The Clayton Knight Committee, was founded by William Avery "Billy" Bishop, and Clayton Knight in 1940. Homer Smith and several German émigrés, who wanted America to join the war against the axis powers, provided funding for the secret and unlawful commissioning agency. Its mission was to bring Americans to Canada in order to prepare and battle for the Allies amid the time of U.S. neutrality. By Canada allowing the training to happen on their soil, it is considered the most important contribution it made to the Allied air war. This was before the U.S. declared war on Japan and Germany. The committee was forced to defend itself from opposing forces such as,"pacifists and isolationists, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and President Franklin D. Roosevelt."