Bloc of text below, readers are invited to skip down to the TL;DR at the bottom if they like.
Formed after World War I, the Nye Committee, officially known as the Special Committee on Investigation of the Munitions Industry, asserted that arms manufacturers had lobbied for American entry into the war. Those same manufacturers made huge profits during the conflict, and Senator Gerald Nye called for nationalizing weapons manufacturing to prevent future war profiteering by "merchants of death" like the infamous Basil Zaharoff.
Obviously the committee never achieved this, but the anti-war movement achieved a number of "victories" and "near-victories" in subsequent years:
The Neutrality Acts of the 1930s in 1935, 1936, 1937, and 1939.
World War II Shipbuilding
Formed after World War I, the Nye Committee, officially known as the Special Committee on Investigation of the Munitions Industry, asserted that arms manufacturers had lobbied for American entry into the war. Those same manufacturers made huge profits during the conflict, and Senator Gerald Nye called for nationalizing weapons manufacturing to prevent future war profiteering by "merchants of death" like the infamous Basil Zaharoff.
Obviously the committee never achieved this, but the anti-war movement achieved a number of "victories" and "near-victories" in subsequent years:
The Neutrality Acts of the 1930s in 1935, 1936, 1937, and 1939.
- Among other things, these acts forbade the granting of loans, credits, or arms to belligerents in a foreign war.
- Which would have made a declaration of war contingent on a majority vote in a nationwide referendum. It was defeated in Congress by a vote of 209 to 188, arguably due to the pressure of FDR behind-the-scenes.
- Which would have made treaties and other international agreements (e.g. military alliances) subject to a vote by congress. The amendment failed by only one vote in the Senate.
World War II Shipbuilding
- Shipyards were built by and operated by private companies, but financed funds authorized by Congress. The shipyards themselves were therefore owned by the federal government.
- It was reversed by a 6-3 decision by the Supreme Court.