USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -During the first two years of World War II, the United States had maintained formal neutrality, which was officially announced in the Quarantine Speech delivered by US President Franklin D.

Detailed explanation-2: -When Hitler marched into neighboring Czechoslovakia, Austria and Poland, it prompted joint declarations of war from two of America’s closest allies, Great Britain and France. But the U.S. remained stubbornly neutral, bound by Congress not to lend aid or assistance to any “belligerents” in the European conflict.

Detailed explanation-3: -Isolationists believed that World War II was ultimately a dispute between foreign nations and that the United States had no good reason to get involved. The best policy, they claimed, was for the United States to build up its own defenses and avoid antagonizing either side.

Detailed explanation-4: -When WWI began in Europe in 1914, many Americans wanted the United States to stay out of the conflict, supporting President Woodrow Wilson’s policy of strict and impartial neutrality. “The United States must be neutral in fact as well as in name during these days that are to try men’s souls.

Detailed explanation-5: -Initially, this proposal failed, but after Germany invaded Poland in September, Congress passed the Neutrality Act of 1939 ending the munitions embargo on a “cash and carry” basis. The passage of the 1939 Neutrality Act marked the beginning of a congressional shift away from isolationism.