America First Quotes
Keep us out of war. Be neutral.
America First, Slogan, 1941
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
In retrospect Mises was absolutely right. However it was most amazing how the right wing—even in England and America—were admirers of Hitler and the Nazis and opposed any attempt to curb Nazi fascism. In England the many of the aristocracy including the King had Nazi Sympathies (He abdicated.) For American examples, see {593191} and {623572}.
The elder Kennedy was an admirer of Hitler and Fascism and was convinced that democracy was finished in England. As the U. S. Ambassador to England, his views—see also {610124} and {610122}—destroyed his own political career in the United States, and he thereafter kept a low profile and maintained his political aspirations through his children.
His appeal was also in the name of concurring heads of state of Finland, Holland, Denmark, Norway, Luxemburg, and Sweden.
Theodore Roosevelt was the Presidential nominee. Johnson was a leader of some members of Congress some of whom were extreme isolationists and some of whom were Nazi sympathizers and Hitler admirers. When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor later that year, Germany, fulfilling its treaty with Japan, declared war on America, Johnson’s group no longer mattered. Before WWII most Republicans were opposed to Defense Spending and accused the Democrats of being war hawks. After WWII, they flip flopped and became more hawkish than the Democrats who they accused of being soft on defense for years thereafter. See {631380} for President Roosevelt’s different view.
At first glance, the reader might think that this quotation in a leading university newspaper was from the Vietnam War era. However, it was argument against U. S. involvement in World War II. There was a very negative reaction to Wilson’s visions and claims for the First World War which never did come to pass that stuck with many.
Adams was in agreement with his former chief George Washington {37176} as well as with many of his political foes.
This quotation illustrates Jefferson’s isolationist streak. He would have abandoned all American oceangoing ships and thereby avoid war. When he became President, however, he rethought his earlier position and was aggressive in developing the American Navy, using it at the risk of war.
