Editing Franklin D. Roosevelt (section)

====Foreign policy (1933–1941)====
{{Main|Foreign policy of the Franklin D. Roosevelt administration}}
[[File:Vargas e Roosevelt.jpg|thumb|Roosevelt with Brazilian president [[Getúlio Vargas]] and other dignitaries in Brazil, 1936]]

The main foreign policy initiative of Roosevelt's first term was the [[Good Neighbor Policy]], which was a re-evaluation of U.S. policy toward [[Latin America]]. The United States frequently intervened in Latin America following the promulgation of the [[Monroe Doctrine]] in 1823, and occupied several Latin American nations during the [[Banana Wars]] that occurred following the [[Spanish–American War]] of 1898. After Roosevelt took office, he [[United States occupation of Haiti|withdrew]] U.S. forces from [[Haiti]] and reached new treaties with [[Cuba]] and [[Panama]], ending their status as U.S. [[protectorate]]s. In December 1933, Roosevelt signed the [[Montevideo Convention]], renouncing the right to intervene unilaterally in the affairs of Latin American countries.{{Sfn|Leuchtenburg|1963|pp=203–10}} Roosevelt also normalized relations with the Soviet Union, which the United States had refused to recognize since the 1920s.{{sfn|Smith|2007|pp=341–43}} He hoped to renegotiate the Russian debt from World War I and open trade relations, but no progress was made on either issue and "both nations were soon disillusioned by the accord."{{sfn|Doenecke|Stoler|2005|p=18}}

The rejection of the [[Treaty of Versailles]] in 1919–1920 marked the dominance of [[United States non-interventionism|non-interventionism]] in American foreign policy. Despite Roosevelt's Wilsonian background, he and Secretary of State Cordell Hull acted with great care not to provoke isolationist sentiment. The isolationist movement was bolstered in the early to mid-1930s by Senator [[Gerald Nye]] and others who succeeded in their effort to stop the "merchants of death" in the U.S. from selling arms abroad.{{sfn|Burns|1956|p=254}} This effort took the form of the [[Neutrality Acts of 1930s|Neutrality Acts]]; the president was refused a provision he requested giving him the discretion to allow the sale of arms to victims of aggression.{{sfn|Burns|1956|p=255}} He largely acquiesced to Congress's non-interventionist policies in the early-to-mid 1930s.{{sfn|Smith|2007|pp=417–18}} In the interim, [[Kingdom of Italy under Fascism (1922–1943)|Fascist Italy]] under [[Benito Mussolini]] proceeded to [[Second Italo-Abyssinian War|overcome Ethiopia]], and the Italians joined Nazi Germany under [[Adolf Hitler]] in supporting General [[Francisco Franco]] and the [[Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War)|Nationalists]] in the [[Spanish Civil War]].{{sfn|Burns|1956|p=256}} As that conflict drew to a close in early 1939, Roosevelt expressed regret in not aiding the [[Republican faction (Spanish Civil War)|Spanish Republicans]].{{Sfn|Dallek|1995|p=180}} When [[Second Sino-Japanese War|Japan invaded China]] in 1937, isolationism limited Roosevelt's ability to aid China,{{Sfn|Dallek|1995|pp=146–47}} despite atrocities like the [[Nanking Massacre]] and the [[USS Panay incident|USS ''Panay'' incident]].{{sfn|Leuchtenburg|2015|pp=188–90}}

[[File:FDR-George-VI-Potomac-June-9-1939-2-detail-crop.jpg|thumb|The Roosevelts with [[King George VI]] and [[Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother|Queen Elizabeth]], sailing from Washington, D.C., to [[Mount Vernon]], Virginia, on the [[USS Potomac (AG-25)|USS ''Potomac'']] during the first U.S. visit of a reigning British monarch (June 9, 1939)]]
[[File:FDR foreign trips.svg|thumb|Foreign trips of Roosevelt during his presidency<ref>{{cite web|url=https://history.state.gov/departmenthistory/travels/president/roosevelt-franklin-d|title=Travels of President Franklin D. Roosevelt|work=Office of the Historian, Bureau of Public Affairs|publisher=U.S. Department of State|access-date=December 2, 2015}}</ref>]]

[[Anschluss|Germany annexed Austria]] in 1938, and soon turned its attention to its eastern neighbors.{{sfn|Smith|2007|pp=423–24}} Roosevelt made it clear that, in the event of German aggression against [[Czechoslovakia]], the U.S. would remain neutral.{{Sfn|Dallek|1995|pp=166–73}} After completion of the [[Munich Agreement]] and the execution of [[Kristallnacht]], American public opinion turned against Germany, and Roosevelt began preparing for a possible war with Germany.{{sfn|Smith|2007|pp=425–26}} Relying on an interventionist political coalition of Southern Democrats and business-oriented Republicans, Roosevelt oversaw the expansion of U.S. airpower and war production capacity.{{sfn|Smith|2007|pp=426–29}}

When [[World War II]] began in September 1939 with Germany's invasion of Poland and Britain and France's declaration of war on Germany, Roosevelt sought ways to assist Britain and France militarily.{{Sfn|Black|2005|pp=503–06}} Isolationist leaders like [[Charles Lindbergh]] and Senator [[William Borah]] successfully mobilized opposition to Roosevelt's proposed repeal of the [[Neutrality Acts of the 1930s|Neutrality Act]], but Roosevelt won Congressional approval of the sale of arms on a [[Cash and carry (World War II)|cash-and-carry]] basis.{{sfn|Smith|2007|pp=436–41}} He also began a regular secret correspondence with Britain's First Lord of the Admiralty, [[Winston Churchill]], in September 1939—the first of 1,700 letters and telegrams between them.{{Sfn|Gunther|1950|p=15}} Roosevelt forged a close personal relationship with Churchill, who became [[Prime Minister of the United Kingdom]] in May 1940.<ref>{{cite web|title=Roosevelt and Churchill: A Friendship That Saved The World|url=https://www.nps.gov/articles/fdrww2.htm|website=National Park Service}}</ref>

The [[Battle of France|Fall of France]] in June 1940 shocked the American public, and isolationist sentiment declined.{{sfn|Leuchtenburg|1963|pp=399–402}} In July 1940, Roosevelt appointed two interventionist Republican leaders, [[Henry L. Stimson]] and [[Frank Knox]], as Secretaries of War and the Navy, respectively. Both parties gave support to his plans for a rapid build-up of the American military, but the isolationists warned that Roosevelt would get the nation into an unnecessary war with Germany.{{sfn|Burns|1956|p=420}} In July 1940, a group of Congressmen introduced a bill that would authorize the nation's first peacetime draft, and with the support of the Roosevelt administration, the [[Selective Training and Service Act of 1940]] passed in September. The size of the army increased from 189,000 men at the end of 1939 to 1.4&nbsp;million in mid-1941.{{sfn|Smith|2007|pp=464–66}} In September 1940, Roosevelt openly defied the Neutrality Acts by reaching the [[Destroyers for Bases Agreement]], which, in exchange for military base rights in the British Caribbean Islands, gave 50 American [[destroyer]]s to Britain.{{Sfn|Burns|1956|p=438}}