AMERICA FIRST COMMITTEE

The America First Committee was organized in July 1940 to oppose American intervention in World War II. The committee built a considerable following, particularly in the Midwest. Some America Firsters actively supported the Nazis, but more—like the committee chairman, Gen. Robert E. Wood, head of Sears, Roebuck—were businessmen who considered neutrality the only way to keep America safe and prosperous. Some also feared that organizing for war would give the federal government and their archenemy, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, even more power than the New Deal already had. Other committee members were old-line progressives like Senators Gerald P. Nye and Burton K. Wheeler, who associated pressure for aid to Great Britain with the international financial interests they believed had drawn the country into World War I.

America First's most noted spokesman, Charles A. Lindbergh, said flatly that U.S. intervention in Europe would be useless. With the fall of France, Britain apparently close to defeat, and a Nazi attack on the United States not inconceivable, he argued that the only way to save the country was to stay out of a hopeless battle in Europe and concentrate on defending the American way of life at home. Although Lindbergh's increasingly extreme remarks—some with strong tones of anti-Semitism—antagonized many, his high public standing did attract followers to the movement. Within a year, America First had established more than 450 chapters, building a membership of several hundred thousand.

But the tide of public opinion was moving against isolationism; the committee was able to prevent neither the reelection of Roosevelt in 1940 nor congressional approval of the Lend-Lease agreement to assist Britain in the spring of 1941. The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941, was the final blow, destroying the last hope that Americans could protect their country by remaining neutral.

See also Isolationism.