“All about us rage undeclared wars—military and economic,” FDR warned Congress in January of 1939. But to millions of Americans, no danger seemed worth another “War to End All Wars.” These isolationists ranged from college students who had signed the “Oxford Pledge,” swearing never to fight in another war, to conservative small-town Republicans who began to form an “America First Committee.” Even after the invasion of Poland in August, the mood shifted only enough for FDR to amend the Neutrality Act to allow cash-and-carry arms shipments to allies.
