The key lesson of the 1930s is that appeasement leads directly to war.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
The generous way of putting it is that we were not ready for this. The less generous way is to say: How was it possible to return to the politics of appeasement of the 1930s?
In the 1930s one was aware of two great evils - mass unemployment and the threat of war.
All attempts to appease the Nazis between 1934 and 1939 through various agreements and pacts were morally unacceptable and politically senseless, harmful and dangerous.
When you get billions in aid and your weapons resupplied and your ammunition stock resupplied, you don't learn the lesson that war is bad and nobody wins.
Britain in 1939 and 1940 really thought they were going to lose the war. It looked like they were going to lose. There was bombing every day, and people were literally starving.
World War II broke out in 1939, and many people credit that war with saving the economy.
It's not a choice between war and peace. It's a choice between war and endless war. It's not appeasement. I think it's better even to call it American self-interest.
History teaches that war begins when governments believe the price of aggression is cheap.
The war... was an unnecessary condition of affairs, and might have been avoided if forebearance and wisdom had been practiced on both sides.
The misconception that aid falls straight into the hands of dictators largely stems from the Cold War era.