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[[File: FDR in 1933.jpg |thumbnail|left|300px|President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1933]]__NOTOC__
In the 1930s, the United States Government enacted a series of laws called the Neutrality Acts that were designed to prevent the United States from being becoming embroiled in a foreign war . The acts sought to aid the Allies but they also sought to keep the United States out of World War Two by clearly stating the terms of U.S. neutrality. Although many Americans had rallied to join President Woodrow Wilson’s crusade to make the world “safe for democracy” in 1917, by the 1930s critics argued that U.S. involvement in the First World War had been driven by bankers and munitions traders with business interests in Europe. These findings fueled a growing “isolationist” movement that argued the United States should steer clear of future wars and remain neutral by avoiding financial deals with countries at war.
Although many Americans had rallied to join President Woodrow Wilson’s crusade to make the world “safe for democracy” in 1917, by the 1930s critics argued that U.S. involvement in the First World War had been driven by bankers and munitions traders with business interests in Europe. These findings fueled a growing “isolationist” movement that argued the United States should steer clear of future wars and remain neutral by avoiding financial deals with countries at war. The Roosevelt administration unsuccessfully tried to walk a fine line between aiding US allies and alienating Germany and Japan.
====What did the Neutrality Act of 1935 do?====
By the mid-1930s, events in Europe and Asia indicated that a new world war might soon erupt and the U.S. Congress took action to enforce U.S. neutrality. On August 31, 1935, Congress passed the first Neutrality Act prohibiting the export of “arms, ammunition, and implements of war” from the United States to foreign nations at war and requiring arms manufacturers in the United States to apply for an export license. American citizens traveling in war zones were also advised that they did so at their own risk. [https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06XFM74LF/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B06XFM74LF&linkCode=as2&tag=dailyh0c-20&linkId=70e68c7b371e6ca9c543fe99d864a1f4 President Franklin D. Roosevelt] originally opposed the legislation but relented in the face of strong Congressional and public opinion. On February 29, 1936, Congress renewed the Act until May of 1937 and prohibited Americans from extending any loans to belligerent nations.
====Neutrality Act of 1937 Permitted permitted the Allies to buy everything but arms from the United States====
[[File:SpanishCivilWar.jpg|thumbnail|left|300px|Republican soldiers talking to journalists (including Ernest Hemingway whose back is to the camera) in 1937.]]
The outbreak of the [https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/014303765X/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=014303765X&linkCode=as2&tag=dailyh0c-20&linkId=3b4a78d1db09f00817ca91a21523c1d1 Spanish Civil War] in 1936 and the rising tide of fascism in Europe increased support for extending and expanding the Neutrality Act of 1937. Under this law, U.S.citizens were forbidden from traveling on belligerent ships, and American merchant ships were prevented from transporting arms to belligerents even if those arms were produced outside of the United States. The Act gave the President the authority to bar all belligerent ships from U.S. waters, and to extend the export embargo to any additional “articles or materials.” Finally, civil wars would also fall under the terms of the Act.
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