U.s. Policy Towards Japan Before The Outbreak Of The Pacific War (1937-1941) From The U.s. Economic Sanctions Against Japan

This thesis deals with the winding process of ferment, discussion and implementation of US economical sanction which imposed on Japan from 1937 to 1941. The paper consists of four chapters.Chapter One expounds the foreign negotiation between the United States and Japan from July 1937 to June 1938, during which the Japan launched the whole-scale war on China and the United States imposed moral embargo on Japan .The United States didn't implement the Neutrality Act on China and Japan as concern of encouraging China to resist Japan after the Japan made the Marco Polo Bridge Incident, but this decision inspired Japan in fact. In June 1938 the United States declared to impose moral embargo on Japan as the Japan aggravated the war on China continuously. The moral embargo is the first step of the economical pressure which the United States imposed on Japan, but it is a policy short of legal effect and compelling effort.Chapter Two expounds the foreign process from July 1939 to July 1940 during which the United States declared to abrogate the commercial treaty of 1911 and imposed the scrap embargo on Japan. The treaty abrogation and the scrap embargo of US were the more moderately steps toward Japan for the United States government had carried on acute debates on the issue of oil and scrap embargo before these.Chapter Three expounds the process of the funds freeze and oil embargo which the United States imposed on Japan. The United States declared to freeze the Japanese funds which is in the United States after the south of Indochina was occupied by the Japanese army, but the United States didn't intend to embargo the oil. As the hawk-Dean Acheson act more stubbornly and persistently, the funds freeze became the de facto oil embargo in the end. Thereafter United States negotiated with Japan for three months, but they didn't reach an agreement at last. The oil embargo expedite the war between the United States and Japan.Chapter Four analyses the causes which affected the policy-making process of the United States, in which the strategy of the Europe First and the common-existing peace mood were the most decisive factors.