THE SLIPPERY SLOPE
1939
President Garner asserts U.S. neutrality and signs into law an act prohibiting the United States from selling any war material to nations involved in the European war.
The Soviet Union invades Finland after dividing Poland with Germany, causing their expulsion from the League of Nations.
1940
Hitler and Mussolini sign an agreement to form an alliance against the British and French. The Russo-Finnish war ends on harsh terms for the Finns. Germany conquers Denmark and Norway, then attacks France through the Low Countries in May, with the French surrendering in June after the British Expeditionary Force is destroyed at Dunkirk.
Still feeling isolationist, the U.S. Congress fails to pass an act which would have expanded the tonnage of the U.S. Navy by 11%.
Ohio Senator John W. Bricker is nominated by the Republican Party as its candidate for the U.S. Presidency. Henry A. Wallace is the Democratic nominee as Garner decides not to run for another term. Garner later vetoes the Selective Service Act, which would have instituted the first peacetime draft in U.S. history.
After concentrating on radar and fighter bases, the German Luftwaffe commences nightly bombing raids of British cities.
Bricker is elected president on an isolationist platform. In a December address to the nation, lame duck President Garner citing the Nazi menace, proclaims that the United States must reverse its isolationist ways and become the "arsenal of Democracy" before the last remaining European democracy (Great Britain) falls to the Nazis.
1941
In New York, 19-year-old Hiram Rosen decides to drop out of NYU and enlist in the Royal canadian Air Force so he can fight the Nazis. He is denied entry into Canada and enlists in the U.S. Army Air Corps instead - and ends up posted in Hawaii where he is bitter at being so far from the German threat.
The Lend-Lease bill, which would "lend" the British surplus U.S. military equipment, fails to pass the U.S. Senate by a 47-44 vote.
President Bricker is inaugurated and pledges to keep the United States out of the war.
The Japanese begin planning an attack on the United States Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
The German war machine continues to roll across Europe, conquering Greece, Yugoslavia and Crete and pushing back the British in North Africa before launching a surprise invasion of the Soviet Union in June.
Hideki Tojo becomes Prime Minister of Japan and authorizes an attack on the United States.
On December 7, the Japanese Navy's carrier-borne air forces - with Lt. Hiro Watanabe among the pilots in his Zero fighter - strikes the U.S. Pacific Fleet at its anchorage at Pearl Harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii. Lt. Hiram Rosen finds out how good the Japanese Zeros are, as his antiquated Buffalo fighter can not hope to keep up with the state-of-the-art Japanese fighter aircraft. The Pacific Fleet is completely wrecked (all three carriers, five battleships and seven cruisers sunk) by the Japanese, leaving the Pacific open to conquest by Japan while the U.S. scrambles to recover. Shortly thereafter, Germany and Italy also declare war on the USA. Isolationism is over.
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