The Blitz and its Impact on US Public Opinion

 

As the impact of the Blitz on US public opinion was being debated in Washington, committees began to appear in great numbers throughout the country.  The two most prominent were the Committee to Defend America by Aiding the Allies (CDAAA) chaired by William Allen White and the American First Committee (AFC) chaired by General Robert E. Wood.  Both committees included the Blitz as the most important part of their campaigns.  The CDAAA certainly showed the bombings in more explicit terms; mainly how they affected American democracy, public sympathies toward Great Britain and how she was defending American interests by acting as her front-line of defense, as well as the reality of American cities subjected to systematic destruction from the air.  The AFC reputed all these claims, adding the Blitz was being over-stated and was part of an orchestrated effort by Anglo-American propaganda organizations.  Furthermore, the anti-interventionists argued that any threat to American defense in the Western Hemisphere was justification to concentrate on hemispheric defense.

The Committee to Defend American by Aiding the Allies was created in the spring of 1940 by William Allen White.  White owned and operated the Emporia Gazette out of Emporia, Kansas and was registered Republican.  However, he supported many aspects of the President’s New Deal and openly supported Roosevelt’s steps towards aiding Britain’s fight against Hitler.

 

Throughout the summer of 1940, the CDAAA collected more that 250,000 signatures for a petition backing the Destroyers-for-Bases deal and more aid for Britain. As the bombings began to intensify, White stepped up his public plea for more aid to include American bombers.  The committee urged the President to send 25 flying fortresses to Great Britain in early September ‘to be of major help in restricting destruction from the air.’ According to the LA Times, the urgency of White’s appeal to the American public and Roosevelt had been ‘increased’ due to the ‘German onslaught upon London.’  White and the CDAAA had clear plans to include the bombings of first, London, and then all of Great Britain, as justification for their existence. [i]

White and the CDAAA’s push for ‘aid-short-of-war’ quickly developed into a national movement that included 626 branches throughout the country.[ii]  The CDAAA campaigned on many ways to achieve their aims and widen their base.  The ideas of appeasement not only provided the CDAAA with ammunition against the opposition, but also allowed the committee to promote their organisation as the defenders of democracy.  White called appeasement the ‘greatest danger in the country,’ and claimed that it was ‘treason to democracy.’  He argued that such ideas would only lead to a stalemate peace, and although it ‘would not mean that New York or New Orleans would be bombed,’ Hitler would do his best to implement his war of ideology in South America.[iii]

The opposition was an unlikely coalition of pacifists, communists, isolationists, anti-New Dealers, pro-German sympathizers, anti-Semites and leading businessmen.  Together they formed organisations such as the American Friends Service Committee, Verne Marshall’s Minister’s No War Committee, Committee of One, Keep America out of War Congress, and the National Legion of Mothers of America.  However, the America First Committee emerged as the leading anti-intervention organisation with nearly 800,000 members in 650 chapters across the country. 

The AFC was created by a group of Yale graduate students and quickly grew.  The AFC issued a four point program, arguing that ‘aid short of war’ weakened America’s defenses and threatened to involve America in war in Europe.  America should concentrate on hemispheric defense.  American democracy can only be preserved by keeping out of Britain’s war, and no foreign power can successfully attack a prepared United States.[iv] They argued against the Bases-for-Destroyers deal, publicly ridiculed and chastised Lend-Lease as nothing but a ‘dictator bill’ and campaigned heavily against US led convoys across the Atlantic.  They also attempted to educate the American public against pro-British propaganda, including the notion that German bombers could reach American cities. 

Shortly after the AFC began, the retired General and prominent businessmen Robert E. Wood was chosen as committee president.  Based mainly in Chicago, the 61 year-old Sears, Roebuck & Co. chairman immediately unleashed a public opinion campaign to match the Interventionists.  Despite a military background and having served in the First World War in France, Gen. Wood argued that it was not America’s place to fight another European war.  Because of his reputation as a successful businessman and patriot, Gen. Wood’s presence as the AFC’s acting president gathered considerable attention.  Wood toured the country warning the American public against the dangers of war and advocating for a stronger hemispheric defense.  Gen. Wood and the AFC rejected the CDAAA’s claim that Britain was fighting America’s war, stating that although he supported repealing the Neutrality Act in favour of Cash and Carry, he did not believe that America’s security depended on it. 

Less than a month after the Blitz began, Gen. Wood delivered a speech before the Chicago Council on Foreign Relations outlining the AFC’s strategies and choices. In addition to AFC’s established four points, Gen. Wood argued that aerial bombardment alone did not win wars.  Furthermore, he claimed a sustained aerial bombardment on Britain does not guarantee a German victory or even a successful invasion.  With the support of the AFC, Gen. Wood accused President Roosevelt of creating mass panic with comments that a defeated Britain meant German bombs falling on America cities.  ‘The air invasion of America is ridiculous,’ he told the group of supporters, ‘worthy of Hollywood and certainly not the White House.’ Along with the ideology, military strategy and politics, the AFC and Gen Wood argued that it was British-led propaganda like this that was affecting US public opinion.  Regardless of the civilian bombing, wrote Gen. Wood, Britain was an imperialistic world power bent on preserving as much of her empire as possible.[v] 

 

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[i] LA Times, ‘Aid to Allies Group Urges Bombers Be Sent to British’, September 13, 1940, pg. 6.

[ii] LA Times, ‘Aid to Allies Group Urges Bombers Be Sent to British’, September 13, 1940, pg. 6.

[iii] The Chicago Tribune, ‘White Requests Aid for Britain on Wider Basis’, November 17, 1940, pg. ?

[iv] Justus Doenecke, The Battle Against Intervention, 1939-1941, (Kreiger PublishingCompany: Florida, 1997), pg. 37.

[v] ‘Our Foreign Policy’ Gen. Robert E Wood, 4 October 1940 Hoover Institute Box 281