FDR: The War President, 1940-1943: A History
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FDR: The War President, 1940-1943: A History description
The fifth volume of Kenneth S. Davis's magisterial, much-praised biography follows FDR from his re-election to an unprecedented third term in November 1940 through New Year's Eve, 1942, when he screened a brand-new film, Casablanca, at the White House. During the intervening 25 months, President Roosevelt prepared a reluctant nation for the war that he knew was coming, then struggled to maintain the government's commitment to his New Deal social programs, as well as the conflict overseas. Like its predecessors, this installment combines shrewd, intimate psychological insights into Roosevelt's character with a sweeping historical narrative of world events and a superbly detailed account of Washington political maneuvers--all three laid out in grave, elegant prose. Perhaps Davis's most notable achievement lies in tracing the links between FDR's personality and his leadership style: the unexpected benefits of his maddening indecisiveness, his ability to use even his crippling physical handicap to political advantage, the way in which the adult president cemented personal and professional ties with the evasive charm that he developed in adolescence to defend himself against a smothering mother. Admirers of serious yet accessible biography can regret only that the author's death in 1999 means that there will be no concluding volume to this magnificent series, which has shed so much light on one of the more complex men ever to inhabit the White House. --Wendy Smith |
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FDR: The War President, 1940-1943: A History Customer Reviews
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An inscrutable mystery......
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To the layman, FDR's name is associated with Pearl Harbour dilemma and the consequential entry of USA into WWII.
We have read the memoirs of Winston Churchill and seen impassioned appeals (some were even desperate) by the Allied player (France's Reynaud and England's WC) to the American President to interfere. Yet the appeals never effectively addressed the American public opinion.
The French never understood how FDR could be a leader' in his country and at the same time stood powerless to make decisions.
The French, in the bloody and crowded events that encroached them in first half of 1940, could not fully appreciate the American System.
But the British did.
The public opinion in the USA, during 1939 and 1940, was one that when the allied had an edge in any battle against the Germans so what, you see anyway they can win without us (USA)' when Germany was winning, the thinking was Okay, since it's all over we better stay out, there is nothing we can do anymore'.
American public opinion was divided and pacifists regarded the French appeals to come to their rescue', emotionally hysterical. The French must have known how far was FDR bound by the congressional limits that formulated USA foreign policies.
FDR could not have possibly made his decision apart from the American system, based on personal whims, notably when re-elections were due. FDR was bound to make American voters to see how far he was not missing any opportunity-however small- to prevent an all-out war.
We should remember that before the war FDR had asked the Congress to approve his request for arms embargo to any country in a condition of aggression' and the Congress refused unless the embargo applied to all countries concerned.
Many American felt the Nazi had been forced to fight a war they never wanted.
British propaganda machines were able to convince a big chuck of the public opinion in the USA that the Nazi had actually betrayed the Versailles Treaty (Post WWI). Wall Street and money mongers were also supporting this thesis. When Germany signed non-belligerent pact with USSR, many pacifists in America claimed that the war between the Europeans was imperialist in nature and urged FDR not to enter forcibly into it. FDR was even accused by the very few American Communists that he was indeed planning to do this.
Although the French wanted them to come sooner than later, Churchill was convinced that in the end America would go to war, and he knew how far FDR depended on the public opinions at home.
In his memoirs WC recounted that Lord Lothian (British Ambassador to USA) saw FDR and discussed among other things, the danger facing America if a) some part of the British fleet fell to the Germans hand in the event of Nazi victory and 2) what are the chances of USA being at war with Hitler' 3) FDR reiterated that much depended not only on American Public Opinion but also on whether before that time dictators had taken some action which compelled the USA to go to war in self-defence' 4) only Congress could make commitments to war.
Was FDR aware of the Japanese attack ( sudden attack' as the world was led to believe at all times) before it happened?
Or had someone held from him the intelligence, which was then available that an air strike was forthcoming?
Pearl harbour was the real casus belli that justified to the American public opinion the urgency of their country to enter the war, after all this was the highly coveted compelling opportunity for USA to fight in self-defence.
When will historians be able to access the documents to sort out this inscrutable mystery?
It may remain a mystery though because the worst thing for any leader is to hurt the intelligent minds of his people. |
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