ARTHUR H. VANDENBERG - TYPED LETTER SIGNED 07/06/1939 - HFSID 321667

ARTHUR VANDENBERG
A classic and eloquent expression of "isolationism" by the Michigan Senator, who would dramatically reverse his views in the coming decade.
Typed Letter signed: "A. H. Vandenberg" as US Senator, 1 page, 8x10½. On letterhead of the Senate Committee on Finance to Mary E. Cruickshanks, Spencer, Massachusetts, in full: "M dear Friend - This will reply to your letter of July 4th. I can fully understand how you feel about the Jap-China situation. All my sympathies, like your own, run with China. So far as I am personally concerned, I should like to help China in any possible way. But so far as my official responsibilities are concerned, I assume you will agree with me that I must think first of our own America. I do not believe it is possible for us to apply one-sided embargoes in any war zone without inviting the possibility of subsequent events which lead us straight into war ourselves. If an embargo is applied to one belligerent in a war zone we must inevitably expect reprisals. The reprisals may become so offensive that they must be resisted by force. This is the road to war for ourselves. I am opposed to taking 'the first step' toward war unless we are deliberately and consciously ready and willing to take 'the last step'. Therefore, I favor an embargo upon all arms, ammunition, and implements of war to all belligerents in any war zone. I want to keep America out of foreign wars. We cannot be half in and half out of one of these foreign wars. Therefore, so far as I am concerned, I shall vote always to stay all the way out. I believe in true neutrality. I have been very glad to exchange these views with you. Cordially and faithfully". Arthur Vandenberg(1884-1951) rose from reporter to editorship of the Grand Rapids Herald, staying with the newspaper for 22 years until his election to the US Senate. Appointed to the Senate in March 1928 and elected to his first full term that fall, Vandenberg emerged as one of the Republican Party's harshest critics of President Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal, and also as an ardent isolationist who opposed every measure which seemed to threaten US involvement in a second world war. Vandenberg's views changed dramatically after Pearl Harbor. Having once believed that arms manufacturers had conspired to trick the US into entering World War I, he was now convinced that the US must take a global view of its security. As Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee (1947-1948), Vandenberg contributed greatly to a period of bipartisanship in foreign policy, backing the Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan. The Vandenberg Resolution (1948) paved the way for US participation in NATO and other global security agreements. Normal mailing folds. Lightly toned. Otherwise, fine condition.