Final answer:
FDR's administration passed the Neutrality Acts banning arm sales and loans to warring nations, but later allowed Cash and Carry sales for Allies.
Step-by-step explanation:
President Franklin D. Roosevelt navigated the United States' initial neutrality during World War II by enforcing the Neutrality Acts of the mid-1930s. These acts included bans on selling arms, making loans to, and shipping goods to belligerent nations. However, the Cash and Carry policy was later introduced, permitting the sale of materials to countries involved in the conflict, provided they paid in cash and used their own transportation. This policy, particularly with the 1939 amendment, was a crucial step in bolstering the Allied forces without directly involving the U.S. in the war.
The early steps taken by FDR to aid nations fighting totalitarianism while keeping the U.S. out of the war included the Lend-Lease policies, designed to provide material support to Allies, signaling a move towards a less restrictive stance on U.S. involvement abroad.