Yes, and we were right to think “ugh...after the FIRST World War and the Europeans are at it (mutual self-destruction) AGAIN?”
Though over here you had people going hurrah-hurrah about the Russian Revolution and socialism particularly during the Great Depression and even some Nazi sympathizers.
But most everyone else was isolationist by nature. WHY GET INVOLVED.
I always think about how fun it would have been in FR existed in 1939, and all the fun threads with people calling each other “Hitler lovers” and “FDR lovers”. Oh, what fun it would have been, LOL!
“...we were right to think ‘ugh...after the FIRST World War and the Europeans are at it (mutual self-destruction) AGAIN?’ ... But most everyone else was isolationist by nature. ...” [GoldenState_Rose, Post 26]
“Ok, but other than The Magna Carta, what have the Brits EVER done for us?” [dfwgator, Post 67]
American citizens of 1914, and 1930-1940, were fools. Also self-regarding, self-congratulatory, self-righteous, and condescending. The country was founded as a trading nation, not a “city on a hill.”
No trading nation could stand apart from the World Wars.
As American citizens of today, it is impossible to avoid the conclusion that we may be bigger fools. The world trades at levels undreamt of in 1940, and we will enjoy still less success than we did before, if we believe we can isolate ourselves.
On a practical level, Britain’s Royal Navy policed the sea lanes, promoting world trade, and the Industrial Revolution: that’s what the Brits did for us (and many others also).