A war would boost the economy.
Second, I think he did recognize Germany was a threat. Now, the question could be was he influenced by the Communists in his administration to want to attack Germany?
And was he influenced by the large % of voters with German heritage vs UK heritage?
eagleone: "I think it was two fold....one was he realized the "New Deal" had failed to end the Depression."
For crying out loud, can we give Marxist economic theory a rest?
I don't care what your professors taught you in school, not everything in life is ruled by dialectical materialism.
In 1940 the US was again doing great economically, without going to war, by supplying the Allies with as much war-material as possible.
FDR did not need for the US to go to war just to achieve full employment.
eagleone: "Second, I think he did recognize Germany was a threat.
Now, the question could be was he influenced by the Communists in his administration to want to attack Germany?"
"Recognize Germany was a threat" is the real heart of it.
A young FDR had been Under-Secretary of the Navy under lunatic President Wilson in the First World War.
Along with several other American leaders (i.e., Gen. Pershing) FDR recognized that Wilson's "peace without victory" policy was pure insanity.
They all knew in 1918 that Germany would be back in twenty years for Round Two.
They understood that Germany needed, needed, needed to be thoroughly, completely & utterly defeated to the point where they'd never, ever raise up their ugly, arrogant & dominating heads again.
Some, like FDR's WWI friend Winston Churchill, warned & warned their own lunatic politicians to beware & be ready, but none of them paid any attention.
Until it was too late.
So why did FDR hate Germans?
Well, for starters, as a boy FDR had travelled & stayed in Germany, he spoke German, and grew to personally dislike German arrogance, belligerence & domineering natures.
Roosevelts were, after all, of Dutch descent and no fans of German imperial ambitions.
As for Stalin's Soviet Union, FDR had no such personal animosity towards Russians and considered them vital allies for victory over Germany.