Editing America First Committee (section)

{{short description|American isolationist group prior to World War II}}
{{For|similar terms|America First (disambiguation){{!}}America First}}
{{Infobox organization
| name                = America First Committee
| logo                = America First Committee.jpg
| logo_size           = 200px
| abbreviation        = '''AFC'''
| formation           = {{Start date|1940|9|4}}
| founder             = [[R. Douglas Stuart Jr.|Robert D. Stuart Jr.]]
| founding_location   = [[Yale Law School]], [[New Haven, Connecticut]], U.S.
| dissolved           = {{End date|1941|12|11}}
| type                = [[Non-partisan]] [[pressure group]]
| purpose             = [[United States non-interventionism|Non-interventionism]]
| headquarters        = [[Chicago]], [[Illinois]], U.S.
| membership          = 800,000–850,000
| membership_year     = 1941
| leader_title        = Chairman
| leader_name         = [[Robert E. Wood]]
| leader_title2       = Spokesperson
| leader_name2        = [[Charles Lindbergh]]
| key_people          = {{unbulleted list|[[Henry Ford]]}}
{{Collapsible list
 | title = {{nobold|...{{nbsp}}''and others''}}
 | [[William H. Regnery]]
 | [[Robert E. Wood]] 
 | [[Charles A. Lindbergh]]
 | [[Lillian Gish]]
 | [[Robert R. McCormick]] 
 | [[Norman Thomas]]
 | [[Sargent Shriver]]
 | [[Potter Stewart]]
 | [[Ruth Sarles Benedict]]
}}
| subsidiaries        = 450 chapters
| revenue             = $370,000
| revenue_year        = 1940
}}{{conservatism US|history}}

The '''America First Committee''' ('''AFC''') was an American [[isolationist]] [[pressure group]] against the [[United States]]' entry into [[World War II]].<ref name="deconde"/><ref name="cole-1974-115"/> Launched in September 1940, it surpassed 800,000 members in 450 chapters at its peak.<ref name="Wayne S. Cole 1953" /> The AFC principally supported [[isolationism]] for its own sake, and its varied coalition included [[Republican Party (United States)|Republicans]], [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrats]], [[National Progressives of America|Progressives]], farmers, industrialists, [[communists]], [[Anti-communism|anti-communists]], students, and journalists &ndash; however, it was controversial for the [[Antisemitism|antisemitic]] and pro-[[fascism|fascist]] views of some of its most prominent speakers, leaders, and members.<ref name="atl-af-2017">{{Cite news |last=Calamur |first=Krishnadev |date=2017-01-21 |title=A Short History of 'America First' |language=en-US |work=The Atlantic |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/01/trump-america-first/514037/ |access-date=2018-11-23}}</ref><ref name="lat-af-2017">{{Cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-pol-trump-america-first-20170120-story.html|title='America First,' a phrase with a loaded anti-Semitic and isolationist history|last=Bennett|first=Brian|website=[[Los Angeles Times]]|date=20 January 2017|access-date=2018-11-23}}</ref><ref name="dunn-66"/><ref name="dunn-57">Dunn p 57</ref> The AFC was dissolved on December 11, 1941, four days after the [[attack on Pearl Harbor]] brought the United States into the war.

The AFC argued that no foreign power could successfully attack a strongly defended United States, that a [[United Kingdom|British]] defeat by [[Nazi Germany]] would not imperil American national security, and that giving military aid to Britain would risk dragging the United States into the war. The group fervently opposed measures for the British advanced by President [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] such as the [[destroyers-for-bases deal]] and the [[Lend-Lease#Lend-Lease proposal|Lend-Lease bill]], but failed in its efforts to block them.

The AFC was founded by [[Yale Law School]] student [[R. Douglas Stuart Jr.]], a [[Princeton]] graduate who was heir to the [[Quaker Oats Company]] fortune, and headed by [[Robert E. Wood]], a retired U.S. Army general who was chairman of [[Sears, Roebuck and Co.]] Its highest-profile early official member was [[Henry Ford]], the automotive pioneer and notorious anti-Semite, who resigned in controversy.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Baime |first=A. J. |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/859298844 |title=The arsenal of democracy : FDR, Detroit, and an epic quest to Arm an America at war |date=2014 |publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt |isbn=978-0-547-71928-3 |location=Boston |oclc=859298844}}</ref><ref name="dunn-66" /> Halfway through the committee's 15-month existence, aviator [[Charles Lindbergh]], who had already delivered 13 speeches on the group's behalf, officially joined it and became the most prominent speaker at its rallies.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.mnhs.org/lindbergh/learn/controversies|title=America First and WWII|publisher=Charles Lindbergh House and Museum|accessdate=April 6, 2025}}</ref> Lindbergh's presence resulted in increased criticism that America First embraced overt anti-Semitism and fascist sympathies. Historian Susan Dunn has concluded that, "Though most of its members were probably patriotic, well-meaning, and honest in their efforts, the AFC would never be able to purge itself of the taint of anti-Semitism."<ref name="dunn-66"/>