How We Got There

FDR & America First

Background

Nearly all Americans who were in The USA during the 1930's, looked at what was going on in Europe, through the lens of having gotten involved in The Great War (what we know as World War I) and having seen it as a big mistake. This being the case, a great deal of legislation was passed throughout the 1930's to keep what (was perceived to have) gotten the US into the previous war from happening again. America was very isolationist. America also was dealing with a type of PTSD from having gotten involved last time.

FDR

Franklin Delano Roosevelt took office after the crash of 1920 had gotten well on its way to becoming The Great Depression. While he didn't help get out, he also was not the cause. FDR looked at what was going on in Europe and saw that the US would need to get involved eventually. He routinely attempted throughout 1939 & 1940 to attempt to goat Germany into attacking Americans and use it to get America into the war.

America First

This was a group of very influential individuals who very much saw the entry into The Great War as being a massive mistake. Many of them did serve in the military during WWII (JFK being the first that comes to mind). They were responsible for keeping FDR's attempt to get them into this latest war in Europe, from working.

1941

War Economy

Part of why most Americans were good with staying out was that they were selling to the Allies (UK & USSR) and got a sense of both doing their part as well as seeing people making honest wages that were not propped up the federal government (New Deal). This also meant that The US was also building a War Economy and was on its way to modernizing it's item military.

Germany & Japan

Though they agreed on very little on a philosophic level (Nazi(ism) vs Cult of The Emporer), on a military level they went back decades. Japan learned modern (for them) ground warfare from Prussia and then Germany. They both committed horrible war crimes against civilians (Japan against POW as well). While the connection between the two went back a way, the decision for Germany to declare war on America, was only finalized the first week of December 1941.

Open Secret

It was an open secret that Japan was going to attack The US in the Pacific somewhere. FDR looked at Japan as the "backdoor into the war". Japan attempted to work out deals with America throughout the late 1930's all the way up until October or November of 1941. FDR refused the deals or talks because they were His ticket into the war. While nobody really thought it would be Pearl Harbor (Hawaii didn't become a State until after the war), they did this it would The Marshall Islands and/or Guam. Despite thinking this, the buildup that most higher ups thought they would need, was not made available to them.

December

While the attack on Pearl Harbor was the largest of the attacks that happened that day, it was not the only one. Looking at American isolationism, Japan thought that if they knocked America out of the Pacific, at minimum, it would give them time to get the raw materials that both America and The UK had there. Once they had those materials, they could make it too costly for America to fight them. They figured that they could accomplish this before the fleet at Pearl Harbor could be rebuilt.

Prologue

The one thing, and I don't know exactly why it works the way it does, about Americans is that, every one of us is American And wherever our ancestors came from. Even the Native Americans are their Tribal identity along with American. There is something about this that history has proven, that both lets us fight with each other and unite against any who take on any of us. There is an understanding that if an American gets taken hostage overseas, the US will come for them. Other militaries that work with the Americans, all say that if they are in a bind and are calling for help, they hope to God that it is the Americans who pick up. Anyone else asks what is going on and actually decides if they will come for them or not. The Americans get to where they are and say "We are on our way." and usually knows exactly what is going on before they get there. Americans are just mentally built different. Japan found that out 83 years ago today. Germany made their single biggest mistake of WWII a few days later when they declared war on the US who had only declared war on Japan. In my opinion, it was an even bigger mistake than invading Russia. Russia was an ally and beat them back so American made weapons. If the US was only in the Pacific, would they have cared enough to send the weapons they could use to someone else fighting what they would have seen as a Different War?

Habitual Line Crosser did a good video today on some of this: