You are correct about the timeline insofar as our entry into WWII in December 1941. And FDR campaigned for his third term during 1940. However our involvement in WWII was unofficial since its beginning when the Wehrmacht marched across the Polish frontier on 1 Sept. 1939. I needn't attempt to describe here the depth of our involvement prior to Dec. 1941 but when FDR campaigned in 1940 the war was raging in Europe and the Japanese Empire was off and running in Asia, as well. Roosevelt was an extremely popular candidate throughout all four election cycles and perhaps the Great Depression was the single greatest driver (with FDR's New Deal) during the first three cycles. Another war in itself.
We would have watched the war in Europe from the sidelines, there was no public appetite for a replay of WWI. We entered the European theater because Germany, quite inexplicably, declared war on us after we declared war on Japan. FDR was more eager for the ruination of the British Empire than Nazi Germany was.
FDR broke the precedent before we were involved in the war. But the voters are the ones to blame (and the Republicans for their joke of a candidate).
You are correct about the timeline insofar as our entry into WWII in December 1941. And FDR campaigned for his third term during 1940. However our involvement in WWII was unofficial since its beginning when the Wehrmacht marched across the Polish frontier on 1 Sept. 1939. I needn't attempt to describe here the depth of our involvement prior to Dec. 1941 but when FDR campaigned in 1940 the war was raging in Europe and the Japanese Empire was off and running in Asia, as well. Roosevelt was an extremely popular candidate throughout all four election cycles and perhaps the Great Depression was the single greatest driver (with FDR's New Deal) during the first three cycles. Another war in itself.
We would have watched the war in Europe from the sidelines, there was no public appetite for a replay of WWI. We entered the European theater because Germany, quite inexplicably, declared war on us after we declared war on Japan. FDR was more eager for the ruination of the British Empire than Nazi Germany was.