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A comment on Google Workers Urge C.E.O. To Pull Out of Pentagon A.I. Project. Parent comment

Re:Google Workers Urge C.E.O. To Pull Out of Pentagon A.I. P... by jcranmer on Wednesday April 04, 2018 @02:22PM (#16757460)
The US in the early 20th century had a very strong non-interventionist policy, at least vis-a-vis Europe (Latin America was a different story). The general standpoint was "we don't want to get involved with whatever mess is going on in Europe." Note that this strain was so strong that one Congresswoman actually refused to vote for war even after Pearl Harbor.

However, by 1940, it was very clear that the US was going to get dragged in anyways, and it would serve the US interests first to start preparing for war before it starts (note that the draft was instituted over a year before Pearl Harbor). Moreover, the US was neutral only in name: various acts passed more or less saying that the US would give aid to anybody so long as they were British or French. (Originally, it was cash-and-carry, but when Britain exhausted its cash reserves, it became Lend-Lease instead).

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Re:Google Workers Urge C.E.O. To Pull Out of Pentagon A.I. P... by pm90 on Wednesday April 04, 2018 @04:43PM (#16758860)
A correction to your otherwise correct comment: Lend-Lease was extended to the Soviets as well (and perhaps equally if not much larger than to the Franco-British military).
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Re:Google Workers Urge C.E.O. To Pull Out of Pentagon A.I. P... by jcranmer on Wednesday April 04, 2018 @07:24PM (#16760281)
Lend-lease was the last of the neutrality gimmicks, and was the first one that really applied to the Soviets--mere weeks before the US entered the war proper and lend-lease became the vehicle for general military and logistical aid to all Allies.
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