From the League of Nations to Pearl Harbor: Measuring Isolationism in the Interwar Period 1918-1939

The complicated and contradictory task of balancing the isolationist foreign policy backed by public-opinion and political pressures, while remaining influential and involvement in international affairs, is best exemplified in the early years of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s presidency. In his first few months in office, Roosevelt positioned himself as an internationalist and moved to expand American influence overseas. In 1933, Roosevelt recognized the Soviet Union and pushed for arms embargos on aggressor nations. In 1934, Roosevelt passed the Reciprocal Trade Agreements Act to boost international trade. In 1935, Roosevelt pushed for the US to join the World Court to extend American reach in foreign diplomacy. In August of the same year, Roosevelt approved the first of the Neutrality Acts. His statement on neutrality read: “I have given my approval to S. J. Resolution 173—the neutrality legislation which passed the Congress last week. I have approved this Joint Resolution because it was intended as an expression of the fixed desire of the Government and the people of the United States to avoid any action which might involve us in war.” It is this desire of the American public and its politicians for non-intervention, non-involvement, and isolation that led Roosevelt to reluctantly to push neutrality legislation and suppress his internationalist urges. The interwar period was marked by the tug-of-war between internationalist and isolationist policymakers. This struggle limited American participation in foreign affairs in between the wars, and ultimately led to American foreign policy of the period commonly being misidentified as isolationist.