hness. They were the values expressed by secretary of state, Cordel Hull: a primary interest in peace with justice, in economic well-being with stability, and conditions of order under the law. These were principles here on which most Americans (ninety-four percent as of 1939) agreed on. To promote these principles the United States would have to avoid all foreign entanglements, or as Overy puts it any kind of alliance or association outside the western hemisphere. Instead the United States should act as an arbitre in world affairs, encouraging peaceful change where necessary and most and for all discouraging aggression (Overy 263).Why risk going to war, when it is contrary to American policy which most if not all Americans were in agreement with and not mentioning the fact that the American military was in shambles. Yet another factor that led to this decision of Neutrality by President Roosevelt was the American Economy.The health of the American economy could not be jeopardized, whatever was happening elsewhere. It was Roosevelts view that the United states would fare well (economically speaking) whether Europe went to war or not. Gold was flowing in from Europes capitals; orders were mounting daily for equipment and supplies of all kinds; America was building a battleship for Stalin, aero-engines for France (Overy 277). For most of the 1930s the United states traded as openly with Germany and Japan, as it did with any other country. Japan relied on fuel oil and scrap iron until 1941. Germany was one of the United States most important markets during the 1930s. American investments in Germany increased by forty per cent between 1936 and 1940 ( Wilson 291). America was steadily regaining the prosperity that had diminished during World War 1. The real concern of American business was not the rights or wrongs of trading with fascism but the fear that commercial rivals such as Japan and Germany would exclude American goods from Europe an...
