The Long and Sordid History of the “America First” Movement
Racist, Isolationist, Antisemitic
Issue #184 American History November 29, 2022
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Many people may have initially heard “America First” from Donald Trump. He believed in isolationist policies such as pulling the United States out of NATO and just about all other international treaties and organizations.
The United States, Isolationism, and White Supremacy
But the isolationist policies that are part of “America First” actually started as soon as this country started in the late 18th and early 19th centuries when the Founders didn’t want to have anything to do with other countries. They had just wrested us from British rule and they wanted the new country to stand on her own.
In the early 20th century, “America First” as an isolationist policy came up again when President Woodrow Wilson wanted to keep America out of World War I and did not approve of the League of Nations. It was Wilson who came up with the phrase “America First” during his 1916 presidential campaign, pledging then to keep America neutral until just one year before the end of the war.
However, the racism and xenophobia that became a major component of “America First” initially started in the late 1800s with the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 that restricted immigration into the United States, even though the Chinese at that time were only about 0.002 percent of the U.S. population.
The Immigration Act of 1924 further restricted immigration of “undesirable” groups such as Middle Easterners, East Indians, and the Japanese. The point of these laws was to preserve white supremacy.
Also in the 1920s, “America First” and the Immigration Act were heavily promoted by the Ku Klux Klan for their racist and anti-Catholic policies.
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The America First Committee
By the 1930s and 1940s, with the rise of Hitler and the German march across Europe, the “America First” Movement became associated with fascism and extreme bigotry against Jews. People such as Father Charles Coughlin and Charles Lindbergh became major spokespersons for 1) staying out of the war in Europe, 2) acceptance of fascism in Germany and Italy, 3) opposition to the policies of President Franklin Roosevelt, and especially 4) antisemitism against Jews who they blamed for everything about the U.S. banking system and their “control” of Hollywood and other media outlets.
In 1940, the America First Committee (AFC) was formed to oppose any involvement by the United States in World War II. Several prominent members of the AFC, such as Father Coughlin, as well as several members of Congress, also called for armed Americans to create a militia to overthrow the United States government and replace democracy with fascism.
Because the primary purpose of the AFC was to keep America out of the war in Europe, it disbanded shortly after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.
However, the racist, isolationist, antisemitic, white nationalist, and supremacist policies, and calls for violence and insurrection against the U.S. government, have persisted throughout the subsequent decades.
The Rise of Donald Trump and America First
Donald Trump started his presidential campaign in 2015 by declaring that Mexicans are mostly thugs and drug dealers, although he’s sure “a few of them are good people.”
Almost immediately after taking office, Trump instituted a “Muslim Ban” designed to keep Muslims from many countries from entering the United States.
Trump also called Black countries in Africa and the Caribbean “shithole countries” and blamed all Asians, but especially Chinese Americans, for the COVID-19 pandemic.
Trump called the people who marched in Charlottesville chanting “Jews will not replace us…” good people. And of course, he declared that he would “fix” the problem of brown immigrants seeking asylum at our southern border with his amazing wall that Mexico would pay for. Immigrants from Northern Europe would be welcome, of course.
He called for the execution of the “Central Park Five,” five Black and Brown men who were wrongfully convicted of raping a white woman and were finally exonerated.
Trump has also expressed his disdain for all “Blue States,” for all cities that are inhabited primarily by non-white people and have Black mayors, and for women in powerful positions, especially House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer.
Trump has expressed his love of dictators like those heading China, North Korea, Hungary, and of course, Russia. He wants to be like them—leaders for life no matter what the U.S. Constitution says and what the voters have said by not electing him to a second term.
Trump wanted the United States to leave NATO, the World Health Organization, and any other international organizations because he claimed that other countries were not “paying their fair share.”
But the main reason why Trump wanted the U.S. to leave NATO was that Russian president Putin wanted NATO to fail so that he could continue his goal of reclaiming a great portion of Europe, especially Ukraine, for Russia.
Trump could not give proper credit to Congressman John Lewis for his life’s work for civil rights because Mr. Lewis did not attend his 2017 inauguration.
All of this has led to a huge increase in racism, antisemitism, anti-Asian hate, neo-Nazi-ism, anti-government militias, and insurrections and attempted coups at the state and national levels.
Trump told the “Proud Boys,” an anti-government group, to “Stand back and stand by…” during a debate for the 2020 election, called his militant supporters to come to Washington D.C. on January 6, 2021, to disrupt the certification of the 2020 election, and promised to pardon all of the January 6 insurrectionists.
The Republicans in the House of Representatives call the insurrectionists “political prisoners” and want all of them released and their sentences vacated when they take power in January.
The Republican House members also want all financial and military assistance to Ukraine ended, stating that America should worry about our own border, not the border of another country, harkening back to America’s isolationist past.
The Rachel Maddow Podcast: “Ultra”
Dr. Rachel Maddow of MSNBC has recently published her eight-part podcast about American extremism and America First in the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s when extremist elected officials (primarily Republicans) got caught plotting against America with violent ultra-right citizens and groups.
We listened to all eight episodes during our drive back to Detroit from Maryland last weekend.
The podcast is excellent as well as mind-blowing and frightening. What happened then is exactly what is happening now.
The podcast is available on all podcast channels. Find out more information about the podcast here.
Our Democracy has always been fragile and it still is.
We came very close to losing our democracy in the recent 2022 midterm elections, but the threat is far from over. “Trumpism,” racism, antisemitism, election deniers, anti-democracy supporters, and insurrectionists are still ready to continue their work to take over the country.
We must continue to remain vigilant.
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