DATE=4-4-2002

NUMBER=7-22780

TITLE=THE MAKING OF A NATION #187-1930S/NEUTRALITY TESTED

TYPE=SPECIAL ENGLISH FEATURE

BYLINE=DAVID JARMUL

DATELINE=WASHINGTON

CONTENT=

(THEME)

VOICE ONE:

THE MAKING OF A NATION -- A PROGRAM IN SPECIAL ENGLISH BY THE

VOICE OF AMERICA.

(THEME)

GROWING TENSIONS IN EUROPE AND ASIA CREATED A SERIOUS CONFLICT

FOR AMERICANS DURING THE NINETEEN-THIRTIES. MOST AMERICANS

OPPOSED THE FASCIST OR MILITARY LEADERS GAINING CONTROL IN

GERMANY, ITALY, JAPAN, AND OTHER COUNTRIES. BUT THEY WERE NOT

WILLING TO TAKE ANY FIRM ACTION TO STOP THIS GROWING MOVEMENT.

AMERICANS DID NOT WANT TO BECOME INVOLVED IN ANOTHER TERRIBLE

WORLD WAR. AND THEY CALLED ON PRESIDENT FRANKLIN ROOSEVELT AND

THEIR REPRESENTATIVES IN CONGRESS TO REMAIN NEUTRAL IN WORLD

AFFAIRS.

BUT AGGRESSION BY GERMANY AND JAPAN FINALLY WOULD FORCE AMERICANS

TO CHOOSE BETWEEN THEIR LOVE OF DEMOCRACY AND THEIR DESIRE FOR

PEACE.

VOICE TWO:

THE FIRST CHALLENGE TO AMERICA'S POLICY OF NEUTRALITY CAME IN

OCTOBER, NINETEEN-THIRTY-FIVE. TROOPS FROM FASCIST ITALY INVADED

ETHIOPIA.

ROOSEVELT DID NOT FEEL NEUTRAL AT ALL. "ITALY IS DROPPING BOMBS

ON ETHIOPIA, AND THAT IS WAR," ROOSEVELT SAID TO HIS ADVISERS.

HE SHARPLY CRITICIZED THE FASCIST ITALIAN LEADER, BENITO

MUSSOLINI. ROOSEVELT ISSUED AN ORDER BANNING AMERICANS FROM

SENDING ARMS TO EITHER ITALY OR ETHIOPIA. AND HE CALLED ON

AMERICANS NOT TO SEND TO ITALY OIL AND OTHER MATERIALS NOT

COVERED BY THE BAN ON ARMS.

ROOSEVELT'S EFFORTS TO STOP THE EXPORT OF OIL AND OTHER PRODUCTS

DID NOT SUCCEED. BUT THE EFFORTS BY THE WHITE HOUSE PLAYED AN

IMPORTANT PART IN LEADING THE INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE OF NATIONS TO

TAKE ECONOMIC ACTIONS AGAINST ITALY.

VOICE ONE:

LESS THAN TWO YEARS LATER, CIVIL WAR BROKE OUT IN SPAIN. SPANISH

FASCISTS LED BY GENERAL FRANCISCO FRANCO TRIED TO OVERTHROW THE

DEMOCRATIC GOVERNMENT IN MADRID.

SOME AMERICANS WENT TO JOIN THE DEMOCRATIC ARMY IN SPAIN TO FIGHT

FRANCO. BUT ROOSEVELT AND THE CONGRESS AGREED THAT AMERICA

SHOULD REMAIN OFFICIALLY NEUTRAL IN THE CONFLICT.

IN THIS WAY, ROOSEVELT WAS MEETING THE WISHES OF THE AMERICAN

PEOPLE BY AVOIDING WAR. BUT PERSONALLY, HE WAS DEEPLY TROUBLED

BY THE EVENTS IN EUROPE. IN A LETTER TO HIS AMBASSADOR IN

FRANCE, ROOSEVELT WROTE, "ONE CANNOT HELP FEELING THAT THE WHOLE

EUROPEAN SITUATION IS BLACKER THAN AT ANY TIME IN YOUR LIFETIME

OR MINE."

VOICE TWO:

ANOTHER CHALLENGE TO AMERICAN NEUTRALITY CAME IN ASIA. JAPAN

LAUNCHED A NEW INVASION OF CHINA IN JULY, NINETEEN-THIRTY-SEVEN.

WITHIN ONE MONTH, JAPANESE FORCES GAINED CONTROL OF PEKING

[BEIJING] AND TIENTSIN.

THE UNITED STATES HAD LONG SUPPORTED THE NATIONALIST FORCES OF

CHINA. AND MANY AMERICANS WERE ANGRY ABOUT THE JAPANESE

INVASION. BUT ROOSEVELT AND HIS ADMINISTRATION ONCE AGAIN

REFUSED TO TAKE STRONG ACTIONS AGAINST THE AGGRESSION.

FOR ONE THING, THE AMERICAN NAVY WAS WEAK. THERE WAS LITTLE IT

COULD DO TO STOP JAPANESE AGGRESSION THOUSANDS OF MILES AWAY IN

ASIA. AND NEITHER ROOSEVELT NOR THE CONGRESS WANTED TO BE FIRST

TO BREAK AMERICA'S OFFICIAL POLICY OF NEUTRALITY.

VOICE ONE:

FRANKLIN ROOSEVELT MADE CLEAR IN PRIVATE TALKS WITH FRIENDS THAT

HE UNDERSTOOD THE SERIOUS THREAT TO WORLD PEACE CREATED BY HITLER

AND OTHER FASCISTS. HE BELIEVED THAT THE UNITED STATES COULD NOT

REMAIN NEUTRAL FOREVER IF DEMOCRACY WAS THREATENED IN SO MANY

COUNTRIES.

HOWEVER, ROOSEVELT DID LITTLE TO EDUCATE THE NATION ABOUT THIS

THREAT. INSTEAD, HE GENERALLY FOLLOWED THE WISHES OF THE

MAJORITY OF PEOPLE WHO WANTED AMERICA TO REMAIN NEUTRAL.

VOICE TWO:

PUBLIC OPINION IN THE UNITED STATES WAS STRONGLY AGAINST ANY KIND

OF INVOLVEMENT IN FOREIGN CONFLICTS.

IN NINETEEN-THIRTY-SEVEN, ROOSEVELT MADE AN IMPORTANT SPEECH

CALLING FOR THE WORLD'S NEUTRAL NATIONS TO PROTECT THEMSELVES

FROM LAWLESS FASCIST NATIONS. BUT MANY AMERICANS FEARED THAT

ROOSEVELT WAS TRYING TO CREATE A NEW ALLIANCE. AND THEY OPPOSED

HIS EFFORTS. A PUBLIC OPINION STUDY AT THE TIME SHOWED THAT LESS

THAN ONE IN THREE AMERICANS WAS WILLING TO CHANGE THE NATION'S

STRONG NEUTRALITY LAWS TO GIVE ROOSEVELT MORE FREEDOM OF ACTION.

IN THE SAME YEAR, JAPANESE PLANES SANK AN AMERICAN GUNBOAT IN THE

YANGTZE RIVER IN CHINA. BUT FEW AMERICANS SHOWED ANY INTEREST IN

GOING TO WAR OVER THE INCIDENT. INSTEAD, THEY ACCEPTED JAPANESE

APOLOGIES. AMERICANS SIMPLY HAD NO DESIRE TO FIGHT.

VOICE ONE:

MOST AMERICANS HONESTLY BELIEVED THAT THE BEST HOPE FOR THEIR

COUNTRY WAS NEUTRALITY. ONE OF THE MOST INFLUENTIAL SUPPORTERS

OF NEUTRALITY WAS SENATOR GERALD P. NYE OF THE STATE OF NORTH

DAKOTA. "THERE CAN BE NO OBJECTION TO ANY ACTION OUR GOVERNMENT

MAY TAKE WHICH TRIES TO BRING PEACE TO THE WORLD," NYE WROTE IN

THE "NEW YORK TIMES" NEWSPAPER IN NINETEEN-THIRTY-SEVEN.

"BUT," HE WROTE, "THAT ACTION MUST NOT TIE OUR POPULATION TO

ANOTHER WORLD DEATH MARCH. I VERY MUCH FEAR THAT WE ARE ONCE

AGAIN BEING MADE TO FEEL THAT AMERICA MUST POLICE A WORLD THAT

CHOOSES TO FOLLOW INSANE LEADERS.

VOICE TWO:

HITLER'S NAZI FORCES MOVED INTO THE RHINELAND IN

NINETEEN-THIRTY-SIX. TWO YEARS LATER, THEY INVADED AUSTRIA. AND

THEN, IN THE FOLLOWING MONTHS, HITLER BEGAN MAKING DEMANDS ON THE

GOVERNMENT OF CZECHOSLOVAKIA.

BRITAIN'S PRIME MINISTER, NEVILLE CHAMBERLAIN, WAS AFRAID THAT

HITLER MIGHT START A GENERAL EUROPEAN WAR IF HE WAS BLOCKED FROM

GAINING CONTROL OF CZECHOSLOVAKIA. IN SEPTEMBER,

NINETEEN-THIRTY-EIGHT, CHAMBERLAIN TRAVELED TO MUNICH TO DISCUSS

THE SITUATION WITH THE GERMAN LEADER. THE RESULT WAS THAT

BRITAIN AGREED TO A GERMAN TAKEOVER OF CZECHOSLOVAKIA.

CHAMBERLAIN RETURNED TO LONDON PROMISING "PEACE IN OUR TIME."

VOICE ONE:

THE FIRST REACTION OF MOST AMERICANS TO CHAMBERLAIN'S MUNICH

AGREEMENT WAS ONE OF RELIEF. BUT THEN PUBLIC OPINION CHANGED.

AMERICANS SAW THAT HITLER'S GERMANY NOW HAD CONTROL OF CENTRAL

EUROPE. JAPAN WAS BECOMING MORE POWERFUL IN ASIA. CHAMBERLAIN'S

WEAKNESS ONLY SERVED TO SHOW DICTATORS THAT THEY COULD GAIN LAND

AND POWER THROUGH AGGRESSION AND FEAR.

ROOSEVELT WARNED AMERICANS IN LATE NINETEEN-THIRTY-EIGHT ABOUT

THIS FASCIST THREAT. "THERE CAN BE NO PEACE," HE SAID, "IF

ANOTHER NATION MAKES THE THREAT OF WAR ITS NATIONAL POLICY."

VOICE TWO:

ROOSEVELT AND MUCH OF THE AMERICAN PUBLIC CONTINUED TO HOPE THAT

THE UNITED STATES COULD STAY OUT OF FOREIGN CONFLICTS. BUT

INCREASINGLY, THEY UNDERSTOOD THAT WAR MIGHT COME. AND THEY

BEGAN TO PREPARE FOR POSSIBLE HOSTILITIES.

FOLLOWING THE MUNICH AGREEMENT, ROOSEVELT REQUESTED A LARGE

INCREASE IN THE DEFENSE BUDGET. HE ASKED BRITAIN AND FRANCE TO

BUY ARMS FROM AMERICAN MANUFACTURERS TO GIVE THOSE COMPANIES MORE

EXPERIENCE IN PRODUCING WEAPONS. AND HE HELPED BRING ABOUT AN

AGREEMENT AMONG NATIONS OF NORTH AND SOUTH AMERICA TO JOIN

TOGETHER TO OPPOSE FASCIST THREATS TO PEACE AND SECURITY.

FINALLY, ROOSEVELT TRIED TO GET CONGRESS TO CHANGE THE NEUTRALITY

LAWS. HE WANTED MORE FREEDOM AS PRESIDENT TO RESIST FASCIST

AGGRESSION AND HELP BRITAIN, FRANCE, CHINA, AND OTHER FRIENDLY

NATIONS.

VOICE ONE:

CONGRESS, HOWEVER, CONTINUED TO RESIST SUCH CHANGES. BUT EVENTS

IN EARLY NINETEEN-THIRTY-NINE SHOWED THAT WAR WAS ON THE WAY.

GERMANY OCCUPIED CZECHOSLOVAKIA AND THEN LITHUANIA. FRANCO'S

FORCES TOOK CONTROL IN SPAIN. ITALY INVADED ALBANIA. AND THEN

HITLER BEGAN MAKING DEMANDS ON POLAND.

IN AUGUST, GERMANY AND THE SOVIET UNION ANNOUNCED TO THE WORLD

THAT THEY HAD SIGNED A JOINT DEFENSE AGREEMENT. A WEEK LATER,

GERMANY ATTACKED POLAND. TWO DAYS LATER, BRITAIN AND FRANCE

DECLARED WAR ON GERMANY.

VOICE TWO:

GERMANY'S INVASION OF POLAND, AND THE BEGINNING OF THE WAR,

PRESENTED A GIANT CHALLENGE TO THE UNITED STATES. ON THE ONE

HAND, ALMOST ALL AMERICANS SUPPORTED THE EUROPEAN DEMOCRACIES

OPPOSING THE AGGRESSION BY HITLER, MUSSOLINI, AND OTHER FASCISTS.

BUT ON THE OTHER HAND, AMERICANS HAD NO DESIRE TO FIGHT IN WHAT

MIGHT BE A LONG AND BLOODY WAR.

THE FOLLOWING MONTHS WOULD FORCE AMERICANS OF ALL POLITICAL

BELIEFS TO CONSIDER THIS PROBLEM. IT WOULD BE A FINAL PERIOD OF

PEACE FOR THE UNITED STATES BEFORE EVENTS ONCE AGAIN DREW IT INTO

A TERRIBLE WORLD CONFLICT.

(THEME)

VOICE ONE:

YOU HAVE BEEN LISTENING TO THE MAKING OF A NATION, A PROGRAM IN

SPECIAL ENGLISH BY THE VOICE OF AMERICA. YOUR NARRATORS HAVE

BEEN HARRY MONROE AND JACK WEITZEL. OUR PROGRAM WAS WRITTEN BY DAVID

JARMUL.