User:HammyLS/sandbox

U.S.-Canadian military relations prior to 1939
The relationship between Canada and the United States has never been a simple one, nor has it been as cordial as is sometimes believed. The years between the end of hostilities in the War of 1812 and the beginning of U.S. involvement in World War I saw little in the way of military cooperation between the two nations. The Treaty of Ghent, signed in 1814, brought a formal end to hostilities, but did not result in immediate peaceful coexistence. On the contrary, border skirmishes resulting from mutual distrust and rivalries continued for several decades after the war ended. By 1900 this had changed to the point that 'neighborly" relations existed which were "unsurpassed anywhere in the world." Demonstrative of this fact is the Rush-Bagot Treaty, first agreed in 1817 and still in effect today, which serves to prevent a naval arms race on the Great Lakes.

Though the countries had peace with one another, the idea of Isolationism found firm support in the U.S. Convincing the American electorate and the United States Congress that military entanglement, outside of bilateral agreements precluding military conflict, was necessary or desirable continued to be difficult, especially in light of the events of World War I. A poll by the American Institute of Public Opinion in October of 1937 found 69% of Americans in favor of stricter neutrality and legislation giving less military discretion to the President of the United States. It wasn't until 1939 that preventing another war, or any other foreign policy issue, even ranked in polls as a serious concern amongst voters.

Establishment
''It is true that the United States is interested in resisting any invasion of Canada, in the same way that England is interested in resisting any invasion of the coast of France, Belgium, or Holland. But Canada, like France, like Belgium, like Holland, has to protect herself, to help in her own defense. And do not make any mistake about it; in case of a war in which an enemy country came to attack the United States, co-operation from Canada would be vital, and would be demanded if not offered.'' -Ernest Lapointe, March 31st, 1939

For more than a century the Monroe Doctrine had guided U.S. Foreign policy with regard to the Americas. In so far as no country outside of North or South America interfered with or challenged the doctrine, no military agreements with other American countries was necessary. This changed with the so-called Blitzkrieg of late 1939 and early 1940. In a letter to the German Consulate dated July 5th 1940, United States Secretary of State Cordell Hull wrote;

As already stated in the communication to the German Government by this Government under date of June 18, the government of the United States with neither recognize nor acquiesce in the transfer to a non-American power of geographical regions in this hemisphere now possessed by some other non-American Power