Neutrality Act

Neutrality Act law passed by the U.S. Congress and signed by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in Aug., 1935. It was designed to keep the United States out of a possible European war by banning shipment of war materiel to belligerents at the discretion of the President and by forbidding U.S. citizens from traveling on belligerent vessels except at their own risk. The demand for this legislation arose from the conviction of many Americans that U.S. entry into World War I had been a mistake. This conviction was strengthened by the well-publicized investigations by a Senate committee headed by Gerald P. Nye of American war loans to the Allies. The Neutrality Act was amended (Feb., 1936) to prohibit the granting of loans to belligerents, and later (Jan. and May, 1937) neutrality was extended to cover civil wars, a step inspired by the Spanish civil war. In Nov., 1939, the act was revised in favor of supplying warring nations on the "cash-and-carry" principle; but U.S. vessels were excluded from combat zones, and U.S. citizens were forbidden from sailing on belligerent vessels. These provisions were lifted by amendment in Nov., 1941, after the lend-lease policy had been established. The act was thus practically out of operation even before American neutrality ended with Pearl Harbor.

Neutrality Acts a series of acts passed in 1935, 1936, 1937, and 1939 to limit U.S. involvement in possible future wars and that was created in response to the belief that U.S. involvement in World War I resulted from loans and trade with the Allies. The 1935 act banned the shipment of war materials to belligerents and forbade U.S. citizens to travel on belligerent vessels. The 1936 act banned loans to belligerents. The 1937 act extended these provisions to civil wars and allowed the president to restrict nonmunitions sales to a “cash-and-carry” basis. The 1939 act banned U.S. ships from carrying goods or passengers to belligerent ports but allowed U.S. sales of munitions on a “cash-and carry” basis. The Lend-Lease Act of 1941 diminished the laws, and they were repealed on November 13, 1941.

Neutrality Acts (USA) A series of Acts passed at the height of isolationism, amidst fears that the desire for profits from the arms industry might fuel direct or indirect participation in war. They followed a Senate Committee chaired by Gerald P. Nye in 1934, which revealed the high profits among arms manufacturers during World War I, though it exonerated former President Wilson personally from any profit motive for entering the war. The Acts which passed through Congress 1935–9 prohibited loans or credits to belligerents and placed embargoes on direct or indirect shipments of arms or munitions, making no distinction between aggressor and victim nations. The Acts of 1935 and 1936 both affected US policy on the Abyssinian (Ethiopian) War. Similarly, two Acts in 1937 limited the US response to the Spanish and Chinese civil wars. The Act of 1939 repealed arms embargoes and authorized ‘cash and carry’ exports to any belligerent power, but continued to forbid US ships to carry ‘belligerent cargo’. During 1940 President Roosevelt fought for repeal of the Acts on the grounds that they encouraged aggression by the Axis Powers and endangered US security. They were replaced by the Lend- Lease Act of March 1941.