More reluctant? It’s arguable that if Japan did not directly attack the US they never would have joined. “America First” was a powerful political group that urged elected officials and the public to stay out of European wars even if Hitler took over all of Europe. America First disbanded after Pearl Harbor. Fun fact: Dr. Seuss got his start parodying this group in political cartoons.
Also worth noting that the two largest ethnicities in the US at the time were Irish and German Americans. With the famine still in living memory as well as Ireland’s independence being relatively recent, Irish-Americans were not very keen on helping the British Empire. (Ireland itself maintained neutrality throughout the war, largely for this reason.) Similarly, German-Americans --many of whom still spoke German at home and in their day to day lives-- weren’t very stoked about going to war against Germany.
Left-leaning communities like Lemmy want to have it the way that the US recalcitrance in getting involved in the war was only about good old fashioned American racism, but the real history is much more complicated. It turns out that while Nazi sympathizers did play a role, the politics were fraught in many other ways as well. The Irish and German American constituencies were too big to simply be ignored by the politicians in power, regardless of what their own sympathies may have been.
More reluctant? It’s arguable that if Japan did not directly attack the US they never would have joined. “America First” was a powerful political group that urged elected officials and the public to stay out of European wars even if Hitler took over all of Europe. America First disbanded after Pearl Harbor. Fun fact: Dr. Seuss got his start parodying this group in political cartoons.
surprised_pikachu.jpg
Yeah, I’m well aware, hence the word more.
Also worth noting that the two largest ethnicities in the US at the time were Irish and German Americans. With the famine still in living memory as well as Ireland’s independence being relatively recent, Irish-Americans were not very keen on helping the British Empire. (Ireland itself maintained neutrality throughout the war, largely for this reason.) Similarly, German-Americans --many of whom still spoke German at home and in their day to day lives-- weren’t very stoked about going to war against Germany.
Left-leaning communities like Lemmy want to have it the way that the US recalcitrance in getting involved in the war was only about good old fashioned American racism, but the real history is much more complicated. It turns out that while Nazi sympathizers did play a role, the politics were fraught in many other ways as well. The Irish and German American constituencies were too big to simply be ignored by the politicians in power, regardless of what their own sympathies may have been.