#古籍里的历史#
On August 31, 1935, the U.S. Congress passed the American Neutrality Act.
The American Neutrality Act of 1935 was a series of acts passed by the U.S. Congress in 1935 in response to the growing threats and conflicts that led to World War II. These bills were designed to ensure that the United States was not involved in foreign conflicts, reflecting the isolationist and non-interventionist tendencies of the United States at the time.
Franklin S. D. Roosevelt
This series of bills was considered negative because they did not distinguish between aggressors and victims, equated belligerents, and limited the ability of the U.S. government to support Britain and France against Nazi Germany. However, after the Lend-Lease Act passed in 1941, these neutrality laws were largely repealed.
Influenced by committee hearings between 1934 and 1936 and the bestseller The Merchant of Death, many Americans were convinced that America's entry into World War I was orchestrated by bankers and arms dealers for profit. This reinforces isolationism and non-interventionism in the United States.
Republican Senators William Edgar Borah, Arthur H. Vandenberg, Gerald P. Nye, and Robert M.La Follette Jr. were the main forces pushing for non-interventionism and a strong neutrality bill, but noninterventionist support was not limited to Republicans. Democratic Representative Louis Ludlow has repeatedly introduced the Ludlow Amendment, calling for a referendum before the declaration of war, except in some cases.
Top view of Pearl Harbor (October 30, 1941)
Although Democrats have mostly held majorities in the House and Senate over the years, there are enough pro-neutral bills in the Democratic Party to ensure their passage. Democratic President Franklin D. Roosevelt and his secretary of state, Cordell Hull, were critical of neutrality bills, fearing they would limit the government's options for supporting friendly countries. However, Roosevelt had to sign the Neutrality Act in 1935 to avoid conflict with Congress, and in 1936 and 1937, he signed the corresponding bills.
On August 31, 1935, Congress passed the Neutrality Act of 1935, which completely prohibited trade in arms and war materiel to belligerents and declared that U.S. citizens aboard belligerent ships were at their own risk of travel. The bill expires in six months.
In January 1937, Congress passed a joint resolution outlawing the arms trade with Spain. The Neutrality Act of 1937, passed in May, included provisions from earlier bills, this time without an expiration date, and extended them to the Civil War. In addition, U.S. ships are prohibited from carrying passengers or goods to belligerent countries, and U.S. citizens are prohibited from traveling on belligerent countries' vessels.
Soldiers of the U.S. Army's 1st Division land on Omaha Beach in landing craft, June 6, 1944 (D-Day)
By 1939, with the invasion of Czechoslovakia by Nazi Germany, Roosevelt tried to push Congress to extend the cash-carrying clause, but was refused, the provision lapsed, and the mandatory arms embargo remained in place. However, as the world situation developed, the United States passed the destroyer-for-base agreement in September 1940, ending its policy of neutrality. Then, in March 1941, the Lend-Lease Act was passed, allowing the United States to sell, lend, or supply war materiel to countries such as Britain, France, and China.
Eventually, with Pearl Harbor and Japan's declaration of war, the United States declared naval war against Japan, Germany, and Italy in December 1941, and most provisions of the Neutrality Act were repealed, allowing the United States to export arms to belligerents and support countries resisting aggression. This marked the formal departure of the United States from its neutral position and towards its participation in World War II.