Posted on 04/15/2026 7:55:52 AM PDT by CondoleezzaProtege
It often seems that modern day American leaders and many of the American people are eager to intervene in conflicts…Over 75 years ago, the exact opposite could be said.
With Europe locked in battle, President Franklin D. Roosevelt supported the idea of America going to war, giving Great Britain the backing it needed, but FDR faced his own struggles. The United States didn’t want to intervene.
During an emergency cabinet meeting called by Roosevelt immediately after the war erupted in Europe, it was agreed that the United States would remain an outside influence unless directly threatened or attacked…
The United States was still getting over the turmoil of World War I. The general public was not ready to join another war, opting for neutrality. A poll taken in 1939, after the outbreak of war, showed 94% as being against going to war.
Even if the United States had wanted to enter the war, its military force was simply not ready.
Facing off against millions of Germans, the American military was only about 100,000 strong without a draft. To enter the European crisis would likely mean a complete decimation of America’s forces.
Beyond a lack of force, the United States military was generally behind on weaponry, with much of it dating back to the First World War. The current force wasn’t ready for war against the better-trained Germans. Even if the numbers were there, the preparedness was not.
The war in Europe didn’t seem to pose any threat to the American economy and joining it only served to threaten its stability… the US was actually benefiting from the conflict, manufacturing military equipment and vehicles for the Allied forces…
Then it all changed…
(Excerpt) Read more at pearlharbor.org ...
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Woodrow Wilson is one of history’s greatest villains.
We entered the war and fought the wrong regime.
The United States was still getting over the turmoil of World War I. The general public was not ready to join another war, opting for neutrality. A poll taken in 1939, after the outbreak of war, showed 94% as being against going to war.
At the time, it was assumed it was going to be another WWI-like stalement. Once France fell, most people were probably resigned to the fact that getting into the war was inevitable.
We simply could not risk losing the Royal Navy to the Nazis, since we diverted so much of our Atlantic fleet to the Pacific to face the threat from Japan.
stalement = stalemate
This is WWII, not WWI.
Easy one. All in God’s Perfect Timing.
You sound like that Commie in “The Best Years of Our Lives.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4EjRzzRQLI
Did you know that HUAC accused The Best Years Of Our Lives of being Communist-leaning because of that scene?
I mean, I get that there were Commie sympathizers in Hollywood, but they went a little nuts on that one.
Because all previous presidents since 1979 just wanted to kick the can down the road? Trump being not a lifelong career politician is a different breed of men.
Because America didn’t have the stomach to send our boys to die overseas in another Great War. The memories of the first debacle were still somewhat fresh.
Then FDR allowed/encouraged Pearl Harbor to happen, and things changed on a dime: “WE WUZZ UHTACKKT!!!!!1!”
I didn’t know that. That’s crazy.
But I get why they were so intense about communist infiltration back in those days.
I only wish the US was serious these days about the Islamic infiltration to overthrow America.
We beat the Commies. But it looks like we are losing the battle against Islam.
Once FDR gave his “Arsenal of Democracy” speech, for all intents and purposes, we were at war.
Humphrey Bogart got ticked off when he found out that some of the people he was defending, turned out to really be Commies.
How exactly was the Royal Navy going to be lost to the Nazis?
They also didn’t like how the movie portrayed business owners of not caring about the returning veterans. They interpreted it as an attack on Capitalism.
They probably would have moved operations to Canada if the Islands fell. But then of course the Germans would have 50 million potential hostages if Britain didn’t give up the fight.
FDR was reluctant to join the war for obvious reasons. But when the great socialist utopia (USSR) was attacked by Hitler, FDR reversed course and some speculate opened Pearl Harbor to the Japanese attack, less than six months later. WW2 was then in full fury!
But why didn’t we declare war on Germany when they sank The Reuben James in October of 1941? It would have been a perfectly legitimate Casus Belli.
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