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.
Actually the USA never declared war on Germany in WW2. Hitler declared war on USA December 11, 1941. The the USA only reconized that a state of war existed with Germany. Oddly, the USA was the only country Hitler actually declared war on.
USS Reuben James was sunk October 31, 1941, and Pearl Harbor was barely over a month later... so maybe FDR knew something we didn’t?