In the Senate , Walsh was a consistent isolationist He supported American neutrality with respect to the Spanish Civil War and opposed an American alliance with the United Kingdom until the attack on Pearl Harbor . Speaking in the Senate on June 21 , 1940 , he denounced Roosevelt 's plans to provide armaments to Great Britain : At the 1940 Democratic National Convention , where Walsh supported James Farley for president rather than FDR , he and his fellow isolationist Senator Burton Wheeler of Montana proposed a plank for the party platform that read : " We will not participate in foreign wars and we will not send our army or navy or air force to fight in foreign lands outside of the Americas . " When the President added the words " except in case of attack " , they accepted the change . In that year 's election , he out-polled Roosevelt in Massachusetts despite being opposed by the CIO for his anti-New Deal positions
1940 Democratic National Convention
1940 Democratic National Convention
David I. Walsh