Roosevelt's speech was criticized because it went against the American foreign policy tradition of isolationism. The public believed the speech called for American involvement in affairs it had nothing to do with.
Explanation:
President Franklin Roosevelt gave the <em>Quarantine speech</em> in 1937 during his second term as president of the United States. In a moment where many countries were practicing violent interventionist policies, like fascist Italy invading Ethiopia, and authoritarian Japan and nazi Germany publicly defending expansionist policies, he called for peaceful countries to isolate these countries in order to contain their policies.
