The failure of the democratic powers to confront the threat made war inevitable. Yet, at the time reasonable people believed that something short of war could contain fascism. The folly and carnage of World War I led many to believe America should avoid any foreign war.
Image courtesy Wikimedia Isolationism ran deep in the currents of American politics and society in the s. Most people believed the nation had plenty to deal with in its attempts to rise out of the Depression. And "revisionist" historians argued that World War I had been nothing more than a sordid scramble among imperialist powers for wealth.
It was therefore in the best interest of peace and democracy that the United States avoid overseas wars. To be sure, most Americans looked on in horror at the brutality against German Jews or the massacre of innocent Chinese. But they did not see how American intervention could do anything but pull the nation into another mess. Neutrality legislation beginning in the late s aimed to limit American exposure to being drawn into conflict.
For example, the "cash-and-carry" provisions required that belligerents pay cash on the spot for any purchase of war materiel from the United States and transport the goods in their own ships.
And, American citizens were prohibited from traveling on ships operated by belligerents. This arms length approach imposed on President Roosevelt by Congress reflected public misgivings about making the United States a target of aggression. In practice, these and other measures were complicated by economic, political, and diplomatic uncertainties that led to unintended consequences.
Isolationists are Americans who are opposed to United States involvement in foreign affairs. People with these sentiments have existed since the founding of the nation. During the late nineteenth and the early twentieth centuries, their numbers grew, and they became increasingly more vocal. Generally, isolationists oppose United States involvement in other countries' affairs because it supposedly weakens the United States.
Isolationists want the United States to be self-sustaining, rather than dependent on other nations for food and other types of supplies. They contend that sending United States military forces overseas leaves the nation weaker and less able to defeat an attack on U. After President Roosevelt declared an American-controlled security zone around the East Coast, non-interventionists charged him with baiting German submarines and secretly hoping for an attack that would force the United States into war.
Public opinion polls between consistently showed that Americans did not favor declaring preemptive war on Germany, but they also revealed that Americans changed their priorities over time. In essence, the American public understood by late that it would have to go to war to help defend Britain against Nazi Germany. On December 7, , the Imperial Japanese Navy launched a surprise aerial assault on the US Pacific fleet at Pearl Harbor , Hawaii, destroying eight battleships, numerous other boats and planes, and killing 2, Americans.
The next day, the United States declared war on Japan but not on Germany. President Roosevelt was able then to portray war against both Japan and Germany as defensive measures against Axis powers who declared war on the United States first.
Most of the student-founders of the America First Committee and its military-age supporters joined the US military; the organization formally voted to disband on December 10, We would like to thank Crown Family Philanthropies and the Abe and Ida Cooper Foundation for supporting the ongoing work to create content and resources for the Holocaust Encyclopedia. View the list of all donors. Trending keywords:. Featured Content. Tags Find topics of interest and explore encyclopedia content related to those topics.
Browse A-Z Find articles, photos, maps, films, and more listed alphabetically. For Teachers Recommended resources and topics if you have limited time to teach about the Holocaust. Wise — International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg. About This Site. Glossary : Full Glossary. Key Facts. More information about this image. Interventionist Groups In contrast to non-interventionist or isolationist groups, interventionist groups often advocated a variety of different policies, but generally agreed that the United States should actively support the Allied war effort economically and militarily.
Lend-Lease In December , Churchill informed Roosevelt that soon Britain soon would run out of cash to pay for transporting necessary war supplies. Convoys After Lend-Lease passed and American factories began to convert their operations to war-related manufacturing, interventionist and non-interventionist groups argued over the US role in transporting war supplies to Europe. America Attacked On December 7, , the Imperial Japanese Navy launched a surprise aerial assault on the US Pacific fleet at Pearl Harbor , Hawaii, destroying eight battleships, numerous other boats and planes, and killing 2, Americans.
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