>>64153325
>Our military was laughable after WW1, and the American people had no appetite for war. I remember reading we only had a small standing army with virtually no tanks or aircraft.

You read (partly) wrong. Public attitude towards Nazi Germany rapidly soured after September, 1939 and the percentage of the population who wanted America to just unilaterally intervene was approaching 50% by the time of Pearl Harbor.

Also American rearmament was already underway by 1938. Projects like the P-40, B-17, M-series tanks, and the Essex-class were in development or even production by the time of the German invasion of Poland.