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The Reluctant Belligerent is the story of American diplomacy leading up to her entrance in the second world war. It details the actions of the American government as it struggled to maintain peace without taking any direct military action. The United States made a great effort to avoid war at all costs, and thus is Robert Divine’s premise; as is clearly stated in the following quote: “Thus to the very end, the pattern of American reaction to events abroad held true. From the first signs of aggression in the 1930's to the attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States refused to act until there was no choice.” (158). The book begins with Roosevelt’s first inaugural address in which he dismissed America’s role in foreign affairs and promised to pull the country out of its grave depression. The Americans of this time held similar views. They no longer had any specific goals in their foreign policy beyond their naive desire to live and let live. However, this policy would be fruitless soon, when Hitler came to power in 1933. He soon denounced the disarmament clauses in the Treaty of Versailles, and proclaimed that he would maintain a standing army of 550,000 men. This dramatic display of diplomatic strength from Hitler, greatly annoyed a fellow dictator, Benito Mussolini. He thought himself to be the ideal fascist statesmen, and eagerly pursued triumphs of his own. He wished to carve an empire in eastern Africa. German rearmament and Italian aggression finally awakened Americans to dangers more perilous than the depression. There was a national consensus that involvement in the upcoming war must be avoided, but a clear-cut policy of how to do so would be the topic of bitter debates for five years.
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