Isolationism In 1920s And 1930s

107th Anniversary Of World War I Declaration!

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On this date, April 6, 1917, America entered World War I, after four days of debate of President Woodrow Wilson’s War Message.

America emerged from an isolationist stance, and finally rejected George Washington’s admonition in his Farewell Address in 1796, warning against “entangling alliances”.

Sadly in the 1920s, and more so in the 1930s, America returned to isolationism, until forced out of that stance by the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.

Despite isolationist elements in the Republican Party after World War II, the US dealt with the Cold War with the Soviet Union by helping to form NATO, now 75 years of success in protecting America and its European allies.

But the battle against isolationism continues, as Donald Trump and MAGA Republicans threaten to end NATO engagement, and embrace authoritarian dictators, just as many of the isolationists in the 1930s embraced Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini, and worked to keep America neutral as Fascism advanced.

The Presidential Election of 2024 is another battle between internationalists and isolationists, and it is a battle that must be fought for the national security of America and the promotion of democracy against authoritarian threats.

Republican Party Is Clearly Becoming Pro Russian Without Apology!

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Ever since Donald Trump became a Presidential candidate in 2015, the Republican Party has steadily moved toward a pro Russian viewpoint without apology.

Now they are openly showing that their formerly hardline view toward Russia that existed from World War II and peaked under Barry Goldwater in the 1960s and Ronald Reagan in the 1980s, and included Senator Joseph McCarthy and Richard Nixon in the 1950s, has gone into the dustbin of history.

We now have one of the two major political parties openly pro Vladimir Putin, and willing to see Russia take over Ukraine, the largest nation in Europe in land area!

This is a threat to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and many Republicans, including Donald Trump, seem ready to abandon NATO, as Trump threatened to do in his time in the Oval Office!

This should be alarming, as if Putin can take over Ukraine, then why would he stop from wishing to seize former Soviet held areas in Eastern Europe, including Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, and then Poland and other former Eastern European “satellites” in the Cold War Years of 1945-1991!

This is a major national security crisis, bringing America back to the isolationist era of the 1930s, when many Republicans were only too willing to ignore the threat of Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany, leading to World War II!

American Foreign Policy At Stake In Presidential Election Of 2024

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Much of the Republican Party in Congress is against aid to Ukraine, and Ron DeSantis, Vivek Ramaswamy, and Donald Trump are all threats to the continuation of support of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), which has been in effect for 75 years next spring.

Isolationism was a problem in the Republican Party in the decades before World War II, and it is rearing its ugly head once again 90 years later.

For the stability of the world in the future, Republicans must be prevented from being able to transform American foreign policy to a Pro Russian influence, which is now clear among many Congressional Republicans!

To Kevin McCarthy And MAGA Republicans: NO Cut In Aid To Ukraine! :(

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As I write this, it seems as if we are on the road to a costly and unnecessary government shutdown on Sunday, provoked by extremist right wing MAGA Republicans, and Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy unwilling to resist them, and instead to make a deal with Democrats and mainstream Republicans in the House of Representatives.

McCarthy and the MAGA Republicans now want a cut in aid to Ukraine, but some House Republicans and many Senate Republicans agree with Joe Biden and the Democrats that it is essential to continue to provide aid to that nation in its struggle against Vladimir Putin and the Russian Federation.

The MAGA Republicans, Kevin McCarthy, and former President Donald Trump are promoting a dangerous isolationist attitude on world affairs, much like occurred in the 1920s and 1930s.

Practing appeasement to a dictator, as with Hitler in the 1930s, and Putin now, does not lead to peace, as it emboldens such evil people, and just as World War II was the result eight decades ago, so would be the result if Ukraine is conquered, as Putin will move on to NATO nations, including Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia, if the US and NATO stop assisting the valiant battle of Ukraine.

So the answer to MAGA Republicans, Kevin McCarthy, and Donald Trump is NO CUT in aid to Ukraine, and the Republicans will suffer at the ballot box in November 2024!

It is tragic that there will be so much harm visited on vulnerable Americans, but in the end, Joe Biden, his party, and reasonable Senate and House Republicans must stand strong and refuse to give in!

84th Anniversary Of World War II Beginning A Reminder Of Need To Support Ukraine Against Russia!

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September 1, 1939 was the beginning of World War II, when Nazi Germany invaded Poland.

The threat of totalitarianism that Nazi Germany represented created a crisis in American foreign policy for President Franklin D. Roosevelt, as isolationists strived to keep America out of World War II as not our war, since we had two great oceans that separated us from war elsewhere in the world.

Many of the isolationists were Republicans, but included naive people from all political persuasions and walks of life.

Americans did not want to get involved in the war, but eventually, it was forced upon us by the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.

If that had not happened, America might have faced a likely threat from European Fascism without allies.

This is important to keep in mind as the Russia-Ukraine war has ended 18 months and counting, and there is growing demand by isolationists and the right wing of the Republican Party in Congress to stop funding for Ukraine in its defense.

These critics include apologists for Vladimir Putin and the Russian Federation, and they seem unperturbed at the reality that Russia, if successful in Ukraine, will put its sights next on NATO nations, including particularly, Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia, but with grand designs to recreate the old Soviet Union before 1989!

America’s Relation With World Conflict Began On This Day In 1917, And Now Facing New World Conflict!

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On this day, April 6, 1917, 105 years ago, America left its isolationist heritage, and began its relation with world conflict, as Congress voted American entrance into World War I.

Woodrow Wilson had wished to keep America at peace, but war was forced upon him by the actions of Imperial Germany under Kaiser Wilhelm II.

After World War I, America went back into isolationism, but the rise of Nazism and Fascism forced America and its President, Franklin D. Roosevelt, into World War II in 1941, against Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, and Imperial Japan.

Isolationism would never fully revive again, as America entered the challenges of the Cold War against the Soviet Union from 1945-1991.

Once the Soviet Union collapsed, it was thought America was free of foreign conflict, but international terrorism woke us up in 2001.

And now, the Russian Federation and Vladimir Putin has begun waging war against Ukraine, including war crimes, massacre, and genocide.

It places the United Nations organization, the European Union, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and the United States as a world leader to have to consider going into what might become World War III, a horrifying thought.

But it seems clearly, to this blogger and author, that ultimately, Vladimir Putin will not stop at Ukraine, but will very likely attack NATO nations, including the Baltic States (Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania) and Poland at some point, and the US and NATO will need to respond to attacks on their allies.

Nuclear war is a possibility, horrendous thought, but in the end, a bully must be stopped, or he becomes a worst, more dangerous bully!

So it seems highly likely that Joe Biden will have to do what Woodrow Wilson and Franklin D. Roosevelt did, take America into a world war!

America Became Part Of The World This Week In 1917!

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America became part of the world this week in 1917, when President Woodrow Wilson went to Congress on April 2, 1917, and asked for a Congressional Declaration of War against Imperial Germany, the Austro Hungarian Empire, and the Turkish Empire, putting us into “the Great War”, later called the World War, and after entrance into World War II, termed World War I.

Although America went back into isolationism in the 1920s and 1930s, the nation learned that it was a false decision, and since World War II, we have recognized that we are part of the world, and cannot ignore what is going on outside America, as it can and has threatened American national security.

President Joe Biden faces many foreign policy challenges, most significantly with China, Russia, North Korea and Iran, but with many other authoritarian nations that also undermine America’s basic values.

While Biden wishes to deal with the many domestic challenges, he will not be able to ignore the many problems other nations pose for the United States!

April 2, 1917: Woodrow Wilson Asks Congress To Declare War On Germany, Ending US Isolation From World Affairs

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On this day 102 years ago, President Woodrow Wilson transformed America forever, as he went to Congress and asked for a declaration of war against Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany, putting America into the “Great War”, World War I, four days later.

Other than intervention in Latin American affairs, and the gaining of island territories overseas in the late 1890s, the US had avoided foreign controversies, other than Theodore Roosevelt winning the Nobel Peace Prize in 1906 for being the mediator bringing about the peace treaty at the end of the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905.

But from this point on, with the exception of a virulent isolationism in the 1920s and 1930s, which did NOT keep us out of the necessary involvement in World War II, the United States has faced its responsibilities of world leadership since the 1940s, committing to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization membership and leadership in official ceremonies on April 4, 1949, seventy years ago.

The Destruction Of The “Special” Friendship, Relationship, And Alliance Between The US And Great Britain For A Century

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Ever since the beginning of the 20th century, the United States and Great Britain have had a “special” relationship and friendship, and became allies in 1917 when the US went into World War I.

Theodore Roosevelt was very close to Great Britain in the first decade of the 20th century, and Woodrow Wilson was a known “Anglophile” in his writings and scholarship during his years as a professor and university president before he ran for public office.

While the alliance during World War I did not survive in the 1920s and 1930s isolationist period, we were still friendly toward our former mother country.

Then in World War II, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill became great allies and friends, as both nations fought against Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, and Imperial Japan.

After World War II, the United States became the leader of the free world democracies, and allies in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and the British fought in the Korean War, the Gulf War, and in the War on Terror after September 11 in Iraq and Afghanistan.

While the British did not send troops into the Vietnam War, they have always been perceived as our closest friends in the world, alongside Canada.

But now, Donald Trump has openly criticized the British government and its leader Theresa May, and Trump is the most unpopular American President ever in modern times by every measure.

This is a very sad situation, and it is clear that we have just witnessed the destruction of this special friendship, relationship, and alliance between the US and Great Britain.