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 ...
Dear FRiends,
We need your continuing support to keep FR funded. Your donations are our sole source of funding. No sugar daddies, no advertisers, no paid memberships, no commercial sales, no gimmicks, no tax subsidies. No spam, no pop-ups, no ad trackers.
If you enjoy using FR and agree it's a worthwhile endeavor, please consider making a contribution today:
Click here: to donate by Credit Card
Or here: to donate by PayPal
Or by mail to: Free Republic, LLC - PO Box 9771 - Fresno, CA 93794
Thank you very much and God bless you,
Jim
It's almost like sending ground troops to Iran today after we started the Iraq War over 20 years ago.
We just helped the wrong one.
Should never have given any aid to the Russians. They were the ones who hopped happily into bed with their German brothers in horror.
The Anti-Comintern Pact (1936) and Tripartite Pact (1940) were key Axis alliances with different focuses: the first was a 1936 German-Japanese agreement specifically targeting the Soviet Union/communism, while the 1940 Tripartite Pact was a broader military pact among Germany, Italy, and Japan designed to deter the United States.
And the Hitler-Stalin Non-Aggression Pact pretty much killed the original Anti-Comintern Pact, as eventually Japan made their own deal with Stalin.
Greed.
It will get you every time.
Hitler believed that we would fall quickly to the Japanese and wanted to make sure he could grab the east coast of the US and maybe a good chunk of South America.
So he declared war.
Probably the stupidest move he made in a series of stupid moves.
Yes I know he was, but I’ve never see such a claim. Do you have a source?
-Europe, collectively, was as strong or stronger than the US; they were waring amongst themselves.
-The US was not particularly built up as a war machine until after Pearl Harbor.
-The conflict was 'over there' iow, not in out back yard. Conversely, it *was* in Europe's yards - front, back and side.
-In today's world, the USA assumes the mantle and responsibility for striving to maintain a post-Cold War world peace. This was not necessarily so in 1940.
Because nobody wanted to go to war so soon after WWI ended. That was supposed to be the war to end all wars.
Yeah, Hitler was a great guy wasn't he? He was scared shitless that the U.S. would enter the war.
One way or the other, we would have gone to war with Germany soon after Pearl Harbor. There were already plenty of insinuations that Pearl Harbor was done with the cooperation of the Nazis.
Yeah, Hitler was a great guy wasn’t he?
He could paint an entire apartment in one afternoon....Two Coats!
Because nobody wanted to go to war so soon after WWI ended.
That was the same attitude in Britain in 1938. Which is why Chamberlain had no choice but to appease Hitler in Munich.
No we didn't. Russia wasn't the only communist nation. China is communist. We had our asses kicked in Korea and Vietnam fighting proxy wars with Russia and China. Korea, which was called a "police action" ended in a ceasefire that remains in place today. In Vietnam, we left the country to the commies. Now we do business with communist countries. And Cuba after all these years is still communist. Spain's Prime Minister Sanchez is a communist/socialist. And we've got commies in our own country, because while we were fighting the spread of communism overseas, we took our eye off the ball at home, and communism snuck into our education, judicial and political system here.
ROFL!! Thanks...I needed that laugh!!
However, Britain, France and Russia had an agreement to protect Czechoslovakia. When Britain and France went to meet Hitler in Munich, they never contacted Russia about the meeting or invited them, so they were already planning on appeasing Hitler. Russia would have thrown a monkey wrench into the plan. In the end, that's one of the reasons why Russia ended up signing the non-aggression treaty with Germany. Chamberlain could have had a treaty with Britain and France, but he slow-walked it, because he disliked Stalin. Had Russia, France and Britain chosen to take military action to stop Hitler from taking Czechoslovakia, it's likely they would have succeeded, because Hitler did not have the military or weaponry to stop them.
In the end, that’s one of the reasons why Russia ended up signing the non-aggression treaty with Germany.
Also because Hitler gave Russia half of Poland, which Britain and France were unwilling to do.
We were lucky not to lose Italy and France to the Communists after WWII.
The Communists were well on their way in France, already eliminating opponents by accusing them of being collaborators, before DeGaulle put a stop to it.
Maybe not.
The US did not want a two front war, mostly because no one who is sane does, and we really did not want to go to war in Europe again.
Yes there was a lot of push from the communists to get us into the European war but there was also a major pushback.
Hitler just did not give us a choice.
The US did not want a two front war, mostly because no one who is sane does, and we really did not want to go to war in Europe again.
Of course we didn’t want it, but there really was no choice.
However if Germany had not declared war on the US I think we would have attempted to thread that needle.
Not sure it would have worked and probably would not have ended well but I think we would have tried.
We REALLY did not want to go back to Europe.
Which is what our entire policy has been since the end of WWII. To prevent Europe from starting another war.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.