International Crises, 1937–1940

Abstract

Facing increasing aggression abroad with the German reoccupation of the Rhine, Italy's invasion of Ethiopia, the Spanish Civil War, Japan's attack on China, and Germany's absorption of Austria, and the failure of the Munich Conference and the Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia, Roosevelt began a campaign to educate the American people to understand the threat these actions posed to the United States and to support preparedness and his internationalist foreign policy. Beginning with the Quarantine Speech, the president challenged sought revisions of the Neutrality Act as he challenged the position of non-intervention, began a buildup of American forces, and forged a closer relationship with Great Britain. While his efforts failed to prevent war, Roosevelt launched a great debate over America's role in the world that began moving public opinion away from neutrality to internationalism.