He declared war in all but in name?........ ........... We were in it. If we were escorting convoys or even sailing among them, we made our ships targets. Roosevelt probably didn’t want to go to war, he had a depression to get out of, and having the other sides do the fighting and us doing the providing of equipment, he was safe. Our war production for the Brits and Russians got this country going economically.
We played around in the convoys to Britain, there was a German blockade zone in the North Atlantic. The Germans attacked 3 ships of ours during 1941, the Greer, Kearny and Rubin James, all were attacked in the German Blockade zone where ships were taking supplies to England. Was it necessary for us to go there? We gave the British 150 destroyers. Our presence in there was an act of undeclared naval war in the eyes of the Germans. 6 weeks after the Rubin James was sunk, it no longer mattered, we were officially in it, thanks to Pearl Harbor and Hitler’s dumb ass declaration of war against the USA. The result, our unemployment figures went way down, 14 million guys got a Government shovel (for fox holes) job with fun, travel, and adventure. Women took over the jobs that were held by men on the production line and the depression years came to an end.
By September 1941 President Roosevelt doubtless figured: there's no way the Allies are going to win this war without the US in it all-out.
But he could not, would not, must not under any circumstances lead a politically divided nation to war.
But, and a big but, to unite the country he needed some game-changing event -- something to convince every American that it was no longer just a foreign war, but also a war for America's survival and freedom.
So, maybe Adolf Hitler could be provoked into declaring unrestricted submarine warfare on US ships, just as the Kaiser did in the First World War?
Maybe FDR's "shoot on sight" order would rile up the excitable German dictator enough to commit a serious "mistake" against the US?
Then maybe FDR could convince Congress to declare war on Germany...
What do you think?