What Was America's Goal In 1940

By 1938 evidence abounded that the United States' had initiated preparation for the purpose of being able to wage its own war, economic or total, given the possibility of a democratic loss in Europe. Not only did this betray a lack of faith in its overseas allies early on, it also demonstrated America's early willingness to fight for the same goal as its allies: preservation of the status-quo. America primed itself for battle as it would launch into war at the first instance that victory seemed to be the German’s possession. As of 1940 the situation improved little. Even though war production in Britain increased, the nation still faltered in preparation and presented a bleak prospect to American observers. England's loss and the collapse of
Yet, its goal was to continue playing that distant role, that role of economic support and manipulation while its allies held the lines until the very last moment when America could come in and continue the battle. The United States would not be ready to wholly intervene, even though it was already a player, until the final moment, the moment when Britain and all that the pre-war world stood for needed its soldiers most. America desired not only to become a creditor nation in terms of monetary credit, but also in terms of clout. America desired to become the post-war world's savior-nation. It would be Britain after the war which would look to America as the reason for victory. It would be the French citizens who welcomed American soldiers as heroes in the streets of Paris after the liberation. America desired to become a creditor nation of money and of sentiment, it needed, craved, to exploit World War II as the perfect situation to recover its status and move onward from the Great Depression. America needed to be seen as the hero of the world once more, the nation to which all other nations owed allegiance, obedience, and homage. And it was through the Lend Lease Act that the United States finally solidified this idea of heroism. Before America became a physical player in the battle, it would become the perpetuator of the battle, the reason Britain could hold out until that final moment
Threats against hemispheric dominance and trade with Latin America, the opportunity to develop a beneficial relationship with the Soviet Union, the anti-fascist bias in America, the desire to preserve the status-quo economic system and American dominance across the globe, the fact that the war became global and England’s loss seemed quickly approaching, and the desire to once more become a creditor nation all forced the United States to align itself opposite of Germany and fight, at first, an economic battle which quickly and inevitably turned into outright warfare. In America’s intervention one must view the conflict from a specific lens: Germany, the revisionist radical who wanted to change the world and thrust itself to the top, directly threatened the current leader of the world and the system it promulgated. More than any singular reason, America fought Germany because Germany threatened to upend American economic institutions and superiority as well as American values upon which the fate of the western world precariously rested. America fought as the landowner will fight to protect his land from being overtaken by oilmen who threaten to destroy his home and reap the rewards. Germany offered a paradigm change, and the United States offered destruction to those who threatened its sovereign will. The specific antagonisms whose siren song lured America into the war early on are