2/22/04 US History IIThe statement “The American people were overwhelmingly anti-Nazi andanti-Hitler.
. . but they were desperately trying to stay out of the war”isn’t veryvalid because it was very clear the United States was helping England alot. TheUnited States favored England verbally and physically, it was displayed intheQuarantine Speech and the Lend Lease program. Verbally the United States clearly showed that they were not neutral. TheQuarantine Speech by FDR stated “we must quarantine the aggressor nation.
“Germany knew that the United States was referring to them which made theUnited States not to popular with Hitler. In 1940 the United States had adraft. Thepeople were not happy at all, there was no point in drafting people if wewere notat war. Physically the United Sates had a lot of acts and programs to aidBritain. The Cash and Carry program stated if any body wants to buy weapons from us,they have to bring their ships to pick them up.
That helps us from losingour shipsin trades. FDR thought up an idea called destroyers for bases. What it doesis wegive Britain our old destroyers that we don’t use and they give us basesthey aren’tusing in the Caribbean. That’s a great idea but again it shows clearly werenotbeing neutral. FDR came up with the Lend Lease program, and with this weloaned Britain anything they needed.
FDR made a speech saying “if yourneighbor’s house was on fire, you would lend them your hose. ” That’s whatwewere doing with Britain. If we did not aid Britain, and Hitler took overall ofEurope, we would have had military bases in IcelandThe United States claimed neutrality in the beginning of World WarII, butas you can see clearly they were not neutral at all. That’s why thestatement “TheAmerican people were overwhelmingly anti-Nazi and anti-Hitler. .
. but theyweredesperately trying to stay out of the war” isn’t very valid.
