What steps did the US take from isolationism to war?

Answer 1

The US was neutral until the Pearl Harbor attack in December of 1941. After that date, the US was never neutral until the end of the cold war in 1990. After the cold war, the US Military had to re-organize for non-cold war operations; and commence LAW ENFORCEMENT functions to supplement it's traditional warfare missions. Today's conflicts in Southwest Asia reflect those new doctrines: Returning Law, Order, and Stability to certain regions, accompanied by the apprehension/elimination of terrorists, insurgents, and other personnel undermining the goals of the US/Coalition Forces.

Answer 2

President Roosevelt and others knew the US would inevitably end up in the war. He began working on the Americans by asking them to think about it. He spoke on the radio, films, in newspapers and his wife wrote about the problem in her column. She wrote about the plight of the Jews and spoke about it too. So the American mindset had been primed to realize they needed to fight in the war to help the United Kingdom and Burma, China and the Dutch East Indies and the Philippines. Once America was bombed they realized they had to fight back. Winston Churchill came to our country to speak to the Congress to help them understand England will be annihilated if the US did not help them to eradicate the Nazis. So the Congress gave the largest part of the war budget to the European Theater. The Pacific Theater was given a small amount and did a decent job considering the poor budget they had and the lack of ships in their fleet.