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Prior to Pearl Harbor there was significant opposition to America entering the war in Europe. There was the America First Committee who counted among their members Charles Lindbergh. After the attacks on American bases in the Pacific in December of 1941 the movement to stay out of the war evaporated.
Lindbergh incurred the wrath of Roosevelt for his isolationist positions and attacks on the administration. He was denied a commission to enter the armed forces.
Lindbergh actually entered the Southwest Pacific combat area as a civilian technical advisor with the 5th Airforce. His primary duties were to train pilots fuel conservation for long range missions in the P 38 Lightning fighter. He actually flew missions and is credited with shooting down a Japanese fighter.
I know there were some public figures in USA who were opposed to going to war with Germany but in late 1941 most of them were willing to support the war against Germany. I know the attack on Pearl Harbor played a big part in the change, but did the earlier German invasion of Soviet Russia also play a part? There were Soviet communist spies and sympathizers in USA. prior to Germany’s invasion of Russia they had an agreement with Russia.
Nobody in the U.S. really cared what Germany did as long as they left us alone. But the Pearl Harbor bombing made it too obvious that isolationism was not sufficient to avoid being drawn into the war. Then Germany declared war on the U.S. so all bets were off.
Patton was brilliant within a certain range of military applications.
Having read a lot about Patton I am at a loss where. A US media creation. They needed a hero for back home. If Patton's army attacked the Red Army he would have been annihilated. Those Soviet tanks in 1945 would have scythed right through his army. Patton in military and political circles was a nobody. He was an average US army general no more, not a group commander or one of the real top brass.
Incidentally the vote to go to war with Japan was 82-0 in the Senate but only 388-1 in the House. The lone vote against war was cast by Montana Republican Jeanette Rankin, an Suffragette and avowed pacifist who stated "As a woman, I cannot go to war and I refuse to send anyone else." She faced heavy pressure to change her vote or at least abstain but she stuck to her guns, so to speak.
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Originally Posted by Moth
Must say I have sometimes wondered about the lone holdout.
She fled the chamber in tears after her vote.
There is a very good, if somewhat indirect portrayal of the isolationist attitudes of the time in Dr. Seuss Goes To War, a collection of Geisel's cartoons for PM at the time.
Your mistake is in embracing the myth that World War II was prosecuted because of 'good' and 'bad'. It wasn't.
It depends on which country you are talking about. The British were the only country to be in from the first day to the last. They were not attacked or attacked anyone. The declared war under principle. Good & bad.
And a whole host of other countries declaring war on the USA like Germany for one. The US spent six months attempting to get Romania and Bulgaria to rescind their war declarations.
Patton was a nobody colonel when the war erupted in 1939. Patton got very little right - just an average US general.
If he is just average, what does that make of that completely incompetent fool Montgomery?
It depends on which country you are talking about. The British were the only country to be in from the first day to the last. They were not attacked or attacked anyone. The declared war under principle. Good & bad.
You're a little unclear here, but GB did indeed declare war on Germany in September 1939, after the initial aggression against Austria and Poland and before Britain had attacked anyone or been attacked.
If he is just average, what does that make of that completely incompetent fool Montgomery?
Montgomery was the finest general in WW2. He never suffered a reverse. He planned and controlled all the ground armies in Normandy. He had to take command of two US armies in the Bulge. He had more experience as a general than all the US generals in the ETO put together. Literally.
Britain did not attack anyone.
Britain never attacked anyone.
Prior to 1941 or so, no.
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Britain was not in fear of attack.
Grossly untrue, I think. All of Europe knew that the Reich had vast expansionist plans and had militarized to further those aims and repel all resistance.
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Yet Britain declared war.
Yes. Because of the same sort of pacts that led to the chaos of WWI.
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Originally Posted by John-UK
Montgomery was the finest general in WW2. He never suffered a reverse. He planned and controlled all the ground armies in Normandy. He had to take command of two US armies in the Bulge.
But he didn't attack anyone?
No one's dissing the Brits, here. I just think you're misstating the history.
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