Franklin D Roosevelt's Battle vs Isoltationists

             In the late 1930s, President Franklin D Roosevelt did not do everything possible, under the circumstance, to lead the American people away from a policy of isolationism, although he favored the political shift. When German, Japan, and Italy first began making territorial demands, the US and other Western Democracies appeased and ignored the dictators, wanting nothing more than to avoid war. However, it seems that Franklin D Roosevelt realized what was happening before most people, and saw the error in appeasement. This can clearly be seen through the FDR's quarantine speech, Munich conference, and the destroyers-for-bases deal.
             In 1937, FDR tested American opinion by making his famous quarantine speech. In it, he proposed quarantining the Fascist aggressors, as to prevent them from making any more territorial demands, and containing them in the areas they now held. This, hopefully, would have been able to be accomplished without going to war. This would have been a classic example of killing a bird with two stones; avoid war, and keep other international democracies safe. The American people would have nothing of it, however. Public opinion was firmly against any intervention in European or Asian affairs. The American people would rather sit back, take a seat, and see how the other nations would fight "their war". Roosevelt was publicly forced to abandon his ideas of quarantining because he felt it was politically unwise. Yet, he wouldn't lose his opinions on intervention and isolationism in private.
             However, Roosevelt would not give up everything in his fight for and end to isolationism. Thus, he abandoned this campaign in order to maintain his dominance in office. Roosevelt thus began to take an "if you can't beat em, join em" attitude towards this political fight. So, in September, 1938, Roosevelt encouraged the allies to make peace and appease Hitler and Mussolini. The British and French promised that they would not militarily intervene if Hitler promised that it would be the last territorial demand he made.