Question

When it first entered World War II, why did the United States commit most of its resources to the war in Europe? Stalin assured Roosevelt that the Soviet Union could deal with Japan. Roosevelt felt the other thirty percent was needed to defend the US mainland. Roosevelt did not feel the United States needed to engage Japan. Roosevelt felt that Germany was more of a threat than Japan.

Answer 1

Roosevelt believed Hitler and Germany were the more dangerous enemy and so had to be defeated first.

Hope this helps! :)

Answer 2

The correct answer to this question would be alternative D) "Roosevelt believed Hitler and Germany were the more dangerous enemy and so had to be defeated first."

The Allied forces focused on Europe first, and dealt with the threat in the Pacific afterwards. The main reason was that two allied capitals (London and Moscow) could be directly threatened by Germany, while Japan could not directly threaten any capitals.

The United Kingdom was the most vulnerable to attacks from Germany, as they had already taken most countries in Western Europe. It was also believed that if Germany was defeated, Italy and Japan would be weakened and might step back. Despite the attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States stuck to the "Europe First" policy.