Ninety years is a long time. In 1936, Americans were suffering during the Great Depression and life was generally hard. My parents were deeply affected by what they saw as teenagers. Vast unemployment, hunger, fear. The United States was in trouble.
Therefore, many Americans did not care about the tremendous evil that was gathering strength thousands of miles away. Adolph Hitler had become the dictator of Germany and was ramping up his war machine. In addition, the Gestapo and the SS were violating human rights on a mass scale within the Third Reich. Jews, in particular, were targeted for destruction.
