(November 7, 2016 at 9:17 am)Gawdzilla Sama Wrote:(November 6, 2016 at 6:50 pm)Thumpalumpacus Wrote: True, but there was a significant isolationist segment that he couldn't afford to ignore politically.
There was a vocal isolationist element, but they were impotent. They never blocked any legislation they didn't like or passed any that they did like. America First had, total, ~800,000 members out of the 150,000,000 people in the US, and we don't know how many of those were actively working on their programs. They made noise and smoke, but there was no fire.
I don't think membership rolls necessarily attest to the depth, or lack of depth, of national sentiments. Isolationism went back to the end of WWI and had broad bipartisan support -- witness our refusal to join the League of Nations.
