Franklin D. Roosevelt and World War II Essay Example

In the years leading up to the United States joining in on World War II, President Franklin Roosevelt isolated the United States, keeping us out of foreign entanglements. However, after Japan attacked U.S. naval bases at Pearl Harbor, Roosevelt had no choice but to declare war on Japan, ultimately involving us in World War II. Economics, national security, and democratic values all influenced President Roosevelt to push towards isolationism in the 1930s and ultimately join the war in 1941.

At the start of World War II, the United States was still recovering from World War I and the Great Depression, which impacted numerous aspects of American society. Therefore, at that time Roosevelt felt it was best to keep the United States from entering the war, “quarantining” us from the aggressors. He felt that “the freedom and the security of 90 percent of the population of the world is being jeopardized by the remaining 10 percent…” (Document A). A similar trend was seen with World War I, as the war started between Germany and Austria-Hungry, but more countries, including the U.S., got dragged into it. The United States faced hundreds of thousands of casualties, from an issue that stemmed between 2 out of the 195 countries. In his speech, Roosevelt expresses his feelings of how getting involved in the war would jeopardize the United States’ national security. He would be putting American citizens at great risk for an issue related to “10 percent” of the world. Furthermore, U.S. industries were starting to gain more corporate profit during the time that the U.S. was isolated. After the Great Depression, the entire American economy was devastated. This included a major decrease in industrial production. However, from 1939 to 1941, corporate profits after taxes increased $4.4 billion and business failures decreased by 2,920 (Document G). During these years, we did isolate ourselves from the aggressors, but also helped supply our Allied Powers with what they needed. If this was helping the American economy recover, there is no reason to physically get involved in the war, which could cause another depression. Isolationism was the best foreign policy at first, but the war developed to a point where the United States had to physically get involved.

In 1941, President Roosevelt officially entered the United States into World War II. This allowed for the Allied Powers to have higher odds of defeating Germany. If the Nazi Germanys were to defeat the British and French armies, gaining power, their main objective would be to fully wipe out democracy (Document C). The United States is a representative democracy, which means our whole system would be destroyed. By getting involved, we were protecting democracy; citizen’s rights to elect government officials. Furthermore, the loss of the British fleet would be detrimental to the United States military. Great Britain focused on the Atlantic, while the United States focused on the Pacific. If we had not helped fight the war, Great Britain could have been taken over by Germany. This would result in Germany dominating most of the ships and shipbuilding facilities in Europe, weakening the United States defense until “we could build a navy and air force strong enough to defend both coasts” (Document D). Building forces strong enough at this time would be a major challenge, as we would continuously be losing men and women as we fought Germany. By helping the British and French fight Germany, we were making it more difficult for Germany to win the war and take over the world.

Roosevelt’s decisions to isolate ourselves from the aggressors in the 1930s and physically join in the war in 1941 were crucial. He originally isolated the United States to protect our national security and economy, but eventually joined in to protect the U.S.’s democratic values and further protect its national security. Without these vital decisions, Germany could have won the war and still be in power today.