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World War II -- isolationists American ethnic origins French-Americans
American World War II Isolationism: Ethnic Divide--French Americans
Figure 1.-- This is a French school in Nanhattam, we think in 1944. The children are probably not French americans, but French children living in New York. Because France fell so quickly, few French refugee children reached America. There were French families livig in America, including diplomats, bsinessmen, academics and others. At the time the cross-Channel invasion was on eveyones mind. Notice the map on the wall, it looks like a montage of French-American operations during the Revolutionary War.
Very few French people emigrated. This was the case even when France controlled Canada and claimed even larger areas of North America. That was one of the reasons the French lost the struggle to control the coninent. The English had a much larger colonial population. And during the 19th century when huge numbers of people from all over Europe emigrated to the United States, but very few French people came. The French were one of the smallest immigrant groups, especially comsidering that France was one of the largest European countries. The fall of France (June 1940), however, shocked Aneriabs like no other NAZI victim. France had been the bulwark blocking the German Army during World war I. It was also along with the British the major democratic state in Europe. The fact that the Germans could overrun France in less than a month, changed a lot of minds in America. Americans while still ot wanting to enter the War becme far more interested in national defense and supporting Britain. President Roosevelt rushed arms to the British. But the key impact was on the heavily isolantionist Republican Party. The Germans entered Paris (June 14). Ten days later the Republican presidential nominatiing convention met in Philadelphia (June 24-28). And they stunned the ciunry by not dominating an isolationist, but interbentionist Wendel Wilkie. This feed up President Roosevelt's hand, allowing him at a critical point in history to more forcefully bck Britain.
