Examine the effects of U.S. Neutrality Acts on pre-World War II international relations
Simply by having to amend its own Neutrality Acts of 1935–37, the United States began to recognize the inevitability of involvement in the war.
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Transcript
NARRATOR: Hoping to insure neutrality, Congress passed a series of so-called neutrality acts from 1935 to 1937.
[Music in]
VOICE: No loans or credits to nations at war. No shipments of war materials to nations at war. No United States citizens as passengers on ships of nations at war. American merchant ships to sail unarmed.
[Music out]
NARRATOR: But there were growing doubts as to whether such policies could insure neutrality or peace. In 1937, President Roosevelt announced his administration's intention of taking a more active but still cautious role in affairs outside our own country. It was the first of several stages in the formulation of American policy aimed at curbing the spread of Nazism and Fascism.
This first stage was diplomatic pressure. When the European powers met in Munich to decide the fate of Czechoslovakia, a formal message from the United States urged negotiation.
Later, in view of Hitler's promise at Munich, the United States asked Germany to guarantee not to attack some twenty little countries. Hitler's reply: defiance. Our diplomatic advances were rebuffed.
[Hitler's voice]
NARRATOR: Congress reluctantly amended the neutrality law in November, of 1939, to make war materials available . . . but only on a cash and carry basis, in their own ships.
Britain and France immediately placed huge orders. Some could be shipped at once, but most would take months to fill.
They caused American industry to gear up for war.
[Music in]
VOICE: No loans or credits to nations at war. No shipments of war materials to nations at war. No United States citizens as passengers on ships of nations at war. American merchant ships to sail unarmed.
[Music out]
NARRATOR: But there were growing doubts as to whether such policies could insure neutrality or peace. In 1937, President Roosevelt announced his administration's intention of taking a more active but still cautious role in affairs outside our own country. It was the first of several stages in the formulation of American policy aimed at curbing the spread of Nazism and Fascism.
This first stage was diplomatic pressure. When the European powers met in Munich to decide the fate of Czechoslovakia, a formal message from the United States urged negotiation.
Later, in view of Hitler's promise at Munich, the United States asked Germany to guarantee not to attack some twenty little countries. Hitler's reply: defiance. Our diplomatic advances were rebuffed.
[Hitler's voice]
NARRATOR: Congress reluctantly amended the neutrality law in November, of 1939, to make war materials available . . . but only on a cash and carry basis, in their own ships.
Britain and France immediately placed huge orders. Some could be shipped at once, but most would take months to fill.
They caused American industry to gear up for war.