Wjorld 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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Major Eisenhower, who was later Supreme commander of the Allied forces in the Second World War, complained that America was left with "only a shell of military establishment" (Fuller 234). The shock of World War I had still not left, and entering a new war, they felt, would be foolish. Eleanor Roosevelt noted that the effect of the Japanese attack was "to release my husband from months and pent-up tension and anxiety". Evidently America entered World War II at the precise time and moment to once and for all take down Adolph Hitler and the Third Reich. In September 1939 the Air Corps had only 800 combat aircrafts again compared with Germany’s 3600 and Russia’s 10,000. Unless American interests were directly threatened, Roosevelt hesitated to "push the button" (Buchanan 542). On the following day Roosevelt argued that the attack "had given us an opportunity".

Another aspect that we have to consider is the people’s views and thought’s regarding the United States going to war. The air force was just as bad if not worse. Russell Buchanan says in his book The United States and World War II, " It is tempting to see Pearl Harbor as the crisis that Roosevelt was waiting for and did nothing to prevent". Had the United States entered the war any earlier or later the consequences could have been much worse. America’s most vital interest, defense of American soil, had been challenged.

The desire to avoid "foreign entanglements" of all kinds had been an American foreign policy for more than a century.

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

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