Thunyathorn C., Tina H., Sarah Y.

Mr. Thompson

APUSH, Period 5

February 24, 2012

Area Four :Diplomacy and Foreign Affairs

U.S. diplomacy at the treaty of Versailles conference helped shape the post WWI.

U.S. diplomacy initiated more than 20 disarmament conferences between 1920s and 1930s.

The Washington Conference of 1921 Proposed by the Secretary of State Charles Evans Hughes. An attempt to prevent the naval armaments race between America,

Britain, and Japan by reducing dramatically the fleets of the 3 nations and a 10-year suspension on constructing of large warships.

The Five-Power Pact of February 1922 Limits for total naval tonnage and a ratio of armaments. Nations: U.S., Great Britain, France, Italy and Japan

The Nine-Power Pact: Pledging a continuation of the Open Door policy in China

The Four-Power Pact The respect of one another’s Pacific territories and cooperate to

prevent aggression Nations: U.S., Great Britain, France, and Japan

Role of U.S. in disarmament conferences (pg.710)

The Dawes PlanResponded to the economic crisis in Germany In 1924, Charles G. Dawes, an American banker,

negotiated an agreement under which American banks would provide enormous loans to the Germans to help them to pay for their reparations.

In return, Britain and France would agree to reduce the amount of those payment.

Dawes won the Nobel Peace Prize for his plan.The Plan was accepted by Germany and the Triple

Entente and went into effect in September 1924.Result:

Short term economic benefits to the German economy.Softened the burdens of war reparations, stabilized the

currency, and brought increased foreign investments and loans to the German market.

Dawes and Young Plans for reparations

Result of the Dawes Plan (cont.)Led to a circular pattern in international finance.German economy became dependent on foreign markets and

economies and therefore problems with the U.S. economy (e.g. the Great Depression) would later severely hurt Germany as it did the rest of the western world, which was subject to debt repayments for loans of American dollars.

Led to the creation of the Young Plan in 1929.The Young Plan

Was written in 1929 and formally adopted in 1930.Presented by the committee headed (1929-30) by American

Owen D. Young. It reduced further payments to 112 billion Gold Marks, US $8

billion in 1929 (US $108 billion) over a period of 59 years (1988).

It divided the annual payment, set at two billion Gold Marks (US $473 million.

Dawes and Young Plans for reparations (cont.)

Economic expansion in Latin America: U.S. investments in Latin America more than doubled between

1924 and 1929. American corporations built roads and other facilities in many

areas. American banks were offering large loans to Latin American

government. Good Neighbor Policy:

With A Good Neighbor Policy US reassuring Mexico and other Latin American countries that it would not intervene in their domestic matters.

Latin America was one of the most important targets of the new policy of trade reciprocity.

It created a new American attitude toward intervention: In 1933 at the Inter-American Conference in Montevideo, Secretary of State Hull signed a formal conference declaring: “No state has the right to intervene in the internal or external affairs of another.”

Instead of to use military force to compel Latin American governments to repay debts, the new reliance on economic pressures eased tensions between the United States and its neighbor.

Relations with Mexico and Latin America

In 1927, French foreign minister Aristide Briand asked the US to join an alliance against Germany and proposed a peace pact to outlaw between the U.S. and France.

Frank B. Kellogg, the U.S. Secretary of State, responded with a proposal for a multilateral pact against war open for all nations.

Significance:Renounced war, prohibiting the use of war as “an

instrument of national policy.”Called upon signatories to settle their disputes by

peaceful means.Served as the legal basis for the creation of the

notion of crime against peace.Signed in Paris on August 28, 1928 by 14 nations,

later joined by 48 other nations.

Kellogg-Briand Peace Pact (pg. 710)