“Our most useful and immediate role is to act as an arsenal for them as well as for ourselves. They do not need manpower, but they do need billions of dollars worth of the weapons of defense.”—President Franklin D. Roosevelt from the “The Four Freedoms,” speech, January 6, 1941.
Under the direction of General Dwight D. Eisenhower, World War II ended at this moment in 1945. Americans were ecstatic at the German surrender and looked forward to returning home safely from the numerous battlefields of Europe. Whereas Roosevelt passed away before this triumphant moment, he experienced the earliest military concerns that helped push this country into this heroic fight against global fascism. Here are some of the earliest speeches on the perils that the United States faced as the Japanese and Germans sought global domination.
October 5, 1937: Quarantine Speech
“I am compelled and you are compelled, nevertheless, to look ahead. The peace, the freedom, and the security of ninety percent of the population of the world is being jeopardized by the remaining ten percent, who are threatening a breakdown of all international order and law. Surely the ninety percent who want to live in peace under law and in accordance with moral standards that have received almost universal acceptance through the centuries, can and must find some way to make their will prevail. The situation is definitely of universal concern. The questions involved relate not merely to violations of specific provisions of particular treaties; they are questions of war and of peace, of international law, and especially of principles of humanity. It is true that they involve definite violations of agreements, and especially of the Covenant of the League of Nations, the Briand-Kellogg Pact, and the Nine Power Treaty. But they also involve problems of world economy, world security, and world humanity.”
During the second part of the Great Depression, as Americans economically struggled with 25% unemployment, Roosevelt worried about aggressive foreign affairs. A world away from the hardships that Americans felt, the Empire of Japan rapidly expanded its military power across the Pacific and Asia. An island nation with few natural resources, the Japanese conquered large parts of China to attain its valuable materials and devastated its population through the “Rape of Nanking.” Roosevelt feared noticeable “isolationist” views among Americans would not stop the growth of the Japanese, who terrorized foreign populations. But the despair of the Great Depression dictated Roosevelt’s inability to meet these foreign policy challenges during this economic crisis. Many Americans were concerned about the ability to feed our people, earn money, and overcome the Depression, not the military authority of the Japanese, who were thousands of miles away from our shores.
March 15, 1941: On Lend-Lease
“….But, knowing him, no one knows better than Mr. Churchill himself that it is not alone his stirring words and valiant deeds that give the British their superb morale. The essence of that morale is in the masses of plain people who are completely clear in their minds about the one essential fact — that they would rather die as free men than live as slaves. These plain people — civilians as well as soldiers and sailors and airmen, women and girls as well as men and boys — they are fighting on the front line of civilization at this moment, and they are holding that line with a fortitude that will forever be the pride and the inspiration of all free men on every continent, on every isle of the sea. The British people and their Grecian allies need ships. From America, they will get ships. They need planes. From America, they will get planes. From America they need food. From America, they will get food. They need tanks and guns and ammunition and supplies of all kinds. From America, they will get tanks and guns and ammunition and supplies of all kinds….”
From the quick 1940 fall of France to the complete domination of Nazi Germany over Europe and Hitler’s invasion of the Soviet Union, the American policy of “armed neutrality” was a risky policy to follow. Roosevelt understood that 1941 was a dangerous year, not only for the survival of England, but for the United States. General George C. Marshall expanded the military through the first Selective Service peacetime draft of over 900,000 Americans. The Army chief of staff watched the massive training maneuvers in the Carolinas, Louisiana, and Tennessee to prepare for this inevitable war. Roosevelt pushed for the sending of American weapons, food, clothing, and money to keep the British fighting against the dominance of the Third Reich. Even at this moment, Americans wanted to stay out of the war against the Germans and Japanese, as both overran large parts of Europe and Asia. These foreign policy lobbyists presented speeches on the radio to urge Americans not to get involved in this conflict that was not our “responsibility.”
September 11, 1941: Fireside Chat 18: On the Greer Incident
“My fellow Americans:
The Navy Department of the United States has reported to me that on the morning of September fourth the United States destroyer GREER, proceeding in full daylight towards Iceland, had reached a point southeast of Greenland. She was carrying American mail to Iceland. She was flying the American flag. Her identity as an American ship was unmistakable. She was then and there attacked by a submarine. Germany admits that it was a German submarine. The submarine deliberately fired a torpedo at the GREER, followed later by another torpedo attack. In spite of what Hitler’s propaganda bureau has invented, and in spite of what any American obstructionist organization may prefer to believe, I tell you the blunt fact that the German submarine fired first upon this American destroyer without warning, and with deliberate design to sink her. Our destroyer, at the time, was in waters which the Government of the United States had declared to be waters of self-defense — surrounding outposts of American protection in the Atlantic. In the North Atlantic, outposts have been established by us in Iceland, in Greenland, in Labrador, and in Newfoundland. Through these waters there pass many ships of many flags. They bear food and other supplies to civilians; and they bear material of war, for which the people of the United States are spending billions of dollars, and which, by Congressional action, they have declared to be essential for the defense of our own land. The United States destroyer, when attacked, was proceeding on a legitimate mission.”
Tensions were high in the North Atlantic, as the United States initiated “convoy escorts” across this ocean to protect valuable shipping and help the British remain in the war. Although the Germans did not have the military power of the British, they relied heavily on U-boats to repeatedly target the American lifeline of aid to help their enemy. As the Germans fired at the American destroyer Greer, this vessel coordinated with British aircraft to attack the U-boat with depth charges. This incident demonstrated how dangerously involved the United States had become against Germany, whose U-boats were operating near Long Island.
There were already “shoot on sight” orders issued by Roosevelt to target German and Italian navies that harassed American vessels. The president pushed Congress to continue the Selective Service draft to ensure the growing fighting abilities of the Army. Even several months before the Attack on Pearl Harbor, many people today do not realize the strength of the “isolationist” influence in government. Both Roosevelt and Marshall feared that America was not prepared for a modern war carried out by Germany and Japan, who had militarily engaged weaker countries in hostilities since the 1930s.
There will be a second story next week on the wartime speeches of FDR.