Childe Hassam 1917; Wikimedia Commons

Isolationists, feeling secure in the separation from other nations by vast oceans, believed the USA should not become involved in foreign wars. The NYE Committee Hearings from 1934-36 reviewed the relationship between the U.S. government and the munitions and shipbuilding industries, war profits and the background events leading up to U.S. entry into WWI.

The committee documented huge profits made by arms manufacturers during the war, and implied that many other industries and banks profited as well. In 1936, the Senate cut off committee funding after Chairman Nye  claimed that the late President Woodrow Wilson withheld essential information from Congress as it debated entering WWI.