ABSTRACT
Public opinion in the United States during the 1930s was at first largely indifferent to Adolf Hitler and Hitlerism. Only gradually, in response to various specific events and the assorted Hitler “initiatives” did it become more mobilized in the sense of becoming more concerned and attentive about foreign policy questions involving Nazi Germany. The most fundamental cleavage in opinion was between isolationists and internationalists. The former generally viewed American involvement in the First World War as a huge, bloody mistake never to be repeated. Their “civic religion” was based on George Washington’s Farewell Address warning against American entanglements in Europe. They adhered to the Monroe Doctrine of keeping the New World, with its valuable American Experiment, safe from the wily predators of Europe. The isolationists of the Left saw American involvement abroad as a perilous concession to greedy and unscrupulous munitions manufacturers.
