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The U.S. had a policy of isolationism toward the Soviet Union (1918-33), and toward Communist China (1949-71).
The U.S. had a policy of isolationism toward the Soviet Union (1918-33), and toward Communist China (1949-71).
===League of Nations===
===League of Nations===
[[Woodrow Wilson]] wrote the [[League of Nations]] into the 1919 Versailles Peace Treaty. The League went into operation but the U.S. never joined. The Senate rejected ratification on Wilson's terms, and also rejected ratification on terms proposed by the Republicans, led by Senator [[Henry Cabot Lodge]]. The Republicans demanded amendments that made clear that only Congress could declare the U.S. at war, not the League. Debate on the League was furious, with the Senate split three ways: Wilsonians, Lodge supporters, and a third group of "irreconcilables" (mostly liberals) who rejected any membership.
[[Woodrow Wilson]] wrote the [[League of Nations]] into the 1919 Versailles Peace Treaty. The League went into operation but the U.S. never joined. The Senate rejected ratification on Wilson's terms, and also rejected ratification on terms proposed by the Republicans, led by Senator [[Henry Cabot Lodge]]. The Republicans demanded amendments that made clear that only Congress could declare the U.S. at war, not the League. Debate on the League was furious, with the Senate split three ways: Wilsonians, Lodge supporters, and a third group of "irreconcilables" (mostly liberals) who rejected any membership.
Dispensationalists denounced the League as fulfilling the prophecy of a final world empire and as a sign of "human pretensions of self-sufficiency" in thinking that they could prevent the sin of war without God's help. Although many Calvinists backed the Social Gospel and therefore the League, conservatives, including Southern Baptists, Presbyterians, and Christian Reformed, counter-argued that such a human endeavor to improve the world without a Christian core doomed it to failure. Furthermore, they lamented the lack of mission language in the League charter and warned against cooperating with non-Christian states on an equal plane. The Missouri Synod Lutherans argued against such Social Gospel endeavors because of their amillennialist bent and insistence on the separation of church and state. Conservative Methodists and Episcopalians found themselves in the minority within denominations that publicly endorsed the League of Nations but nonetheless derided it as dangerously socialist and too divorced from Christianity for success. Much of this rhetoric has reappeared in recent years in discussions of the United Nations.<ref> See Markku Ruotsila, ''The Origins of Christian Anti-Internationalism: Conservative Evangelicals and the League of Nations.'' (2008)</ref>
Dispensationalists denounced the League as fulfilling the prophecy of a final world empire and as a sign of "human pretensions of self-sufficiency" in thinking that they could prevent the sin of war without God's help. Although many Calvinists backed the Social Gospel and therefore the League, conservatives, including Southern Baptists, Presbyterians, and Christian Reformed, counter-argued that such a human endeavor to improve the world without a Christian core doomed it to failure. Furthermore, they lamented the lack of mission language in the League charter and warned against cooperating with non-Christian states on an equal plane. The Missouri Synod Lutherans argued against such Social Gospel endeavors because of their amillennialist bent and insistence on the separation of church and state. Conservative Methodists and Episcopalians found themselves in the minority within denominations that publicly endorsed the League of Nations but nonetheless derided it as dangerously socialist and too divorced from Christianity for success. Much of this rhetoric has reappeared in recent years in discussions of the United Nations.<ref> See Markku Ruotsila, ''The Origins of Christian Anti-Internationalism: Conservative Evangelicals and the League of Nations.'' (2008)</ref>
===1930s===
Starting in 1933 with the [[World Economic Conference]], American public opinion and national policy policy was to minimize the risk of entering another war by isolationist laws, such as the Neutrality Laws. President [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]], started in late 1937 to reverse the isolationist policies. When [[World War I]] began in late 1939, the U.S. was officially neutral but gave significant military aid to Britain, France and China. It was only after the bombing of [[Pearl Harbor]] in December 1941 that the United States abandoned its isolationism and entered the war. See [[America First Committee]] for the 1940-41 debate on avoiding American entry into [[World War II]] in Europe.
In the 1930s the Republican party had an isolationist wing led by former President [[Herbert Hoover]] and Ohio Senator [[Robert A. Taft]].
===Cold War===
During World War II, the internationalist wing of the GOP gained strength, as former isolationist Arthur Vandenberg switched sides.<ref> James A. Gazell, "Arthur H. Vandenberg, Internationalism, and the United Nations". ''Political Science Quarterly'' 1973 88(3): 375-394 </ref> The Republicans controlled Congress when it approved the [[Truman Doctrine]] in 1947 and the [[Marshall Plan]] in 1948.
The leaders of the anti-isolationist or "internationalist" wing were [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]] (president 1952-60), and [[Richard Nixon]] (president 1968-74). Conservative leader [[Barry Goldwater]] in 1964 rejected isolationism and called for an aggressive [[Rollback]] strategy to defeat Communism, a policy followed by [[Ronald Reagan]] (president 1980-88).
Meanwhile isolationist sentiment grew in the Democratic party, largely in reaction to the failure of the [[Vietnam War]]. the chief spokesman was Senator [[George McGovern]], whose 1972 presidential campaign had the isolationist slogan, "Come Home America".
==Asia==
==Asia==