Who told a partisan crowd at Soldier Field in Chicago, in August 1940, that the U.S. The book is also full of scoundrels, notably Who, the author says, did "what was best for the nation and worst for his campaign." "A Call to Arms" is full of such patriotic vignettes, nostalgic in their suggestion of an America lost. His proposal to send aging destroyers to Britain (Lend-Lease) got a boost from his liberal Republican presidential challenger, on a voluntary basis." Roosevelt got his draft all the same. Wrote in her daily newspaper column: "The general feeling I encounter is that we should remain. The labor leader who despised FDR and obstructed the war effort with protracted strikes (he was dubbed "the fourth member of the Axis"), likened the president's plan for conscription to dictatorship. Isolationists were still a potent political force. His most controversial piece of legislation called for a draft when America was (formally) at peace. No sooner was that request met than, in July 1940, he sought an extraordinary $4.8 billion for a two-ocean navy, tanks, artillery and more.
THE CALL TO ARMS UPGRADE
had taken sides." FDR put teeth in his commitment by asking Congress for a then-remarkable $3.3 billion to upgrade the Army and Navy. In June, faced with the collapse of France, he gave "a fighting speech" that so aligned America with the Allies that Time magazine pronounced: "The U.S. In May 1940, he issued his call for accelerating aircraft production. After the European war started, in September 1939-a full two years ahead of Pearl Harbor-he persuaded Congress to relax restrictions on arms shipments. Klein writes, "Roosevelt understood better than most" the Nazi threat. Roosevelt is often, and justly, criticized for failing to do more for European Jews it should also be said that no one in America did so much, and so early, to defeat the Nazis.Īs Mr.
One big take-away is the extraordinary extent to which FDR urged, cajoled, legislated and directed American industry to get on a war footing well before Pearl Harbor.
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