How could NATO have been formed pre-1939?

Yes. A National Association of Telegraph Operators is probably entirely possible.

Any kind of agreement committing the US to Europe before the invasion of France? Really, really unlikely. Even after, before Pearl Harbor it's pretty darn unlikely.

A German assassination attempt on Roosevelt in '39? That was directly traceable back to the embassy? Maybe.
 
It is an interesting one isn't it, I have never been fully convinced as to whether US intervention was decisive in WWI militarily, though doubtless it would have been had the war gone on longer, though it probably was psychologically decisive especially once the Ludendorff offensives of the spring of 1918 failed. I am sure someone has done a TL on this, but a quick search hasn't turned it up.

But they may have wanted to stay neutral. I am sure that part of Spain's decision to remain neutral in WW2 was because of the economic benefits they accrued in WWI, the Dutch expected to be neutral again as I guess did Norway.

I think for the NATO concept to become a reality something needs to happen as well to give not just the US govt but the country the mindset to view the projection of US power as a vital and good thing for the outside world and for the USA.

If I am not mistaken, the only reason the Germans so hastily committed to a massive offensive was because they wanted to get there before the US poured over.
 
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