Neutrality Acts

Neutrality Acts, passed by the US Congress during the 1930s as an expression of American isolationism (see America First Committee). The first two ( 1935, 1936) were temporary, but the third, passed in May 1937, was intended to be permanent. It stated that if any war broke out that threatened US security (as deemed by the president) an arms embargo would be automatically brought into force and any loans or credits to a belligerent would be for bidden. The Act also banned US nationals from travelling as passengers on ships belonging to a belligerent, prohibited the arming of US merchant ships, and included a cash- and-carry provision, which required belligerents wanting non-contraband goods to purchase them for cash and to transport them in foreign ships.

During the first half of 1939 Roosevelt tried, without success, to have the Act amended and when war erupted in Europe that September he issued the proclamation of neutrality that the Act required. But he also summoned Congress for a special session to discuss repealing parts of the Act, and on 4 November a new one was passed. To help France and the UK this allowed the purchase of arms on a cash- and-carry basis—a blow to American isolationists—but continued to forbid loans to belligerents. It initially forbade US ships from entering war zones (as defined by the president), or from transporting arms, ammunition, or implements of war to a belligerent, but an amendment later in November allowed armed US merchant ships to sail through the war zone to the UK.

Roosevelt circumvented the Act at least twice: in May 1940 he suggested aircraft be flown to the USA's northern border, which were then pulled across the border into Canada (see also Atlantic Ferry Organization), and in September 1940 he approved the destroyers-for-bases agreement. Following the loss of personnel aboard the destroyer Kearny in October 1941, key sections of the Act were repealed.