Laws of neutrality
The neutrality laws (ger .: Neutrality Acts ) were in the 1930s, a series of laws in the United States . They were passed due to the growing clashes in Europe and Asia that ultimately led to World War II .
From the high costs of the First World War , isolationism developed in the USA , which endeavored to keep the country out of foreign conflicts. Three of the laws were initiated by the Nye Committee , which examined the activities of American armaments manufacturers during the First World War from 1934 to 1936. Opponents of the law view them negatively today, as they make no distinction between aggressor and victim and see both as participants in the war ("belligerents").
The laws required the US president to first determine whether a state of war existed. As a result, Franklin D. Roosevelt was forced to look for a back door in order to protect US allies overseas from persecution or to be able to supply them.
Neutrality Act 1935
The 1935 Neutrality Act forbade Americans from delivering weapons to their adversaries in international disputes and was directly triggered by the Italo-Ethiopian War . Deliveries of raw materials, such as steel or oil, were still allowed.
Neutrality Act 1936
The 1936 Neutrality Act was passed in February to fill the loopholes in the first law. It banned the trade in war material as well as borrowings or credits to counterparties.
Neutrality Act 1937
In January and May 1937, two more laws were passed under the influence of the Spanish Civil War , as the previous ones related to conflicts between and not within states. They were brought in by the Republican Senator, Isolationist and Nye Committee member Arthur H. Vandenberg . Companies and private individuals who assisted the adversaries, as well as the travel of US citizens on the ships of the parties involved, were restricted, making the American international brigades fighting there , such as the Abraham Lincoln Brigade , illegal.
When Japan attacked China in July 1937 ( Second Sino-Japanese War ), Roosevelt circumvented the laws by not defining the fighting as a state of war, thus enabling arms trade with China.
Neutrality Act 1939
The neutrality law passed on November 4, 1939, was already under the influence of the war in Europe. The cash-and-carry program Roosevelt made it possible now to supply all counterparties with goods, which the United Kingdom and France favored (since 3 September at war with Germany), which controlled the sea lanes. In addition, the economy should be revived after the Great Depression . US ships were still prohibited from entering combat zones; US citizens were not allowed to sail on war-involved ships. The remaining restrictions were lifted by the Lending and Lease Act on February 18, 1941.
See also
- Ludlow Amendment , which was intended as a constitutional amendment and intended to precede any US declaration of war by Congress with a national referendum unless the country was attacked