hello all- i'm doing a research paper on FDR, and when he decided that it was neccessary for the United States to enter WW2... i've hit a brick wall. my teacher wants me to look into FDR himself, not only outside sources guessing what he was thinking, but i have not been able to come up with anything. My thesis leads the reader to believe that FDR had already chosen to involve the US in the war prior to the attack on Pearl Harbor. I have many resources detailing the "agressive" moves that the United States made towards Japan, Germany, and Italy prior to Pearl Harbor, such as the Lend-Lease Act with Great Britain, etc. but my teacher still insists that i go to FDR himself, auto-biographical or otherwise, to find proof. but i can't find ANYTHING! HELP! Thanks a bunch! peace and love- Francesca
FDR realized before Pearl Harbor that war was unavoidable, and that we should attack before The Axis gained to much power. I'll try to find provef or you later on when I get bored though. EDIT- Straight from wiki- Policies Roosevelt and Winston Churchill meet at Argentia, Newfoundland aboard HMS Prince of Wales during their 1941 secret meeting to develop the Atlantic Charter. Roosevelt's third term was dominated by World War II, in Europe and in the Pacific. Roosevelt slowly began re-armament in 1938 since he was facing strong isolationist sentiment from leaders like Senators William Borah and Robert Taft who supported re-armament. By 1940, it was in high gear, with bipartisan support, partly to expand and re-equip the United States Army and Navy and partly to become the "Arsenal of Democracy" supporting Britain, France, China and (after June 1941), the Soviet Union. As Roosevelt took a firmer stance against the Axis Powers, American isolationists—including Charles Lindbergh and America First—attacked the President as an irresponsible warmonger. Unfazed by these criticisms and confident in the wisdom of his foreign policy initiatives, FDR continued his twin policies of preparedness and aid to the Allied coalition. On December 29, 1940, he delivered his Arsenal of Democracy fireside chat, in which he made the case for involvement directly to the American people, and a week later he delivered his famous Four Freedoms speech in January 1941, further laying out the case for an American defense of basic rights throughout the world. However, in 1945 at Yalta he abandoned his own standard when he allowed Stalin and the Soviets to annex Eastern Europe and impose 50 years of oppression and terror. The military buildup caused nationwide prosperity. By 1941, unemployment had fallen to under 1 million. There was a growing labor shortage in all the nation's major manufacturing centers, accelerating the Great Migration of African-American workers from the Southern states, and of underemployed farmers and workers from all rural areas and small towns. The homefront was subject to dynamic social changes throughout the war, though domestic issues were no longer Roosevelt's most urgent policy concerns. When Germany invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941, Roosevelt extended Lend-Lease to the Soviets. During 1941, Roosevelt also agreed that the U.S. Navy would escort Allied convoys as far east as Britain and would fire upon German ships or submarines if they attacked Allied shipping within the U.S. Navy zone. Moreover, by 1941, U.S. Navy aircraft carriers were secretly ferrying British fighter planes between the UK and the Mediterranean war zones, and the British Royal Navy was receiving supply and repair assistance at American naval bases in the United States. Thus, by mid-1941, Roosevelt had committed the U.S. to the Allied side with a policy of "all aid short of war."[40] Roosevelt met with Churchill on August 14, 1941, to develop the Atlantic Charter in what was to be the first of several wartime conferences. In July 1941, Roosevelt ordered Secretary of War Henry Stimson to begin planning for total American military involvement. The resulting "Victory Program," under the direction of Albert Wedemeyer, provided the President with the estimates necessary for the total mobilization of manpower, industry, and logistics to defeat the "potential enemies" of the United States.[41] The program also planned to dramatically increase aid to the Allied nations and to have ten million men in arms, half of whom would be ready for deployment abroad in 1943. Roosevelt was firmly committed to the Allied cause and these plans had been formulated before the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor.[42]
Daisychild: You might want to go back to the mid 30's with the economic state and mind set of the western world during the deepest part of the depression. The American economy was in the toilet, western Europe was about the same. Germany was basically handcuffed after the 1st world war and trying to dig them self out of a broken country. Japan was becoming an industrial power without an abundance of natural resources. Western countries had put embargo's on then for oil, coal and iron, etc... Japan found it was easier to aquire raw materials with military action rather than buy it. Plus the Yen wasn't worth didily squat in those days. Maybe this will help you for a starting place.......Dennis PS heres another place to look.... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_Franklin_D._Roosevelt
