The Neutrality Acts of the 1930s had restricted U.S. involvement in foreign conflicts, barring American ships from carrying arms to belligerents and prohibiting travel on ships of nations at war. In November 1941 — just weeks before the attack on Pearl Harbor — Congress amended the Neutrality Act to allow armed U.S. merchant vessels to enter combat zones, a significant step toward full engagement in the war already consuming Europe and Asia. Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox's statement on this amendment appeared in the December 1941 issue of the Bureau of Naval Personnel Information Bulletin — the publication that would later be renamed All Hands — making the case for preparedness as the United States stood on the brink of war.
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