America had sent troops to Europe to fight in World War I. Over 116,000 US soldiers had died. Americans didn’t want to fight another war in Europe. In fact, Congress had passed laws to make sure America stayed out of wars between other countries. The US couldn’t help any side; it couldn’t even sell weapons. Still, Franklin knew that the US would probably become involved in the war one day. Germany might not attack America soon, but if it controlled all of Europe, it might.
Hitler was an enemy to be feared. Not only did he want to control the world, he wanted to get rid of what he considered inferior races, like Gypsies and Jews. Nazi death camps were set up in countries Hitler had invaded. Before the war ended, more than six million Jews were killed in these camps. As the war went on, other countries, including America, became aware of what was happening. But few acted. (It wasn’t until 1944 that Franklin did anything to help rescue refugees.)
In 1940, Franklin’s second term as president was coming to an end. No president had ever run for a third term. No one expected Franklin to. But with the war in Europe, he felt he had to run again. So he did. He didn’t win by a landslide, but he won.
In July, Germany began bombing Britain. Every night fires raged all over London. Every day military bases were hit hard. Young British pilots fought bravely, even though they were outnumbered. The prime minister, Winston Churchill, begged Franklin for help. Churchill understood that America could not enter the war. But Churchill badly needed destroyers.
“Mr. President,” he pleaded, “with great respect, I must tell you that in the long history of the world, this is the thing to do now.”
Franklin wanted to send destroyers. But Britain couldn’t pay for them. So Franklin’s hands were tied. Then, together, he and Churchill came up with a plan.
America would loan Britain fifty destroyers. In return, Britain would allow America to have some military bases on British territory near the United States for ninety-nine years. This led to Congress approving the Lend-Lease Act. Finally, America could send badly needed war supplies to Britain. Convoys of ships went back and forth, often under attack from German subs.
Franklin not only had to worry about Germany, but he had to worry about her allies, Italy and, especially, Japan.
Japan had a strong military. The Japanese had been fighting in China for years. Now they had their eye on other countries in Asia such as Indochina and the Philippines.
Franklin was sure that one day Japan would attack the United States. But where and when it happened came as a horrible surprise.
On Sunday, December 7, 1941, Japanese warplanes attacked Pearl Harbor in the US territory of Hawaii. In fifteen minutes, the Japanese bombed the airfields and smashed battleships. Over thirty-five hundred Americans were killed or wounded. Two hundred and sixty-five planes were destroyed. Nine ships were damaged or sunk. Among them was the USS Arizona, the battleship Franklin had watched being built in Brooklyn during World War I.
The next day, Americans gathered around their radios to hear the president speak about the attack. He said that December 7, 1941, was “a date which will live in infamy.” The United States declared war on Japan that same day. Three days later, Germany and Italy declared war on America. The United States was now part of World War II.
Men over eighteen joined the army and navy. Almost overnight, factories that had been building items like toys and cars were turning out weapons, trucks, tanks, and planes. Women worked alongside men. Pictures of “Rosie the Riveter” became the symbol of women helping the war effort. No one was out of work now.
“It will not only be a long war, it will be a hard war,” Franklin told the country. But he added, “We are going to win the war and we are going to win the peace that follows.”
The war was raging on three fronts—in Europe, North Africa, and the Pacific.
FRANKLIN AND WINSTON
ON AUGUST 9, 1941, IN THE WATERS OFF NEWFOUNDLAND IN CANADA, WINSTON CHURCHILL AND FRANKLIN ROOSEVELT MET FOR THE FIRST TIME. THAT SUNDAY, BEFORE GOING HOME, THE TWO LEADERS TOOK PART IN A MOVING SERVICE ABOARDTHE PRINCE OF WALES, A BRITISH BATTLESHIP. SAILORS AND MARINES FROM AMERICA AND BRITAIN STOOD SIDE BY SIDE SINGING HYMNS AS THE PRESIDENT AND THE PRIME MINISTER SAT TOGETHER.
IT WAS THE BEGINNING OF A WONDERFUL FRIENDSHIP BETWEEN TWO GIANTS OF THEIR GENERATION. DURING THE WAR, THEY WOULD MEET ELEVEN MORE TIMES, IN EUROPE AND IN NORTH AMERICA.
A breakthrough came in the Pacific on June 4, 1942, at the Battle of Midway. The Americans had broken the Japanese’s secret codes, so they knew about the attack and were ready. The battle went on for four days. When it was over, the Americans had sunk all four Japanese carriers. Finally, the US Navy had a victory. Japan never took control of the seas again. Still, a long struggle to victory lay ahead as brave soldiers fought fierce battles on Okinawa, Iwo Jima, and other Japanese islands.
JAPANESE CAMPS
AFTER PEARL HARBOR, FEAR SPREAD THAT THE JAPANESE MIGHT ATTACK THE MAINLAND. THAT NEVER HAPPENED, BUT PEOPLE WERE PANICKED. MOST OF THE JAPANESE AMERICANS IN THE UNITED STATES LIVED ON THE WEST COAST. WHAT IF SOME OF THEM WERE SPIES?
IN FEBRUARY 1942, FRANKLIN SIGNED AN ORDER WHICH FORCED JAPANESE AMERICANS ON THE WEST COAST TO SPEND THE WAR IN ARMED CAMPS SURROUNDED BY BARBED WIRE. ABOUT ONE HUNDRED AND TEN THOUSAND PEOPLE HAD TO LEAVE THEIR HOMES AND TAKE WITH THEM ONLY WHAT THEY COULD CARRY. MEN, WOMEN, CHILDREN, AND ELDERLY PEOPLE ALL HAD TO GO. IT WAS A TERRIBLE THING TO DO.
NONE WERE CONVICTED AS SPIES AND ABOUT TWENTY THOUSAND JAPANESE-AMERICAN YOUNG MEN JOINED THE US ARMY AND FOUGHT BRAVELY IN NORTH AFRICA AND EUROPE.
WHEN THE WAR WAS OVER, PEOPLE WERE LET GO WITH $25 AND A TRAIN TICKET. MOST HAD LOST THEIR HOMES, THEIR FARMS, AND THEIR BUSINESSES. FINALLY, AFTER MANY YEARS, EACH DETAINEE OR THEIR HEIR WAS GIVEN $20,000 BY THE GOVERNMENT.
The invasion of Europe took place on June 6, 1944. It became known as D-day. Nearly five thousand ships ferried over one hundred thousand men across the English Channel to the beaches at Normandy in France. They met heavy fire from the Germans and Allied losses were staggering. But they held their beachhead and, within two weeks, close to six hundred thousand soldiers and equipment had landed at Normandy. It was an unbelievable accomplishment.
Eleven months later, on May 7, 1945, Germany would surrender.
Chapter 9
Saying Good-Bye
At home in 1944, it was time for a presidential election. Not only was Franklin running the war as Commander-in-Chief, now he was running for a fourth term as president. Senator Harry S. Truman from Missouri was his running mate. Franklin was tired. Still, he campaigned with the same confidence, charm, and good humor. He told crowds that his opponents now were attacking his little dog, Fala. With a straight face, he said, “Well, of course, I don’t resent attacks, and my family doesn’t resent attacks, but Fala does resent attacks.” Everyone burst out laughing.
It came as no surprise when Franklin won again. After all, America was in a war and many people felt that it was no time to change presidents.
In January 1945, Franklin traveled to Yalta on the Black Sea to meet with Churchill and Joseph Stalin, the Russian leader. Franklin’s goal was to get a promise from Stalin that Russia would help fight Japan. And he wanted Stalin to agree that Russia would be part of a world peace organization after the war. It would become the United Nations.
Franklin returned home with Stalin’s promises, looking tired and drawn. He had dark circles under his eyes and he had lost weight. Eleanor was worried about him.
He told Congress about the trip to Yalta. For the first time, he did not stand when he spoke. “I hope you will pardon me for . . . sitting down . . . but I know that you will realize that it makes it a lot easier for me in not having to carry about ten pounds of steel around on the bottom of my legs, and also because of the fact that I have just completed a fourteen-thousand-mile trip.”
Soon after, Franklin went to Warm Springs for a much needed rest. Eleanor stayed in Washington, but friends traveled down with him. Af
ter the first week, he looked better and was enjoying the company.
On April 12, he woke up with a headache and a stiff neck. He ate breakfast, dressed, and joined friends. His cousin remembered him looking particularly handsome in a gray suit and crimson tie.
Just before lunch, he was sitting at a table going over the mail. Suddenly he said he had a terrific headache and slumped down.
A doctor was called, but it was too late. A little before 3:30 PM, Franklin Roosevelt died of a burst blood vessel in his brain. He was sixty-three years old. Not just the country, but the whole world was stunned by the news.
Eleanor came down from Washington to take her husband home. The railroad station at Warm Springs was packed with friends and neighbors who had come to say good-bye to their old friend.
As the train wound its way to Washington, crowds of people stood along the tracks, weeping. A reporter wrote, “They came from the fields and the farms, from hamlets and crossroads and in the cities they thronged by the thousands to stare with humble reverence and awe.”
In the morning, the train arrived in Washington, D.C. A caisson, drawn by six white horses, carried Franklin’s coffin to the White House. There was a funeral in the East Room that afternoon. In the evening, the train continued up along the Hudson River to Hyde Park where Franklin was buried at home at Springwood the next day.
“The funeral was very beautiful,” a friend wrote. “The day was gloriously snappy, very sunny and blue, white lilacs were in bloom . . . and the birds were singing.”
Harry S. Truman was now president. Less than a month later, on May 7, 1945, Germany surrendered. In August, Truman gave orders to drop atomic bombs on two cities in Japan—Hiroshima and Nagasaki. (Scientists had been secretly working on the atomic bomb since 1941.) Japan surrendered on September 2, 1945.
World War II was finally over.
Soon after Franklin’s death, a young soldier said what so many Americans felt about him. “I can remember the president ever since I was a little kid . . . America will seem a strange empty place without his voice talking to the people whenever great events occur . . . I can hardly believe he is gone.”
Many terrible events occurred while Franklin was in office. Yet, with him, Americans felt as if they always had a friend helping them through the hard times.
TIMELINE OF FRANKLIN ROOSEVELT’S LIFE
TIMELINE OF THE WORLD
BIBLIOGRAPHY
The starred books are for young readers.
Brands. H. W. Traitor to His Class: The Privileged Life and Radical Presidency of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Doubleday, New York, 2008.
*Freedman, Russell. Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Clarion Books, New York, 1990.
Goodwin, Doris Kearns. No Ordinary Time: Franklin & Eleanor: The Home Front in World War II. Simon & Schuster, New York. 1995.
*Sullivan, Wilson. American Heritage Junior Library: Franklin Delano Roosevelt. American Heritage Publishing Co., Inc., 1970.
*Thompson, Gare. Who Was Eleanor Roosevelt? Grosset & Dunlap, New York. 2004.
*Waxman, Laura Hamilton. Franklin D. Roosevelt. Barnes & Noble, New York. 2004.
Who Was Franklin Roosevelt? Page 3
