Before entering WW II, why was the US so against Japanese aggression in China but did nothing about Germany in Europe?

Question

The US was very vocal against Japanese aggression in China in the 1930's and early 1940's but said nothing against German aggression in Europe. The US finally placed an embargo on sending oil and iron ore to Japan as a protest but did nothing against Germany. Yet it would seem that China at that time was not a vital interest of the US but Europe, with friendly nations like England and France, was. The embargo finally caused Japan to look for other sources of these vital materials which eventually led to the attack on Pearl Harbor. We declared war on Japan as a result but not on Germany. My question is why did we put up with Germany's actions but not Japan's? I know that we aided England with Lend Lease and such, but we maintained diplomatic relations with Germany and did not protest their actions the way we did with Japan.

Answer 1

FDR liked Hitler, right up until Hitler invaded Russia, then FDR intentionally provoked Japan into attacking Pearl Harbor, we had broken the Japanese codes and knew exactly what it would take to get Japan to attack. We knew their bottom line.

Germany never attacked the US, not even after we entered the war, but they had a pact with Japan, so if Japan were attacked, then Germany would have to honor Japan by declaring war on whoever declared war on Japan. So Germany did its ritual and fairly meaningless declaration of war against the US. and FDR used that as the pretext to enter WW2 in Europe.

Read the book "Day of Deceit" which virtually proves this scenario, with primary sources and documents. Even an ardent FDR supporter like Prof. Kaplan admits the book proves it.,