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The 1920s began with some big u.s. foreign policy moves in 1919

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not only did we reject the League of Nations we refused to sign the Treaty of [UK flag hands over league of nations]

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Versailles which ended World War one that one must have been quite awkward

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didn't President Wilson give his all to get that treaty written and pass didn't [Wilson running a marathon with treaty of versailles]

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he proudly proclaim that the treaty would show America to be the savior of

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the world while America really has never had a problem with low self-esteem but

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for real wasn't in the League of Nations the perfect solution to war well then [League of nations appears]

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why wouldn't our own Congress ratify the treaty join the league and save the

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world where they all secretly Sith Lords bent on world destruction after dark [Sith Lords speaking to man]

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we're looking to not rule on that last one out but Congress actually did have

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some really good reasons to say no to the League of Nations one thing was that

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the signing of the treaty would have forced the u.s. to go along with any [Person signing document and person in chains]

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foreign action the other members approved like if the league declared war

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the US would have to go to war so Congress role is the body that decided [Man holding gun and woman standing in the room]

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whether the u.s. went to war or not would be erased the very thought of this

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made the guys in Congress get all mopey if Britain and France the strongest

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nations mer league wanted a war the u.s. would have to follow along like a little

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puppy dog it would have no chance to evaluate the situation and suggest [Dog appears beside UK and France flag]

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something else to America all this sounded way too much like the kind of

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alliance that started the Great War in the first place so Congress said -

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thanks but no thanks as for the Treaty of Versailles again America refused to

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sign in part because we weren't totally down with Britain and France u.s. [UK crossing fingers]

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political leaders thought that the treaty was much too harsh on Germany

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later on in 1924 eventually President Harding signed a separate peace treaty

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with the German led central power well the Treaty of Versailles did in

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fact reached havoc on Germany's economy Germany was expected to make huge [UK and France flag glaring at Germany]

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reparation payments that they just couldn't afford the German government

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printed so much money it became worthless and the Germans literally used

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it to fuel cooking fires showing that it's not always good to have money to [Money burning on the fire]

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burn banker Charles Dawes who would become

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Coolidge's vice president in 1925 came up with a plan to help

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American banks would lend Germany 800 million marks the German currency at the

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time to help stabilize its economy also the German National Bank would be

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reorganized and supervised by Allied bankers and Germany's reparations [UK, Germany and France piggy banks appear]

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payments would be restructured this was called the Dawes plan because everybody

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was currently too busy to come up with a more creative name why did the u.s. want

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to help its former enemy get back on its feet because America figure that driving [US holding hand to Germany]

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Germany into economic ruin was well just straight-up dumb first of all the Allied

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powers would never get their money if that happened second if the German

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economy could grow then the German government could use tax revenue to help

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pay the reparations and you know buy stuff from us this was all in America's

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best interest since France and Britain owed the u.s. money that they couldn't

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pay until they caught money from Germany well the Dawes plan worked the German

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economy stabilized and began to show moderate growth unfortunately Germany's

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growth ended up fueling a genocidal fascist regime just a few short years [Germany holding sack of money]

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later yeah we're talking about the Nazis who claim the money all came from evil

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capitalist Jews trying to take over their country not that that stopped them

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from using the resources of a stabilizing Germany to launch World War

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two sometimes good deeds are punished and [Man dressed as Uncle Sam appears]

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sometimes they're plain slapped in the face [Hitler slaps Uncle Sam]

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