ABSTRACT
In Mussolini's planning for the invasion of Ethiopia, the United States played a peripheral role. Some American historians have emphasized the mission of Bernardo Bergamaschi of the Ministry of Cultural Propaganda to the United States, as Italian documents captured during the Second World War and brought to American archives gave a glimpse of Italian policy. Franklin Delano Roosevelt recognized that American trade with Italy was increasing and that American firms were helping to supply Mussolini's military factories with essential raw materials. During the Ethiopian crisis, Roosevelt's sympathies clearly lay with Ethiopia and with the cause of peace, but he provided little more than moral support. Italy provided propaganda material and subventions to journalists opposed to the League and hostile to internationalist ties to Great Britain. The application of neutrality legislation, which leading administration officials hoped would impede Italy's invasion, did virtually nothing to undermine the Italian campaign, as Fascist Italy had its own arms industries.
