Yes, Americans Overwhelmingly Opposed US Entry into World War II
mtracey.substack.com
mtracey.substack.com
It's strange: this polling information is not so readily available. I had to dig deep into ancient academic tracts. But the data shows unequivocally that supermajorities of Americans were against US entry into World War II, even as Roosevelt was "waging war without declaring it"
FDR falsely presented โaidโ to Britain (โLend-Leaseโ) as the means by which the US could *avoid* entering the war. Even as he in fact used โLend-Leaseโ as the vehicle by which the US *entered* the war. When asked the direct war-entry question, Americans overwhelmingly opposed
Here is one (of countless) contemporaneous descriptions of how Roosevelt had falsely portrayed the purpose of "Lend-Lease"
For those asking, I cited the source for all polling data in the article. All you have to do is simply read the article
Here is what Burton Wheeler, falsely maligned as a Nazi sympathizer for opposing interventionist US policy, said about the incendiary barrage of attacks on him in 1941. Notice any parallels to today?
I'm not personally prepared to mount a full-throated defense of Charles Lindbergh, but it's notable that Norman Thomas -- the country's most prominent Socialist, who vehemently opposed US entry to the war -- did in fact mount a full-throated defense of Lindbergh
To attack Wheeler (and Lindbergh) as Nazis, this photo of an America First rally at Madison Square Garden in 1941 is typically cropped out on purpose to obscure Norman Thomas -- pictured on far right -- because it would be utterly absurd to accuse Thomas of making a Nazi salute
Many are likely unaware that this hand gesture was a standard way in which Americans saluted the flag before WWII. It was discarded by 1942 due to aesthetic similarity with the Nazi or Fascist salute. Here is a photo of US schoolchildren in 1915: long before Nazis ever took power
Among the most prophetic comments I've read recently is this from Norman Thomas in his 1951 memoir, reflecting on his non-interventionist advocacy: "It is not healthy for the future that an honest effort to keep our country out of war should have been so unjustly stigmatized"
Here in 2022, as the risk of nuclear war increases seemingly by the day -- with insane escalations like pipeline explosions happening left and right -- take a look at who seems to be getting barraged with the kind of "unjust stigmatization" that Thomas remarked upon in 1951
Loading suggestions...