Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-pftt2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-19T17:41:59.598Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

7 - J.P. Morgan & Co. and the Foreign Policy of the New Deal

Germany, Italy, Japan, and the Nye Committee, 1933–1937

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 February 2022

Martin Horn
Affiliation:
McMaster University, Ontario
Get access

Summary

This chapter discusses J.P. Morgan & Co., Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, imperial Japan, and the spectre of another war. It argues that the Morgan partners misunderstood the Nazi regime, in large degree because they attributed a far more influential role to Hjalmar Schacht than was warranted. If Morgan incomprehension about Nazism attested to how even the well-informed in the 1930s failed to descry Nazi radicalism, the Morgan tie with Fascist Italy was different. While the Corner was ignorant of Mussolini’s ambitions, aggression in Ethiopia provoked a reassessment. It was the desire to remain aligned with Washington and the hope of garnering Vatican business that preserved the tie. As for Japan, Lamont believed in the existence of two Japans: one Western oriented, open to liberal democratic capitalism; the other militarist and aggressive. He forgave, as did his partners, Japanese expansionism as the expression of the second strand. Between 1933 and 1937 Lamont’s attitude changed, moving to support Roosevelt’s famous October 1937 “Quarantine Speech.” For many, such as Senator Gerald P. Nye, the Morgan bank, complicit in American entry into war in 1917, was leading the United States down the same road. The chapter demonstrates that this was not so.

Type
Chapter
Information
J.P. Morgan & Co. and the Crisis of Capitalism
From the Wall Street Crash to World War II
, pp. 261 - 302
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×