Wryword Wrote:America was in an isolationist state of mind prior to Pearl Harbor, which is why the deified Franklin had to ignore the impending attack on Pearl Harbor. It is why he had to lie to the American people before that when he said, with his elegant, cultured voice, that no American boy would die in a foreign war. Democrats have ever been liars and frauds since the day of the deified Franklin.
Isolationism is hardly the same thing as pro-Nazism. It is true that there was a significant group of Americans, Lindberg being one, enamored of Hitlerism. But it is a huge error to say that America was "pro" Nazi. What America in those days was, was the attitude of "let Europe handle Europe's issues". How very sensible they were.
It should be that way today. We should intervene in the affairs of the world only where and when our particular national interests are involved.
Wry, if you think it is a stretch to say America was "pro" Hitler back in the 30s, then I challenge you to look at some old newspapers between the years 1933 and 1939, especially the years 1935 and 1936. William Shirer published a book and the title escapes me at this point but the book is a collection of his reports from Berlin between 1932 and 1939 (when he fled). In his reports he often states that he was horrified by Hitler's popularity and policies, and oftentimes Shirer was amazed at Hitler's political shrewdness. In one entry, Shirer (who was a scum sucking liberal journalist) said the U.S. needed a Hitler-like politician because the man knew how to get things done. (see, that's the difference between a one-party system and America's two-party system. In the former things happen, the government governs while in the latter you have gridlock because politicos are too concerned with getting reelected.)
Anyway, that is one guy. Read some old newspapers from the era, especially the op-ed pages and you might want to think differently about America being merely an isolationist state. You may agree with me that America, back then, was largely pro-Hitler.
Speaking with my grandpa, he said Southerners (in the 1930s) loved Hitler. My grandpa was about 16 or 17 when Chamberlain had his famous meeting with Hitler and at that time, gramps said Americans were beginning to change their minds about Hitler. He did add, however, that many Americans applauded Hitler's effort in rebuilding Germany before the dictator got aggressive. My grandfather said he read papers daily and he was always wanting to know what was going on overseas and he said he always read reports on Europe, especially Germany.
About FDR, one thing that I unearthed when studying WW2 was that FDR really wanted the Japs to attack. FDR's administration decided to cut off the Japs' oil supply (via the U.S.A) so the Japs would indeed wage war with the U.S.
I never read anything that said this outright, but I uncovered enough evidence to support an argument to that effect.
In regard to your last setiments, what do you think about the current war? does Iraq and its problems constitute "particular national interests"?