American Isolationist Sentiment WWII: Pre-War Propaganda Stamps Advocating Non-Involvement in Europe

Authors

Object ID

2019.2.33-.58

Object Name

Stamp

Files

Content Warning

The Bulmash Family Holocaust Collection consists of images, documents, and artifacts related to the Holocaust. The collection contains materials that depict a number of topics that may be difficult for viewers to engage with, including: antisemitic descriptions, caricatures, and representation of Jewish people; Nazi imagery and ideology; descriptions and images of German ghettos; graphic images of the violence of the Holocaust; and the creation of the State of Israel. For more information, see our policy page.

Description

26 stamps of various sizes:

2019.2.33: “America First” in shape of shield

34: DEMOCRACY BEGINS AT HOME

35: MEMORIAL DAY 1941

36: 1ST BIRTHDAY

37: Benjamin Franklin quote

38: Abraham Lincoln in profile

39: HELP!

40: WAR? What For?

41: Birthright

42: DEMOCRACY BEGINS AT HOME (duplicate of .34)

43: Franklin D. Roosevelt quote

44: NO FOREIGN ENTANGLEMENTS

45: cartoon with two men

46: AMERICA FIRST COMMITTEE

47: AMERICA FIRST COMMITTEE (duplicate of .46)

48: NATIONAL UNITY?

49: NATIONAL UNITY? (duplicate of .48)

50: Thomas Jefferson quote

51: “Isn’t it great to be an American”

52: Make America Strong

53: Make America Strong (duplicate of .52)

54: John Q. Public

55: John Q. Public (duplicate of .55)

56: Remember You’re an American

57: America First

58: There’s No Way Like the American Way

Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:

The America First Committee, founded in 1940, was a non-interventionist group opposed to military involvement in a European war. It had opposed sending aid to Britain - Roosevelt’s Lend-Lease program - fearing that it would lead inexorably to America’s involvement in yet another European war. Among the numerous luminaries supporting this movement were the Kennedys, Charles Lindbergh, and Father Coughlin. Indeed, Joseph P. Kennedy, America’s ambassador to the Court of St. James, urged appeasement with Hitler, fearing that a war with Germany could not be won. Father Coughlin, a militant antisemitic priest who would hurl invective at Jews on his popular radio program, was also part of this movement. Charles Lindbergh’s speech in Iowa in 1941, however, elevated the taint of antisemitism in claiming that Jews were pushing for a war that was not in America’s national interest, alluding to their broad influence in the press, radio and cinema. Lindberg downplayed his own racist and antisemitic views, as well as his admiration and sympathy for Hitler, which undergirded his defeatist stance.

Dimensions

various sizes

Keywords

America First Committee

Subcollection

Early, Propaganda

Recommended Citation

"American Isolationist Sentiment WWII: Pre-War Propaganda Stamps Advocating Non-Involvement in Europe" (2019). Bulmash Family Holocaust Collection. 2019.2.33-.58.
https://digital.kenyon.edu/bulmash/1435