World War II (1939-1945) was “fought predominantly in Europe and across the Pacific and eastern Asia, and pitted the Axis powers of Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, and Japan against the Allied nations of Great Britain, France, China, the United States, and Soviet Union” (militaryhistory.com). However, before United States entry in 1941, there was much debated controversy over United States involvement in World War II. The U.S. had suffered over 100,000 deaths from combatants and casualties during World War I (1914-1918), the economy was negatively affected due to the financial contributions made toward the warfront, and the aftermath of WWI can be defined by the economic crisis of the Great Depression (1929-1939). Many citizens feared a repeating cycle during the Second World War. Charles Lindbergh and President Franklin D. Roosevelt held opposing views on entry into WWII, but I agree with the ideals of Lindbergh because I feel that the obligations to the citizens of the United States are of greater importance. Charles Lindbergh opposed the war before it even began because he knew that “it would be a tragedy to the entire world if the British Empire collapses” (Shi and Myer 216). With the pressure on the United States to join the war effort, Lindbergh supported isolationism. Lindbergh seems to be suggesting that the military …show more content…
It seems to me that support of United States participation in WWII depended on whether or not one considers the costs of the war to be less than the gains. Therefore, I agree with Lindbergh’s opposition to war due to the blatant disregard of citizens’ wishes by the government. While I consider Roosevelt’s passion to fight communism to be noble, his decision to participate in war shames the democratic system of the United
He labeled the conflict as “a war against all nations” exemplifying the distress that other countries have experienced due to the unbiased and relentless bombing of their own neutral ships (Safire 111). By associating the United States with other friendly countries who are also at odds with Germany, Wilson’s cry for war seemed more convincing. He went on to assert that the choice made by the U.S must be befitting to the singular characteristics of the country and that they must be very clear what their motives upon entry into the war were: not vengeance or profession of physical might, but to defend the principles of peace and justice and “to set up amongst the free people of the world an observance of these ideals” (Safire 113). We were entering the war not to battle with the German people, but to combat a greater menace, the system that had impended these violations (Baker 512).
The United States is justified in their entrance into World War II, due to the nature of the country and the world amidst this time. In regards to the country, the attack on Pearl Harbor necessitated said entrance as failure to do such would indicate an isolationist policy which lacerated the boundaries of a country which is designed to protect the people. Despite the elucidations of Charles Lindbergh, the country was placed in a compromising position following the aforementioned attack. The reason being, that the utmost duty of the government is to protect and take into account the best interests of the people. Thus, the country was forced to respond by virtue of the potential future ramifications that a lack of response posed. Moreover, contrary
President Roosevelt realized that Britain needed aid or else the U.S. would become a lone “free” nation in a fascist-dominated world. The American military needed to be mobilized in order to assist the Allies or democracy would be in grave danger. Roosevelt plead his case to the American people in his famous “Quarantine Speech” in which he called for an end to dangerous isolationism; however, his speech was not well-received and he was criticized for his desire to “entangle” the U.S in European foreign affairs (Document D). With Britain the only remaining power fighting against Germany, Roosevelt felt compelled to offer aid in some way. In 1940, Roosevelt boldly transferred fifty World War I destroyers to Britain in exchange for eight valuable defense bases stretching from Newfoundland to South America. As bombs dropped over Britain, Americans began to realize that their interests were intricately tied to Britain’s and that they must offer aid or else the battle would come to American soil soon. The goals of American foreign policy were reversed when Congress repealed the now defunct Neutrality Acts and officially ended their Neutrality. The U.S. began openly selling weapons to Britain on a “cash-and-carry” basis so as to avoid attacks on American ships. When this was not enough, Roosevelt devised the
Wilson explained the need for U.S. entrance into the war by stating that remaining neutral was no longer an option if world peace, justice, and individuals’ freedoms were threatened. According to him, the menace that threatened these precious principles involved “autocratic governments backed by organized force which is controlled wholly by their will, not by the will of their people” (Wilson 1917). With this mindset, Wilson justified that Americans ultimately fought for the security of democracy, the principle in which their nation was built on. As a result, U.S. involvement would encompass securing the peace of the world and affirming the rights of individuals and nations to practice self-determination.
Public opinion regarding participation in further international conflict in World War II was also affected by history. Advocates of isolationism referenced George Washington’s precedent of isolationist roots. As one of the most admired figures in American history, Washington’s words had powerful effects on influencing public opinion towards non-interventionism. The recent history of World War I was also on the minds of the American people in the lead up to World War II. As Americans saw the massive amounts of deaths and destruction, they became weary of war. Morale was destroyed during the war and isolationism was protection from future loss and injury.
Critically, only the United States among neutral nations had the capacity to establish a munitions industry that would have significant impact on the war, thus if this industry could only sell to the Entente, it would weigh heavily on the German military effort. Germany began to demand that the United States put forth an effort to eliminate the naval blockade and resume regular, neutral trade with Germany. However, the United States and Woodrow Wilson actually favored the British and their allies, even if they claimed true neutrality. To Wilson, the allies represented global democracy and peace, which, as demonstrated by his Fourteen Points after the war’s end, Wilson adored. Furthermore, the American people favored the allies because to them the Germans represented imperialism, war, and the Kaiser especially represented the autocracy against which America had been founded. Consequently, the US hardly raised a finger against Britain’s blockade in the North Sea. Again, even early in the war, the United States favored one side as opposed to being truly
When people think about World War II, they normally associate it with Hitler, genocide, the Great Depression, the Cold War, and other negative things; however, there were some positive impacts it had on the United States. Economically, the United States and other countries around the world were devastated by the crashing of the stock market. Unemployment rate was at a high point, Hitler was gaining control of Europe, and we were trying to remain isolationists. Once we intervened in the war, we were pulled out of the depression by the increase of jobs, the women’s rights movement began and established legal equality, the baby boom and suburban boom began, and the United States went from
In World War I, the United States is most known for staying neutral for the three fourths of the war. It put its citizens’ safety first. It did not want them to turn against each other since they were made up of immigrants from the countries that were in war. After a fifteen years of peace around the world following WWI, the Axis Powers “were making strategic moves” that was going to lead up to World War II. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt tried explaining to the residents of Chicago in his “The Quarantine Speech” why the United States should stay in peace and avoid war if possible.
Although the United States was determined to maintain a neutralist foreign policy, it was eventually forced into World War II following Japan’s attacks on Pearl Harbor, the Philippines, and Malaysia in 1941 (Chernow and Vallasi 1). Within a few days, Nazi Germany and Italy, the two other major Axis leaders, also declared war against the
World War II was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It led to millions of deaths, and devastation across the world. Nazi Germany took control of many European countries, and Japan declared war on the United States. American soldiers were deployed and took action to protect the nation. The United States was in a constant limbo between being safe, and having war on its doorstep. Life for citizens, in the United States and other countries, was affected tremendously by the war, and has shaped the way we view war today. It has changed the way people think about war, and how they react. Life during World War II, explained in Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand, have shaped how the world approaches war and how it’s devastating events have affected people to this day.
A) America had long had a policy of isolationism and when it got involved in World War I, many Americans believed that it was a pointless war to fight. Americans were anti-Nazi and anti-Hitler; they fervently hoped that the democracies would win; they fondly believed that the forces of righteousness would triumph, as in 1918. Neutrality became a heated issue in the United States. Ill-prepared Britain and France urgently needed American airplanes and other weapons, but the Neutrality Act of 1937 raised a sternly forbidding hand and provided that the henceforth the European democracies might buy American war materials, but only on a “cash-and-carry basis,” which meant that they would have to transport the munitions in their own ships and America
The radical manifesto designated by the conference as the official party policy advocated sabotaging and impeding the war effort. This left London with “a crisis of conscience” (Epstein 178). He “believed that his oath of office bound him to defend his country against attack and not to undermine the war effort,” and thus could not side with his party (Goldberg 153). He refused to obstruct the war effort once underway, saying he did not “advocate adding civil war to the crime of international war” (qtd. in Goldberg
The United States had rejected any attempts to join the war that had started in Europe and that was fast spreading to other parts of the world. Unlike the World War I, the World War II was different as it involved almost the entire world. When the war erupted in Europe with the invasion of Poland by Germany, Britain and France declared war on Germany (Fowler, p.44). On the other side, Germany got allies in the name of Spain and Italy, two nations that were under the grip of two dictators. With pressure mounting at home for the US to join the war, it was only a matter of when the US Congress will change the existing law to allow the US participating in the war. Before the war, American had changed its policy in phases, where the first phase involved the selling of firearms to nations that could pay in what many called cash and carry. The second phase was the lend-lease Act that allowed the US to lend and even sell firearms (Fowler, p. 46). However, the US changed the policy to interventionism, and the first reaction regarding the policy was the bombing of Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The US decided to intervene after Japan had bombed the Pearl Harbor in Hawaii and from that time it actively participated in the war. The involvement of the US in the war changed everything as it bowed to domestic pressure to help its traditional allies (Fowler, p. 63). The US and the USSR became the two super powers in the world after the war, and the US went on to ensure that its interventionism policy works to change the world. It gave aid to rebuild
Over 70 million casualties were a result of World War II (World war 2 statistics,2006) the second global war that succeeded World War I. The results of World War I entailed the punishment of Germany through the treaty of Versailles which made Germany pay for the damages that occurred during the war. The Germans did not agree to this policy due to its unjust tactics since Germany was not the only country that had a large effect in the war. This created frustration in Germany and helped instigate the German invasion of Poland. After WWI passed, it became evident that war was needed to help sustain a country due to the country’s economic struggles. Within a period of twenty-one years Germany attacked Poland which created a chain reaction throughout Europe. The allies of Poland went into war against Germany then Germany’s allies went to war with them and it became this vicious cycle. Although the United States of America had allies within Europe they stood firm with their position of neutrality to avoid becoming part of the conflict. Unfortunately, the attack then happened on Pearl Harbor everything. United States ultimately entered the war. What the United wanted to avoid so badly became a reality they had to face. World War II brought about dramatic changes to every aspect of American life in the United States. The changes that occurred on the home front during the War years, continued to shape the country 's development well into the 21st century. Since the United States
World War II, according to history, begun in September 1939 with the invasion of Poland by Germany and subsequent declarations of war on Germany by France and the United Kingdom. At the start, the combat was contained largely in Europe and Northern Africa with the Allied countries fighting Adolf Hitler’s Germany and in Asia and Pacific with Japan battling largely China. The United States had largely stayed out of combat in the beginning of the war, instead enacted sanctions on the Axis Power countries and supplied equipment and weapons to Allied countries such as Britain and France. Charles Hyde, in his book “Arsenal of Democracy: The American Automobile Industry in World War II”, commented that the carnage of World War I, the tremendous profits reaped by U.S. industries during it, and the belief that the European and Asian wars were remote from American interests, which led to the passage of four Neutrality acts in Congress. Two other factors may have contributed to the U.S. government’s decision to stand pat. The economy was still stabilizing coming out of the Great Depression, with GDP in 1939 (92.2) still 10%+ less than what it was in 1929 (103.6), and going into war could shock the still fragile economy. In addition, the U.S. government did not believe the country had a military that could credibly combat the Axis powers. By 1940, the German army numbered six million men, while the U.S. army had 280,000 (Hyde 5).