Isolationism

THE POSITION OF the United States in world affairs has been a subject of debate beginning with George Washington's Farewell Address to the nation in 1797, when he warned against entangling alliances. In his 1776 pamphlet Common Sense, Thomas Paine argued that the colonies needed to separate themselves from Europe and its constant wars. Early in American history, the United States was able to use the large expanse of oceans on the east and west coasts to offer some semblance of protection from foreign armies and navies. Throughout the 19th century, the United States turned its interests to the west as political leaders such as Henry Clay supported the policy of Manifest Destiny and the idea that the United States should cover the entire continent.

The victory of the United States in the Spanish-American War and the annexation of Cuba and the Philippines put U.S. foreign policy at the forefront in the 1900 re-election of President William McKinley. The Democratic Party attacked President McKinley during the election for his expansionist policies. However, McKinley won a convincing victory, and the United States would play an active role on the world stage early in the 20th century. The United States enthusiastically entered World War I, and President Woodrow Wilson and his 14 points made the United States an active participation in the Versailles negotiations. However, an ill President [Page 332]Wilson, in 1919 and 1920, was unable to muster the congressional support for membership in the League of Nations and the concept of collective security. Throughout the 1920s and early 1930s, the United States played an active role on the world stage with the hope of preserving peace through agreements that would limit the expansion of naval fleets.

The crash of 1929 and the Great Depression brought about the type of political atmosphere that resulted in U.S. isolationism. Dorothy Detzer, secretary of the Women's International League and an avowed isolationist, supported senators Gerald Nye and Arthur Vanden-berg and their investigation through the Nye Committee in to whether the international arms trade had brought on World War I. The committee allegedly proved that a conspiracy between the Wilson Administration, the arms traders, and the banks pushed the United States into the war, and that they were plotting another war.

The move toward isolationism resulted in a series of Neutrality Acts passed by Congress between 1935 and 1939 that sought to restrict American involvement in foreign conflicts. The first Neutrality Act, passed in August 1935, declared an embargo on arms shipments and declared that Americans traveling on the ships of belligerents did so at their own risk. The Neutrality Act of 1936 prohibited extending loans or credit to belligerents, and a 1937 joint resolution by Congress forbade the sale of arms to belligerents. In response to the Spanish Civil War, the 193 7 Neutrality Act extended the coverage to both civil and foreign wars, added raw materials to the embargo list, and made it illegal for U.S. citizens to travel on the ships of belligerent nations. However, the neutrality acts provided a good deal of latitude to President Franklin Roosevelt as the acts only became viable once he declared the existence of war and belligerency status. Roosevelt exercised the latitude only once when he elected not to categorize the conflict between China and Japan as a war, maintaining the option of America providing supplies for China. In addition to the neutrality acts, Congress passed the Johnson Debt Default Act in 1934 making it unlawful for the U.S. government to loan money to any nation delinquent in its World War I loan obligations.

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