1) The document traces the path of US foreign policy from isolationism after WWI to greater involvement in European affairs prior to entering WWII. It discusses the Neutrality Acts of the 1930s, America First movement, and debates around interventionism. 2) FDR pushed for aid to allies through Lend-Lease in 1941 to support defenses without direct military engagement. However, the US remained neutral until the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941 that provoked American entry to the war. 3) The document examines the shift in public opinion from non-intervention to accepting involvement as aggression and threats to international order spread during the late 1930s.

1. The Road from
the Great War
To the
Good War

2. “Your boys are not going to be
sent into any foreign wars.”
October 30, 1940

3. The Mythology of Isolationism
1918 - 1941

5. Economic Objectives > FP

6. stability

10. Dawes
Plan
1924

14. 5000
7000
1918-1920

15. 4x
2x
6x
4x
2x
7x
1x
1900-1933

16. ½ finances = US Control
1924

17. ½ US steel & cotton exports
1935

18. “Good Neighbor Policy”
1933-34

19. Isolationism vs Interventionism

20. Nye Committee
1934

21. Nye Committee
1934
War profiteers
= “Merchants of Death”

22. Neutrality Acts
1935, 1936, 1937

23. Neutrality Acts
ARMS, LOANS, PASSENGERS

24. America First Committee
(AFC)

26. “It’s time to shake the rust off America’s foreign policy…
America first will be the major and overriding theme
of my administration.
“Ending the theft of American jobs will give us resources
we need to rebuild our military, which has to happen,
and regain our financial independence and strength….
“Our military dominance must be unquestioned,
and I mean unquestioned, by anybody and everybody.
“I’m the only one — believe me, I know them all,
I’m the only one who knows how to fix it.

27. 1) The United States must build an invulnerable
national defense.
2) No foreign power, nor group of powers, can
successfully attack an America that is prepared.
3) American democracy can be preserved only by
keeping out of the war in Europe.
4) “Aid short of war” weakens national defense at
home and threatens to involve America in war
abroad.

30. “We must limit to a reasonable amount the
Jewish influence… Whenever the Jewish
percentage of total population becomes too high,
a reaction seems to invariably occur.
It is too bad because a few Jews of the right type
are, I believe, an asset to any country.”

31. Limiting Jewish Immigration

32. ASS Breckenridge Long

36. Deceit and Indifference

37. The Road to
American Involvement

38. FDR’s role

40. Chicago: October 5, 1937

41. It is true that the moral consciousness
of the world must recognize the
importance of removing injustices and
well-founded grievances; but at the same
time it must be aroused to the cardinal
necessity of honoring sanctity of
treaties, of respecting the rights and
liberties of others and of putting an end
to acts of international aggression.

42. It seems to be unfortunately true
that the epidemic of world
lawlessness is spreading.

43. It is my determination to pursue a policy
of peace. It is my determination to
adopt every practicable measure to avoid
involvement in war.
When an epidemic of physical disease
starts to spread, the community
approves and joins in a quarantine of
the patients in order to protect the
health of the community against the
spread of the disease.

46. Munich
Conference,
1938

47. “appeasement”

48. October,
1938

49. “War of the Worlds”

52. September, 1940

53. 1917

54. 500,000 rifles

55. 80,000 machine guns

56. 900 field guns

57. 130,000,000 ammo rounds

58. Lend-Lease Act
January, 1941

59. “Suppose my neighbor’s home catches fire,
and I have a length of garden hose four or
five hundred feet away. If he can take my
garden hose and connect it up with his
hydrant, I may help him to put out his
fire...I don’t say to him before that
operation, ‘Neighbor, my garden hose cost
me $15; you have to pay me $15 for it’.... I
don’t want $15 — I want my garden hose
back after the fire is over.”

61. “Once it had been used,
you didn’t want it back.”

64. U.S.S. Greer

65. September, 1941

66. September, 1941

67. December 7, 1941