America's Involvement in World War Two

When war broke out, there was no way the world could possibly know the severity it would have taken on the people of the world. 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 downfall of the insane Adolph Hitler and his Third Reich, but also came at the best time and moment. If the United States entered the war any earlier the consequences would probably 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 therefore have saved many lives. To try to understand this we must look both at the people’s and the government’s point of view. Just after war broke out in Europe, President Roosevelt quickly called his cabinet and military advisors together. It was there that it was agreed the United States stay neutral in these affairs. This decision 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. 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.
The desire to avoid “foreign entanglements” of all kinds had been an American foreign policy for more than a century. Even if Roosevelt had wanted to do more in this European crisis (which he did not), there was a factor too often ignored by critics of American policy-American military weakness. When asked to evaluate how many troops were available 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. The air force was just as bad if not worse. In September 1939 the Air Corps had only 800 combat aircrafts 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. It was evident to Roosevelt the United states military was in no way prepared to enter this European crisis.
One very importa...

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...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 opposing voice. 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. 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). Franklin Delano Roosevelt thought about the security of the republic and defended it very well. 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 to once and for all take down Adolph Hitler and the third Reich. The United States involvement in the war could not have come at a better time even though the effect on the people at Pearl Harbor and our country was seriously devastated.