The Waterbury Democrat., 1945-05-09

NOl lu.
 Isolation vs Intervent on
 The pre-Pearl Harbor contro- y,rsy was popularly tagged isola ton vs intervention. Reduced 10 its simplest terms the question ~aS whether the United States should give up it's peace and help Britain defeat the Axis, or whether 1t should continue to be only the "ar- senal of democracy
 During l94O and 1941 the ba4- ance was in favor of the latter. The American people wanted it's government to keep them out of the war at all costs. But fem the fail of France in June, 19/0 until late 1941, there was increasing realization that the Unitei States again might not be able to stay ou, During he last IS months Of United States peace, the American roie went far beyond that of the self styled Arsenal of Democracy. in the fall of 1941, before Pearl Harbor, President Roosevelt al- ready had ordered American navul vessels in the Atlantic to shoot on sight any Axis submarines be- cause of their attacks on A nerican vessels conveying war material to Britain
 The United States also uad eX- changed destroyers for British bases, enacted a leud-itaeS act under which the Allies could set war materials without paging for them, occupied Iceland and as sumed the defense of Greenland, and embarked on a war production program unprecedented in history as well as the first peacetime con- acription act.
 Most of those steps wer= taken after British Prime Minister Win- ston Churchill's appeal to give Us 10 tools and we'll finish th2 job -- q statement widely interpreted III this country as meaning that the wal could be won if the United States would contribute the tools of war In retrospect today and .n the light Of the bloody fj.Hiinq in North Africa, Sicily, Italy and France, let alone on the eastern iroHt. where the Red Armies had borne the brunt of the German military might, that attitude ap- pears naive.
 Second Road to War
 The policy of the Roosevelt ad- ininistration from the fall of 1889 to Dec. T. 1941, was pursued NiCh far from unanimous American rho tlirri ,-x of Franklin D. Roosevelt in the fail of l940 was almost totally con- cerned with foreign polic. 1Ssues- a sharp contrast to his two preced- ing campaigns in which foreign policy figured hardly at al.
 During the 1940 campaign against Wendell L. Willkie, the President had promised thet American boys would not be sent abroad to fight in foreign wars. 6ut MI. Roosevelt did not consider the var in Europe a foreign war. All of his addresses after the Novem- Der, 1940 election emphaslzed that the defense of the United States was Jeopardized and that the ob- Jectlve of the Nazis WAS world con- quest-that after the subjagation of Europe, the Nazis' next goal was the western hemisphere.
 With victory over Germany won. there is increasing discussion of the events which preceded the at tack on Pearl Harbor: tlfre are increasing demands for open dis cusslon of the Pearl Haru01 disas- ter and the court maI tial of the Army and Navy leaders a. HaWoii who have been charged with re- sponsibility for the debacle
 The United States road to war" this time will be the subject of de- bate and controversy for genera tlons. How the United States got into the first World War is still a moot question. But irrespective of what eventually led the Japanese to attack Pearl Harbor, there is s'other date that will in the eyes Of many diplomatic historians stand out nearly as prominently as Dec. 2, 1941. That was Oct. 5, 1887 after the Japanese attack on China-when President Roosevelt stood on a new wind-swept Chicago bridge and suggested that interna- tional lawbreakers should be guar s':tined" from the international community.
 Seen As Turning Point
 That date is now recognized as the turning point in MT. Roose- velt's approach to foreign policy. During the first five years in the White House, MT. Roosevelt devoted virtually all his time to do- nestle affairs. His first inaugural address contained orly one line of foreign policy and that coined the term Good Neighbor Policy" His second inaugural addreSs-leSs than nine months before his quarantine" speech-bade NO mention of foreign relations.
 MT. Roosevelt's quarantine" speech was received unfavorably in this country. The isolationists ac- cused the President of war mon- gering" and nothing came of his proposal. From then until war started in Europe in 1889 was a RCiiOQ O1 6ICdt II uoII dlIUl M pIlt United States. The world was be- ginning to crumble - in Europe and the Far East and Americans be- came more and more determined to stay out of the inevitable con- flict ahead Attempts were made to tighten tie neutrality laws and Britain's peace in our time at NH,-.1inh woe 1,oi1oI hpra rol;af that war had at least been post poned.
 But 1t was only postponement. Germany gobbled up all of Czech slovakia before the ink was dry on the Munich agreement and Britain and France decided not to fulfill their pledges to the Czechs and to y,ra,,a for tto urNct the