940*9307 C68 53-48071 940*930? 068 53-480?! Cole America First.. $3*50 Keep Your Card in This Pocket Books will be issued only on presentation of proper library cards. Unless labeled otherwise, books may be retained for two weeks. Borrowers finding books marked, de faced or mutilated are expected to report same at library desk; otherwise the last borrower will be held responsible for all imperfections discovered. The card holder is responsible for all books drawn on this card. Penalty for over-due books 2c a day plus cost of notices. Lost cards and change of residence must be re ported promptly. Public Library Kansas City, Mo. TtNSION ENVELOPE CORP. PUBLIC LIBRARY 1 2 19JS _t< y AMERICA FIRST WIDE WORLD PHOTO A general view of the America First rally held in Madison Square Garden on May 23, 1941, at which Charles A. Lind bergh and Senator Burton K. Wheeler of Montana were speakers. PHOTO WIDE WORLD PHOTO WIDE WORLD Robert E. Wood. Charles A. Lind Top left: General Right: R. Stuart, Senator bergh. Bottom left: Douglas Jr. Right: Burton K. Wheeler. WIDE WORLD PHOTO AMERICA FIRST The Battle Against Intervention 1940-1941 by Wayne S. Cole MADISON THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN PRESS 1953 COPYRIGHT, 1953, BY THE REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN. COPYRIGHT, CAN ADA, 1953. DISTRIBUTED IN CANADA BY BURNS & MAcEACHERN, TORONTO Printed in the United States of America by the Vail-Ballou Press, Incorporated, Binghamton, New York To ^Virginia Preface "OUR PRINCIPLES were right. Had they been followed war could have been avoided/' So ran the final statement of the America First Committee issued in December, 1941, after the official entry of the United States into World War II. Organized to keep the United States out of the Euro pean war, the America First Committee failed completely to achieve its primary objective. The organization was not even able to defeat any major Administration "short-of- war" proposal actually put to the test in Congress^ Nevertheless, the America First Committee was the most powerful mass pressure group engaged in the strug gle against the foreign policy of the Roosevelt adminis tration in the crucial years of 1940-1941. Under its ban ner numerous prominent American personalities battled against a foreign policy which they believed to be con trary to the best interests of the United States. General Robert E. Wood, Colonel Charles A. Lindbergh, Senator Burton K. Wheeler, Senator Gerald P. Nye, Philip La Fol- lette, John T. Flynn, Kathleen Norris, Lillian Gish, Chester vii Preface Bowles, General Hugh S. Johnson, and many other well known American figures used the America First Commit tee as a vehicle through which to oppose American entry into World War II. Even the present United States Am bassador at Large, Philip C. Jessup, aligned himself with America First in 1941. The Committee conducted a color ful, dramatic, and earnest campaign, ^And it continued to be a powerful, vocal, and well-organized force in the debate right down to the hour the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor; The noninterventionist strength, which the Com mittee and other groups represented, definitely affected the strategy of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. More than that, persons close to Roosevelt felt that the noninterven- tionists had fought the President very nearly to a stand still near the end of 1941 when the Japanese attack took the decision out of American hands. The recent "Great Debate" on American foreign policy has stimulated renewed attention in the controversy of a decade ago. Numerous historians have engaged in the fascinating task of examining the complicated course which ultimately led to American participation in World War II. Most of the books thus far published on the sub ject, however, have emphasized the role which the Ad ministration leaders and their supporters played in this colorful story./There has been little serious research into the nature of the opposition to President Roosevelt's poli cies. The purpose of this study is to examine the personnel, views, activities, and criticisms of the America First Com- viii Preface the mittee leading noninterventionist pressure group dur the fifteen ing months preceding December 7, 1941.1 This study is based largely upon an examination of the records of the America First Committee. I have had un restricted access to the records of America First at the Hoover Library on War, Revolution, and Peace at Stan ford University, California. This splendid collection in cludes the records of the America First national headquar ters as well as those of numerous state and local units of the organization. In addition I have used Committee ma terials in the files of General Robert E. Wood, Chicago, and R. Califor Illinois, Douglas Stuart, Jr., San Francisco, nia. I have also had interviews and correspondence with many persons active in the battle against intervention. I am indebted to the many individuals who, through letters and interviews, have supplied helpful information and suggestions. Thanks are due General Robert E. Wood R. for to materials and Douglas Stuart, Jr., permission use in their files and for their helpful conferences with me. The staffs at the Hoover Library, the University of Wis consin Library, the University of Arkansas Library, the Des Moines Public Library, and the Library of the Wis consin State Historical Society were most helpful. A grant from the University of Wisconsin made possible the re search in Hoover Library. B. Broughton Gingell, formerly of the University of Arkansas, helped to improve the lit to erary style of the manuscript. I am especially grateful Professor Fred Harvey Harrington of the University of ix Preface Wisconsin for his invaluable assistance and guidance in as all stages of the project. My wife, Virginia Rae Cole, sisted me with proofreading and made numerous helpful suggestions in matters of style. Wayne S. Cole Fayetteuille, Arkansas August 27, 1951 Contents 1. The Genesis 3 2. Leadership, Organization, and Finances 17 3. The Great Arsenal of Democracy? 35 4. War or Peace? 51 69 5. Capitalism, Communism, and Catholicism 6. Military Defense 89 7. The Nazi Transmission Belt? 104 8. Anti-Semitism and America First 131 9. Shoot on Sight 155 10. Politics and the Battle Against Intervention 167 11. Pearl Harbor 189 Notes 203 269 Bibliography Index 281 AMERICA FIRST The Genesis ON THE "date which will live in infamy," December 7, 1941, the bursting Japanese bombs and torpedoes left three and one-half thousand dead and wounded Americans at Pearl Harbor. Much of the American fleet at Hawaii was converted into a mass of twisted shambles while military aircraft went up in flames without even getting into the air against the enemy. The same Japanese pilots who wrought this havoc also abruptly terminated the spectacu lar foreign policy debate which had been provoked by the outbreak of World War II .< Included in the debris left by the Japanese attack was the shattered corpse of the Amer ica First Committee, the principal noninterventionist pres sure group in that "Great Debate^ ? IN THE 1930 s an already distraught Europe was succes sively jolted by the Italian-Ethiopian War, remilitariza tion of the Rhineland, the Spanish Civil War, and the Ger man seizure of Austria and Czechoslovakia. Japanese ag gression in Manchuria and China added to the general sense of insecurity. The Russo-German nonaggression pact The Genesis of August 23, 1939, opened the way for the Nazi invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939. This attack precipitated the most destructive of the long succession of general European wars. The "Phony War" after the collapse of Poland proved to be only a temporary respite. In April, 1940, Adolph Hitler's forces overwhelmed Denmark and Norway. On May 10, 1940, the German armies drove into the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxemburg. Within a few days the Blitzkrieg was rolling into northern France. Less than a month after the attack began, the British army in Europe was driven into the sea at Dunkerque. With France reeling from the blows of the German assault and from her own internal weakness, Italy chose to attack the un happy nation in the south. Finally, with the Germans in control of their capital city and considerably over half of their the area, French under Marshal Petain signed an armistice with Hitler on June 22, 1940. Even before the fall of France the German Luftwaffe had begun its assault on the British Isles. By August and September of 1940 the Battle of Britain was well under way. At the same time the German submarines were taking a heavy toll of British shipping. The outlook for the Western democracies in Europe was indeed dismal by September, 1940. ? the 1930 s the During United States sought to keep out of future wars European by means of a series of Neutrality Acts. Under these acts the United States proposed to sacri fice its traditional insistence upon the freedom of the seas in time of war. These acts also provided for restrictions trade and economic upon relations with belligerent powers. The Genesis It was hoped this national self-negation would prevent the development o economic ties and military incidents which might catapult the United States into any general conflagration. With the beginning of the European war in September, 1939, Americans overwhelmingly considered Germany the aggressor and hoped for an Allied victory. But at the same time most Americans hoped the United States would not be drawn into the conflict. The Govern ment reflected these views in November, 1939, by revising American neutrality legislation. The repeal of the arms embargo partially opened the way for the United States to become the "arsenal" for the democratic belligerents.