On July 7, 1937, a skirmish between Chinese and Japanese troops broke out at the MARCO POLO BRIDGE near Beijing. Reports of the "RAPE OF NANKING," the sacking of the Chinese capital reached the American mainland in the summer of 1937 (250,000 to 300,000 people were killed).
The brutalities prompted President Roosevelt to abandon cooperation with Congressional isolationists to pursue a more forceful approach against the Japanese. Roosevelt advocated collective action to stop the epidemic aggression. But his hopes of igniting American sensibilities failed.

Emboldened by western inaction, Hitler's troops marched into Austria in 1938 and annexed the country. Then Hitler set his eyes upon the SUDETENLAND,a region in western Czechoslovakia inhabited by 3.5 million Germans. Britain and France recognized Hitler's claim to the Sudetenland and Mussolini's conquest of Ethiopia in exchange for the promise of no future aggressions. PRIME MINISTER NEVILLE CHAMBERLAIN returned to Great Britain triumphantly proclaiming that he had achieved "peace in our time." Six months later, as Hitler mockingly marched his troops into the rest of Czechoslovakia.

In May 1939, Roosevelt urged Congressional leaders to repeal the arms embargo of the earlier Neutrality Acts. Senators from both parties refused the request. On September 1, 1939, Nazi troops crossed into Poland from the west. Finally, on September 3, France and Great Britain declared war on Germany. World War II had begun.....