World War II

When war broke out, there was no way the world could possibly know the severity of this guerre. Fortunately one country saw and understood that Germany and its allies would have to be stopped. America’s Involvement in World War II not only contributed in the eventual downfall of the insane Adolph Hitler and his Third Reich, but also came at the precise time and moment. Had the United States entered the war any earlier the consequences might have been worse.

Over the years it has been an often heated and debated issue on whether the United States could have entered the war sooner and thus have saved many lives. To try to understand this we must look both at the people and government’s point of view.

Just after war broke out in Europe, President Roosevelt hurriedly called his cabinet and military advisors together. There it was agreed that the United States stay neutral in these affairs. One of the reasons given was that unless America was directly threatened they had no reason to be involved. This reason was a valid one because it was the American policy to stay neutral in any affairs not having to do with them unless American soil was threatened directly. Thus the provisional neutrality act

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Its weapons dated from the first World War and were no match compared to the new artillery that Germany and its allies had. As Buchanan notes in The Road To War, this growing "estrangement" from Europe was not mere selfishness. In 1936 the law was renewed, and in 1937 a "comprehensive and permanent" neutrality act was passed (Hart 142). They were the values expressed by secretary of state, Cordel Hull: "a primary interest in peace with justice, in economic well-being with stability, and conditions of order under the law". After all let us not forget that the American government is there "for the people and by the people" and therefore the people’s view did play a major role in this declaration of Neutrality. America’s most vital interest, defense of American soil, had been challenged.

It is very easy to point and accuse the United States of being selfish, but one has to understand that any negative actions made would have resulted in the United States being almost if not completely out of the economic race. A very real "geographical Isolation" permitted the United States to "fill up the empty lands of North America free from the threat of foreign conflict"(Hart 391).

Another aspect that we have to consider is the people’s views and thought’s regarding the United States going to war.

The Americans upon declaring its Neutrality gave additional encouragement to Japan and Germany to in a way "take over the world", and to Nazify it.

The health of the American economy could not be jeopardized, whatever was happening elsewhere.

On December 6, 1941 the Japanese Airforce led a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, completely eradicating the port. America was steadily regaining the prosperity that had diminished during World War 1. The air force was just as bad if not worse. This misconception also led Japan to confront the United States in 1941.

Approximate Word count = 1619
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)

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