‘Ties of Blood and Language’

Abstract

The results of a revealing poll were published in the January, 1940 issue of Fortune magazine. One of the questions asked respondents to choose the statement which best described their feelings toward Great Britain. 9.8 percent agreed with the first answer, ‘Great Britain has no greater claim upon our sympathy than any other nation, because she has grown great by employing practically all of the means of aggression, oppression, and secret diplomacy that we criticize in such other nations as Germany’ — the position of extreme anglophobes such as Nye, Johnson, Martin Sweeney and Father Coughlin. 25.5 percent chose the second, ‘Britain is probably as decent as any nation is likely to be, but our national interests call for going it alone and being on guard against British propaganda,’ a statement that would accurately summarize the opinion of most mainstream Republican anti-interventionists such as Taft and Vandenberg. 16.2 percent agreed with the third statement, The British probably are no angels, but as a practical matter our vital interests are tied up in the maintenance of the Empire, because her navy is an additional protector of our trade and commercial interests the world over,’ a position which best approximated that of President Roosevelt. But the statement which met with more agreement than any other — 38.3 percent — held that The British do have a special claim on our sympathies because they are closest to ourselves by ties of blood and language, and because they too are defenders of democracy.’