Changes

During the [[Presidential Election of 1936]] Roosevelt said that "the effective maintenance of American neutrality depends today as in the past on the wisdom and determination of whoever at the moment occupies the office of President of the United States and Secretary of State." And he had warned that in the event of war abroad the [[United States]] would have to be on guard against those seeking "fool's gold," or war profits from the arms trade, those who would find it hard to look beyond, "to realize the inevitable penalties, the inevitable day of reckoning that comes from a false prosperity." America could keep out of war, "if those who watch and desire have a sufficiently detailed understanding of international affairs to make certain that the small decisions of today do not lead toward war and if at the same time they possess the courage to say no to those who selfishly or unwisely would lead us into war." This is what was called [[isolationism]].

During the [[Presidential Election of 1936]] Roosevelt said that "the effective maintenance of American neutrality depends today as in the past on the wisdom and determination of whoever at the moment occupies the office of President of the United States and Secretary of State." And he had warned that in the event of war abroad the [[United States]] would have to be on guard against those seeking "fool's gold," or war profits from the arms trade, those who would find it hard to look beyond, "to realize the inevitable penalties, the inevitable day of reckoning that comes from a false prosperity." America could keep out of war, "if those who watch and desire have a sufficiently detailed understanding of international affairs to make certain that the small decisions of today do not lead toward war and if at the same time they possess the courage to say no to those who selfishly or unwisely would lead us into war." This is what was called [[isolationism]].

In 1937, when Japan invaded the Chinese mainland, the United States economy had relapsed into a depression and Roosevelt refused to apply the Neutrality Act but rather permitted arms shipments to China and Japan from United States arms manufacturers. The Neutrality Act did not require a declaration of war by an aggressor; it merely required the fact of war. The United States was the [[Nationalist Chinese]] government's only source of defense materials, while at the same time the United States was shipping six times as much to Japan as to China. The New Deal needed the arms trade with Japan to keep people from becoming unemployed.  As one commentator observed, President Roosevelt defied the mandatory provisions of the Neutrality Act because his administration required that at this moment America should get a little of that "fool's gold" from Japan.

 

In 1937, when Japan invaded the Chinese mainland in the [[Second Sino-Japanese War]], the United States economy had relapsed into a depression and Roosevelt refused to apply the Neutrality Act but rather permitted arms shipments to China and Japan from United States arms manufacturers. The Neutrality Act did not require a declaration of war by an aggressor; it merely required the fact of war. The United States was the [[Nationalist Chinese]] government's only source of defense materials, while at the same time the United States was shipping six times as much to Japan as to China. The [[New Deal]] social programs needed the arms trade with Japan to keep people from becoming unemployed.  As one commentator observed, President Roosevelt defied the mandatory provisions of the Neutrality Act because his administration required that at this moment America should get some of that "fool's gold" from Japan.

[[Category:history]]

[[Category:history]]