A Story of America First: The Men and Women Who Opposed U.S. Intervention in World War II

(Hardback)

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Written in 1942, but unpublished until now, this study of the America First Committee by it's chief researcher and Senate lobbyist sheds new light on this frequently misunderstood and misrepresented group. The America First Committee, founded in September 1940 to keep the United States out of what became the Second World War, was the largest antiwar organization in American history. Its 800,000 members spanned the political spectrum from conservative Republican to Socialist; its spokesmen were prairie populists, Eastern patricians, and, most controversially, the aviator Charles A. Lindbergh. Written in 1942, but unpublished until now, this study of the America First Committee by it's chief researcher and Senate lobbyist, Ruth Sarles, sheds new light on this frequently misunderstood and misrepresented group. An introduction by Bill Kauffman assesses the place of Ruth Sarles and America First in American history. Ruth Sarles was at the center of the storm. An Ohio-born peace activist with the pacifist National Council for Prevention of War, Sarles knew all of the principals and had a ringside seat for the great debates that pitted isolationists against interventionists. In 1942 she wrote a firsthand history of the America First Committee. But a war was on, and dissent was scarce: her manuscript remained unpublished--until now. Ruth Sarles tells of America First's unlikely birth at the Yale Law School, its extraordinary growth as Middle Americans rallied to the antiwar banner, and the fierce controversies in which it became enmeshed. In this edition, Kauffman uncovers some fascinating sidelights to the era, including a pro-Lindbergh editorial by a student journalist named Kurt Vonnegut.

Reviews

[i]n a superb edition that students and historians of the period will find invaluable.-Chronicles
[t]he work represents a mini-archive on the America First Committee from the perspective of its members, which undergraduate students should find useful for research. Graduate students and specialists will want to consult the manuscript in its entirety (housed in the Hoover Institution Archives), but should find Kauffman's account of the manuscript's history of interest. Recommended. For college and university libraries, all levels.-Choice
[O]ffers valuable source material on the committee...-49th Parallel
For years its true history has been buried beneath a mound of interventionist propaganda, but now we have an inside account from the woman who served as the AFC's congressional lliaison. A Story of America First, by Ruth Sarles, with an invaluable introduction by Bill Kauffman, recaptures a lost chapter in the history of American Right, one that teaches conservatives important lessons for today....The timely publication ofthis book underscores the absurdity of the claim that the heirs of the Old Right, who oppose the creation of an American empire in the Middle East. "aspire to reinvent conservative ideology," as one recently put it. The conservative heros of the America First generation, men and woment such as Garrett, Flynn, and Sarles, are being rediscovered, and the authentic traditions of the American Right are becoming too well known to be denied.-Justin Raimondo, the editorial director of Antiwar.com and author of an enemy of the state: The Life of Murray N. Rothbard.
"in a superb edition that students and historians of the period will find invaluable."-Chronicles
"the work represents a mini-archive on the America First Committee from the perspective of its members, which undergraduate students should find useful for research. Graduate students and specialists will want to consult the manuscript in its entirety (housed in the Hoover Institution Archives), but should find Kauffman's account of the manuscript's history of interest. Recommended. For college and university libraries, all levels."-Choice
"Offers valuable source material on the committee..."-49th Parallel
"[i]n a superb edition that students and historians of the period will find invaluable."-Chronicles
"[t]he work represents a mini-archive on the America First Committee from the perspective of its members, which undergraduate students should find useful for research. Graduate students and specialists will want to consult the manuscript in its entirety (housed in the Hoover Institution Archives), but should find Kauffman's account of the manuscript's history of interest. Recommended. For college and university libraries, all levels."-Choice
"[O]ffers valuable source material on the committee..."-49th Parallel
"For years its true history has been buried beneath a mound of interventionist propaganda, but now we have an inside account from the woman who served as the AFC's congressional lliaison. A Story of America First, by Ruth Sarles, with an invaluable introduction by Bill Kauffman, recaptures a lost chapter in the history of American Right, one that teaches conservatives important lessons for today....The timely publication ofthis book underscores the absurdity of the claim that the heirs of the Old Right, who oppose the creation of an American empire in the Middle East. "aspire to reinvent conservative ideology," as one recently put it. The conservative heros of the America First generation, men and woment such as Garrett, Flynn, and Sarles, are being rediscovered, and the authentic traditions of the American Right are becoming too well known to be denied."-Justin Raimondo, the editorial director of Antiwar.com and author of an enemy of the state: The Life of Murray N. Rothbard.

Author Bio

Ruth Sarles was chief researcher and Senate lobbyist for the America First Committee. A former editor with the pacifist National Council for Prevention of War, Sarles represents the often-unacknowledged liberal face of the anti-intervention movement of 1940-41. After marrying Bertram Benedict in 1943, Sarles worked as a Washington Daily News reporter and a State Department analyst. She died in 1996. Bill Kauffman is associate editor of The American Enterprise.