Why did the U.S. stay out of WWII orginally?

Question

Please list specific reasons.(besides neutrality)

Answer 1

Isolationism was the main cause.

While President Roosevelt and his cabinet knew even before the war started in Europe that we would eventually end up joining it, there was tremendous sentiment from the common people and some notable people here at home that the war was Europe's concern, and not that of the US. I read somewhere recently that 70% of Americans were against joining the war even after France capitulated and England was hanging on by a thread. It's just a really tough sell when so many people want to stay out of the conflict.

As I noted above, President Roosevelt knew even before the shooting started that we would eventually have to go in on the side of the Allies. Everyone in Europe, and actually the world, who had one eye open knew that Hitler was quiety rebuilding the German war machine, in direct disobedience to the Treaty of Versailles, as early as the 30s. It was just a question of when he would finally overstep his bounds and get the war started.

The US did try to remain neutral, and passed laws in the mid 30s that made it illegal for us to sell any war materiel to "belligerent" nations. That alone tells you that the US government was anticipating the war before it began. Before September of 1939, when the war started, Roosevelt was already trying to figure out a way for the US to supply Great Britain and France with materiel. Congress ended up approving the Lend-Lease program, which essentially made it possible for us to give stuff to Great Britain and the free French even before we entered the war.

The other thing I have read about, besides the isolationism, is Roosevelt's desire to postpone joining the war as long as possible so that the US would be prepared when it finally came down to fighting. He wanted us to have a good stockpile of weapons, ammo, planes and vehicles because he knew it was going to take not just a lot of men in uniform, but a lot of equipment, for us to fight successfully. He was no fool, and his desire was that when we stepped in, we would stay until the fascist threat was completely eliminated. I read something once a long time ago that said that Roosevelt was planning to start lobbying Congress to declare war in the summer of 1942, but as you know the Japanese made that a moot point by attacking Pearl Harbor in December of 1941.

One thing that you should know is that while the majority of the American public was against joining the war, there were people who immediately went and joined the war effort. While it was still safe to cross the Atlantic, many common citizens simply presented themselves in England and declared their desire to aid the war effort in any way possible. Also, many young men left the US and went and joined up in uniform. Some went to England, and some just went to Canada. The important thing is that they saw the threat and acted immediately. It has always been my personal opinion that those who acted like that because of the dictates of their beliefs were especially brave.

I hope this helps your understanding in some way.

Answer 2

There are a number of reason.
First, George Washington always advised us to stay out of entangling alliances--that might cause us to have to go to war when we were not in any way threatened by our ally was.
Second, the First World War was one we entered for no reason at all, losing many lives and failing to accomplish a stable world order even though we were on the winning side and tried hard.
Third, wars are expensive of money as well as work, stress, invested personal losses and material as well as lives--and we were in the middle of a Depression caused by government manipulations of the Federal Reserve System on behalf of corporate CEO campaign contributor, at the time and had been for twelve years.
Fourth, the republicans were isolationists at the time, and the Democrats have never wanted to have to pay for wars at any time.
Fifth, neutrality of the United States made our entry into the war unnecessary; remember, Hitler was not known for what we later found him to be at that time; he was an upstart, and his party frightening, but he had confined his demands to reuniting German-speakers, pretending he had no other territorial claims than a reunited Germany.
Sixth, we did not think we had all the war weapons we needed to fight a war so far away, such as a great long-range bombers, escort fighters, a tank as good as our potential enemies had, generals who understood modern warfare, enough naval vessels and the industrial capacity to produce what we needed.
Seventh, people in this country did not want war; so that even Roosevelt's support of the British with lend-lease ships was a brave risk.

But when Pearl Harbor was attacked by the Japanese Empire's admirals, fleet and ships, the entire equation was altered. Two-front war or not, we had to enter the war against the now conjoined "Axis" powers or face being taken over by totalitarians.

Answer 3

First, because of the unpopularity of the idea of joining a war. Just think what happens during a war even in a devoped nation that is far away from the area of conflict. The country's best boys would be on the fronlines on high risk of getting killed, stiff food rationing would be implimented and other such stuff.
Second, because America would not want to freeze its relationship with Japan.
Thirdly, because senate, slow as it is, has to pass the vote to declare war. And we know that they wouldn't act so fast until something very urgent is calling at their gates.
Fourthly, because of the economic costs of war. Many people believed that the pre-Pearl Harbor grounds for war was not enough to overthrow the idea of it being too costly.

Answer 4

Influence of isolationists like Sen. Prescott Bush and industrialist Henry Ford. When Pearl Harbor was hit, those isolationists were finally discredited, and the nation went to war.

Answer 5

Because they wanted to practice isolation mainly, and they suffered a lot from the first war. There aren't really no specific reasons other than that general one.

Answer 6

Because there was a lot of support for Hitler especially among the German community and the large corporations who were doing very profitable business with both sides.

Answer 7

An isolationistic frame of mind is the main culprit.