Final answer:
In his 1937 "Quarantine Speech," President Franklin Roosevelt advocated for isolating aggressive nations like Nazi Germany and Japan, highlighting a shift from strict U.S. neutrality towards a more proactive stance, despite not having taken sufficient action to assist Jewish refugees seeking asylum in the United States.
Step-by-step explanation:
By 1937, President Franklin Roosevelt was addressing the growing aggression in Europe and Asia with concern. In his "Quarantine Speech", he suggested the idea of isolating aggressive nations, such as Nazi Germany and Japan, much like one would quarantine a disease to prevent its spread. This was a significant shift from America's policy of strict neutrality, which was favored by many isolationists, to a more proactive stance against the aggressive actions of totalitarian regimes.
Roosevelt's call for a quarantine stemmed from the perils of Japanese military advancements in China and the dangers posed by Hitler's regime in Europe. Despite the prevailing isolationist sentiment in the United States Congress, exemplified by figures such as Senator Gerald P. Nye, Roosevelt's speech indicated a growing understanding that neutrality might not protect American interests or global peace in the long run.
While Roosevelt expressed these concerns publicly, he also faced criticism for his administration's inadequate response to the humanitarian crisis of Jewish refugees in Europe. His administration failed to relax immigration quotas or to provide explicit help to those aboard the SS St. Louis, resulting in tragedy for many of the passengers whom the United States turned away.
The Quarantine Speech remains a pivotal moment where Roosevelt began to communicate the need for a different approach to the global crises, potentially indicating a slow move away from the non-interventionist policies that had characterized the early 1930s.