History 416

The Good Neighbor Policy

November 9, 2005

I. Origins of the New Deal

1. Creating the New Deal Coalition (South, ethnic Democrats, African-Americans, liberal intellectuals)

2. FDR as President (immediate difficulties; management style, role of politics and cabinet)

3. First New Deal (government spending, anti-monopolism, associationalism)

II. FDR and World Affairs

            1. Europe (FDR background: Wilsonian or realist?; domestic pressures—Nye Committee and first Neutrality Act; European events—German rearmament; Italy to Ethiopia; origins of appeasement: German-UK naval pact, German-Poland non-aggression, Hoare-Laval and collapse of League; FDR strategy)

            2. East Asia (legacy of Washington System: Japan and international economy, Kwantung Army and Manchuria, London Naval Conference; Manchurian Incident; Stimson Doctrine and US response; public opinion; FDR and Japan)

III. Good Neighbor Policy and Competing Strands of Internationalism

            1. Hull (Wilsonian heritage; foreign economic policy and world of 1930s; bureaucratic weakness; focus on Latin America; reciprocal trade agreements; significance of Argentina)

            2. Welles (from non-intervention to non-interference; Cuba and Machado; legacy: Dominican Republic, Nicaragua; emphasis on diplomacy and inter-American cooperation)

            3. Gruening (1920s anti-imperialist coalition; 1933 Montevideo Conference—withdrawal from Haiti; Gruening and Dominican policy; PRRA as model—difficulties in implementing anti-imperialist vision)