Full transcript
0:01so Gerald NY has helped Kickstart a
0:06rebirth of isolationist sentiment in the
0:09United States and one of the ways that
0:11we see this this isolationist sentiment
0:15growing stronger is through the passage
0:17of a Neutrality Act there are actually
0:20three Neutrality Acts 1935 1937 in
0:251939 one of the ironic things here is is
0:28that
0:30the Neutrality Acts actually grow less
0:32neutral over the span of this time
0:34period And so what I'm about to explain
0:36to you is is really what the Neutrality
0:39Act was supposed to do and why it grew
0:42weaker over time and it's important to
0:45understand that this change because the
0:48Neutrality Acts growing weaker show us
0:52that FDR is working behind the scenes to
0:55move away from isolationism towards
0:58interventionism
1:00and to make it easier for the US to
1:02involve itself in the second world war
1:05something that FDR by the mid 1930s
1:08believed was going to be entirely
1:10necessary whether people wanted it or
1:13not okay so first and foremost let's
1:17point out that there are three of these
1:19acts and that's because the Neutrality
1:21Acts all have a recertification on them
1:24Congress does this a lot there's certain
1:26laws that have to come back up for ratif
1:30ification every couple of years and it's
1:32because the assumption is is maybe the
1:34laws need to change so every time the
1:36law comes up for recertification in this
1:38case every two years um it's an
1:41opportunity for negotiation for the law
1:43to change to Fit changing needs so in
1:461935 the very first Neutrality Act said
1:50the United States cannot sell arms
1:53abroad at all in fact it can't sell any
1:56arms to anybody overseas right uh the
2:00second thing it says is is if you are a
2:03nation at War you cannot buy from the
2:07United States the U us producers cannot
2:10sell anything it w care if it's food we
2:13don't care if it's warships whatever
2:15cannot be sold to a country at War
2:17because we don't want that to eventually
2:19pull us into the conflict in the way the
2:22merchants of death had pulled the United
2:23States in Conflict according
2:26tonight um a third part of the 35
2:29Neutrality Act said if you're an
2:31American and you're traveling and you
2:34get killed particularly on a naval
2:36vessel it's your own fault this was a
2:38reference back to the lucanian Sussex
2:42sinkings uh leading up to the first
2:44world war American citizens had died on
2:46those ships when German OTS sank these
2:49British ships so the idea was you know
2:54the United States won't be pulled into a
2:56conflict because citizens are traveling
2:58in parts of the country they shouldn't
2:59be traveling it okay so two years goes
3:02by um it's worth pointing out that in
3:06this time FDR gets reelected to a second
3:09term the second new deal's in place so
3:12the economy has been stabilized um it's
3:15recovered slowly but there's still 14
3:19million people out of work there's still
3:21a lot of people hurting there's still a
3:23lot of pressure to invigorate the
3:26economy and create more jobs and more
3:28wages so
3:31what FDR is able to do is to negotiate a
3:35weaker Neutrality
3:37Act under the guise of creating more
3:40jobs and more money right the concept is
3:43look if there are markets abroad that
3:45want to buy from American Producers and
3:48create wages that end up in American
3:49workers Pockets then then we need to do
3:52that so the 37 act says that a country
3:57at War can buy from United States but it
4:02can only buy non-war items so you can
4:04buy food buy medical supplies can't buy
4:08guns can't buy planes you can't buy buy
4:10War items also you have to pay with cash
4:15right we're not loaning money you have
4:17to spend cash buying these Goods another
4:21two years goes by it's
4:231939 Hitler has invaded Poland at this
4:26point right he's a authoritarianism is a
4:29great growing problem also the American
4:32economy has gone into a slight recession
4:34in
4:351938 so there's this sort of need to
4:38double down on creating more jobs again
4:42uh and FDR is motivated to try and
4:44liberalize supplying European countries
4:48with Goods that they can use to protect
4:49themselves from a clearly aggressive
4:51Hitler so the 39 act says you can sell
4:56arms and Munitions abroad right we'll
4:59sell War Goods to European countries at
5:01War but it's got to be cash and carry
5:05right you've got to pay cash and you
5:07have to come get it we are not putting
5:10American ships American people in a
5:12Harm's a way to deliver your goods
5:14you've got to come do
5:15it FDR is arguing that these things are
5:20okay because they will not put America
5:23in a position to be pulled into a
5:25conflict they don't want to in fact
5:27increasingly FDR is arguing for weaker
5:30Neutrality Acts and succeeding because
5:33he's arguing for the United States to
5:35stay out of this conflict we have to
5:37supply the people who are already
5:40fighting Hitler and stop him it's worth
5:42pointing out that that FDR is playing
5:44with politics here he knows the US is
5:47drifting closer to actual intervention
5:49and being directly involved in the
5:51conflict but he knows the American
5:53people aren't ready for that so he's
5:54trying to kind of ease the skids but
5:57also not create a problem for himself
6:00with an upcoming election on the horizon