Democracy and Fascism

The economic insecurity so prevalent in the Great Depression put a tremendous strain on democratic nations across the globe. Many countries increasingly turned to authoritarianism as an answer to the anxiety and desperation people felt about their lives and their futures. The rise of fascism, with its attendant racism, militarism, and imperialism, threatened to destabilize the world order. Most Americans, traumatized by World War One, recoiled from these developments, preferring to close the nation’s front door and seek answers to the Great Depression at home. This chapter explains how and why Americans refused to welcome victims of antisemitism from Nazi Germany into the US during the 1930s. It also interrogates President Franklin Roosevelt and First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt’s response to the rise of fascism as well as the emergence of both anti-fascist and fascist movements within the US. Ultimately, it asserts, the spread of fascism forced Americans into a conversation about the meaning and practice of democracy.