"Roosevelt in 1940" Topic

Correct not to go to war for whom, Roosevelt, American voters, or Europe?
For Roosevelt the answer is a clear yes, which I suppose means for voters as well. For Europe, I think otherwise.

How prepared were we for war in 1940?

If he lost to an isolationist in 1940 there wouldn't have been any help for anyone later on. And as Asterix notes, the US wasn't prepared to go to war in 1940 and couldn't really even send that much aid, as we were still gearing up a war economy.

I believe that was the correct decision and certainly plans were being put in place to both increase readiness, assist the Allies and prepare for what was ahead. We were not ready and as mentioned by ScottWashburn had he lost the election to an isolationist candidate it would have been a much different world.

A better question might be: 'What reason could Roosevelt have given Congress for going to war in 1940?'

Considering Germany was 5000 miles away, there's no one stand-out reason that could cover a drastic step like declaring war.

Yup, Brazil later declared war after U-Boats started blatting Brazilian merchant ships off the very shores of Brazil…but nothing like 'Drumbeat' was going on in 1940.

And one should also remember that even in December 1941 USA didn't declare war on Germany until they declared it on us.

Jim

Roosevelt did a lot of under the table preparations for the war he knew was coming. In many ways he s not my favorite president, but his work to prepare for war and to slip support to the allies

How prepared were we for war in 1940?

Totally not even prepared for War in 1940 and we were just as not prepared at the beginning of 1942.

Though by the end of 1942 we were.