Political Leaders of the 1930s Quiz

Answer: Neville Chamberlain

The appeasement policy of British Prime Minister (1937-40) Chamberlain towards Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany, I believe, encouraged Hitler to take what was left of Czechoslovakia and later launch WWII by attacking Poland.

Answer: Paul Reynaud.

A true patriot who had opposed appeasement and favored rearmament, Reynaud became French PM on 20 March 1940. After a visit to London he signed an agreement with Britain that neither nation would negotiate a separate peace with Hitler. Reynaud held to this commitment throughout the dark days of France's debacle, but was forced to resign by the capitulation clique that rallied to Marshall Petain.

Answer: Joachim von Ribbentrop.

Regarded by many as arrogant and empty headed, Ribbentrop actually had considerable diplomatic successes before Hitler's assumption of all foreign policy power relegated his position as FM to irrelevancy. Before becoming German ambassador to Britain Ribbentrop had considerable success at the London Naval Conference of 1935.

As German ambassador to the Court of Saint James Ribbentrop negotiated with Italy for the creation of the Anti-Commintern Pact. As German FM Ribbentrop had his most successful diplomatic triumph as the architect of the Nazi-Soviet pact of 23 August 1939.

Answer: Henry L. Stimson.

The senior diplomat in the Roosevelt Cabinet, Stimson was just short of his 73rd birthday when FDR asked him to become Secretary of War. A life long Republican, Stimson had previously been appointed to several posts under Presidents Teddy Roosevelt, Taft, Coolidge, and Hoover.

Answer: Authors of an international agreement that called for the renunciation of aggressive war.

Kellogg (U. S. diplomat) and Briand (French diplomat) authored the toothless Kellogg-Briand Pact, which called for the renunciation of aggressive war as a means of settling disputes between nations. Directed mainly against the signers of the Locarno Pact, the agreement lacked provisions for sanctions.

Answer: Francisco Franco.

After the revolt of the army chiefs in Spanish Morocco, Francisco Franco became one of three military leaders of the insurrection. Soon thereafter Franco was appointed by the Insurgents as Chief of the Spanish State. Assuming dictatorial powers Franco held the top position in the Spanish government until his death in 1975.

Answer: Eduard Benes.

A cofounder of Czechoslovakia along with Masaryk, the diminutive Benes succeeded Masaryk as president on 18 December 1935. During the Munich crisis this Czech statesman was not even allowed to sit in the negotiations for the Sudetenland.

Answer: France.

Soon after Memel was incorporated into the German Reich Beck accepted an alliance with Britain on the condition that France and the Soviet Union be excluded from the treaty. Beck had a long-standing hatred for the French stemming from the time he was expelled from France for selling documents about the French military to Czechoslovakia. This happened while Beck was military attaché in Paris in 1922-23.

Answer: V. M. Molotov.

Molotov was also premier of the USSR until Stalin made himself premier after the German invasion. Molotov was appointed as vice premier and still kept his position as Commissar for Foreign Affairs, then as Soviet Foreign Minister, until he fell out of favor with Stalin in 1949.

Answer: Ambassador to the Court of St. James (Britain).

The controversial Kennedy became the first Irish-American-Catholic ambassador to the Court of St. James on December 1937. Initially, Joe Kennedy was considered pro-British but he was solidly behind his country's policy of isolation. His lack of ambassadorial temperament and his firm conviction belief that Britain could not defeat Nazi Germany caused embarrassment between the Roosevelt administration and the Churchill premiership.