World War II America Discussion

Instructions: 

Read the following Discussion question carefully, then submit an original answer.  Your answer should be at least a few sentences to a paragraph in length.  There is no "right" or "wrong" answer, but your opinion should be well-reasoned and based on fact.  (no references needed) this is just an opinion...

In hindsight, World War II can be seen as a tremendous victory which lifted the U.S, to the heights of world power.  However, when the U.S. entered the war in 1941, victory was not a foregone conclusion.  Discuss several disadvantages the United States faced when entering the war.  How did we overcome them?