Jean Edward Smith

by FDR

  22. Quoted in Robert E. Sherwood, Roosevelt and Hopkins 179 (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1948).

  23. Time, July 29, 1940; Eleanor Roosevelt, This I Remember 216.

  24. Quoted in Lash, Eleanor and Franklin 623.

  25. Doris Kearns Goodwin, No Ordinary Time 133 (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1994). For the full text of ER’s address, see the Proceedings of the Democratic National Convention, 1940 238–239 (Washington, D.C.: Democratic National Committee, 1940).

  26. New York Daily News, July 19, 1940; Lash, Eleanor and Franklin 623.

  27. Rosenman, Working with Roosevelt 215.

  28. Farley, Jim Farley’s Story 302.

  29. The New York Times, July 19, 1940. Time reported that of Wallace’s 627 votes, not more than 50 were personal votes for the secretary. Time, July 29, 1940.

  30. Quoted in Peters, Five Days 150.

  31. Ickes, 3 Secret Diaries 265.

  32. Hadley Cantril, “America Faces War: A Study in Public Opinion,” 4 Public Opinion Quarterly 387–407 (September 1940).

  33. As a member of the Senate, Wadsworth had been co-author of the 1920 National Defense Act.

  34. Elting E. Morison, Turmoil and Tradition: A Study of the Life and Times of Henry L. Stimson 480 (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1960).

  35. The New York Times, August 6, 1940.

  36. Ibid., June 20, 1940.

  37. “A conscript army is needed only if we are going to send an expeditionary force to conquer Europe or Asia,” said Fosdick. “The well-justified suspicion will not down, that behind this hectic haste to force conscription on us is the policy of belligerent interventionists.” Radio address, August 7, 1940. Quoted in William L. Langer and S. Everett Gleason, 2 The Challenge of Isolation 682 (Gloucester, Mass.: Peter Smith, 1970; reprint).

  38. Time, August 12, 1940, quoted in William E. Leuchtenburg, Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal 308n (New York: Harper & Row, 1963).

  39. Quoted in ibid. Senator Wheeler’s remarks were in a radio address on August 15, 1940.

  40. Quoted in Davis, FDR: Into the Storm 564.

  41. Henry L. Stimson and McGeorge Bundy, On Active Service in Peace and War 346 (New York: Harper & Brothers).

  42. Forrest C. Pogue, George C. Marshall: Ordeal and Hope 60 (New York: Viking Press, 1966).

  43. George H. Gallup, The Gallup Poll: Public Opinion, 1935–1971 226 (New York: Random House, 1972).

  44. July 29, 1940. 9 Public Papers and Addresses 313–314. Congress passed the requested legislation on August 27, 1940, and FDR initiated the Guard call-up on August 31 (Executive Order 8530). Guard members were limited to twelve months’ active duty and could be deployed only in the Western Hemisphere.

  45. 666th Press Conference, August 2, 1940, ibid. 321.

  46. Ellsworth Barnard, Wendell Willkie: Fighter for Freedom 204–205 (Marquette: Northern Michigan University Press, 1966).

  47. Steve Neal, Dark Horse: A Biography of Wendell Willkie 139 (New York: Doubleday, 1984).

  48. Ed Cray, General of the Army: George C. Marshall 172 (New York: W. W. Norton, 1990).

  49. U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, Statistical History of the United States 736 (Stamford, Conn.: Fairfield Publishers, 1965).

  50. WSC to FDR, June 11, 1940; June 13, 1940; June 15, 1940. Roosevelt and Churchill: Their Secret Wartime Correspondence 98–100, 104–106 (New York: E. P. Dutton, 1975).

  51. WSC to FDR, June 15, 1940, ibid. 105–106. After reading Churchill’s message, Henry Morgenthau told FDR that “unless we do something to give the English additional destroyers, it seems to me it is absolutely hopeless to expect them to keep going.” Ibid. 106.

  52. George VI to FDR, June 26, 1940, quoted in John W. Wheeler-Bennett, King George VI: His Life and Reign 511 (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1958). For a useful summary of David Windsor (Edward VIII)’s flirtation with Nazism, see Joseph E. Persico, Roosevelt’s Secret War 70–76 (New York: Random House, 2001).

  53. Langer and Gleason, 2 Challenge to Isolation 745.

  54. Section 3 of the act of June 15, 1917 (40 Stat. 217, 222) provides, “During a war in which the United States is a neutral nation, it shall be unlawful to send out of the jurisdiction of the United States any vessel, built, armed, or equipped as a vessel of war, or converted from a private vessel into a vessel of war, with any intent or under any agreement or contract, written or oral, that such vessel shall be delivered to a belligerent nation, or to an agent, officer, or citizen of such nation, or with reasonable cause to believe that the said vessel shall or will be employed in the service of any such belligerent nation after its departure from the jurisdiction of the United States.”

  55. “I told Ben very frankly, as Tom Corcoran already had, that in view of [the attorney general’s opinion prohibiting the delivery of torpedo boats to Great Britain] the President could not now reverse himself. He couldn’t get away with it in public opinion.” Ickes, 3 Secret Diaries 271.

  56. FDR to Knox, July 22, 1940, 2 F.D.R.: His Personal Letters 1048–1049. For an extract of Cohen’s memorandum, see Philip Goodhart, Fifty Ships That Saved the World 152 (New York: Doubleday, 1965).

  57. Francis P. Miller Papers, record of Century Group meeting July 11, 1940, University of Virginia. The acquisition of American bases in the British possessions in exchange for the cancellation of war debts had long been advocated by the isolationist press, particularly the Chicago Tribune. See Langer and Gleason, 2 Challenge to Isolation 746.

  58. Quoted in Robert Shogan, Hard Bargain: How FDR Twisted Churchill’s Arm, Evaded the Law, and Changed the Role of the American Presidency 153 (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1995).

  59. WSC to FDR, July 31, 1940, quoted in Churchill, Their Finest Hour 401–402 (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1949) (Churchill’s emphasis).

  60. John Morton Blum, 2 From the Morgenthau Diaries 177 (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1965); Ickes, 3 Secret Diaries 283.

  61. Stimson diary (MS), August 2, 1940.

  62. Ibid. Stimson, who did not know Farley, formed a high opinion of the postmaster general. “I was particularly pleased with the attitude throughout this whole day’s debate of Jim Farley, who sat next to me. His suggestions were fair-minded and entirely non-political.” Also see 288 Morgenthau Diaries 158 (MS). Morgenthau was not present, but Daniel Bell, who represented Treasury, provided a memo of the session.

  63. FDR’s memo of the cabinet meeting and his call to White is in 2 F.D.R. His Personal Letters 1050–1051.

  64. WSC to Lothian, August 3, 1940, quoted in Churchill, Their Finest Hour 402–403.

  65. The New York Times, August 5, 1940.

  66. Ibid., August 11, 1940. The other signatories were Charles C. Burlingham, Thomas D. Thacher, and George Rublee.

  67. Acheson to Philip Goodhart, quoted in Goodhart, Fifty Ships 162. The text of Acheson’s letter is reprinted in Appendix A of Goodhart.

  68. Stimson diary (MS), August 12, 1940.

  69. Ibid., August 15, 1940.

  70. Matthew 26:63, quoted in Peters, Five Days 165–166.

  71. The New York Times, August 18, 1940.

  72. 39 Ops. Atty. Gen. 484 (1940). The text of Jackson’s Opinion is most easily accessible in 9 Public Papers and Addresses 394–405 (August 27, 1940).

  73. The text of the Hull-Lothian agreement, actually, an exchange of letters between the two, September 2, 1940, is ibid. 392–394.

  74. Goodhart, Fifty Ships 192–193. For a list of the vessels provided, see Arnold Hague, Destroyers for Britain: A History of Fifty Town Class Ships Transferred from the United States to Great Britain in 1940 passim (Annapolis, Md.: Naval Institute Press, 1990).

  75. 677th Press Conference, September 3, 1940, 9 Public Papers and Addresses 375–390.

  76. Churchill, Their Finest Hour 408–409.

  77. The New York Times, September 4, 1940.

  78. Under the rule expounded by Justice Sutherland, speaking for a unanimous Court in Frothingham v. Mellon, 262 U.S. 447 (1923), an ind
ividual lacks standing to sue the federal government over a constitutional issue unless he or she has been seriously injured by the governmental action complained of. An individual taxpayer’s injury is “so remote, fluctuating and uncertain, that no basis is afforded for an appeal to the preventive powers of a court of equity.” Sutherland said that if every taxpayer could bring suit, every government policy would be challenged in the courts and the Supreme Court would become the ultimate arbiter of all government policy: “an authority which plainly we do not possess.” (Cf. Flast v. Cohen, 392 U.S. 83 (1968)).

  79. The Gallup Poll 239, 242. September 3, 1940, reflecting interviews conducted August 24–29; September 20, 1940, reflecting interviews September 5–10, 1940.

  80. Leuchtenburg, Franklin D. Roosevelt 320.

  81. Burns, Roosevelt: The Lion and the Fox 442.

  82. Perkins, The Roosevelt I Knew 117. Secretary Perkins reported receiving hundreds of telegrams afterward, more than half from Republican women, complaining about Willkie’s remark.

  83. Ted Morgan, FDR: A Biography 533 (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1985).

  84. The rumors of Welles’s behavior eventually filtered back to the Oval Office, and on January 3, 1941, FDR ordered J. Edgar Hoover to conduct “a full and thorough investigation.” The FBI deployed its top agents, and on January 29, 1941, Hoover reported to Roosevelt that the accusations were true. No further action was taken until August 1943, when Hull used the incident to force Welles’s resignation. Hoover memorandum, January 30, 1941, Sumner Welles Federal Bureau of Investigation O.C. File, quoted in Irwin F. Gellman, Secret Affairs: FDR, Cordell Hull, and Sumner Welles 237 (New York: Enigma Books, 1995). Gellman treats the Hull-Welles relationship with great insight and perception.

  85. Joseph Barnes, Willkie: The Events He Was Part of, the Ideas He Fought For 156 (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1952).

  86. Quoted in Steve Neal, Dark Horse: A Biography of Wendell Willkie 29 (New York: Doubleday, 1984).

  87. Ibid. 50.

  88. FDR’s comment was to Lowell Mellett, a presidential aide, and was recorded on the primitive recording system David Sarnoff had installed in the Oval Office for Roosevelt. FDR Tapes, FDRL.

  89. Quoted in Neal, Dark Horse 144. The film State of the Union, starring Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn, is a takeoff on the Willkie campaign, and Hepburn, the candidate’s estranged wife, travels with him on the campaign trail.

  90. Ibid. 43.

  91. Peters, Five Days 175.

  92. 1940 The Gallup Poll 244–245.

  93. Quoted in Morgan, FDR 540.

  94. Ibid.

  95. Quoted in Freidel, A Rendezvous with Destiny 354.

  96. Burns, The Lion and the Fox 443.

  97. Barnes, Willkie 226.

  98. Burns, The Lion and the Fox 445.

  99. 1940 The Gallup Poll 247.

  100. Ickes, 3 Secret Diaries 352.

  101. 9 Public Papers and Addresses 481.

  102. Address at Philadelphia, October 23, 1940. Ibid. 485–495.

  103. Burns, The Lion and the Fox 447.

  104. 9 Public Papers and Addresses 488.

  105. Address at Madison Square Garden, October 28, 1940. Ibid. 490–510.

  106. Address at Boston, Massachusetts, October 30, 1940. Ibid. 514–524.

  107. Quoted in Freidel, Rendezvous with Destiny 355.

  108. Rosenman, Working with Roosevelt 242.

  109. Ibid. 249.

  110. Address at Cleveland, Ohio, October 2, 1940. 9 Public Papers and Addresses 544–553.

  111. Gallup Poll, November 4, 1940. The Gallup Poll 249–250.

  112. In 1908 voting turnout was 65.4 percent. Note that American turnout figures are based on the entire voting-age population. In Europe, Canada, and Australia turnout figures are given as a proportion of the registered voters. That explains why turnout figures in those countries are inevitably higher. U.S. Bureau of the Census, Historical Statistics of the United States 1071–1072 (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1975).

  113. One of the best analyses of the 1940 election remains Samuel Lubell’s classic The Future of American Politics 51–57 (New York: Harper & Row, 1952).

  114. Perkins, The Roosevelt I Knew 118.

  TWENTY-TWO | Arsenal of Democracy

  The epigraph is from FDR’s fireside chat, December 29, 1940. 9 Public Papers and Addresses of Franklin D. Roosevelt 633–644, Samuel I. Rosenman, ed. (New York: Macmillan, 1941).

  1. James MacGregor Burns, Roosevelt: The Soldier of Freedom 22 (New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1970).

  2. WSC to FDR, November 6, 1940, quoted in Roosevelt and Churchill: Their Secret Wartime Correspondence 119–120, Francis L. Loewenheim, Harold D. Langley, and Manfred Jonas, eds. (New York: E. P. Dutton, 1975).

  3. David M. Kennedy, Freedom from Fear 465 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999).

  4. WSC to FDR, November 6, 1940, quoted in Roosevelt and Churchill 119.

  5. Martin Gilbert, Churchill: A Life 679–681 (New York: Henry Holt, 1991); Kennedy, Freedom from Fear 632.

  6. Roy Jenkins, Churchill: A Biography 631n (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2001).

  7. 16 Complete Presidential Press Conferences of Franklin D. Roosevelt 324 (New York: Da Capo Press, 1972); 1 The Memoirs of Cordell Hull 871–873 (New York: Macmillan, 1948).

  8. William L. Langer and S. Everett Gleason, Undeclared War 229 (New York: Harper & Row, 1952). Also see John Morton Blum, 2 From the Morgenthau Diaries 201–203 (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1965).

  9. Robert E. Sherwood, Roosevelt and Hopkins 222 (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1948).

  10. Ibid. 224.

  11. Winston S. Churchill, Their Finest Hour 558 (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1949); Kennedy, Freedom from Fear 467.

  12. The full text of Churchill’s December 8 message together with earlier drafts is in 1 Churchill and Roosevelt: The Complete Correspondence 89–109, Warren F. Kimball, ed. (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1984). Also see Churchill, Their Finest Hour 558–567. An abbreviated version appears in Roosevelt and Churchill 122–126.

  13. Churchill, Their Finest Hour 567.

  14. Sherwood, Roosevelt and Hopkins 224.

  15. Conrad Black, Franklin Delano Roosevelt 605 (New York: PublicAffairs, 2003).

  16. Sherwood, Roosevelt and Hopkins 225.

  17. Blum, 2 From the Morgenthau Diaries 208.

  18. A useful summary of FDR’s actions is provided by Warren F. Kimball in The Most Unsordid Act: Lend-Lease, 1939–1941 119–125 (Baltimore, Md.: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1969).

  19. Press Conference, December 17, 1940. 16 Complete Presidential Press Conferences 350–355.

  20. Churchill, Their Finest Hour 569.

  21. FDR, “Fireside Chat,” December 29, 1940, 9 Public Papers and Addresses 633–644.

  22. Black, Franklin Delano Roosevelt 607.

  23. 9 Public Papers and Addresses 633–644 (emphasis added).

  24. Samuel I. Rosenman, Working with Roosevelt 262 (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1952); also see Sherwood, Roosevelt and Hopkins 227.

  25. Jon Meacham, Franklin and Winston: An Intimate Portrait of an Epic Relationship 79 (New York: Random House, 2003).

  26. Langer and Gleason, The Undeclared War 249; The Gallup Poll 262 (interviewing dates January 11–16, 1941).

  27. 1 Churchill and Roosevelt 120.

  28. Annual Message, January 6, 1941, 9 Public Papers and Addresses 663–672.

  29. Sherwood, Roosevelt and Hopkins 231.

  30. Rosenman, Working with Roosevelt 262–263.

  31. Sherwood, Roosevelt and Hopkins 233–234.

  32. James Roosevelt and Sidney Shalett, Affectionately, F.D.R. 325 (New York: Harcourt, Brace & Company, 1959).

  33. Sherwood, Roosevelt and Hopkins 2–3.

  34. 1 Churchill and Roosevelt 131. On January 28, 1941, Churchill wrote FDR, “I received Willkie yesterday and was deeply moved by the verse of Longfellow’s which you quoted. I shall h
ave it framed as a souvenir of these tremendous days as a mark of our friendly relations.” Ibid. 134.

  35. Kimball, Most Unsordid Act 77–104; Kennedy, Freedom from Fear 472–473; Steve Neal, Dark Horse: A Biography of Wendell Willkie 187 (New York: Doubleday, 1984).

  36. A January 27, 1941, Gallup Poll indicated FDR enjoyed a 71 percent approval rating. On Lend-Lease, respondents were 68 percent in favor on January 22; 69 percent in favor on February 10; 56 percent in favor on February 28; and 76 percent in favor on March 10. George H. Gallup, The Gallup Poll: Public Opinion, 1935–1971 262–268 (New York: Random House, 1972).

  37. Neal, Dark Horse 203–206. Also see The New York Times, February 12, 1941.

  38. Annual Address to the White House Correspondents Association, March 15, 1941, 10 Public Papers and Addresses 63.

  39. Winston S. Churchill, The Grand Alliance 123–139 (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1951).

  40. 10 Public Papers and Addresses 96–98.

  41. FDR to WSC, April 11, 1941, 1 Churchill & Roosevelt 166.

  42. 738th Press Conference, April 25, 1941, 10 Public Papers and Addresses 133–135. An April 23 Gallup Poll indicated that only 41 percent of Americans favored convoying British ships, while 50 percent were opposed. The Gallup Poll 275.

  43. Gallup Polls, April 7, 18, 23, 28, 1941. Ibid. 273–276.

  44. Blum, 2 From the Morgenthau Diaries 254. “The President said that public opinion was not yet ready for the United States to convoy ships,” Morgenthau wrote after an April 2 conversation with FDR. Ibid. 251.

  45. Quoted in Frank Freidel, Franklin D. Roosevelt: A Rendezvous with Destiny 370 (Boston: Little, Brown, 1990).

  46. George VI to FDR, June 3, 1941, FDRL. “I often think of those talks we had at Hyde Park,” wrote the King. “After so many years of anxiety, when what we wanted to happen seemed so far from realisation, it is wonderful to feel that at last our two great countries are getting together for the future betterment of the world.… My prime minister, Mr. Churchill, is indefatigable at his work. He is a great man, and has at last come into his own as leader of his country in this fateful time in her history. I have every confidence in him.”

  King George, who wrote in beautiful script, asked to write to FDR directly. “So many communications between Heads of State have to go through ‘official channels.’ ” The King signed himself “Believe me Yours very sincerely George R.I. [Rex Imperator].”