Also, Germany declared war on the U.S. the day after Pearl Harbor, note that FDR in his famous speech did NOT declare war on anybody but Japan. Germany in fact bailed Roosevelt out of the slightly sticky issue of declaring war on Germany even though we were only attacked by Japan. To a clear thinking (non left wing) person it all exposes the idiocy of the "preemptive war" debate. We obviously needed to defeat Germany as well.
"Also, Germany declared war on the U.S. the day after Pearl Harbor, note that FDR in his famous speech did NOT declare war on anybody but Japan. Germany in fact bailed Roosevelt out of the slightly sticky issue of declaring war on Germany even though we were only attacked by Japan."
True. I'm not sure that war was ever officially declared upon Germany. Not that it mattered to all the stinkin' dead Nazis.
"To a clear thinking (non left wing) person it all exposes the idiocy of the "preemptive war" debate. We obviously needed to defeat Germany as well."
True, but given the Lend-Lease Act and other pre-Dec.7,1941 pro-Britain policies, we were already actively at war with Germany and for good reason. Their U-boats had already sunk a few American merchant ships and that number would rise tragically.
There's nothing better than a dead Nazi.
Exactly. Although, remember that we really were in a shooting war with Germany in the Atlantic for several months before Pearl Harbor. American shipping convoy escorts had attacked German U-boats, and at least one destroyer had been torpedoed and sunk. FDR was adopting an aggressive policy toward the Third Reich and in support of Great Britain. But, whether or not he could have gotten support for formally declaring war on Germany after Pearl Harbor is debatable.
Hitler got him off the hook. When Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, Hitler, for whatever reasons were rattling around inside his insane head, went before the Reichstag on 11 December 1941 and honored the Pact of Steel by declaring Germany at war with the United States. Italy obediently followed along.
The irony is, Hitler had been trying to get Japan to attack the Soviet Union from the rear (around Vladivostok) for months, and they wouldn't take the bait. They had their eyes on Southeast Asia and its natural resources, and didn't care about Hitler's plans to finish off the USSR. Japan left Hitler swinging in the breeze by hitting Britain and the United States first, and the smart move for him would've been to sit back and let Japan distract us while he fought Britain and the USSR. Instead, he let his insanity decide his fate.
}:-)4
With all due respect, 'we' didn't need to defeat Germany - England & Russia did. And if FDR wasn't illegally giving arms & aid to GB from the get-go (in violation of the Neutrality Act) our ships wouldn't have been attacked by the U-Boats and Raiders.
Which also brings up WHY Japan attacked us in the first place; FDR's asia policy was openly hostile to Japan as FDR pretty much declared Economic War them a long time before 1941. 'He' was choking them off from vital necessities for survival (like oil & rubber) and it guaranteed that they'd respond - and not with a nasty letter.
Anyway, after Dec 7th Germany was forced compelled to declare war on us do to their pact with Japan.
NOTE: I'm not justifying anything that Germany or Japan did (I still HATE detest the Japs). My point is that FDR was determined to get us into the war one way or another. And like a typical DemoncRAT -- the Law, Congress or 'the peoples will' be damned, he wanted us in and he got us in.