The America First Movement was centered in the Midwest and was headed by Henry Ford and Charles Lindeberg. I wonder if FDR could have used the "bully pulpit" to convince the citizens and Congress that our national interests were threatened. He certainly had intelligence sources that reported from Europe and Asia but it would have been quite a leap to obtaining a Declaration of War.
If we accept that FDR was able to read the history and determine a future course then it is likely that, (after beginning the Lend Lease program), that we had to pick sides and save Western Civilization. This conclusion meant armed involvment and an ignition source was needed. In the encyclopedia it is stated that
.."To protect the supplies against German submarines, U.S. destroyers began escorting convoys of Allied ships part way across the Atlantic. In the process the destroyers helped pinpoint the location of submarines, which Allied warships duly attacked. Roosevelt did not tell the people about America's unneutral actions on the high seas. When a German submarine fired a torpedo at the American destroyer Greer in September 1941, he feigned surprise and outrage and ordered U. S. warships to shoot on sight at hostile German ships. By December the United States and Germany were engaged in an undeclared war on the Atlantic."
Did FDR finess us into the War? Yes. Was it the right thing to do? Yes. This is what a president is supposed to do. Japan's behavior was more egregious, therefore it was an obvious choice to trigger the entry into the war from that side, (note: we had been fighting the Japanese throught the agency of Chennault's Flying Tigers and our alliance with mainland China was well known to the Japanese.) Since there long term goal was China,Indochina, Singapore, Indonesia and eventually Australia to gather up their pieces of the British, Portugese, Dutch and French colonies it became necessary to neutralize the US military influence in the Pacific.
Convoying [patrolling], ... illegal. But that never stopped FDR ... oh, yes, let's stack the Supreme Court. How dare those justices declare NRA, WPA, ... un-constitutional ... so who do they think they are!!!
Your " ... save Western Civilization." After Tehran and Yalta ... you may want to re-think that. Namely, what did Stalin get ... terrority and people and ... How many private meetings (i.e., without Churchill) did FDR have with Stlain again. Also, what happened in China. Truman at Potsdam ... for Stalin it was "fish in a barrel."
Did FDR win the war for democracy ... or communism.
How many USSR agents were in FDR administration ... Hopkins, Hiss, ...
You were saying ...?