What specific actions do you think the United States should have taken against the Axis powers?

Question

What specific actions do you think the United States should have taken against the Axis powers from 1937 to 1939?

Answer 1

The answer comes in three parts - what the US government could have done, should have done, and what would have been effective.

The US could have imposed economic restrictions, sent official letters of complaint, etc. Official remonstrations would have had no effect. Economic restrictions (trade bans, etc) would have damaged the US economy as it recovered from the Great Depression.

The US should have joined the 'Allied powers' when Germany invaded France. During the late 30's the US should have increased the size, training, and equipment of the army.

In regards to what was practical, it was what happened in my opinion. There was nothing that the US could do to stop Hitler before he conquered the majority of Europe. The US military wasn't ready to go to war, nor was the American populace willing to engage in 'foreign' troubles. Had FDR tried to intervene more openly early Congress would have thwarted him and the populace would not have supported the war effort.

Answer 2

It could have imposed a trade ban if it was that way inclined but the policies of Mussolini and Hitler had a lot of support in the USA from the Italian and German sections of the population.
Don't forget that at that time one in three Americans had german origins and the business corporations such as Ford and Standard Oil liked Hitler's attitude to the communists.