FDR, seeing that war was inevitable, started Lend Lease in 1941 in part to encourage American industry to begin shifting to war time production. Much of the planning for war mobilization was started in 1940. The massive deliveries of airplanes, Liberty ships, tanks, aircraft carriers, etc. etc. didn't start to flow until 1943. Nineteen forty-two was a year of shortages, frantic improvisation, and shoddy equipment (i.e. crappy torpedoes that were more often duds even when they hit the target). The campaign on Guadalcanal--the first significant American offensive of the war--was done on a logistical shoestring. The miracles of American production during WWII were years in the making. Not to mention, FDR's "brain trust" of experts from industry, academia, and government were all geniuses compared to the stunted mediocrities appointed by this "leader."
Had we a president with a tenth the acumen of FDR, we would have been gearing up for this in January, rather than just starting to make these plans at the end of March.
Yes, we'll eventually get to where we need to be. Sadly, many will have died beforehand, people that would have survived had we had a competent leader, and a halfway decent person at the top.
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