World War II through the 1970s
Renita Moody
Professor James Adams
History 105
June 2, 2013

Americans at first tried to stay out of the war, but this became less feasible as Hitler’s aggression continued. In the United States, the Great Depression had provoked a strong drift toward isolationism. The trend was already manifested in the American rejection of League of Nations following World War I, but during the depression many Americans remained preoccupied by domestic affairs. For more reasons why many Americans resisted involvement in European affairs. Their memories of the First world war made many Americans leery to get involved in European affairs. In 1914, Americans watched as a dizzying series of alliances led one nation into battle with another, without any apparent justification. The brutality of the first World War further made Americans shy away from any involvement in European affairs (Shultz, 2012) The Great Depression was a second reason why Americans favored isolationism before the second World war. The Great Depression deepened this isolationism most Americans were simply to focused on improving life in the United States to advocate getting involved in diplomatic disputes abroad. Respect for Hitler was the third reason why American favored isolationism, Adolf Hitler who had plucked Germany from its own economic depression in record time. By the late 1930s, American icons like the aviator Charles Lindbergh argued that the Nazis were unstoppable under the leadership of Hitler and that the United States should negotiate with them. (Shultz 2012) The last reason was Anti-Semitism. Lindbergh, like Hitler was also an anti-Semite. Although the worst abuses of the Holocaust would only begin to occur in 1941, by the late 1930s many American Jews were asking President Roosevelt to take a Stronger Stance against