F. Kennan]], ''Russia Leaves the War'', p. 472, ''et passim''. 1956, repr. 1989, .</ref> Wilson loathed the Bolsheviks, who he believed did not represent the Russian people, but he feared that foreign intervention would only strengthen Bolshevik rule. Britain and France pressured him to intervene in order to potentially re-open a second front against Germany, and Wilson acceded to this pressure in the hope that it would help him in post-war negotiations and check Japanese influence in Siberia.<ref>Herring 2008, pp. 414-415</ref> The U.S. sent armed forces to assist the withdrawal of [[Czechoslovak Legions]] along the [[Trans-Siberian Railway]], and to hold key port cities at [[Arkhangelsk]] and [[Vladivostok]]. Though specifically instructed not to engage the Bolsheviks, the U.S. forces engaged in several armed conflicts against forces of the new Russian government. Revolutionaries in Russia resented the United States intrusion. Robert Maddox wrote, "The immediate effect of the intervention was to prolong a bloody civil war, thereby costing thousands of additional lives and wreaking enormous destruction on an already battered society."<ref>Robert J. Maddox, ''The Unknown War with Russia'' (San Rafael, CA: Presidio Press, 1977), 137.</ref>
Commerce Secretary Hoover, with considerable experience of Russian affairs, took the lead on Russian policy in the Harding administration. He supported aid to and trade with Russia, fearing U.S. companies would be frozen out of the Soviet market. When [[Russian famine of 1921|famine struck Russia in 1921]], Hoover had the [[American Relief Administration]], which he had headed, negotiate with the Russians to provide aid. According to historian George Herring, the American relief effort may have saved as many as 10 million people from starvation. U.S. businessman such as [[Armand Hammer]] invested in the Russian economy, but many of these investments failed due to various Russian restrictions on trade and commerce. Russian and (after the 1922 establishment of the [[Soviet Union]]) Soviet leaders hoped that these economic and humanitarian connections would lead to recognition of their government, but Communism's extreme unpopularity in the U.S. precluded this possibility.<ref></ref>
By the late 1920s, the Soviet Union was no longer a pariah in European affairs, and had normal diplomatic and trade relations with most countries. By 1933, old American fears of Communist threats had faded, and the business community, as well as newspaper editors, were calling for diplomatic recognition. After the Soviets promised they would not engage in espionage, Roosevelt used his presidential authority to normalize relations in November 1933.
===Middle East===
In 1919, Wilson guided American foreign policy to "acquiesce" in the [[Balfour Declaration]] without supporting Zionism in an official way. Wilson expressed sympathy for the plight of Jews, especially in Poland and France.<ref>Walworth (1986) 473–83, esp. p. 481; Melvin I. Urofsky, ''American Zionism from Herzl to the Holocaust,'' (1995) ch. 6; Frank W. Brecher, ''Reluctant Ally: United States Foreign Policy toward the Jews from Wilson to Roosevelt.'' (1991) ch 1–4.</ref>
In May 1920, Wilson sent a long-deferred proposal to Congress to have the U.S. accept a [[League of Nations mandates|mandate from the League of Nations]] to take over [[First Republic of Armenia|Armenia]].<ref>[[Peter Balakian]] (2003). ''The Burning Tigris: The Armenian Genocide and America's Response''. New York: HarperCollins.</ref> Bailey notes this was opposed by American public opinion, and had the support of only 23 senators.<ref>Bailey, ''Woodrow Wilson and the Great Betrayal'' (1945) pp. 295–96.</ref> [[Richard G. Hovannisian]] states that Wilson "made all the wrong arguments" for the mandate and focused less on the immediate policy than on how history would judge his actions: "[he] wished to place it clearly on the record that the abandonment of Armenia was not his doing."<ref></ref>
===Japan===
Relations with Japan had warmed with the signing of the Washington Naval Treaty and were further bolstered by U.S. aid in the aftermath of the [[1923 Great Kantō earthquake]], which killed as many as 200,000 Japanese and left another 2 million homeless. However, relations soured with the passage of the Immigration Act of 1924, which banned immigration from Japan to the United States. U.S. officials encouraged Japan to protest the ban while the legislation was drafted, but Japanese threats backfired as supporters of the legislation used the threats to galvanize opposition to Japanese immigration. The immigration legislation sparked a major backlash in Japan, strengthening the position of those in Japan who favored expansionism over cooperation with Western powers.<ref></ref>
===China===
The Coolidge administration at first avoided engagement with the [[Republic of China (1912–1949)|Republic of China]], which was led by [[Sun Yat-sen]] and his successor, [[Chiang Kai-shek]]. The administration protested the [[Northern Expedition]] when it resulted in attacks on foreigners, and refused to consider renegotiating treaties reached with China when it had been under the rule of the [[Qing dynasty]]. In 1927, Chiang purged his government of Communists and began to seek U.S. support. Seeking closer relations with China, Secretary of State Kellogg agreed to grant tariff autonomy, meaning that China would have the right to set import duties on American goods.<ref></ref>
==See also==
* [[International relations of the Great Powers (1814–1919)]]
* [[International relations (1919–1939)]]
==References==
===Works cited===
* [[A. Scott Berg|Berg, A. Scott]]. ''[[Wilson (book)|Wilson]]'' (2013)
*
* [[John M. Cooper (historian)|Cooper, John Milton]]. ''Woodrow Wilson: A Biography'' (2009)
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* Link, Arthur Stanley. ''Wilson''.
**''Wilson: The Road to the White House'' (1947)
**''Wilson: The New Freedom'' (1956)
**''Wilson: The Struggle for Neutrality: 1914–1915'' (1960)
**''Wilson: Confusions and Crises: 1915–1916'' (1964)
**''Wilson: Campaigns for Progressivism and Peace: 1916–1917'' (1965)
* Link, Arthur S. ''Woodrow Wilson and the Progressive Era, 1910–1917'' (1954) standard political history [https://ift.tt/2XK1rJG online]
* }}
* }}
*Murray, Robert K. ''The Harding Era 1921–1923: Warren G. Harding and his Administration.'' University of Minnesota Press, 1969
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[[Category:History of the foreign relations of the United States]]
[[Category:Presidency of Woodrow Wilson]]
[[Category:Presidency of Warren G. Harding]]
[[Category:Presidency of Calvin Coolidge]]
[[Category:Presidency of Herbert Hoover]]
Wilson initially sought to remain neutral in World War I, but in 1917 he led the United States into the war on the side of the [[Allied Powers]] of [[United Kingdom|Britain]], [[France]], and other countries. In 1918, [[Germany]] sued for peace, and Wilson was one of the key Allied leaders at the post-war [[Paris Peace Conference, 1919|Paris Peace Conference]]. He advocated for the option of his "[[Fourteen Points]]", which called for the establishment of "an organized common peace" that would help prevent future conflicts. Other Allied leaders pushed back against some of Wilson's goals, but the Allied leaders agreed to join the newly-formed [[League of Nations]]. In the United States, Senator [[Henry Cabot Lodge]] led a successful effort to prevent ratification of the [[Treaty of Versailles]], and the treaty remained unratified when Wilson left office.
Campaigning against Wilson's policies, Harding won election in 1920 and took office in 1921. Harding repudiated the Treaty of Versailles, and the United States never joined the League. Secretary of State [[Charles Evans Hughes]] led the negotiations that resulted in the 1922 [[Washington Naval Treaty]], under which the major naval powers agreed to avoid a naval arms race. Efforts for disarmament would continue after 1922, leading to the signing of the 1930 [[London Naval Treaty]]. European war debts and reparations also emerged as a major issue in the 1920s; the U.S. consistently refused to forgive the debts, but Harding, Coolidge, and Hoover all reached agreements to lower the burden of debts on various European countries. Coolidge's main foreign policy initiative was the [[Kellogg–Briand Pact]], under which the signatories agreed to renounce war as an "instrument of national policy". The [[Great Depression]] began during Hoover's tenure, leaving the worldwide economy in crisis. In the midst of the depression, [[Japan]] [[Japanese invasion of Manchuria|invaded Manchuria]] and [[Adolf Hitler]] came to power in Germany.
In Latin America, Wilson emulated his predecessors in sending soldiers to support U.S.-backed governments, but Hoover eventually wound down the "[[Banana Wars]]". The U.S. became involved in the [[Mexican Revolution]] during Wilson's presidency, and Mexico would remain a foreign policy issue throughout the 1920s. After the [[October Revolution]], Wilson dispatched American soldiers to [[Russia]] in as part of a [[Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War|broader Allied intervention]]. Russia was succeeded by the [[Soviet Union]] in 1922, and the United States would refuse to extend diplomatic recognition to the Soviet Union until 1933.
==Leadership==
===Wilson administration===
Following his victory in the [[1912 United States presidential election]], [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrat]] [[Woodrow Wilson]] served as [[President of the United States]] from 1913 to 1921. Major foreign policy figures in the Wilson administration include Secretary of State [[William Jennings Bryan]],<ref>Cooper 2009, pp. 185</ref> and "Colonel" [[Edward M. House]], Wilson's key foreign policy adviser until 1919.<ref>Arthur Walworth, "Considerations on Woodrow Wilson and Edward M. House", ''Presidential Studies Quarterly'' 1994 24(1): 79–86. </ref> Bryan resigned in 1915 due to his opposition to Wilson hard line's towards [[German Empire|Germany]] in the aftermath of the [[Sinking of the RMS Lusitania]]<ref>Cooper 2009, pp. 290–292</ref> and was replaced by [[Robert Lansing]]. Following Bryan's resignation, Wilson took more direct control of his administration's foreign policy.<ref>Cooper 2009, pp. 294–295</ref>
Wilson's foreign policy was based on an idealistic approach to [[liberal internationalism]] that sharply contrasted with [[Realism (international relations)|realist]] conservative nationalism of [[William Howard Taft]], [[Theodore Roosevelt]], and [[William McKinley]]. Since 1900, the consensus of Democrats had, according to Arthur Link:
:consistently condemned militarism, imperialism, and interventionism in foreign policy. They instead advocated world involvement along liberal-internationalist lines. Wilson's appointment of William Jennings Bryan as Secretary of State indicated a new departure, for Bryan had long been the leading opponent of imperialism and militarism and a pioneer in the world peace movement.<ref>William A. Link and Arthur S. Link, ''American Epoch: A History of the United States Since 1900. Vol. 1. War, Reform, and Society, 1900-1945'' (7th ed, 1993) p 127.</ref>
===Harding administration===
Republican [[Warren G. Harding]] succeeded Wilson in 1921 following his victory in [[1920 United States presidential election|1920 presidential election]], and he served as president until his death in August 1923. Harding selected former Supreme Court Justice and 1916 Republican presidential nominee [[Charles Evans Hughes]] as his Secretary of State.<ref name="dean8292"></ref> Harding made it clear when he appointed Hughes as Secretary of State that the former justice would run foreign policy, a change from Wilson's close management of international affairs, though Hughes did have to work within some broad outlines set by the president. Harding and Hughes frequently communicated, and the president remained well-informed regarding the state of foreign affairs, but he rarely overrode any of Hughes's decisions.
===Coolidge administration===
Republican [[Calvin Coolidge]] succeeded Harding upon the latter's death in August 1923; he won election to a full term in the [[1924 United States presidential election|1924 presidential election]] and served until 1929. Secretary of State Charles Evans Hughes directed Coolidge's foreign policy until he resigned in 1925 following Coolidge's re-election. He was replaced by [[Frank B. Kellogg]], who had previously served as a senator and as the ambassador to Great Britain. Other prominent Cabinet officials include Secretary of the Treasury [[Andrew Mellon]] and Secretary of Commerce [[Herbert Hoover]], both of whom had served in the Harding administration.
===Hoover administration===
Republican Herbert Hoover, who served as Secretary of Commerce from 1921 to 1928, succeeded Coolidge after winning the [[1928 United States presidential election|1928 presidential election]]. As the third consecutive Republican president to take office, Hoover retained many of the previous administration's personnel, including Secretary of the Treasury [[Andrew Mellon]] [[Henry Stimson]], the [[Governor-General of the Philippines]] and a former Secretary of War, became Hoover's Secretary of State.
==World War I==
[[File:World 1914 empires colonies territory.PNG|thumb|right|upright=1.7|Map of the [[great power]]s and other selected countries in 1914]]
===Neutrality in World War I===
[[World War I]] broke out in July 1914, pitting the [[Central Powers]] (Germany, [[Austria-Hungary]], the [[Ottoman Empire]], and Bulgaria) against the [[Allies of World War I|Allied Powers]] (Great Britain, France, Russia, and several other countries). The war fell into a long stalemate after the German advance was halted in September 1914 at the [[First Battle of the Marne]].<ref>Clements 1992, pp. 116–117</ref> From 1914 until early 1917, Wilson's primary foreign policy objective was to keep the United States out of the war in Europe.<ref>Heckscher 1991, p. 339.</ref> Wilson insisted that all government actions be neutral, and that the belligerents must respect that neutrality according to the norms of international law. After the war began, Wilson told the Senate that the United States, "must be impartial in thought as well as in action, must put a curb upon our sentiments as well as upon every transaction that might be construed as a preference of one party to the struggle before another." He was ambiguous whether he meant the United States as a nation or meant all Americans as individuals.<ref>Link 1960, 66</ref> Though Wilson was determined to keep the United States out of the war, and he thought that the [[Causes of World War I|causes of the war]] were complex, he personally believed that the U.S. shared more values with the Allies than the Central Powers.<ref>Clements 1992, pp. 122–123</ref>
[[File:The American War-Dog by Oscar Cesare 1916.jpg|thumb|Wilson and "Jingo", the American War Dog. The editorial cartoon ridicules jingoes baying for war.]]
Wilson and House sought to position the United States as a mediator in the conflict, but European leaders rejected Houses's offers to help end the conflict.<ref>Clements 1992, pp. 123–124</ref> At the urging of Bryan, Wilson also discouraged American companies from extending loans to belligerents. The policy hurt the Allies more than the Central Powers, since the Allies were more dependent on American goods. The administration relaxed the policy of discouraging loans in October 1914 and then ended it in October 1915 due to fears about the policy's effect on the American economy.<ref>Clements 1992, pp. 117–118</ref> The United States sought to trade with both the Allied Powers and the Central Powers, but the British attempted to impose a [[Blockade of Germany]], and, after a period of negotiations, Wilson essentially assented to the British blockade. The U.S. had relatively little direct trade with the Central Powers, and Wilson was unwilling to wage war against Britain over trade issues.<ref name=clements119123/> The British also made their blockade more acceptable to American leaders by buying, rather than seizing without compensation, intercepted goods.<ref name="Clements 1992, pp. 128–129">Clements 1992, pp. 128–129</ref> Many Germans viewed American trade with the Allies as decidedly unneutral.<ref name=clements119123>Clements 1992, pp. 119–123</ref>
====Growing tensions====
In response to the British blockade of the Central Powers, the Germans launched a [[U-boat Campaign (World War I)|submarine campaign]] against merchant vessels in the seas surrounding the British Isles. Wilson strongly protested the policy, which had a much stronger effect on American trade than the British blockade.<ref>Clements 1992, pp. 124–125</ref> In the March 1915 [[Thrasher Incident]], the commercial British steamship ''Falaba'' was sunk by a German submarine with the loss of 111 lives, including one American.<ref>Heckscher 1991, p. 361</ref> In early 1915, a German bomb struck an American ship, the ''Cushing'', and a German submarine torpedoed an American tanker, the ''Gulflight''. Wilson took the view, based on some reasonable evidence, that both incidents were accidental, and that a settlement of claims could be postponed to the end of the war.<ref>Heckscher 1991, p. 362.</ref> A German submarine torpedoed and sank the British ocean liner [[RMS Lusitania|RMS ''Lusitania'']] in May 1915; over a thousand perished, including many Americans.<ref>Oscar Handlin, "A Liner, a U-Boat . . . and History. '' American Heritage'' (June 1954) 6#3 [https://ift.tt/2XGKYG0 online].</ref> Wilson did not call for war; instead he said, "There is such a thing as a man being too proud to fight. There is such a thing as a nation being so right that it does not need to convince others by force that it is right". He realized he had chosen the wrong words when critics lashed out at his rhetoric.<ref></ref> Wilson sent a protest to Germany which demanded that the German government "take immediate steps to prevent the recurrence" of incidents like the sinking of the ''Lusitania''. In response, Bryan, who believed that Wilson had placed the defense of American trade rights above neutrality, resigned from the cabinet.<ref>Clements 1992, pp. 125–127</ref>
The White Star liner the [[SS Arabic (1902)|SS ''Arabic'']] was torpedoed in August 1915, with two American casualties. The U.S. threatened a diplomatic break unless Germany repudiated the action. The Germans agreed to warn unarmed merchant ships before attacking them.<ref>Heckscher 1991, pp. 366–369.</ref> In March 1916, the [[SS Sussex|SS ''Sussex'']], an unarmed ferry under the French flag, was torpedoed in the English Channel and four Americans were counted among the dead; the Germans had flouted the post-''Lusitania'' exchanges. Wilson drew praise when he succeeded in wringing from Germany a pledge to constrain submarine warfare to the rules of cruiser warfare. This was a clear departure from existing practices—a diplomatic concession from which Germany could only more brazenly withdraw.<ref>Heckscher 1991, pp 384-87.</ref> In January 1917, the Germans initiated a new policy of [[unrestricted submarine warfare]] against ships in the seas around the British Isles. German leaders knew that the policy would likely provoke U.S. entrance into the war, but they hoped to defeat the Allied Powers before the U.S. could fully mobilize.<ref>Clements 1992, pp. 137–138</ref>
====Preparedness====
Military "preparedness," or building up the small army and navy—became a major dynamic of public opinion.<ref>Link 1954, pp 74-96.</ref><ref>Ross A. Kennedy, "Preparedness," in Ross A. Kennedy, ed., ''A Companion to Woodrow Wilson'' (2013) pp 270-86.</ref> New, well-funded organizations sprang up to appeal to the grassroots, including the [[American Defense Society]] (ADS) and the [[National Security League]], both of which favored entering the war on the side of the Allies.<ref>John Patrick Finnegan, ''Against the specter of a dragon: The campaign for American military preparedness, 1914-1917'' (1974). [https://ift.tt/2LRZJik online]</ref><ref>Robert D. Ward, "The Origin and Activities of the National Security League, 1914-1919," ''Mississippi Valley Historical Review'' (1960) 47#1 pp 51-65 [https://ift.tt/2XPrZcJ in JSTOR]</ref> Interventionists, led by Theodore Roosevelt, wanted war with Germany and attacked Wilson's refusal to build up the [[U.S. Army]] in anticipation of war.<ref>Ryan Floyd, ''Abandoning American Neutrality: Woodrow Wilson and the Beginning of the Great War, August 1914–December 1915'' (Springer, 2013).</ref> Wilson resistance to preparedness was partly due to the powerful anti-war element of the Democratic Party, which was led by Bryan. Anti-war sentiment was strong among many groups inside and outside of the party, including women,<ref>Frances H. Early, ''A World without War: How U.S. Feminists and Pacifists Resisted World War I.'' (1997).</ref> Protestant churches,<ref>Andrew Preston, ''Sword of the Spirit, Shield of Faith: Religion in American War and Diplomacy'' (2012), pp 240-45.</ref> labor unions,<ref>Simeon Larson, "The American Federation of Labor and the Preparedness Controversy." ''Historian'' 37.1 (1974): 67-81.</ref> and Southern Democrats like [[Claude Kitchin]], chairman of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee. Biographer [[John Morton Blum]] says:
:Wilson's long silence about preparedness had permitted such a spread and such a hardening of antipreparedness attitudes within his party and across the nation that when he came in at late last to his task, neither Congress to the country was amenable to much persuasion.<ref>John Morton Blum, ''Woodrow Wilson and the Politics of Morality'' (1956) p 121.</ref>
After the sinking of the ''Lusitania'' and the resignation of Bryan, Wilson publicly committed himself to preparedness and began to build up the army and the navy.<ref name="Clements 1992, pp. 128–129"/> Wilson was constrained by America's traditional commitment to military nonintervention. Wilson believed that a massive military mobilization could only take place after a declaration of war, even though that meant a long delay in sending troops to Europe. Many Democrats felt that no American soldiers would be needed, only American money and munitions.<ref>David Esposito, David. "Political and Institutional Constraints on Wilson's Defense Policy." ''Presidential Studies Quarterly'' 26.4 (1996): 1114-1125.</ref> Wilson had more success in his request for a dramatic expansion of the Navy. Congress passed a Naval Expansion Act in 1916 that encapsulated the planning by the Navy's professional officers to build a fleet of top-rank status, but it would take several years to become operational.<ref>Link 1954, p 179.</ref>
===Entering the war===
[[File:General John Joseph Pershing head on shoulders.jpg|thumb|Gen. [[John J. Pershing]]]]
[[File:Portrait of Colonel Edward M. House.jpg|right|thumb|Colonel [[Edward M. House]]]]
In early 1917, German ambassador [[Johann Heinrich von Bernstorff|Johann von Bernstorf]] informed Secretary of State Lansing of Germany's commitment to unrestricted submarine warfare.<ref>Heckscher 1991, p. 427.</ref> In late February, the U.S. public learned of the [[Zimmermann Telegram]], a secret diplomatic communication in which Germany sought to convince Mexico to join it in a war against the United States.<ref>Clements 1992, pp. 138–139</ref> Wilson's reaction after consulting the Cabinet and with Congress was a minimal one—that diplomatic relations with the Germans be brought to a halt. The president said, "We are the sincere friends of the German people and earnestly desire to remain at peace with them. We shall not believe they are hostile to us unless or until we are obliged to believe it".<ref>Heckscher 1991, pp. 428–429</ref> After a series of attacks on American ships, Wilson held a Cabinet meeting on March 20; all Cabinet members agreed that the time had come for the United States to enter the war. Wilson called Congress into a special session, which would begin on April 2.<ref>Clements 1992, pp. 139–140</ref>
March 1917 also brought the first of two revolutions in Russia, which impacted the strategic role of the U.S. in the war. The overthrow of the imperial government removed a serious barrier to America's entry into the European conflict, while the second revolution in November relieved the Germans of a major threat on their eastern front, and allowed them to dedicate more troops to the Western front, thus making U.S. forces central to Allied success in battles of 1918. Wilson initially rebuffed pleas from the Allies to dedicate military resources to an intervention in Russia against the [[Bolshevik]]s, based partially on his experience from attempted intervention in Mexico; nevertheless he ultimately was convinced of the potential benefit and agreed to dispatch a limited force to assist the Allies on the eastern front.<ref>Georg Schild, review of Carl J. Richard "When the United States Invaded Russia: Woodrow Wilson's Siberian Disaster." ''Journal of American History'' 100.3 (2013): 864–864.[https://ift.tt/2jWae8u online]</ref>
Wilson addressed Congress on April 2, calling for a declaration of war against Germany. He argued that the Germans were engaged in "nothing less than war against the government and people of the United States." He asked for a military draft to raise the army, increased taxes to pay for military expenses, loans to Allied governments, and increased industrial and agricultural production.<ref>Clements 1992, pp. 140–141</ref> The [[declaration of war by the United States]] [[1917 United States declaration of war on Germany|against Germany]] passed Congress by strong bipartisan majorities on April 6, 1917, with opposition from ethnic German strongholds and remote rural areas in the South. The United States would also later [[1917 United States declaration of war on Austria-Hungary|declare war against]] Austria-Hungary in December 1917. The U.S. did not sign a formal alliance with Britain or France but operated as an "associated" power—an informal ally with military cooperation through the [[Supreme War Council]] in London.<ref>David F. Trask, ''The United States in the Supreme War Council: American War Aims and Inter-Allied Strategy, 1917–1918'' (1961).</ref>
Generals [[Frederick Funston]] and [[Leonard Wood]] had been contenders for the command of American army forces in Europe, but Funston died just weeks before the United States entered the war, and Wilson distrusted Wood, who was a close ally of Theodore Roosevelt. Wilson instead gave command to General John J. Pershing, who had led the expedition against Pancho Villa.<ref>Berg (2013), pp. 463–464</ref> Pershing would have complete authority as to tactics, strategy, and some diplomacy.<ref>Edward M. Coffman, ''The War to End All Wars'' (1968) ch. 3</ref> Edward House became the president's main channel of communication with the British government, and [[Sir William Wiseman, 10th Baronet|William Wiseman]], a British naval attaché, was House's principal contact in England. Their personal relationship succeeded in serving the powers well, by overcoming strained relations in order to achieve essential understandings between the two governments. House also became the U.S. representative on the Allies' Supreme War Council.<ref>Heckscher 1991, pp. 460–462.</ref>
===The Fourteen Points===
Wilson sought the establishment of "an organized common peace" that would help prevent future conflicts. In this goal, he was opposed not just by the Central Powers, but also the other Allied Powers, who, to various degrees, sought to win concessions and oppose a punitive peace agreement on the Central Powers.<ref>Clements 1992, pp. 164–165</ref> He initiated a secret study group named the [[The Inquiry]], directed by Colonel House, to prepare for post-ware negotiations.<ref>Heckscher 1991, p. 470.</ref> The Inquiry's studies culminated in a speech by Wilson to Congress on January 8, 1918, wherein he articulated America's long term war objectives. It was the clearest expression of intention made by any of the belligerent nations. The speech, known as the Fourteen Points, was authored mainly by [[Walter Lippmann]] and projected Wilson's progressive domestic policies into the international arena. The first six points dealt with diplomacy, freedom of the seas, and settlement of colonial claims. Then territorial issues were addressed and the final point, the establishment of an association of nations to guarantee the independence and territorial integrity of all nations—a [[League of Nations]]. The address was translated into many languages for global dissemination.<ref>Heckscher 1991, p. 471.</ref>
Aside from post-war considerations, Wilson's Fourteen Points were motivated by several factors. Unlike some of the other Allied leaders, Wilson did not call for the total break-up of the Ottoman Empire or the Austro-Hungarian Empire. In offering a non-punitive peace to these nations as well as Germany, Wilson hoped to quickly began negotiations to end the war. Wilson's liberal pronouncements were also targeted at pacifistic and war-weary elements within the Allied countries, including the United States. Additionally, Wilson hoped to woo the Russians back into the war, although he failed in this goal.<ref>Cooper 2009, pp. 423–424</ref>
===Course of the war===
With the U.S. entrance into the war, Wilson and Secretary of War Baker launched an expansion of the army, with the goal of creating a 300,000-member [[Regular Army (United States)|Regular Army]], a 440,000-member [[Army National Guard|National Guard]], and a 500,000-member conscripted force known as the "[[Army of the United States|National Army]]." Despite some resistance to conscription and to the commitment of American soldiers abroad, large majorities of both houses of Congress voted to impose conscription with the [[Selective Service Act of 1917]]. Seeking to avoid the draft riots of the Civil War, the bill established local draft boards that were charged with determining who should be drafted. By the end of the war, nearly 3 million men would be drafted.<ref>Clements 1992, pp. 143–146</ref> The Navy also saw tremendous expansion, and, at the urging of Admiral [[William Sims]], focused on building anti-submarine vessels. Allied shipping losses dropped substantially due to U.S. contributions and a new emphasis on the [[Convoys in World War I|convoy system]].<ref>Clements 1992, pp. 147–149</ref>
The [[American Expeditionary Forces]] first arrived in France in mid-1917.<ref>Clements 1992, p. 144</ref> Wilson and Pershing rejected the British and French proposal that American soldiers integrate into existing Allied units, giving the United States more freedom of action but requiring for the creation of new organizations and supply chains.<ref>Clements 1992, p. 150</ref> There were only 175,000 American soldiers in Europe at the end of 1917, but by mid-1918 10,000 Americans were arriving in Europe per day. Russia exited the war after the March 1918 signing of the [[Treaty of Brest-Litovsk]], allowing Germany to shift soldiers from the [[Eastern Front (World War I)|Eastern Front]] of the war. The Germans launched a [[Spring Offensive]] against the Allies that inflicted heavy casualties but failed to break the Allied line. Beginning in August, the Allies launched the [[Hundred Days Offensive]] that pushed back the exhausted German army.<ref>Clements 1992, pp. 149–151</ref>
By the end of September 1918, the German leadership no longer believed it could win the war. Recognizing that Wilson would be more likely to accept a peace deal from a democratic government, Kaiser [[Wilhelm II, German Emperor|Wilhelm II]] appointed a new government led by [[Prince Maximilian of Baden]]; Baden immediately sought an armistice with Wilson.<ref>Clements 1992, pp. 165–166</ref> In the exchange of notes, German and American leaders agreed to incorporate the Fourteen Points in the armistice; House then procured agreement from France and Britain, but only after threatening to conclude a unilateral armistice without them. Wilson ignored Pershing's plea to drop the armistice and instead demand an unconditional surrender by Germany.<ref>Heckscher 1991, pp. 479–88.</ref> The Germans signed the [[Armistice of 11 November 1918]], bringing an end to the fighting. Austria-Hungary had signed the [[Armistice of Villa Giusti]] eight days earlier, while the Ottoman Empire had signed the [[Armistice of Mudros]] in October.
==Aftermath of World War I==
===Paris Peace Conference===
[[File:Big four.jpg|thumb|The "Big Four" at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919, following the end of World War I. Wilson is standing next to [[Georges Clemenceau]] at right.]]
After the signing of the armistice, Wilson traveled to Europe to attend the [[Paris Peace Conference, 1919|Paris Peace Conference]], thereby becoming the first U.S. president to travel to Europe while in office.<ref>Heckscher 1991, p. 458.</ref> Save for a two-week return to the United States, Wilson remained in Europe for six months, where he focused on reaching a peace treaty to formally end the war. The defeated Central Powers had not been invited to the conference, and anxiously awaited their fate.<ref name="herring417420"/> Wilson proposed that the competing factions of the [[Russian Civil War]] declare a truce and send a joint delegation to the Paris Peace Conference, but other Allied leaders opposed the proposal and no delegation was sent.<ref>Berg (2013), pp. 532–533</ref> Wilson, British Prime Minister [[David Lloyd George]], French Prime Minister [[Georges Clemenceau]], and Italian Prime Minister [[Vittorio Emanuele Orlando]] made up the "[[The Big Four (World War I)|Big Four]]," the Allied leaders with the most influence at the Paris Peace Conference. Though Wilson continued to advocate his idealistic Fourteen Points, many of the other allies desired revenge. Clemenceau especially sought onerous terms for Germany, while Lloyd George supported some of Wilson's ideas but feared public backlash if the treaty proved too favorable to the Central Powers.<ref name="herring417420">Herring 2008, pp. 417-420</ref>
[[File:Map Europe 1923-en.svg|thumb|right|upright=1.2|Several new European states were established at the Paris Peace Conference]]
In pursuit of his League of Nations, Wilson conceded several points to the other powers present at the conference. France pressed for the dismemberment of Germany and the payment of a huge sum in [[war reparation]]s. Wilson resisted these ideas, but Germany was still required to pay war reparations and subjected to [[Allied occupation of the Rhineland|military occupation in the Rhineland]]. Additionally, a [[Article 231 of the Treaty of Versailles|clause]] in the treaty specifically named Germany as responsible for the war. Wilson agreed to the creation of [[League of Nations mandate|mandates]] in former German and Ottoman territories, allowing the European powers and Japan to establish de facto colonies in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. The Japanese acquisition of German interests in the [[Shandong Peninsula]] of China proved especially [[Shandong Problem|unpopular]], as it undercut Wilson's promise of self-government. However, Wilson won the creation of several new states in Central Europe and the Balkans, including Poland, [[Yugoslavia]], and [[Czechoslovakia]], and the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Ottoman Empire were partitioned.<ref>Herring 2008, pp. 421-423</ref> Wilson refused to concede to Italy's demands for territory on the [[Adriatic Sea|Adriatic coast]], leading to a dispute between Yugoslavia and Italy that would not be settled until the signing of the 1920 [[Treaty of Rapallo (1920)|Treaty of Rapallo]].<ref>Clements 1992, pp. 182–183</ref> Japan proposed that the conference endorse a [[Racial Equality Proposal, 1919|racial equality clause]]. Wilson was indifferent to the issue, but acceded to strong opposition from Australia and Britain.<ref></ref>
The [[Covenant of the League of Nations]] was incorporated into the conference's [[Treaty of Versailles]], which ended the war with Germany.<ref>Clements 1992, pp. 180–185</ref> Wilson himself presided over the committee that drafted the covenant, which bound members to oppose "external aggression" and to agree to peacefully settle disputes through organizations like the [[Permanent Court of International Justice]].<ref>Clements 1992, pp. 177–178</ref> During the conference, former President Taft cabled to Wilson three proposed amendments to the League covenant which he thought would considerably increase its acceptability—the right of withdrawal from the League, the exemption of domestic issues from the League, and the inviolability of the Monroe Doctrine. Wilson very reluctantly accepted these amendments. In addition to the Treaty of Versailles, the Allies also wrote treaties with Austria (the [[Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye (1919)|Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye]]), Hungary (the [[Treaty of Trianon]]), the Ottoman Empire (the [[Treaty of Sèvres]]), and Bulgaria (the [[Treaty of Neuilly-sur-Seine]]), all of which incorporated the League of Nations charter.<ref>Heckscher 1991, pp. 551–553.</ref>
The conference finished negotiations in May 1919, at which point German leaders viewed the treaty for the first time. Some German leaders favored repudiating the treaty, but Germany signed the treaty on June 28, 1919.<ref>Clements 1992, pp. 185–186</ref> For his peace-making efforts, Wilson was awarded the 1919 [[Nobel Peace Prize]].<ref name="nobelprize1919"></ref> However, the defeated Central Powers protested the harsh terms of the treaty, and several colonial representatives pointed out the hypocrisy of a treaty that established new nations in Europe but allowed continued colonialism in Asia and Africa. Wilson also faced an uncertain domestic battle to ratify the treaty, as Republicans largely opposed it.<ref>Herring 2008, pp. 426-427</ref>
===Treaty ratification debate===
[[File:WoodrowWilsonVersailles.jpg|upright|thumb|Wilson returning from the Versailles Peace Conference, 1919.]]
The chances were less than favorable for ratification of the treaty by a two-thirds vote of the Senate, in which Republicans held a narrow majority.<ref name="Clements 1992, pp. 190–191">Clements 1992, pp. 190–191</ref> Public opinion on the treaty was mixed, with intense opposition from most Republicans, Germans, and Irish Catholic Democrats. In numerous meetings with Senators, Wilson discovered opposition had hardened. Despite his weakened physical condition following the Paris Peace Conference, Wilson decided to barnstorm the Western states, scheduling 29 major speeches and many short ones to rally support.<ref>Berg 2013, pp. 619–34</ref> Wilson suffered a series of debilitating strokes and had to cut short his trip on in September 1919. He became an invalid in the White House, closely monitored by his wife, who insulated him from negative news and downplayed for him the gravity of his condition.<ref>Berg 2013, pp. 635–43</ref>
Senator [[Henry Cabot Lodge]] led the opposition to the treaty; he despised Wilson and hoped to humiliate him in the ratification battle. Republicans were outraged by Wilson's failure to discuss the war or its aftermath with them. An intensely partisan battle developed in the Senate, as Republicans opposed the treaty and Democrats largely supported it. The debate over the treaty centered around a debate over the American role in the world community in the post-war era, and Senators fell into three main groups. Most Democrats favored the treaty.<ref name="Clements 1992, pp. 190–191"/> Fourteen Senators, mostly Republicans, become known as the "[[irreconcilables]]," as they completely opposed U.S. entrance into the League of Nations. Some of these irreconcilables, such as [[George W. Norris]], opposed the treaty for its failure to support decolonization and disarmament. Other irreconcilables, such as [[Hiram Johnson]], feared surrendering American freedom of action to an international organization. Most sought the removal of Article X the League covenant, which purported to bind nations to defend each other against aggression.<ref name="herring427430">Herring 2008, pp. 427-430</ref> The remaining group of Senators, known as "reservationists," accepted the idea of the league, but sought varying degrees of change to the League to ensure the protection of U.S. sovereignty.<ref name="herring427430"/> Former President Taft and former Secretary of State [[Elihu Root]] both favored ratification of the treaty with some modifications, and their public support for the treaty gave Wilson some chance of winning significant Republican support for ratification.<ref name="Clements 1992, pp. 190–191"/>
Despite the difficulty of winning ratification, Wilson consistently refused to accede to reservations, partly due to concerns about having to re-open negotiations with the other powers if reservations were added.<ref>Clements 1992, pp. 191–192, 200</ref> In mid-November 1919, Lodge and his Republicans formed a coalition with the pro-treaty Democrats to pass a treaty with reservations, but the seriously indisposed Wilson rejected this compromise and enough Democrats followed his lead to defeat ratification. Cooper and Bailey suggest that Wilson's stroke in September had debilitated him from negotiating effectively with Lodge.<ref>Cooper 2009, 544, 557–560; Bailey calls Wilson's rejection, "The Supreme Infanticide," ''Woodrow Wilson and the Great Betrayal'' (1945) p. 271.</ref>
==Foreign policy in the 1920s==
===Harding takes office===
[[File:Map Europe 1923-en.svg|thumb|right|upright=1.5|By the time Harding took office, several new European states had been established in the [[Aftermath of World War I]]]]
Campaigning against Wilson's policies and on the the promise of a "[[return to normalcy]],"<ref></ref> Republican [[Warren G. Harding]] won a landslide victory in the [[1920 United States presidential election]]. With the Treaty of Versailles still unratified, the U.S. remained technically at war with Germany, Austria, and Hungary. Peacemaking began with the [[Knox–Porter Resolution]], declaring the U.S. at peace and reserving any rights granted under Versailles. Treaties [[U.S.–German Peace Treaty (1921)|with Germany]], [[U.S.–Austrian Peace Treaty (1921)|Austria]] and [[U.S.–Hungarian Peace Treaty (1921)|Hungary]], each containing many of the non-League provisions of the Treaty of Versailles, were ratified in 1921. This still left the question of relations between the U.S. and the League. Hughes' State Department initially ignored communications from the League, or tried to bypass it through direct communications with member nations. By 1922, though, the U.S., through its consul in Geneva, was dealing with the League. The U.S. refused to participate in any League meeting with political implications, but it sent observers to sessions on technical and humanitarian matters.
Harding stunned the capital when he sent to the Senate a message supporting the participation of the U.S. in the proposed [[Permanent Court of International Justice]] (also known as the "World Court"). His proposal was not favorably received by most senators, and a resolution supporting U.S. membership in the World Court was drafted and promptly buried in the Foreign Affairs Committee.<ref name="Russell_560"></ref> In 1926, the Senate approved joining the Court with reservations. The League of Nations accepted the reservations, but it suggested some modifications of its own. The Senate failed to act on the modifications, and the United States never joined the World Court.
===Disarmament===
[[File:Charles Evans Hughes-01.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Charles Evans Hughes]], former Supreme Court Justice and Harding's Secretary of State]]
At the end of World War I, the United States had the largest navy and one of the largest armies in the world. With no serious threat to the United States itself, Harding and his successors presided over the disarmament of the navy and the army. The army shrank to 140,000 men, while naval reduction was based on a policy of parity with Britain.<ref></ref> Seeking to prevent an arms race, Senator [[William Borah]] won passage of a congressional resolution calling for a 50 percent reduction of the American Navy, the British Navy, and the Japanese Navy. With Congress's backing, Harding and Hughes began preparations to hold a naval disarmament conference in Washington.<ref></ref> The [[Washington Naval Conference]] convened in November 1921, with representatives from the U.S., [[Japan]], Britain, [[France]], [[Italy]], [[China]], [[Belgium]], the [[Netherlands]], and [[Portugal]]. Secretary of State Hughes assumed a primary role in the conference and made the pivotal proposal—the U.S. would reduce its number of warships by 30 if Great Britain decommissioned 19 ships and Japan decommissioned 17 ships.<ref></ref> A journalist covering the conference wrote that "Hughes sank in thirty-five minutes more ships than all of the admirals of the world have sunk in a cycle of centuries.<ref></ref>
The conference produced six treaties and twelve resolutions among the participating nations, which ranged from limiting the [[tonnage]] of naval ships to custom tariffs.<ref></ref> The United States, Britain, Japan, and France reached the [[Four-Power Treaty]], in which each country agreed to respect the territorial integrity of one another in the [[Pacific Ocean]]. Those four powers as well as Italy also reached the [[Washington Naval Treaty]], which established a ratio of battleship tonnage that each country agreed to respect. In the [[Nine-Power Treaty]], each signatory agreed to respect the [[Open Door Policy]] in China, and Japan agreed to return [[Shandong]] to China.<ref></ref>
===Debt reduction===
By the time Harding took office, there were calls from foreign governments for the reduction of the massive war debt owed to the United States, and the German government sought to reduce the [[World War I reparations|reparations]] that it was required to pay. The U.S. refused to consider any multilateral settlement. Harding sought passage of a plan proposed by Mellon to give the administration broad authority to reduce war debts in negotiation, but Congress, in 1922, passed [[World War Foreign Debts Commission Act|a more restrictive bill]]. Hughes negotiated an agreement for Britain to pay off its war debt over 62 years at low interest, effectively reducing the [[present value]] of the obligations. This agreement, approved by Congress in 1923, set a pattern for negotiations with other nations.
Coolidge initially rejected calls to forgive Europe's debt or lower tariffs on European goods, but the [[Occupation of the Ruhr]] in 1923 stirred him to action. On Secretary of State Hughes's initiative, Coolidge appointed [[Charles Dawes]] to lead an international commission to reach an agreement on Germany's reparations. The resulting [[Dawes Plan]] provided for restructuring of the German debt, and the United States loaned money to Germany to help it repay its debt other countries. The Dawes Plan led to a boom in the German economy, as well as a sentiment of international cooperation.
===Renunciation of war===
Building on the success of the Dawes Plan, U.S. ambassador [[Alanson B. Houghton]] helped organize the Locarno Conference in October 1925. The conference was designed to ease tensions between Germany and France, the latter of which feared a German rearmament. In the [[Locarno Treaties]], France, Belgium, and Germany each agreed to respect the borders established by the [[Treaty of Versailles]] and pledged not to attack each other. Germany also agreed to arbitrate its eastern boundaries with the states created in the Treaty of Versailles.<ref></ref>
Coolidge's primary foreign policy initiative was the [[Kellogg–Briand Pact]] of 1928, named for Secretary of State Kellogg and French foreign minister [[Aristide Briand]]. The treaty, ratified in 1929, committed signatories—the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, and Japan—to "renounce war, as an instrument of national policy in their relations with one another." The treaty did not achieve its intended result—the outlawry of war—but it did provide the founding principle for international law after [[World War II]]. Coolidge's policy of international disarmament allowed the administration to decrease military spending, a part of Coolidge's broader policy of decreasing government spending. Coolidge also favored an extension of the Washington Naval Treaty to cover [[cruiser]]s, but the U.S., Britain, and Japan were unable to come to an agreement at the [[Geneva Naval Conference]].
===Immigration===
Immigration to the United States had increased during the first two decades of the twentieth century, with many of the immigrants coming from [[Southern Europe]] and [[Eastern Europe]] rather than [[Western Europe]]. Many Americans viewed these new immigrants with suspicion, and World War I and the [[First Red Scare]] further heightened [[Nativism (politics)|nativist]] fears. A constituent writing to Senator [[William Borah]] reflected the opinion of many who favored immigration restriction, stating "immigration should be completely stopped for at least one generation until we can assimilate and Americanize the millions who are in our midst." The [[Emergency Quota Act|Per Centum Act of 1921]], signed by Harding on May 19, 1921, reduced the numbers of [[Immigration to the United States|immigrants]] to 3 percent of a country's represented population based on the [[1910 United States Census|1910 Census]]. The act, which had been vetoed by President Wilson in the previous Congress, also allowed unauthorized immigrants to be deported.<ref></ref> Immigration to the United States fell from roughly 800,000 in 1920 to approximately 300,000 in 1922.
In the years after the passage of the Emergency Quota Act, members of Congress debated the substance of a permanent immigration bill. Most leaders of both parties favored a permanent bill that would greatly restrict immigration, with the major exception being [[Al Smith]] and other urban Democrats. Business leaders had previously favored unlimited immigration to the United States, but mechanization, the entrance of women into the labor force, and the migration of Southern blacks into the North had all contributed to a reduced demand for foreign-born labor. Coolidge endorsed an extension of the cap on immigration in his 1923 State of the Union, but his administration was less supportive of the continuation of the [[National Origins Formula]], which effectively restricted immigration from countries outside of [[Northwestern Europe]]. Secretary of State Hughes strongly opposed the quotas, particularly the total ban on Japanese immigration, which violated the [[Gentlemen's Agreement of 1907]] with Japan. Despite his own reservations, Coolidge choose to sign the restrictive [[Immigration Act of 1924]]. The Emergency Quota Act had limited annual immigration from any given country to 3 percent of the immigrant population from that country living in the United States in 1920; the Immigration Act of 1924 changed this to 2% percent of the immigrant population from a given country living in the United States in 1890.
==Onset of the Great Depression==
In late October 1929, the [[Stock Market Crash of 1929]] occurred, and the worldwide economy began to spiral downward into the [[Great Depression]]. In the midst of a worldwide depression, Hoover and Secretary of State Henry Stimson became more closely involved in world affairs than Hoover's Republican predecessors had been. According to Leuchtenberg, Hoover was "the last American president to take office with no conspicuous need to pay attention to the rest of the world." But during Hoover's term, the world order established with the 1919 [[Treaty of Versailles]] began to crumble.
When Hoover took office, an international committee meeting in Paris promulgated the [[Young Plan]], which created the [[Bank for International Settlements]] and stipulated the partial forgiveness of German [[World War I reparations]]. Hoover was wary of agreeing to the plan, as he feared that it would be linked to reduced payments on loans the U.S. extended to France and Britain in World War I. He ultimately agreed to support the proposal at the urging of [[Owen D. Young]], the American industrialist who chaired the committee. Despite the settlement reached by the Young Plan, the German economy collapsed in the early 1930s, and Germany announced that it could not pay reparations. In response, Hoover issued the [[Hoover Moratorium]], a one-year halt on Allied war loans conditional on a suspension of German reparations payments. Hoover also made American bankers agree to refrain from demanding payment on private loans from Germans. Hoover hoped that the moratorium would help stabilize the European economy, which he viewed as a major cause of economic troubles in the United States. As the moratorium neared its expiration the following year, an attempt to find a permanent solution was made at the [[Lausanne Conference of 1932]]. A working compromise was never established, and reparations payments virtually stopped.<ref>Halina Parafianowicz, "Hoover's Moratorium and Some Aspects of American Policy Towards Eastern and Central Europe in 1931," ''American Studies''. (1987) v. 6 pp 63–84.</ref>
Hoover placed a priority on disarmament, which he hoped would allow the United States to shift money from the military to domestic needs. Hoover and Stimson focused on extending the 1922 [[Washington Naval Treaty]], which sought to prevent a naval [[arms race]]. A previous effort to extend the Washington Naval Treaty, the [[Geneva Naval Conference]], had failed to produce results, but the Hoover administration convinced the British to re-open negotiations.<ref>B. J. C. McKercher, "'A Certain Irritation': The White House, the State Department, and the Desire for a Naval Settlement with Great Britain, 1927–1930." ''Diplomatic History'' 31.5 (2007): 829-863.</ref> In 1930, the United States and other major naval powers signed the [[London Naval Treaty]]. The treaty represented the first time that the naval powers had agreed to cap their tonnage of auxiliary vessels (previous agreements had focused on [[capital ship]]s), but the treaty did not include France or Italy. The treaty provoked a nationalist backlash in Japan due to its reconfirmation of the "5–5–3" ratio which limited Japan to a smaller fleet than the United States or the United Kingdom. At the 1932 [[World Disarmament Conference]], Hoover urged worldwide cutbacks in armaments and the outlawing of tanks and bombers, but his proposals were not adopted.
===Japanese invasion of Manchuria===
In 1931, Japan [[Japanese invasion of Manchuria|invaded]] [[Manchuria]], defeating the [[Republic of China (1912–49)|Republic of China]]'s military forces and establishing [[Manchukuo]], a puppet state. The Hoover administration deplored the invasion, but also sought to avoid antagonizing the Japanese, fearing that taking too strong of a stand would weaken the moderate forces in the Japanese government. Hoover also viewed the Japanese as a potential ally against the [[Soviet Union]], which he saw as a much greater threat. In response to the Japanese invasion, Hoover and Secretary of State Stimson outlined the [[Stimson Doctrine]], which held that the United States would not recognize territories gained by force. The Hoover administration based this declaration on the 1928 [[Kellogg–Briand Pact]], in which several nations (including Japan and the United States) renounced war and promised to peacefully solve disputes. In the aftermath of invasion of Manchuria, Stimson and other members of the Cabinet came to believe that war with Japan might be inevitable, though Hoover continued to push for [[disarmament]] among the world powers.<ref>Richard N. Current, "The Stimson Doctrine and the Hoover Doctrine," ''American Historical Review'' Vol. 59, No. 3 (Apr. 1954), pp. 513–42 [https://ift.tt/2XId2sT in JSTOR]</ref>
===Rise of Hitler===
In early 1933, during Hoover's last days in office, [[Adolf Hitler]] and the [[Nazi Party]] came into power in [[Germany]]. At first, many in the United States thought of Hitler as a something of a comic figure, but Hitler quickly consolidated his power in Germany and attacked the post-war order established by the [[Treaty of Versailles]].<ref>[[#Burns|Burns (1956)]], p. 261.</ref> Hitler preached a [[Racial policy of Nazi Germany|racist doctrine]] of [[Aryan race|Aryan]] superiority, and his central foreign policy goal was the [[Lebensraum|acquisition of territory]] to Germany's east, which he sought to repopulate with [[Germans]].
==Latin America, 1913–1933==
===Panama Canal===
The [[Panama Canal]] opened in 1914, fulfilling the long-term American goal of building a canal across Central America. The canal provided quick passage between the [[Pacific Ocean]] with the [[Atlantic Ocean]], presenting new opportunities to the shippers and allowing the Navy to quickly transfer warships between the two oceans.Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (1 for 2) In April 1921, Harding gained the ratification of the [[Thomson–Urrutia Treaty]] with [[Colombia]], granting that nation $25,000,000 as settlement for the U.S.-provoked [[Separation of Panama from Colombia|Panamanian revolution of 1903]]. The Latin American nations were not fully satisfied, as the U.S. refused to renounce interventionism, though Hughes pledged to limit it to nations near the Panama Canal and to make it clear what the U.S. aims were.
===Interventions===
Wilson sought closer relations with [[Latin America]], and he hoped to create a [[Pan-Americanism|Pan-American]] organization to arbitrate international disputes. He also negotiated a treaty with Colombia that would have paid that country an indemnity for the U.S. role in the [[Separation of Panama from Colombia|secession]] of [[Panama]], but the Senate defeated this treaty.<ref>Cooper 2009, pp. 245–247</ref> However, Wilson frequently intervened in Latin American affairs, saying in 1913: "I am going to teach the South American republics to elect good men."<ref>Paul Horgan, ''Great River: the Rio Grande in North American History'' (Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 1984), 913</ref> The [[Dominican Republic]] had been a de facto American [[protectorate]] since Roosevelt's presidency, but suffered from instability. In 1916, Wilson [[United States occupation of the Dominican Republic (1916–24)|sent troops to occupy]] the island, and the U.S. soldiers would remain until 1924. In 1915, the U.S. [[United States occupation of Haiti|intervened]] in [[Haiti]] after a revolt overthrew the Haitian government, beginning an occupation that would last until 1919. Wilson also authorized military interventions in [[Cuba]], [[Panama]], and [[Honduras]]. The 1914 [[Bryan–Chamorro Treaty]] converted [[Nicaragua]] into another de facto protectorate, and the U.S. [[United States occupation of Nicaragua|stationed soldiers]] there throughout Wilson's presidency.<ref>Herring 2008, pp. 388-390</ref>
Intervention in Latin America became a minor campaign issue in the 1920 presidential election as Harding spoke against Wilson's decision to [[United States occupation of the Dominican Republic (1916–24)|send U.S. troops]] to the [[Dominican Republic]], and attacked the Democratic vice presidential candidate, [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]], for his role in the [[United States occupation of Haiti|Haitian intervention]]. Secretary of State Hughes worked to improve relations with Latin American countries who were wary of the American use of the [[Monroe Doctrine]] to justify intervention; at the time of Harding's inauguration, the U.S. also had troops in [[Cuba]] and [[Nicaragua]]. The troops stationed in Cuba to protect American interests were withdrawn in 1921, but U.S. forces remained in the other three nations through Harding's presidency.
The United States' occupation of [[United States occupation of Nicaragua|Nicaragua]] and [[United States occupation of Haiti|Haiti]] continued under Coolidge's administration, though Coolidge withdrew American troops from the [[1916 United States occupation of the Dominican Republic|Dominican Republic]] in 1924. The U.S. established a domestic constabulary in the Dominican Republic to promote internal order without the need for U.S. intervention, but the constabulary's leader, [[Rafael Trujillo]], eventually seized power.<ref></ref> Coolidge led the U.S. delegation to the [[Pan-American Conference|Sixth International Conference of American States]], January 15–17, 1928, in [[Havana]], [[Cuba]]. There, he extended an [[olive branch]] to Latin American leaders embittered over America's [[Banana Wars|interventionist policies]] in [[Central America]] and the [[Caribbean]].<ref></ref>
President Hoover largely made good on a pledge made prior to assuming office not to interfere in Latin America's internal affairs. In 1930, he released the [[Clark Memorandum]], a rejection of the [[Roosevelt Corollary]] and a move towards non-interventionism in Latin America. Hoover did not completely refrain from the use of the military in Latin American affairs; he thrice threatened intervention in the [[Dominican Republic]], and he sent warships to [[El Salvador]] to support the government against a left-wing revolution. But he wound down the [[Banana Wars]], ending the [[United States occupation of Nicaragua|occupation of Nicaragua]] and nearly bringing an end to the [[United States occupation of Haiti|occupation of Haiti]]. Franklin Roosevelt's [[Good Neighbor policy]] would continue the trend towards non-interventionism in Latin America.
===Mexico===
====Mexican Revolution====
Wilson took office during the [[Mexican Revolution]], which had begun in 1911 after liberals overthrew the military dictatorship of [[Porfirio Díaz]]. Shortly before Wilson took office, conservatives retook power through a coup led by [[Victoriano Huerta]].<ref>Clements 1992, pp. 96–97</ref> Wilson rejected the legitimacy of Huerta's "government of butchers" and demanded Mexico hold democratic elections. Wilson's unprecedented approach meant no recognition and doomed Huerta's prospects for establishing a stable government.<ref>Peter V. N. Henderson, "Woodrow Wilson, Victoriano Huerta, and the Recognition Issue in Mexico", ''The Americas'' (1984) 41#2 pp. 151-176 [https://ift.tt/2jWasMS in JSTOR]</ref> After Huerta arrested U.S. Navy personnel who had accidentally landed in a restricted zone near the northern port town of [[Tampico]], Wilson [[United States occupation of Veracruz|dispatched the Navy to occupy]] the Mexican city of [[Veracruz]]. A strong backlash against the American intervention among Mexicans of all political affiliations convinced Wilson to abandon his plans to expand the U.S. military intervention, but the intervention nonetheless helped convince Huerta to flee from the country.<ref>Clements 1992, pp. 98–99</ref> A group led by [[Venustiano Carranza]] established control over a significant proportion of Mexico, and Wilson recognized Carranza's government in October 1915.<ref name="Clements 1992, pp. 99–100">Clements 1992, pp. 99–100</ref>
Carranza continued to face various opponents within Mexico, including [[Pancho Villa]], whom Wilson had earlier described as "a sort of [[Robin Hood]]."<ref name="Clements 1992, pp. 99–100"/> In early 1916, Pancho Villa raided an American town in New Mexico, killing or wounding dozens of Americans and causing an enormous nationwide American demand for his punishment. Wilson ordered General [[John J. Pershing]] and 4000 troops across the border to capture Villa. By April, Pershing's forces had broken up and dispersed Villas bands, but Villa remained on the loose and Pershing continued his pursuit deep into Mexico. Carranza then pivoted against the Americans and accused them of a punitive invasion; a confrontation with a mob in Parral on April 12 resulted in two dead Americans and six wounded, plus hundreds of Mexican casualties. Further incidents led to the brink of war by late June, when Wilson demanded an immediate release of American soldiers held prisoner. The prisoners were released, tensions subsided, and bilateral negotiations began under the auspices of the Mexican-American Joint High Commission. Eager to withdraw from Mexico due to World War I, Wilson ordered Pershing to withdraw, and the last American soldiers left in February 1917.<ref>Link 1964, 194–221, 280–318; Link 1965, 51–54, 328–339</ref>
====Post-revolution====
A new Mexican government under President [[Álvaro Obregón]] sought recognition, but the Wilson administration refused. Under Harding, both Hughes and Secretary of the Interior Fall opposed recognition; Hughes instead sent a draft treaty to the Mexicans in May 1921, which included pledges to reimburse Americans for losses in Mexico since the [[Mexican Revolution|1910 revolution]] there. Obregón was unwilling to sign a treaty before being recognized, and he and worked to improve the relationship between American businesses and Mexico, reaching agreement with creditors and mounting a public relations campaign in the United States. This had its effect, and by mid-1922, Fall was less influential than he had been, lessening the resistance to recognition. The two presidents appointed commissioners to reach a deal, and the U.S. recognized the Obregón government on August 31, 1923, just under a month after Harding's death, substantially on the terms proffered by Mexico.
In 1924, [[Plutarco Elías Calles]] took office as President of Mexico, and Calles sought to limit American property claims and take control of the holdings of the Catholic Church. However, Ambassador [[Dwight Morrow]] convinced Calles to allow Americans to retain their rights to property purchased before 1917, and Mexico and the United States enjoyed good relations for the remainder of Coolidge's presidency. With the aid of a Catholic priest from the U.S., Morrow also helped bring an end to the [[Cristero War]], a Catholic revolt against Calles's government.<ref></ref>
As part of his efforts to limit unemployment, Hoover sought to cut [[immigration to the United States]], and in 1930 he promulgated an executive order requiring individuals to have employment before migrating to the United States. With the goal of opening up more jobs for U.S. citizens, Secretary of Labor [[William N. Doak]] began a campaign to prosecute [[Illegal immigration to the United States|illegal immigrants]] in the United States. Though Doak did not seek to deport one specific group of immigrants, his campaign most strongly affected [[Mexican Americans]], especially Mexican Americans living in [[Southern California]]. Many of the deportations were overseen by state and local authorities who acted on the encouragement of Doak the and Department of Labor. During the 1930s, approximately one million Mexican Americans were forcibly "repatriated" to Mexico; approximately sixty percent of those deported were [[Birthright citizenship in the United States|birthright citizens]].
===American investment and trade===
Under the leadership of economist [[Edwin W. Kemmerer]], the U.S. extended its influence in Latin America through financial advisers. With the support of the State Department, Kemmerer negotiated agreements with [[Colombia]], [[Chile]], and other countries in which the countries received loans and agreed to follow the advice of U.S. financial advisers. These "Kemmerized" countries received substantial investments and became increasingly dependent on trade with the United States.<ref></ref>
==Other countries and regions, 1913–1933==
===Russia and the Soviet Union===
After Russia left World War I following the [[Bolshevik Revolution]] of 1917, the Allies sent troops there to prevent a German or [[Bolshevik]] takeover of weapons, munitions and other supplies previously shipped as aid to the pre-revolutionary government.<ref>[[George F. Kennan]], ''Russia Leaves the War'', p. 472, ''et passim''. 1956, repr. 1989, .</ref> Wilson loathed the Bolsheviks, who he believed did not represent the Russian people, but he feared that foreign intervention would only strengthen Bolshevik rule. Britain and France pressured him to intervene in order to potentially re-open a second front against Germany, and Wilson acceded to this pressure in the hope that it would help him in post-war negotiations and check Japanese influence in Siberia.<ref>Herring 2008, pp. 414-415</ref> The U.S. sent armed forces to assist the withdrawal of [[Czechoslovak Legions]] along the [[Trans-Siberian Railway]], and to hold key port cities at [[Arkhangelsk]] and [[Vladivostok]]. Though specifically instructed not to engage the Bolsheviks, the U.S. forces engaged in several armed conflicts against forces of the new Russian government. Revolutionaries in Russia resented the United States intrusion. Robert Maddox wrote, "The immediate effect of the intervention was to prolong a bloody civil war, thereby costing thousands of additional lives and wreaking enormous destruction on an already battered society."<ref>Robert J. Maddox, ''The Unknown War with Russia'' (San Rafael, CA: Presidio Press, 1977), 137.</ref>
Commerce Secretary Hoover, with considerable experience of Russian affairs, took the lead on Russian policy in the Harding administration. He supported aid to and trade with Russia, fearing U.S. companies would be frozen out of the Soviet market. When [[Russian famine of 1921|famine struck Russia in 1921]], Hoover had the [[American Relief Administration]], which he had headed, negotiate with the Russians to provide aid. According to historian George Herring, the American relief effort may have saved as many as 10 million people from starvation. U.S. businessman such as [[Armand Hammer]] invested in the Russian economy, but many of these investments failed due to various Russian restrictions on trade and commerce. Russian and (after the 1922 establishment of the [[Soviet Union]]) Soviet leaders hoped that these economic and humanitarian connections would lead to recognition of their government, but Communism's extreme unpopularity in the U.S. precluded this possibility.<ref></ref>
By the late 1920s, the Soviet Union was no longer a pariah in European affairs, and had normal diplomatic and trade relations with most countries. By 1933, old American fears of Communist threats had faded, and the business community, as well as newspaper editors, were calling for diplomatic recognition. After the Soviets promised they would not engage in espionage, Roosevelt used his presidential authority to normalize relations in November 1933.
===Middle East===
In 1919, Wilson guided American foreign policy to "acquiesce" in the [[Balfour Declaration]] without supporting Zionism in an official way. Wilson expressed sympathy for the plight of Jews, especially in Poland and France.<ref>Walworth (1986) 473–83, esp. p. 481; Melvin I. Urofsky, ''American Zionism from Herzl to the Holocaust,'' (1995) ch. 6; Frank W. Brecher, ''Reluctant Ally: United States Foreign Policy toward the Jews from Wilson to Roosevelt.'' (1991) ch 1–4.</ref>
In May 1920, Wilson sent a long-deferred proposal to Congress to have the U.S. accept a [[League of Nations mandates|mandate from the League of Nations]] to take over [[First Republic of Armenia|Armenia]].<ref>[[Peter Balakian]] (2003). ''The Burning Tigris: The Armenian Genocide and America's Response''. New York: HarperCollins.</ref> Bailey notes this was opposed by American public opinion, and had the support of only 23 senators.<ref>Bailey, ''Woodrow Wilson and the Great Betrayal'' (1945) pp. 295–96.</ref> [[Richard G. Hovannisian]] states that Wilson "made all the wrong arguments" for the mandate and focused less on the immediate policy than on how history would judge his actions: "[he] wished to place it clearly on the record that the abandonment of Armenia was not his doing."<ref></ref>
===Japan===
Relations with Japan had warmed with the signing of the Washington Naval Treaty and were further bolstered by U.S. aid in the aftermath of the [[1923 Great Kantō earthquake]], which killed as many as 200,000 Japanese and left another 2 million homeless. However, relations soured with the passage of the Immigration Act of 1924, which banned immigration from Japan to the United States. U.S. officials encouraged Japan to protest the ban while the legislation was drafted, but Japanese threats backfired as supporters of the legislation used the threats to galvanize opposition to Japanese immigration. The immigration legislation sparked a major backlash in Japan, strengthening the position of those in Japan who favored expansionism over cooperation with Western powers.<ref></ref>
===China===
The Coolidge administration at first avoided engagement with the [[Republic of China (1912–1949)|Republic of China]], which was led by [[Sun Yat-sen]] and his successor, [[Chiang Kai-shek]]. The administration protested the [[Northern Expedition]] when it resulted in attacks on foreigners, and refused to consider renegotiating treaties reached with China when it had been under the rule of the [[Qing dynasty]]. In 1927, Chiang purged his government of Communists and began to seek U.S. support. Seeking closer relations with China, Secretary of State Kellogg agreed to grant tariff autonomy, meaning that China would have the right to set import duties on American goods.<ref></ref>
==See also==
* [[International relations of the Great Powers (1814–1919)]]
* [[International relations (1919–1939)]]
==References==
===Works cited===
* [[A. Scott Berg|Berg, A. Scott]]. ''[[Wilson (book)|Wilson]]'' (2013)
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* [[John M. Cooper (historian)|Cooper, John Milton]]. ''Woodrow Wilson: A Biography'' (2009)
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* Link, Arthur Stanley. ''Wilson''.
**''Wilson: The Road to the White House'' (1947)
**''Wilson: The New Freedom'' (1956)
**''Wilson: The Struggle for Neutrality: 1914–1915'' (1960)
**''Wilson: Confusions and Crises: 1915–1916'' (1964)
**''Wilson: Campaigns for Progressivism and Peace: 1916–1917'' (1965)
* Link, Arthur S. ''Woodrow Wilson and the Progressive Era, 1910–1917'' (1954) standard political history [https://ift.tt/2XK1rJG online]
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*Murray, Robert K. ''The Harding Era 1921–1923: Warren G. Harding and his Administration.'' University of Minnesota Press, 1969
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[[Category:History of the foreign relations of the United States]]
[[Category:Presidency of Woodrow Wilson]]
[[Category:Presidency of Warren G. Harding]]
[[Category:Presidency of Calvin Coolidge]]
[[Category:Presidency of Herbert Hoover]]
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