I understand. It was to this that I was referring:
Germany and Italy declared war, but did that really impact the average American Joe? Japan had come and blown up a major naval base. What had Germany done that was similar? There were lots of great pictures of ships in flames and sinking. What was there that FDR could point to that Germany had done? Harsh words from Germany hardly seem as striking as a row of sinking battleships.
Most Americans had been following the war in Europe with great attention for over two years. The country was overwhelmingly on the side of Britain. While isolationism was wrong, there was a pervasive sense of anger against Germany.
Any number of groups had been agitating for war, or at least against Germany, since the mid-30s. The Communists were violently anti-Fascist, at least until Hitler and Stalin signed their non-aggression pact. (This led to perhaps the most shameful two words in the American political vocabulary: “prematurely anti-Fascist” as a smear for Communist tendencies.)
Jewish groups were of course loudly denouncing the Nazis. Those of British heritage were forcefully supportive. But perhaps an even more significant indicator was the number of Americans who enlisted in the Canadian Army so that they could play an active role in the war.
FDR had been tilting the government so far in support of Britain, through the Lend Lease program and many others, that he was regularly denounced by isolationist Republicans.
In short, the country was primed for war against Germany and just needed a triggering event to get over the isolationist hump. Yes, the anger against Japan was even more pronounced than the anger against “Arabs” after 9/11. But Japan was an unknown on the world and culturally isolated. America had recently been in hot war against Germany and anti-German sentiment was an easy flame to fan.
Hitler’s declaration of war against the U.S. and his invasion of the USSR were the mistakes that cost him the war. The U.S. was itching to go to war with war and he provided the legal excuse.
The U.S. and Germany were already engaged in open warfare on the high seas. War with Germany wasn’t far away on December 6, 1941, and the United States was obviously preparing for it. They weren’t drafting all those men to play football.
In all likelihood, Japan not attacking in the Pacific wouldn’t have slowed the war in Europe down at all; war would probably have been declared before Operation Torch actually happened, anyway.