rsuade the Japanese people that Western nations were conspiring against Japan in China during the 1930s are considered in this research because the success of this propaganda enabled the Japanese military to assume an increasing posture of aggression in the pre war period. This aggressive military posture contributed to the development of anti Japanese sentiments among Americans.
American Public Opinion Toward Japan in the Pre Second World War Period
The nine power treaty signed at the Washington Conference in 1921 and 1922 included Japan among the eight countries that would cooperate to support the independence and integrity of the ninth country China. The actions of the Washington Conference powers progressively extended greater sovereign powers to the government of China through the late 1920s, by which time, the Nationalist government of Chiang Kai shek was in power in Nanking, the then capital of China.
By 1928, the situation had reached a point wherein the Western powers in China were calling the economic tune to the detriment of Japan and to the dismay of Japanese military leaders. Anti internationalists in Japan were convinced that, unless the scenario in China changed, Japan's national destiny would soon depend upon the goodwill of the Western powers in China. The anti internationalists in Japan, who included the country's military leaders among them, determined that the only avenue open to Japan was to remove the present Japanese political leadership that was committed to the internationalist goals, and to act in China in opposition to the other Washington Conference powers to promote the economic interests of Japan. In 1930, the sitting Japanese government signed a new Naval treaty that allowed Japan tonnages at a ratio of 6.975 to 10 to 10 for the United States and the United Kingdom. This treaty not only angered the Japanese militarists, it also cost the sitting Japanese government critical support among th...