Name:
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Charles Lindbergh, Radio Address (September 15, 1939)
We must band together to prevent the loss of more American lives in these internal struggles of
Europe… Modern war with all it consequences is too tragic and too devastating to be
approached from anything but a purely American standpoint. We should never enter a war
unless it is absolutely essential to the future welfare of our nation… Our safety does not lie in
fighting European wars. It lies in our own internal strength, in the character of the American
people and of American institutions.
1. Which viewpoint (isolationism or interventionism) does Charles Lindbergh support and
why?
President Franklin Roosevelt, Quarantine Speech (October 5, 1937)
When an epidemic of physical disease starts to spread, the community approves and joins in
quarantine of the patients in order to protect the health of the community against the spread of
the disease… War is a contagion, whether it be declared or undeclared. It can engulf states and
peoples remote from the original scene of hostilities. We are determined to keep out of war, yet
we cannot insure ourselves against the disastrous effects of war and the dangers of involvement.
2. How does the President use disease as a metaphor?
3. Which viewpoint does FDR’s speech support and why?
Neutrality Acts (August 31, 1935)
Providing for the prohibition of the export of arms, ammunition, and implements of war to belligerent
countries; the prohibition of the transportation of arms, ammunition, and implements of war by vessels
of the United States for the use of belligerent states; for the registration and licensing of persons
engaged in the business of manufacturing, exporting, or importing arms, ammunition, or implements of
war; and restricting travel by American citizens on belligerent ships during war.
Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress
assembled, That upon the outbreak or during the progress of war between, or among, two or more
foreign states, the President shall proclaim such fact, and it shall thereafter be unlawful to export arms,
ammunition, or implements of war from any place in the United States, or possessions of the United
States, to any port of such belligerent states, or to any neutral port for transshipment to, or for the use of,
a belligerent country.
4. Summarize the main points of the Neutrality Act of 1935.
5. Which viewpoint is advocated by the Neutrality Acts of 1935 and why?
President Franklin Roosevelt, Four Freedoms Speech (January 6, 1941)
I address you, the Members of the Seventy-Seventh Congress, at a moment unprecedented in
the history of the Union. I use the word unprecedented because at no previous time has
American security been as seriously threatened from without as it is today…
In the future days, which we seek to make secure, we look forward to a world founded upon
four essential human freedoms.
The first is freedom of speech and expression- everywhere in the world.
The second is freedom of every person to worship God in his own way- everywhere in the world.
The third is freedom from want- which, translated into world terms, means economic
understandings which will secure to every nation a healthy peace time life for its inhabitantseverywhere in the world.
The fourth is freedom from fear- which, translated into world terms, means a worldwide
reduction of armaments to such a point and in such a thorough fashion that no nation will be in
a position to commit an act of physical aggression against any neighbor- anywhere in the world.
That is no vision of a distant millennium. It is a definite basis for a kind of world attainable in our
own time and generation. That kind of world is the very antithesis of the so-called new order of
tyranny which the dictators seek to create with the crash of a bomb… The world order which we
seek is the cooperation of free countries, working together in a friendly, civilized society.
This nation has placed its destiny in the hands and heads and hearts of its millions of free men
and women; and its faith in freedom under the guidance of God. Freedom means the supremacy
of human rights everywhere. Our support goes to those who struggle to gain those rights and
keep them. Our strength is our unity of purpose.
To that high concept there can be no end save victory.
6. What are the four freedoms?
7. Which viewpoint does FDR’s speech support and why?
Lend-Lease Act (1941)
SEC. 3. (a) Notwithstanding the provisions of any other law, the President may, from time to
time. when he deems it in the interest of national defense, authorize the Secretary Of War, the
Secretary of the Navy, or the head of any other department or agency of the Government (2) To sell, transfer title to, exchange, lease, lend, or otherwise dispose of, to any such
government any defense article, but no defense article not manufactured or procured under
paragraph (1) shall in any way be disposed of under this paragraph, except after consultation
with the Chief of Staff of the Army or the Chief of Naval Operations of the Navy, or both. The
value of defense articles disposed of in any way under authority of this paragraph, and procured
from funds heretofore appropriated, shall not exceed $1,300,000,000. The value of such defense
articles shall be determined by the head of the department or agency concerned or such other
department, agency or officer as shall be designated in the manner provided in the rules and
regulations issued hereunder. Defense articles procured from funds hereafter appropriated to
any department or agency of the Government, other than from funds authorized to he
appropriated under this Act. shall not be disposed of in any way under authority of this
paragraph except to the extent hereafter authorized by the Congress in the Acts appropriating
such funds or otherwise.
8. Summarize the main points of Article 2 of Section 3 of the Lend-Lease Act.
9. Which viewpoint does the Lend-Lease Act support and why?