America First Committee

“We build and we defend a way of life, not for ourselves alone, but for all mankind.” That is the…

The United States’ involvement in two world wars indicates clearly that American isolationism is at a practical end, Reinhold Niebuhr asserts in this article, originally published on April 5, 1943 in Christianity and Crisis. Working toward international integration is a national responsibility – morally and in the interests of security. Alliances depend on the will of their members; it is no different for the United States. Niebuhr also warns of a new danger: a unilateral “imperialist” American military establishment, simultaneously preoccupied with hegemony and unconcerned with the rest of the world.

Senator Joseph H. Ball, a Republican from Minnesota appointed unexpectedly to office in 1940, supported the Lend-Lease Act to aid Britain in its defense against Nazi Germany and debated against Charles Lindbergh and his America First populism.

The lesson of the greatest generation is “Don’t repeat the mistakes of the America First Committee,” and here we are.

In this first part of a two-part series, Gayle Trotter interviewed Bret Stephens about Trump’s use of the “America First” slogan.