This study presents an in-depth survey of the principal policies and personalities of American diplomacy of the era, together with a discussion of recent historiography in the field. For two decades between the two world wars, America pursued a foreign policy course that was, according to Rhodes, shortsighted and self-centered. Believing World War I had been an aberration, Americans na^Dively signed disarmament treaties and a pact renouncing war, while eschewing such inconveniences as enforcement machinery or participation in international organizations. Smug moral superiority, a penurious desire to save money, and naíveté ultimately led to the neglect of America's armed forces even as potential rivals were arming themselves to the teeth. In contrast to the dynamic drive of the New Deal in domestic policy, foreign policy under Franklin D. Roosevelt was often characterized by a lack of clarity and, reflecting Roosevelt's fear of isolationists and pacifists, by presidential explanations that were frequently evasive, incomplete, or deliberately misleading. One of the period's few successes was the bipartisan Good Neighbor policy, which proved far-sighted commercially and strategically. Rhodes praises Cordell Hull as the outstanding secretary of state of the time, whose judgment was often more on target than others in the State Department and the executive branch.

Designed to supplement the Guide to the Diplomatic History of the U.S. (1935), this bibliography has items arranged chronologically, geographically and topically, while indexes refer to authors, subjects and individuals. In addition to maps, the book contains a list of major policy makers since 1781 and brief biographical sketches of U.S. secretaries of state. ISBN 0-87436-323-3 : $87.50.

"In this history of Japanese involvement in northeast China, the author argues that Japan’s military seizure of Manchuria in September 1931 was founded on three decades of infiltration of the area. This incremental empire-building and its effect on Japan are the focuses of this book. The principal agency in the piecemeal growth of Japanese colonization was the South Manchurian Railway Company, and by the mid-1920s Japan had a deeply entrenched presence in Manchuria and exercised a dominant economic and political influence over the area. Japanese colonial expansion in Manchuria also loomed large in Japanese politics, military policy, economic development, and foreign relations and deeply influenced many aspects of Japan’s interwar history."

Modern China's Foreign Policy was first published in 1953. Minnesota Archive Editions uses digital technology to make long-unavailable books once again accessible, and are published unaltered from the original University of Minnesota Press editions. What are China's objectives in world affairs and what course will she pursue to achieve her goals? These are the questions of vital concern to the Western democracies, questions that can be approached intelligently only from a knowledge of how China's foreign policy has developed. In this illuminating and carefully documented book, Professor Levi analyzes china's attitudes and actions toward the rest of the world and clarifies many motivations behind her behavior, past and present. He traces the development of her foreign relations from the beginning of the modern era of Chinese contacts with Westerners, a little more than hundred years ago. The emphasis, however, is on the twentieth century, and particularly on the years since the peace settlements of World War I. The complex balance of relationships between China and the United States, on the one hand, and China and the Soviet Union, on the other, since the end of World War II is discussed in detail. Communist doctrine, notwithstanding its apparent rigidity, is shown to be a conveniently adjustable tool, capable of adaptation to the needs and strategies of present-day China. An integral part of the account is the attempt to single out and interpret the internal forces -- cultural, social, and economic -- that have influenced and shaped China's external policies. Thus, it is shown that the determinants of China's foreign policy have often been pressures and complexities within the country and that and understanding of the Chinese people and their traditions is essential to nations in their dealings with China.

Traces the trnsformation of the United States from an agrarian, isolationist nation into a liberal, industrialized power entagled in foreign affairs in spite of itself.