But the US didn't enter until Pearl Harbor right? And for years weren't countries looking the other way as Hitler assumed greater power? That whole thing mystifies me. There is some talk that FDR knew Pearl Harbor was going to be attacked and did nothing about it. He wanted the people to be angry and back our entering the war. Is any of that true? I just think the callous treatment of life is beyond my understanding. How many years were Jews persecuted before anyone lifted a finger to try to stop it? SIGH. Thank you for your reply R! :)
FDR certainly knew that war with Japan was inevitable, they'd already invaded the Philippines and overrun US interests there, but the Philippines was too far away for most Americans to give a damn. Japan had designs on Hawaii and Pearl couldn't have been stopped in any case - but somebody gave secret orders to get the carriers outta there before the Japanese arrived ...
In your opinion was all of that a "good" thing R? War is so complicated. More is going on beneath the surface than in the open. I would not be good at it for sure. Was FDR good at it? Even though or maybe because you aren't an American I believe your view is very clear-eyed and unobstructed. Scratch deep enough or dig deep enough and what you thought was gold wasn't. Thank you for your reply R! :)
Slartibartfast 