Patriot Games

Contrary to what most people in this country probably think, anti-war protests in America were not solely a phenomenon of the Vietnam War era, as evidenced by the nicely-attired ladies holding up protest signs in the image to the left. The picture was most probably taken in early 1941, as a controversial piece of legislation, HR 1776, came before Congress. Note the obvious symbolism (think "PATRIOT ACT") in the bill's designation. FDR might be deified today, but he was not above resorting to the same sort of trickery that the Bush Administration employed in 2001 to get HR 3162, better known as the USA PATRIOT ACT, passed.

HR 1776 was eventually passed in March of 1941, and became what we today remember as the Lend-Lease Act. As first conceived, HR 1776 was an attempt to nullify the effects of the Neutrality Acts of the 1930's, which greatly hindered FDR's attempts to arm, and otherwise support, the British war effort against Germany and Italy. Although a "cash and carry" provision allowed belligerents to purchase arms and materials in the US, provided that they paid cash up front and had the means to ship what they purchased, by 1941 Britain no longer had the resources to do either of those things. They were in desperate straits, and Churchill was frantically trying to get that message across to the American government and people. The British Prime Minister had an ally in Roosevelt, but the President's hands were tied if Congress refused to pass his proposed measures.

In 1941, American public opinion was by no means solidly in favor of doing whatever was necessary to avoid a British defeat. To be sure, there was a great deal of sympathy for what Britain was up against, and the Fascist regimes were generally considered odious, but that did not necessarily translate into public support for what the president was asking for. I don't know anything about the ladies holding the signs, but I would wager they at least know the contents of the bill that they are opposing. And the reference to "Another Boston Tea Party" is as topical today as it was in 1941. Back then, those who opposed American involvement in another European war were derisively labeled "Isolationists". And those who oppose the wars that we find ourselves embroiled in today run the risk of being pilloried by the mainstream media.