A Short History of 'America First'

[kentuck]

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/01/trump-america-first/514037/

<snip>
The America First Committee (AFC), which was founded in 1940, opposed any U.S. involvement in World War II, and was harshly critical of the Roosevelt administration, which it accused of pressing the U.S. toward war. At its peak, it had 800,000 members across the country, included socialists, conservatives, and some of the most prominent Americans from some of the most prominent families. There was future President Ford; Sargent Shriver, who’d go on to lead the Peace Corps; and Potter Stewart, the future U.S. Supreme Court justice. It was funded by the families who owned Sears-Roebuck and the Chicago Tribune, but also counted among its ranks prominent anti-Semites of the day.

“It had to remove from its executive committee not only the notoriously anti-Semitic Henry Ford but also Avery Brundage, the former chairman of the U.S. Olympic Committee who had prevented two Jewish runners from the American track team in Berlin in 1936 from running in the finals of the 4x100 relay,” Susan Dunn, the historian, wrote on CNN last April.

But charges of anti-Semitism persisted, and were compounded with perhaps one of the most infamous speeches given by one of AFC’s most famous spokesmen, Charles Lindbergh. In a speech in Des Moines, Iowa, on September 11, 1941, Lindbergh expressed sympathy for the persecution Jews faced in Germany, but suggested Jews were advocating the U.S. to enter a war that was not in the national interest.

<snip>
“Instead of agitating for war, the Jewish groups in this country should be opposing it in every possible way for they will be among the first to feel its consequences,” Lindbergh said. “Tolerance is a virtue that depends upon peace and strength. History shows that it cannot survive war and devastations. A few far-sighted Jewish people realize this and stand opposed to intervention. But the majority still do not.

“Their greatest danger to this country lies in their large ownership and influence in our motion pictures, our press, our radio and our government.”

[abqtommy]

1. As far as I'm concerned the greatest danger to the US

and the rest of the world in WWII (and today) is/was the delay in taking a proactive stand against Germany and Fascism. When Germany's desire to rule the world with Italy and Japan became apparent, the late coordination of the efforts by the Allies resulted in a protracted, destructive and ultimately successful effort to remove the Fascist threat. It's an insult to all those who died and were injured in that effort that here we are fighting Fascism again.

While History holds many answers for the observant, there's no accounting for the ignorance and
stupidity of the human race.