The History of the America First Committee of 1940

The History of the America First Committee of 1940 More than 75 years before President Donald Trump made it a key part of his election campaign, the doctrine of â€Å"America First† was on the minds of so many prominent Americans that they formed a special committee to make it happen. An outgrowth of the American isolationist movement, the America First Committee first convened on September 4, 1940, with a primary goal of keeping America out of World War II being fought at the time mainly in Europe and Asia. With a peak paid membership of 800,000 people, the America First Committee (AFC) became one of the largest organized anti-war groups in American history. The AFC disbanded on December 10, 1941, three days after the Japanese attack on the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, thrust America into the war. Events Leading to the America First Committee In September 1939, Germany, under Adolph Hitler, invaded Poland, precipitating war in Europe. By 1940, only Great Britain possessed a large enough military and enough money to resist the Nazi conquest. Most of the smaller European nations had been overrun. France had been occupied by German forces and the Soviet Union was taking advantage of a nonaggression agreement with Germany to expand its interests in Finland.   While a majority of Americans felt the entire world would be a safer place if Great Britain defeated Germany, they were hesitant to enter the war and repeat the loss of American lives they had so recently experienced by taking part in the last European conflict – World War I. The AFC Goes to War With Roosevelt This hesitancy to enter another European war inspired the U.S. Congress to enact the Neutrality Acts of the 1930s, greatly restricting the U.S. federal government’s ability to provide assistance in the form of troops, arms, or war materials to any of the nations involved in the war. President Franklin Roosevelt, who had opposed, but signed, the Neutrality Acts, employed non-legislative tactics like his â€Å"Destroyers for Bases† plan to support the British war effort without actually violating the letter of the Neutrality Acts. The America First Committee fought President Roosevelt at every turn. By 1941, the AFC’s membership had exceeded 800,000 and boasted charismatic and influential leaders including national hero Charles A. Lindbergh. Joining Lindbergh were conservatives, like Colonel Robert McCormick, owner of the Chicago Tribune; liberals, like socialist Norman Thomas; and staunch isolationists, like Senator Burton Wheeler of Kansas and the anti-Semitic Father Edward Coughlin. In late 1941, the AFC fiercely opposed President Roosevelt’s Lend-Lease amendment authorizing the president to send arms and war materials to Britain, France, China, the Soviet Union, and other threatened nations without payment. In speeches delivered across the nation, Charles A. Lindbergh argued that Roosevelt’s support of England was sentimental in nature, driven to some extent by Roosevelt’s long friendship with British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. Lindbergh argued that it would be difficult, if not impossible, for Britain alone to defeat Germany without at least a million soldiers  and that America’s participation in the effort would be disastrous.   The doctrine that we must enter the wars of Europe in order to defend America will be fatal to our nation if we follow it, said Lindbergh in 1941. As War Swells, Support for AFC Shrinks Despite the AFC’s opposition and lobbying effort, Congress passed the Lend-Lease Act, giving Roosevelt broad powers to supply the Allies with arms and war materials without committing U.S. troops. Public and congressional support for the AFC eroded even further in June 1941, when Germany invaded the Soviet Union. By late 1941, with no sign of the Allies being able to stop the Axis advances and the perceived threat of an invasion of the U.S. growing, the influence of the AFC was fading rapidly. Pearl Harbor Spells the End for the AFC The last traces of support for U.S. neutrality and the America First Committee dissolved with the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Just four days after the attack, the AFC disbanded. In a final statement issued on December 11, 1941, the Committee stated that while its policies might have prevented the Japanese attack, the war had come to America and it had thus become the duty of America to work for the united goal of defeating the Axis powers. Following the demise of the AFC, Charles Lindbergh joined the war effort. While remaining a civilian, Lindbergh flew more than 50 combat missions in the Pacific theater with the 433rd Fighter Squadron. After the war, Lindbergh often traveled to Europe to assist with the U.S. effort to rebuild and revitalize the continent.