American Involvement In Ww2

The 30’s were a very difficult time for not only American citizens, but the nation as a whole. After being burdened with economic issues and war reparations, America turned inward to focus on worsening situations at home. Americans viewed their involvement in World War I as the war to end wars, and when shocked to find this untrue, they lost support for having gotten involved in the first place. This lead to a lack of support in the idea of joining another war. This motivating America to stay out of World War II, many hoped appeasement of Hitler would solve the issues at hand. However, as Hitler progressed and was rarely stopped, many Americans found it necessary to join the war with European countries to stop the spread of Fascism, which was America’s ultimate fear at the time. Clearly, the United States shifted from isolationism to interventionism, and with good reason.
Many believed that the U.S. had been tricked into joining the war for the wrong reasons, motivating them to avoid making the same mistakes twice, with World War II. After fighting in what seemed to be a monumental battle, Americans were disappointed to realize that “The War to End Wars”, as the American government advertised it, did not truly end wars. This disappointment of believing they had been tricked into a war helped motivate Americans to adopt the idea of an isolationist policy in the early 30s. After Britain and France were unable to collect reparation payments from Germany, they defaulted on their loans from America, pushing our once involved nation further into isolationism. The Hawley-Smoot tariff is the first true act of American isolationism, which raised the tariff 60% in hopes that America could get back the money it lent out from its own citizens. It also almost completely shut out foreign trade with nations, destroying the internal trade as