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America's involvement in World War Two
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 two 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 with them unless American soil was threatened directly.
Thus the provisional neutrality act passed the senate by seventy-nine votes to
two in 1935. On August 31, Roosevelt signed it into law. In 1936 the law was
renewed, and in 1937 a \"comprehensive and permanent\" neutrality act was passed
(Overy 259).
The desire to avoid \"foreign entanglements\" of all kinds
had been an American foreign policy for more than a century. 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\"(Churchill
563).
Even if Roosevelt had wanted to do more in this European crisis
(which he did not), there did critics of American policy-American military
weakness too often ignore a factor. When asked to evaluate how many troops were
available if and when the United States would get involved, the army could only
gather a mere one hundred thousand, when the French, Russian and Japanese armies
numbered in millions. Its weapons dated from the First World War and were no
match compared to the new artillery that Germany and its allies had. \"American
soldiers were more at home with the horse than with the tank\" (Overy 273). The
air force was just as bad if not worse. In September 1939 the Air Corps had only
800 combat aircraft's again compared with Germany's 3600 and Russia's 10,000.
American military Aviation (AMA) in 1938 was able to produce only 1,800, 300
less than Germany, and 1,400 less than Japan. 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\" (Chapman 234 ).
As was evident to Roosevelt the United States military was in no way prepared to
enter this European crisis.
Another aspect that we have to consider is
the people's views and thought's regarding the United States going to war. 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. In one of Roosevelt's fireside chats he said \"We
shun political commitments which might entangle us In foreign wars...If we face
the choice of profits or peace-this nation must answer, the nation will answer
'we choose peace' \", in which they did. A poll taken in 1939 revealed that
ninety-four per cent of the citizens did not want the United States to enter the
war. The shock of World War one had still not left, and entering a new war, they
felt, would be foolish. In the early stages of the war American Ambassador to
London was quoted saying \"It's the end of the world, the end of everything\" (
Overy 261). As Richard Overy notes in The Road to War, this growing
\"estrangement\" from Europe was not mere selfishness. 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\". These were principles here on which most Americans (ninety-four
percent as of 1939) agreed. To promote these principles the United States would
have to avoid all \"foreign entanglements\", or as Overy puts it \"any kind of
alliance or association outside the Western Hemisphere\". Instead the United
States should act as an arbitre in world affairs, \"encouraging peaceful change
where necessary\" and most and for all discouraging aggression (Overy 263).
Why risk going to war, when it is contrary to American policy which most
if not all Americans were in agreement with and not mentioning the fact that the
American military was in shambles. Yet another factor that led to this decision
of Neutrality by President Roosevelt was the American Economy.
The
health of the American economy could not be jeopardized whatever was happening
elsewhere. It was Roosevelt's view that the United States would fare well
(economically speaking) whether Europe went to war or not. \"Gold was flowing in
from Europe's capitals; orders were mounting daily for equipment and supplies of
all kinds; America was building a battleship for Stalin, aero-engines for
France\" (Overy 277). For most of the 1930's the United States traded as openly
with Germany and Japan, as it did with any other country. Japan relied on fuel
oil and scrap iron until 1941. Germany was one of the United States' \"most
important markets\" during the 1930's. American investments in Germany increased
by forty per cent between 1936 and 1940 ( Wilson 291). America was steadily
regaining the prosperity that had diminished during World War 1. The real
concern of American business was not \"the rights or wrongs of trading with
fascism\" but the fear that commercial rivals such as Japan and Germany would
exclude American goods from Europe and Asia altogether (273).
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. Would the United
States have been as prosperous as it is today had they intervened any earlier?
They probably would have not because at that time in history America needed a
boost to return to its earlier status of being economically stable which Germany
and its allies so adequately provided. Therefore President Roosevelt was not
about to go to war with all axis powers thereby jeopardizing not only the safety
of the American people but also the American economy which was so essential to a
large and complex country that the United States was at the time. Unless
American interests were directly threatened, Roosevelt hesitated to \"push the
button\" ( Churchill 542).
On December 6, 1941 the Japanese Air force
led a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, completely eradicating the port. Finally
President Roosevelt could wait no longer. America was now involved and not going
to war would only endanger the United States more than it already was. On the
following day Roosevelt argued that the attack \"had given us an opportunity\".
Congress approved the declaration of war with only one dissenting voice. Eleanor
Roosevelt noted that the effect of the Japanese attack was \"to release my
husband from months and pent-up tension and anxiety\". Andrew Wheatcroft says in
his book The Road To War, \" It is tempting to see Pearl Harbor as the crisis
that Roosevelt was waiting for and did nothing to prevent\". America's most
vital interest, defense of American soil, had been challenged. At last America
had to go to war and eventually bring an end to the rule of nazi Germany.
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. Hitler had convinced himself that America had declined in the 1930's
because of social crisis. This misconception also led Japan to confront the
United States in 1941. Had the United States entered the war any earlier or
later the consequences could have been much worse (If possible). Towards the end
of the war Walter Lippmann reporter for the Herald Tribune recalled his
experience:
When I attempt to compare the America in which I was
reared with the America of today, I am struck by how unconcerned I was as a
young man with the hard questions, which are the subject matter of history. I
did not think about the security of the republic and how to defend it
(Overy 341).
Franklin Delano Roosevelt did think about
the security of the republic and defended it magnificently. Leading the United
States every step of the way President Roosevelt did a superior job in bringing
America into war when he did. Evidently America entered World War 2 at the
precise time and moment to once and for all take down Adolph Hitler and the
third Reich.
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