Neutrality Act of 1936

The Neutrality Act of 1936 became a measure Harry S. Truman came to oppose: although he had voted for it, he later judged its restrictions obsolete in the face of Nazi aggression. His call to revise the law and lift the arms embargo marked a shift from formal neutrality toward preparedness and assistance to countries resisting attack.

Truman’s Reversal

Truman had supported the act when he voted for it, but by the time war threatened Europe he believed that vote had been a mistake. He called on the President to summon a special session of Congress to revise the law. The evidence does not describe a formal repeal or the outcome of that request; it records Truman’s change of position and his effort to alter the policy.

The European Crisis

As Adolf Hitler’s radio speeches continued, Truman grew increasingly gloomy about events in Europe and Germany’s apparent military superiority. He met in Washington with his former Camp Doniphan superior, Robert M. Danford, and the two men became deeply discouraged as they discussed the crisis. Truman put old Army maps of France on his office wall to follow the fighting. Against isolationist senators including Wheeler, Borah, and Bennett Clark, he argued more forcefully for preparedness.

Revising Neutrality

In a Missouri speech in October, Truman condemned the dictators’ return to what he described as primitive savagery and argued that American neutrality no longer matched the facts. He called for lifting the arms embargo, reasoning that the United States should not prevent its friends from buying weapons. Alongside James Byrnes, he also urged increased defense appropriations, an immediate Army buildup, and a Navy second to none. These proposals connected revision of the act to a broader program of military readiness, rather than treating the embargo as an isolated technical question.

Political and Personal Stakes

Truman was outraged by the arguments of the America First movement and by speeches from Charles A. Lindbergh. On Armistice Day, he wrote to Bess Wallace Truman that the crisis made some veterans of the First World War wonder what fate held for civilization. The letter conveyed the human unease behind his public case: in his view, preserving neutrality by blocking arms sales risked abandoning countries facing aggression. His position was a rejection of the embargo’s practical effect, grounded in preparedness and aid to friendly nations.