Good Neighbor Policy

2. Roosevelt made the decision to formalize a policy started by Herbert Hoover by which the United Sates rejected the right to intervene militarily in the internal affairs of Latin American countries (Foner 853). Moreover, this Good Neighbor Policy, had mixed results. The United States withdrew its troops from Haiti and Nicaragua during the 1930s (Foner 853). What is more, Roosevelt accepted Cuba’s repeal of the Platt Amendment, which permitted American military interventions on that island. These steps offered an overdue recognition of the sovereignty of American neighbors (Foner 853). On the other hand, while Roosevelt criticized wealthy businessmen at home, like previous presidents he was left feeling uncomfortable and dealing with undemocratic governments friendly to American business interests abroad (Foner 853). Equally important, the United States extended support to dictators with the likes of Anastasio Somoza in Nicaragua, Rafael Trujillo Molina in the Dominican Republic, and Fulgencio Batista in Cuba (Foner 853). However, in the 1930s the international crisis deepened, the Roosevelt administration had taken steps to counter German influence in Latin

They hoped to accomplish not getting involved in any wars. Moreover, during 1941 the United States became more and more closely allied with those fighting both Germany and Japan (Foner 857). Yet, with Britain virtually bankrupt, it could no longer afford to pay for supplies. At Roosevelt’s encouragement, Congress passed the Lend-Lease Act, which allowed military aid so long as countries promised to somehow return all of the funds after the war (Foner 857). In addition to this, under the law’s provisions, the United States funneled billions of dollars’ worth of arms to both Britain and China, as well as the Soviet Union, after Hitler renounced his nonaggression pact, and decided to invade that country in June