Purchase Solution

World War 2 and Cold War: Home and Abroad

Not what you're looking for?

Ask Custom Question

Describe the American policy regarding the war in the period 1935-December 7-8, 1941. In what ways was FDR preparing for war before the attack on Pearl Harbor?

Purchase this Solution
Solution Preview

The emergence of political extremism (i.e. Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin) in Europe produced no widespread call in the US for collective security or joint international action. It actually encouraged a rise in isolationist sentiment. American leaders sought to strengthen democracy at home rather than commit US resources abroad. For example, in 1935 Senator Gerald Nye, a North Dakota Republican, conducted a congressional investigation that revived disillusionment with US participation in World War I. Nye's committee concluded that profiteers, whom they called "Merchants of Death" (i.e. bankers, merchants, arms dealers) had maneuvered the US into a war to save their investments. Most of the committee's charges were doubtful, but they added momentum to the growing isolationist movement.

However much they opposed fascism and disapproved of aggression, Americans tried to stay clear of the crisis. In a series of Neutrality Acts congress sought to protect the nation by cutting the kind of contact that had compromised US neutrality in World War I. For example, the Neutrality Act (1935): prohibited arms shipments to either side in a war once the president declared belligerency; Neutrality Act (1936): prohibited loans to warring countries; Neutrality Act (1937): introduced "cash and carry" principle; countries at war would have to pay cash for US goods and carry them away on their own ships. It also warned Americans about traveling on foreign vessels of belligerents.

Apprehensive Americans were horrified as ...

Purchase this Solution
Free BrainMass Quizzes
German Wars of Unification

A short quiz to determine the student's knowledge of events and figures associated with the mid 19th Century German Wars of Unification

The French Revolution

This quiz covers the first French Revolution of 1789-94.

America Fighting for Good - World War II : 1940 - 1945

The quiz will test your knowledge of America and its role in World War II - how it avoided the war, got involved and emerged as a world power and forever losing its isolationist policy.

CoViD-19 and Historic Pandemics

How much do you know about CoViD-19 and how it compares to historic pandemics? Test your knowledge with this short quiz!

Vocabulary Quiz: Europe

Quiz yourself with basic vocabulary related to Europe! These questions are important for understanding history in social studies.

View More Free Quizzes
Related BrainMass Solutions

  • How did the American Society cope with Foreign and Domestic Policy from WW2 Until the End of the Cold War?

    The American Paradox being after World War 2, the U.S emerges as the sole world power.. While trying to maintain that role, socially and politically in foreign policy and on home soil... How did it manifest itself?

  • Lessons learned from Cold War and what to do.

    409603 Lessons Learned from Cold War and What to Do 1. What were the lessons learned by Americans confronting a global crisis? 2. How did the cold war define the mission of the United States at midcentury?

  • World War II and Cold War at Home and Abroad

    131787 World War II and Cold War at Home and Abroad What were the causes of intense fear of communist subversion in the late 1940s and early 1950s?

  • Being a "superpower"

    When a superpower begins to show signs of weakness, the coalitions around the world that have been built up over decades can begin to crumble. American interests at home and abroad can begin to falter.

  • Cold War and Decolonization

    587729 Cold War and Decolonization Find a scholarly source that addresses the Cold War and Decolonization. Then give an annotation which summarizes the source, explaining how it is useful to scholars researching that topic. Innocent Abroad?

  • American Foreign Policy in 20th & 21st Centuries

    World War II and The Cold War finally appeared to force the country to a full policy of international involvement. Since the end of the Cold War, the United States has often been a nation in search of a foreign policy.

  • Effect of Reagan defense budgets on Cold War

    Thus Ronald Reagan's presidency revived the worst days of the Cold War and then brought about the most significant improvement in Soviet-American relations since the end of World War II, thus driving up the costs for the Soviets and helping to unravel

  • Cold War and U.S. Policies

    Meanwhile, the Korean War had brought about rearmament, hiked the U.S. military budget, and increased fears of Communist aggression abroad and at home. 4. Cold War at Home As the Cold War intensified, it affected domestic affairs.

  • The Tet Offensive

    It spilled into other countries, innocents were killed numbering in the tens of thousands, the domestic economy was left in a shambles and popular opinion, at home and abroad, turned against the war.

  • How and Why did World War II made a great impact on the course of American History?

    The most obvious impact of World War II was that it marked the beginning of the Cold War with the USSR's occupation of Eastern Europe, Germany, and specifically Berlin (ie the Berlin Wall). The Cold War began after the War & lasted through 1989.

View More Related Solutions