History 485
Devine
Fall 2015
Study Questions for Utley and Doenecke
Jonathan G. Utley,
“The United States
Enters World War II”
- As far
as Washington
was concerned, what was the difference between “undesirable” and
“intolerable” expansion on the part of the Japanese and the Germans?
- What
role did economics play in the US entry into World War
II? How were US economic concerns
linked to American ideals?
- What
were the economic and strategic reasons for the US entering the war in the
Pacific?
- Why
did both Britain and
the US prefer a “Europe first” strategy?
- What
were the pros and cons for negotiating a 3-month “modus-vivendi” with Japan? Why did Hull ultimately decide against a modus
viviendi?
- Why
has talk arisen of a conspiracy involving FDR taking a “back door to war”
regarding the attack on Pearl Harbor?
Justus D.
Doenecke, “The Roosevelt Foreign Policy: An
Ambiguous Legacy
- Why
did some of FDR’s traits that helped him pass his domestic agenda not
serve him well in foreign policy?
- How
did FDR’s assessment of his country’s motives and his own abilities often
undermine his conduct of foreign policy?
- Why
does Doenecke disparage the quality of FDR’s appointments to foreign
policy-related posts? Why did FDR
largely ignore the foreign policy bureaucracy and what were the
ramifications of this approach?
- FDR’s
rhetoric could occasionally be ardently anti-colonial. How did his
handling of Indochina during World War II
indicate that his commitment to anti-colonialism had limits?
- What,
if anything, did FDR’s handling of the Palestine and the Jewish refugee issues
reveal about his approach to foreign policy making?
- How
did FDR’s vision for the UN differ from Wilson’s
for the League of Nations?
- With
regard to U.S. policy
toward China,
why does Doenecke conclude FDR “possessed a much weaker hand than he
thought, and he played it poorly”? (65)
- Why
did FDR support a policy of “unconditional surrender”? Why does Doenecke argue that such a
policy may not have been wise?
- How
did FDR’s plans for Germany
evolve over time? Why did he
eventually reject the Morgenthau plan to dismember and de-industrialize Germany?
- Why
did each of the Big Three see the postwar fate of Poland as important (but for
different reasons)?
- According
to Doenecke, what were the drawbacks of FDR’s preference for “postponement
and ambiguity”? Why did his
“positive spin” of Yalta prove unwise?
- Ultimately,
did FDR’s poor health during the last years of his administration have any
significant ramifications?
- In
assessing FDR’s foreign policy, why does Doenecke conclude that he had an
“ambiguous legacy”?