ABSTRACT
The United States went to war to preserve a modified world order: a balance of power, security from invasion, and free trade on the seas. High-minded rhetoric was employed to bolster America's commitment to combating fascism, and the rhetoric soon became part of the cause. Americans of every color, creed, and sex made great sacrifices and noble contributions during the war years. Nearly 500,000 Mexican-Americans enlisted to fight, about one-sixth of the total Mexican population in the United States in historian Stephen Ambrose's words, Mexican-Americans were treated like scum. From 1935 to 1939 the US Congress passed four Neutrality Acts, which were legal attempts to prevent the United States from being dragged into someone else's war. By the middle of the depression, a majority of Americans believed that US participation in World War I had been a mistake, largely caused by extensive trade with Great Britain and the billions of dollars that the United States had lent to its allies.
