I understand where you're coming from with this, now. Yes, the Nazi propaganda machine did work overtime to try to win over Americans, and were successful in some cases, Henry Ford being a notable one. While my knowledge of the inter-war years is admittedly weak, I'm not aware of any large scale sympathy for the Nazi cause. Most who were attracted to Hitler were anti-Semitic to start with, and saw a kindred soul in him.

I do know that the US government, at least, was strongly opposed to the Nazis. Even before hostilities started they were withholding certain strategic materials from sale to Germany. One of the more famous (or infamous) was helium. Virtually all helium production in the '30's was confined to the US, and it was illegal to sell any to Germany. The Germans were forced to use hydrogen for their dirigibles, resulting in the Hindenburg disaster in May of 1937.

The Cash and Carry act, as you noted, allowed the US to sell arms to belligerents for cash, letting Roosevelt support England without violating neutrality, satisfying his opponents in Congress. The US people wanted to stay out of the war, sensibly enough. Roosevelt wanted in. He revised Cash & Carry into the Lend Lease program when Britain and France ran out of money. Both plans required the buyers to send their own ships to American ports to collect their goods, which virtually eliminated any possibility of the Germans being able to buy any, due to Britain's overwhelming naval superiority.

As for the bases you mentioned, the US was granted 99 year rent-free leases on those in exchange for 50 destroyers which the British desperately needed to fight the German U-boats. These bases were in the Caribbean and Newfoundland, not in England or Australia. As you stated, this allowed Roosevelt to claim the transactions improved America's defensive perimeter, which in fact it did.

One other item which you mentioned, and which many other people seem to forget, is that the "Great Depression" did not only affect the US: it was a worldwide economic collapse, and almost everyone was affected in some way. One of the few "good" things which Hitler can be credited with is pulling Germany out of the depression, though his ill advised war virtually destroyed everything he'd built, and just about everything else.

On another note, TYWD, you stated "To my regret, I have never been a student of history, let alone of this War specifically." If you are interested in learning about some of British forces great accomplishments during the war, I would suggest reading "Pegasus Bridge" by Stephen Ambrose. Though he was an American historian, this is a marvelous account of the heroic efforts of British Airborne troops to capture and hold a vital bridge behind the British/Canadian beaches at Normandy. Ambrose deals more extensively with the soldiers in the field rather than the generals and politicians in the rear.