Sometime after TFGs 2016 ascendancy - in pursuit of what understanding I could glean, or what I think of as my WTF interval - I read Erik Larson's "In the Garden of Beasts ( en.wikipedia.org - In the Garden of Bea... ). It's the nonfiction account of FDR's first choice of US Ambassador to Germany, William Dodd, who had a front-row seat in Berlin from 1933 - 1937.

Just finished reading this a few days ago. What stood out to me was that it was only in hindsight--after the invasion of Poland--that most people came to the realization of just how bad things would get in Germany. During his rise to power, the prevailing sentiment among the US government was that Hitler was someone we could "work with". While there were some red flags, it was not obvious to everyone what was going to happen.

While there were discussions and disagreements, it was not the thrust of US policy at the time to try to derail Hitler, and in fact there were some efforts to appease him (i.e. having discussions with Jewish leaders try to get them to temper protests in the US) in the hope of being able to have a productive relationship with him. There was also considerable sentiment that the US should keep our nose out of other countries' business, which worked until it didn't...

Then there was this description of Hitler by Ambassador Dodd: "His influence is and has been wholly belligerent." Remind you of anyone?