Neutrality Acts of 1935, 1936, and 1937: These stated that if the president were to officially recognize a foreign war, then a few rules would go into effect. Americans would not be able to sail on belligerent ship, sell or transport munitions to belligerent countries, or lend to belligerent countries. As I have recently learned, a belligerent country is one engaged in a war that is recognized by law. This is all before WWII has really broken out, so the Neutrality Acts are all just speculating. We were trying to prevent getting dragged into a war like WWI.
Neutrality Act of 1939: This states European democracies can buy war materials, but only on the cash-and-carry basis. The democracies have to pay in cash, and do the transporting themselves. At this point, we can see how the US is obviously showing support (in a legal respect) to the democracies, unlike the previous Neutrality Acts, which did not apply to any specific countries.
Once Japan attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7th 1941, "neutrality" was thrown out the window. The US declared war with both Japan and Germany y December 11, 1941.
It's amazing that despite all of these acts and the effort that was put into maintaining its policy of isolationism, the United States still could not help going to war.
ReplyDeleteThe united states was playing a game or sorts, as you mentioned, Sam. They wanted to remain neutral and not get "involved" in the war, yet they also wanted to ensure that the world was not controlled by fierce dictators. They wanted a result that they were unwilling to fight for (at least until provoked to do so) which doesn't often work. Although they maintained their position of "neutrality" Germany and the Axis powers quickly saw that the Unites States was in no way neutral.
Despite the fact that the United States knew that it was not being entirely neutral, they were still surprised and very upset when Germany sank their ships etc. The US were playing a one-sided game, and in my opinion, it was rather inevitable that it would get involved.
Source: American Pageant Textbook