Franklin Delano Roosevel

Franklin Delano Roosevelt was the President of the United States when World War II began in 1939 and when Pearl Harbor was attacked in 1941. The American government had decided against engaging in the war when the Germans invaded Poland in 1939. President Roosevelt did take the steps to alter the U.S. Neutrality Laws following the invasion so that the US could assist the European democracies with financing and arms in their fight against Hitler and the Third Reich. Roosevelt expressed the sentiment of the free world when he proclaimed that the United States could not be a spectator in a world dominated by force.

Even with the menacing threat that faced the region by an ally of Hitler, Roosevelt failed to take a strong stand against Mussolini and his Fascist government in Italy. FDR was worried about losing the Italian-American vote and not surprisingly, behaved very much...