American people were overwhelmingly isolationist

PACIFIC STRATEGY
At the turn of the twentieth century, after the war with Spain, the United States for the first time in a hundred years found itself involved closely in the affairs of other nations. The American people were overwhelmingly isolationist and unwilling to pay the price of colonial empire. It is against this background that American strategy in the Pacific and plans for the defense of U.S. island outposts must be viewed; it explains many of the seeming inconsistencies between policies and plans.