Atlantic Charter

The Atlantic Charter was a statement agreed between Britain and the United States of America. It was intended as the blueprint for the postwar world after World War II, and turned out to be the foundation for many of the international agreements that currently shape the world. The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), the post-war independence of British and French possessions, and much more are derived from the Atlantic Charter.

It was drafted at the Atlantic Conference (codenamed Riviera) by British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, aboard warships in a secure anchorage in Ship Harbour, Newfoundland and was issued as a joint declaration on 14 August 1941. This statement was drafted and agreed while the British were fighting in World War II against Nazi Germany, however, initially there was no formal, legal document entitled "The Atlantic Charter". The term "Atlantic Charter" was coined by the Daily Herald, a London newspaper, after the joint declaration had been published. The United States did not enter the War until the Attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Potentially, it would detail the goals and aims of the Allied powers concerning the war and the post-war world. The ideals expressed through the eight points of the Atlantic Charter were so popular that the Office of War Information printed 240,000 posters of it in 1943, which was OWI Poster No. 50. Additionally, it might also be seen as a "changing of the guard" from Britain to the United States as the world's leading power.

"Cash and Carry" Provision

Cash and carry was a policy requested by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt at a special session of the United States Congress on 21 September 1939, as World War II was spreading throughout Europe. It replaced the Neutrality Acts of 1936. The revision allowed the sale of material to belligerents, as long as the recipients arranged for the transport using their own ships and paid immediately in cash, assuming all risk in transportation. The purpose was to hold neutrality between the United States and European countries while still giving material aid to Britain, exploiting the fact that Germany had no funds and could not reliably ship across the British-controlled Atlantic. Various policies forbade selling implements of war or lending money to belligerent countries under any terms.^{[clarification needed]} The U.S. economy was rebounding at this time, following the Great Depression, but there was still a need for industrial manufacturing jobs. The cash and carry program helped to solve this issue and in turn Great Britain benefited from the purchase of arms and other goods.

This program also prevented US businesses interests backing the success or failure of any warring nation. Because of the conclusion of the Nye Committee, which asserted that United States involvement in World War I was driven by private interests from arms manufacturers, many Americans believed that investment in a belligerent would eventually lead to American participation in war.^{[citation needed]}

US shipping interests were forbidden from entering into conflict zones.

This act also made sure that the US did not give away all its supplies and rations.[c

Dawes Plan

• Dawes Plan
• Hughes gathered prominent businessmen and bankers
• Charles Dawes negotiated the plan
• Reduced German reperation payments (finally paid off in fall of 2010

The Dawes Plan (as proposed by the Dawes Committee, chaired by Charles G. Dawes) was an attempt following World War I for the Triple Entente to collect war reparations debt from Germany. When after five years the plan proved to be unsuccessful, the Young Plan was adopted in 1929 to replace it.

Five Power Treaty at the Washington Naval Conference

• Five Power Treaty: Everyone so far + Italy
• 10 year halt on building of capital ships (> 10,000)
• A ratio of tonnage
• U.S. 5 Britain 5 Japan 3 France 1.75 Italy 1 [where 1 = 100,000]
• This ratio reflects an assertion of global power placement, and it shows an awareness of upcoming Japanese power
• Neither Japan or France were happy with treaty, but signed it nonetheless
• Flaw: only applied to warships
• Race to acquire submarines, small cruisers, destroyers all continued
• The technology surpasses the treaty

Kellogg-Briand Pact of 1928

• Kellogg-Briand Pact of 1928
• Need to do something to prevent another global war
• France wants a balance against Germany
• U.S. is not interested
• The United States said a global treaty is a better idea
• Politicians on both sides of the Atlantic accepted this
• 1927: France invited U.S. to sign a bilateral treaty to renounce war. "We will not use war as a policy"
• Selfish motives
• Counterproposal: others ought to be invited to join in
• 1928: Kellogg-Briand described war would not be a policy
• 64 governments part of pact
• More of a symbolic gesture than anything
• Had no teeth because it carried no sanctions

The Kellogg–Briand Pact (also called the General Treaty for the Renunciation of War) was signed on August 27, 1928 by the United States, France, the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, Japan, and a number of other countries. The pact renounced aggressive war, prohibiting the use of war as "an instrument of national policy" except in matters of self-defense.^[1] It made no provisions for sanctions. The pact was the result of a determined American effort to avoid involvement in the European alliance system. It was registered in League of Nations Treaty Series on September 4, 1929.^[2]

In its original form, the Kellog-Briand was a renunciation of war between only France and the United States. However, Frank B. Kellogg, the U.S. Secretary of State, wanted to retain American freedom of action; he thus responded with a proposal for a multilateral pact against war open for all nations to become signatories.^[3]

The Kellogg–Briand Pact is named after its authors: Frank B. Kellogg and French foreign minister Aristide Briand.

Marshall Plan

The Marshall Plan (officially the European Recovery Program, ERP) was the large-scale economic program, 1947–1951^[1], of the United States for rebuilding and creating a stronger economic foundation for the countries of Europe. The initiative was named after Secretary of State George Marshall^[2]) and was largely the creation of State Department officials, especially William L. Clayton and George F. Kennan. Marshall spoke of urgent need to help the European recovery in his address at Harvard University in June 1947.^[3]

The reconstruction plan, developed at a meeting of the participating European states, was established on June 5, 1947. It offered the same aid to the Soviet Union and its allies, but they did not accept it.^[4][5] The plan was in operation for four years beginning in April 1948. During that period some US $13 billion in economic and technical assistance were given to help the recovery of the European countries that had joined in the Organization for European Economic Co-operation. This $13 billion was in the context of a U.S. GDP of $258 billion in 1948, and was on top of $12 billion in American aid to Europe between the end of the war and the start of the Plan that is counted separately from the Marshall Plan.^[6]

The ERP addressed each of the obstacles to postwar recovery. The plan looked to the future, and did not focus on the destruction caused by the war. Much more important were efforts to modernize European industrial and business practices using high-efficiency American models, reduce artificial trade barriers, and instill a sense of hope and self-reliance.^[7]

By 1952 as the funding ended, the economy of every participant state had surpassed pre-war levels; for all Marshall plan recipients, output in 1951 was 35% higher than in 1938.^[8] Over the next two decades, Western Europe enjoyed unprecedented growth and prosperity, but economists are not sure what proportion was due directly to the ERP, what proportion indirectly, and how much would have happened without it. The Marshall Plan was one of the first elements of European integration, as it erased trade barriers and set up institutions to coordinate the economy on a continental level—that is, it stimulated the total political reconstruction of western Europe.^[9]

Belgian economic historian Herman Van der Wee concludes the Marshall Plan was a "great success":

"It gave a new impetus to reconstruction in Western Europe and made a decisive contribution to the renewal of the transport system, the modernization of industrial and agricultural equipment, the resumption of normal production, the raising of productivity, and the facilitating of intra-European trade."^[10]

Nye Committee

The Nye Committee, officially known as the Special Committee on Investigation of the Munitions Industry, was a committee of the United States Senate which studied the causes of United States' involvement in World War I. which met between 1917-1920.

The Roosevelt Corollary