Second New Deal, 1935–1936 Roosevelt signs the Social Security Act, August 14, 1935. After the 1934 Congressional elections, which gave Roosevelt large majorities in both houses, his administration drafted a fresh surge of New Deal legislation. These measures included the Works Progress Administration (WPA), which set up a national relief agency that employed two million family heads. At the height of WPA employment in 1938, unemployment was down from 20.6% in 1933 to only 12.5%, according to figures from Michael Darby.[144] The Social Security Act established Social Security and promised economic security for the elderly, the poor and the sick. Senator Robert Wagner wrote the Wagner Act, which officially became the National Labor Relations Act. The act established the federal rights of workers to organize unions, to engage in collective bargaining, and to take part in strikes. 1936 re-election handbill for Roosevelt promoting his economic policy. While the First New Deal of 1933 had broad support from most sectors, the Second New Deal challenged the business community. Conservative Democrats, led by Al Smith, fought back with the American Liberty League, savagely attacking Roosevelt and equating him with Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin.[145] But Smith overplayed his hand, and his boisterous rhetoric let Roosevelt isolate his opponents and identify them with the wealthy vested interests that opposed the New Deal, strengthening Roosevelt for the 1936 landslide.[145] By contrast, the labor unions, energized by the Wagner Act, signed up millions of new members and became a major backer of Roosevelts reelections in 1936, 1940 and 1944.[146] Larry Schweikart and Michael Allen disagree with the prevailing belief that there were two New Deals in the Roosevelt administration.[147] They argue that there is no evidence of any such blueprint for Roosevelts programs, and that abundant evidence shows FDRs policies were formulated and executed haphazardly, fluctuating in the hands of a revolving cast of presidential advisors.[148] Biographer James M. Burns suggests that Roosevelts policy decisions were guided more by pragmatism than ideology, and that he was like the general of a guerrilla army whose columns, fighting blindly in the mountains through dense ravines and thickets, suddenly converge, half by plan and half by coincidence, and debouch into the plain below.[149] Roosevelt argued that such apparently haphazard methodology was necessary. The country needs and, unless I mistake its temper, the country demands bold, persistent experimentation, he wrote. It is common sense to take a method and try it; if it fails, admit it frankly and try another. But above all, try something.[150] Economic environment See also: Great Depression in the United States § Effects Government spending increased from 8.0% of gross national product (GNP) under Hoover in 1932 to 10.2% of the GNP in 1936. The national debt as a percentage of the GNP had more than doubled under Hoover from 16% to 40% of the GNP in early 1933. It held steady at close to 40% as late as fall 1941, then grew rapidly during the war.[151] Unemployment rate in the U.S. 1910–60, with the years of the Great Depression (1929–39) highlighted. Deficit spending had been recommended by some economists, most notably by John Maynard Keynes of Britain. The GNP was 34% higher in 1936 than in 1932 and 58% higher in 1940 on the eve of war. That is, the economy grew 58% from 1932 to 1940 in 8 years of peacetime, and then grew 56% from 1940 to 1945 in 5 years of wartime.[151] Unemployment fell dramatically in Roosevelts first term, from 25% when he took office to 14.3% in 1937. However, it increased slightly to 19.0% in 1938 (a depression within a depression) and fell to 17.2% in 1939, and then dropped again to 14.6% in 1940 until it reached 1.9% in 1945 during World War II.[152] Total employment during Roosevelts term expanded by 18.31 million jobs, with an average annual increase in jobs during his administration of 5.3%.[153][154] Roosevelt considered his New Deal policies as central to his legacy, and in his 1944 State of the Union Address, he advocated that Americans should think of basic economic rights as a Second Bill of Rights. File:Second Bill of Rights Speech.ogv Franklin Delano Roosevelt announced the plan for a bill of social and economic rights in the State of the Union address broadcast on January 11, 1944. (excerpt) Roosevelt did not raise income taxes before World War II began; however payroll taxes were introduced to fund the new Social Security program in 1937. He also convinced Congress to spend more on many various programs never before seen in American history. Under the revenue pressures brought on by the depression, most states added or increased taxes, including sales as well as income taxes. Roosevelts proposal for new taxes on corporate savings were highly controversial in 1936–37, and were rejected by Congress. During the war he pushed for even higher income tax rates for individuals (reaching a marginal tax rate of 91%) and corporations and a cap on high salaries for executives. He also issued Executive Order 9250 in October 1942, later to be rescinded by Congress, which raised the marginal tax rate for salaries exceeding $25,000 (after tax) to 100%, thereby limiting salaries to $25,000 (about $361,000 today).[155][156][157] To fund the war, Congress not only broadened the base so that almost every employee paid federal income taxes, but also introduced withholding taxes in 1943. Foreign policy, 1933–37 The rejection of the League of Nations treaty in 1919 marked the dominance of isolationism from world organizations in American foreign policy. Despite Roosevelts Wilsonian background, he and Secretary of State Cordell Hull acted with great care not to provoke isolationist sentiment. Roosevelts bombshell message to the world monetary conference in 1933 effectively ended any major efforts by the world powers to collaborate on ending the worldwide depression, and allowed Roosevelt a free hand in economic policy.[158] Roosevelt was a lifelong free-trader and anti-imperialist. Ending European colonialism was one of his objectives.[159] The main foreign policy initiative of Roosevelts first term was the Good Neighbor Policy, which was a re-evaluation of U.S. policy towards Latin America. Since the Monroe Doctrine of 1823, this area had been seen as an American sphere of influence. American forces were withdrawn from Haiti, and new treaties with Cuba and Panama ended their status as U.S. protectorates. In December 1933, Roosevelt signed the Montevideo Convention on the Rights and Duties of States, renouncing the right to intervene unilaterally in the affairs of Latin American countries.[160] The isolationist movement was bolstered in the early to mid-1930s by U.S. Senator Gerald Nye and others who succeeded in their effort to stop the merchants of death in the U.S. from selling arms abroad.[161] This effort took the form of the Neutrality Acts; the president asked for, but was refused, a provision to give him the discretion to allow the sale of arms to victims of aggression.[162] In the interim, Italy under Benito Mussolini proceeded to overcome Ethiopia, and the Italians joined Nazi Germany in supporting the General Franco and the Nationalist cause in the Spanish Civil War.[163] In 1936 Germany and Japan signed a Anti-Comintern Pact, but they never coordinated their strategies.[164] Congress passed, and the president signed, a mandatory arms embargo at a time when dictators in Europe and Asia were girding for world war.[165] Landslide re-election, 1936 Main article: United States presidential election, 1936 In the 1936 presidential election, Roosevelt campaigned on his New Deal programs against Kansas Governor Alf Landon, who accepted much of the New Deal but objected that it was hostile to business and involved too much waste. Roosevelt and Garner won 60.8% of the vote and carried every state except Maine and Vermont.[166] The New Deal Democrats won even larger majorities in Congress. Roosevelt was backed by a coalition of voters which included traditional Democrats across the country, small farmers, the Solid South (mostly white Democrats), Catholics, big city political machines, labor unions, northern African Americans (southern ones were still disfranchised), Jews, intellectuals and political liberals. This coalition, frequently referred to as the New Deal coalition, remained largely intact for the Democratic Party until the 1960s.[167] Roosevelts popularity generated massive volumes of correspondence that had to be responded to. He once told his son James, Two short sentences will generally answer any known letter.[168] Second term, 1937–1941 In contrast to his first term, little major legislation was passed during Roosevelts second term. There was the Housing Act of 1937, a second Agricultural Adjustment Act, and the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) of 1938, which created the minimum wage. When the economy began to deteriorate again in late 1937, Roosevelt asked Congress for $5 billion in WPA relief and public works funding. This managed to eventually create as many as 3.3 million WPA jobs by 1938. Projects accomplished under the WPA ranged from new federal courthouses and post offices, to facilities and infrastructure for national parks, bridges and other infrastructure across the country, and architectural surveys and archeological excavations — investments to construct facilities and preserve important resources. Beyond this, however, Roosevelt recommended to a special congressional session only a permanent national farm act, administrative reorganization and regional planning measures, which were leftovers from a regular session. According to Burns, this attempt illustrated Roosevelts inability to decide on a basic economic program.[169] The Supreme Court became Roosevelts primary focus during his second term, after the court overturned many of his programs. In particular in 1935, the Court unanimously ruled that the National Recovery Act (NRA) was an unconstitutional delegation of legislative power to the president. Roosevelt stunned Congress in early 1937 by proposing a law to allow him to appoint up to six new justices, what he referred to as a persistent infusion of new blood.[170] This court packing plan ran into intense political opposition from his own party, led by Vice President Garner, since it upset the separation of powers and gave the President control over the Court. Roosevelts proposal to expand the court failed;[171] but by 1941, Roosevelt had appointed eight of the nine justices of the court, a change in membership which resulted in a court that began to ratify his policies.[172][173] Roosevelt at first had massive support from the rapidly growing labor unions, but they split into bitterly feuding AFL and CIO factions, the latter led by John L. Lewis. Roosevelt pronounced a plague on both your houses, but labors disunity weakened the party in the elections from 1938 through 1946.[174] Determined to overcome the opposition of conservative Democrats in Congress (mostly from the South), Roosevelt became involved in the 1938 Democratic primaries, actively campaigning for challengers who were more supportive of New Deal reform. His targets denounced Roosevelt for trying to take over the Democratic party and to win reelection, using the argument that they were independent. Roosevelt failed badly, managing to defeat only one target, a conservative Democrat from New York City.[175] In the November 1938 election, Democrats lost six Senate seats and 71 House seats. Losses were concentrated among pro-New Deal Democrats. When Congress reconvened in 1939, Republicans under Senator Robert Taft formed a Conservative coalition with Southern Democrats, virtually ending Roosevelts ability to get his domestic proposals enacted into law. The minimum wage law of 1938 was the last substantial New Deal reform act passed by Congress.[176] Following the autumn Congressional elections in 1938, Congress was now dominated by conservatives, many of whom feared that Roosevelt was aiming at a dictatorship, according to the historian Hugh Brogan.[177] In addition, as noted by another historian, after the 1938 election increased the strength of Republicans, “conservative Democrats held the balance of power between liberals and Republicans, and they used it to prevent completion of the structure of the Second New Deal.”[178] Roosevelt had always belonged to the more liberal wing of the Democratic Party. He sought a realignment that would solidify liberal dominance by means of landslides in 1932, 1934 and 1936. During the 1932 campaign he predicted privately, I’ll be in the White House for eight years. When those years are over, there’ll be a Progressive party. It may not be Democratic, but it will be Progressive. When the third consecutive landslide in 1936 failed to produce major legislation in 1937, his recourse was to purge his conservative opponents in 1938.[179] Foreign policy, 1937–1941 Roosevelt welcomes Manuel L. Quezon, the second President of the Philippines and his family in Washington, May 13, 1942. The aggressive foreign policy of Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler in Germany after 1933 aroused fears of a new world war. Americans wanted to keep out of it and in 1937 Congress passed an even more stringent Neutrality act. But when Japan invaded China in 1937, public opinion strongly favored China, and Roosevelt found various ways to assist that nation.[180] In October 1937, Roosevelt gave the Quarantine Speech aiming to contain aggressor nations. He proposed that warmongering states be treated as a public health menace and be quarantined.[181] Meanwhile he secretly stepped up a program to build long-range submarines that could blockade Japan.[182] At the time of the Munich Agreement in 1938 — with the U.S. not represented — Roosevelt said the country would not join a stop-Hitler bloc under any circumstances. He made it quite clear that, in the event of German aggression against Czechoslovakia, the U.S. would remain neutral.[183][184] Roosevelt said in 1939 that France and Britain were Americas first line of defense and needed American aid, but because of widespread isolationist sentiment, he reiterated the US itself would not go to war.[185] In the spring of 1939, Roosevelt allowed the French to place huge orders with the American aircraft industry on a cash-and-carry basis, as allowed by law. Most of the aircraft ordered had not arrived in France by the time of its collapse in May 1940, so Roosevelt arranged in June 1940 for French orders to be sold to the British.[186] When World War II began in 1939, Roosevelt rejected the Wilsonian neutrality stance and sought ways to assist Britain and France militarily.[187] At first he gave only covert support to repeal of the arms embargo provisions of the Neutrality Act.[188] He began a regular secret correspondence with the First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill in September 1939 — the first of 1,700 letters and telegrams between them[189] — discussing ways of supporting Britain. Roosevelt forged a close personal relationship with Churchill, who became Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in May 1940. In April 1940, Germany invaded Denmark and Norway, followed by invasions of the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg and France in May. The German victories left Britain isolated in western Europe. Roosevelt, who was determined that Britain not be defeated, took advantage of the rapid shifts of public opinion. The fall of Paris shocked American opinion, and isolationist sentiment declined. A consensus was clear that military spending had to be dramatically expanded. There was no consensus on how much the US should risk war in helping Britain.[190] In July 1940, FDR appointed two interventionist Republican leaders, Henry L. Stimson and Frank Knox, as Secretaries of War and the Navy, respectively. Both parties gave support to his plans for a rapid build-up the American military, but the isolationists warned that Roosevelt would get the nation into an unnecessary war with Germany.[191] Congress authorized the nations first peacetime draft.[192] Foreign trips of Roosevelt during his presidency. Roosevelt used his personal charisma to build support for intervention. America should be the Arsenal of Democracy, he told his fireside audience.[193] On September 2, 1940, Roosevelt openly defied the Neutrality Acts by passing the Destroyers for Bases Agreement, which, in exchange for military base rights in the British Caribbean Islands, gave 50 WWI American destroyers to Britain. The U.S. also received free base rights in Bermuda and Newfoundland, allowing British forces to be moved to the sharper end of the war; the idea of an exchange of warships for bases such as these originated in the cabinet.[194] Hitler and Mussolini responded to the deal by joining with Japan in the Tripartite Pact.[195] The agreement with Britain was a precursor of the March 1941 Lend-Lease agreement, which began to direct massive military and economic aid to Britain, the Republic of China, and later the Soviet Union. For foreign policy advice, Roosevelt turned to Harry Hopkins, who became his chief wartime advisor. They sought innovative ways short of going to war to help Britain, whose financial resources were exhausted by the end of 1940.[196] Congress, where isolationist sentiment was waning, passed the Lend-Lease Act in March 1941, allowing the U.S. to give Wales, England, Scotland, China, and later the Soviet Union military supplies. The legislation had hit a logjam until Senators Byrd, Byrnes and Taft added a provision subjecting it to appropriation by Congress.[197] Congress voted to commit to spend $50 billion on military supplies from 1941 to 1945. In sharp contrast to the loans of World War I, there would be no repayment after the war. Until late in 1941, Roosevelt refused Churchills urgent requests for armed escort of ships bound for Britain, insisting on a more passive patrolling function in the western Atlantic.[198] Election of 1940 Main article: United States presidential election, 1940 The two-term tradition had been an unwritten rule (until the 22nd Amendment after Roosevelts presidency) since George Washington declined to run for a third term in 1796. Both Ulysses S. Grant and Theodore Roosevelt were attacked for trying to obtain a third non-consecutive term. Roosevelt systematically undercut prominent Democrats who were angling for the nomination, including Vice President John Nance Garner[199] and two cabinet members, Secretary of State Cordell Hull and James Farley, Roosevelts campaign manager in 1932 and 1936, the Postmaster General and the Democratic Party chairman. Roosevelt moved the convention to Chicago where he had strong support from the city machine (which controlled the auditorium sound system). At the convention the opposition was poorly organized, but Farley had packed the galleries. Roosevelt sent a message saying that he would not run unless he was drafted, and that the delegates were free to vote for anyone. The delegates were stunned; then the loudspeaker screamed We want Roosevelt... The world wants Roosevelt! The delegates went wild and he was nominated by 946 to 147 on the first ballot. The tactic employed by Roosevelt was not entirely successful, as his goal had been to be drafted by acclamation.[200] The new vice-presidential nominee was Henry Agard Wallace, a liberal intellectual who was Secretary of Agriculture.[201] In his campaign against Republican Wendell Willkie, Roosevelt stressed both his proven leadership experience and his intention to do everything possible to keep the United States out of war. In one of his speeches he declared to potential recruits that you boys are not going to be sent into any foreign war.[202] He won the 1940 election with 55% of the popular vote and 38 of the 48 states.[203] A shift to the left within the Administration was shown by the naming of Henry A. Wallace as Vice President in place of the conservative Texan John Nance Garner, who had become a bitter enemy of Roosevelt after 1937. Third term, 1941–1945 Main article: United States home front during World War II Policies State of the Union (Four Freedoms) (January 6, 1941) MENU0:00 Franklin Delano Roosevelts January 6, 1941 State of the Union Address introducing the theme of the Four Freedoms (starting at 32:02) Problems playing this file? See media help. Roosevelts third term was dominated by World War II. Roosevelt slowly began re-armament in 1938, although he was facing strong isolationist sentiment from leaders like Senators William Borah and Robert A. Taft. By 1940, re-armament was in high gear, with bipartisan support, partly to expand and re-equip the Army and Navy and partly to become the Arsenal of Democracy supporting Britain, France, China and (after June 1941), the Soviet Union.[204] As Roosevelt took a firmer stance against the Axis Powers, American isolationists (including Charles Lindbergh and America First) vehemently attacked the President as an irresponsible warmonger.[205] Roosevelt initiated FBI and Internal Revenue Service investigations of his loudest critics, though no legal actions resulted.[206] 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 in the war directly to the American people. A week later he delivered his famous Four Freedoms speech laying out the case for an American defense of basic rights throughout the world. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill aboard HMS Prince of Wales for 1941 Atlantic Charter meeting. The homefront was subject to dynamic social changes throughout the war, though domestic issues were no longer Roosevelts most urgent policy concern. The military buildup spurred economic growth. Unemployment fell in half from 7.7 million in spring 1940 (when the first accurate statistics were compiled) to 3.4 million in fall 1941 and fell in half again to 1.5 million in fall 1942, out of a labor force of 54 million.[b] There was a growing labor shortage, accelerating the second wave of the Great Migration of African Americans, farmers and rural populations to manufacturing centers. African Americans from the South went to California and other West Coast states for new jobs in the defense industry. To pay for increased government spending, in 1941 FDR proposed that Congress enact an income tax rate of 99.5% on all income over $100,000; when the proposal failed, he issued an executive order imposing an income tax of 100% on income over $25,000, which Congress rescinded.[208] When Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941, Roosevelt agreed to extend Lend-Lease to the Soviets. Thus, Roosevelt had committed the U.S. to the Allied side with a policy of all aid short of war.[209] Execution of the aid fell victim to foot dragging in the administration so FDR appointed a special assistant, Wayne Coy, to expedite matters.[210] Later that year a German submarine fired on the U.S. destroyer Greer, and Roosevelt declared that the U.S. Navy would assume an escort role for Allied convoys in the Atlantic as far east as Great Britain and would fire upon German ships or submarines (U-boats) of the Kriegsmarine if they entered the U.S. Navy zone. This shoot on sight policy effectively declared Naval war on Germany and was favored by Americans by a margin of 2-to-1.[211] Roosevelt and Churchill conducted a highly secret bilateral meeting in Argentia, Newfoundland, and on August 14, 1941, drafted the Atlantic Charter, conceptually outlining global wartime and postwar goals. All the Allies endorsed it. This was the first of several wartime conferences;[212] Churchill and Roosevelt would meet ten more times in person.[213] In July 1941, Roosevelt had ordered Secretary of War Henry Stimson, to begin planning for total American military involvement. The resulting Victory Program provided the Armys estimates necessary for the total mobilization of manpower, industry, and logistics to defeat Germany and Japan. 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 Japans Attack on Pearl Harbor.[209] Congress was debating a modification of the Neutrality Act in October 1941, when the USS Kearny, along with other ships, engaged a number of U-boats south of Iceland; the Kearny took fire and lost eleven crewmen. As a result, the amendment of the Neutrality Act to permit the arming of the merchant marine passed both houses, though by a slim margin.[214] In 1942, war production increased dramatically, but fell short of the goals established by the President, due in part to manpower shortages.[215] The effort was also hindered by numerous strikes by union workers, especially in the coal mining and railroad industries, which lasted well into 1944.[216][217] The White House became the ultimate site for labor mediation, conciliation or arbitration.[218] One particular battle royal occurred, between Vice-President Wallace, who headed the Board of Economic Warfare, and Jesse Jones, in charge of the Reconstruction Finance Corporation; both agencies assumed responsibility for acquisition of rubber supplies and came to loggerheads over funding. FDR resolved the dispute by dissolving both agencies.[219] In 1944, the President requested that Congress enact legislation which would tax all unreasonable profits, both corporate and individual, and thereby support his declared need for over $10 billion in revenue for the war and other government measures. The Congress passed a revenue bill raising $2 billion, which FDR vetoed, though Congress in turn overrode him.[220] Pearl Harbor and declarations of war See also: Events leading to the attack on Pearl Harbor, Attack on Pearl Harbor and Europe first Roosevelt signing declaration of war against Japan (left) on December 8 and against Germany (right) on December 11, 1941. When Japan occupied northern French Indochina in late 1940, FDR authorized increased aid to the Republic of China, a policy that won widespread popular support. In July 1941, after Japan occupied the remainder of Indo-China, he cut off the sale of oil to Japan, which thus lost more than 95 percent of its oil supply. Roosevelt continued negotiations with the Japanese government, primarily through Secretary Hull. Japan Premier Fumimaro Konoye desired a summit conference with FDR which the US rejected. Konoye was replaced with Minister of War Hideki Tojo.[221] Meanwhile, Roosevelt started sending long-range B-17 bombers to the Philippines. FDR felt that an attack by the Japanese was probable – most likely in the Dutch East Indies or Thailand.[222] On December 4, 1941, The Chicago Tribune published the complete text of Rainbow Five, a top-secret war plan drawn up by the War Department. It dealt chiefly with mobilization issues, calling for a 10-million-man army. The great majority of scholars have rejected the conspiracy thesis that Roosevelt, or any other high government officials, knew in advance about the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. The Japanese had kept their secrets closely guarded. Senior American officials were aware that war was imminent, but they did not expect an attack on Pearl Harbor.[223] On the morning of December 7, 1941, the Japanese struck the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor with a surprise attack, knocking out the main American battleship fleet and killing 2,403 American servicemen and civilians. Roosevelt called for war in his famous Infamy Speech to Congress, in which he said: Yesterday, December 7, 1941 — a date which will live in infamy — the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan. In 1942 Roosevelt set up a new military command structure with Admiral Ernest J. King as Chief of Naval Operations in complete control of the Navy and Marines; General George C. Marshall in charge of the Army and in nominal control of the Air Force, which in practice was commanded by General Hap Arnold. Roosevelt formed a new body, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, which made the final decisions on American military strategy.[224] The Joint Chiefs was a White House agency and was chaired by Admiral William D. Leahy. When dealing with Europe, the Joint Chiefs met with their British counterparts and formed the Combined Chiefs of Staff.[225][page needed] Unlike the political leaders of the other major powers, Roosevelt rarely overrode his military advisors.[226][page needed] His civilian appointees handled the draft and procurement of men and equipment, but no civilians – not even the secretaries of War or Navy, had a voice in strategy.[c] Roosevelt avoided the State Department and conducted high level diplomacy through his aides, especially Harry Hopkins. Since Hopkins also controlled $50 billion in Lend Lease funds given to the Allies, they paid attention to him.[227][page needed] War plans After Pearl Harbor, antiwar sentiment in the United States evaporated overnight. On December 11, 1941, Germany and Italy declared war on the United States, which responded in kind.[228] Roosevelt and his military advisers implemented a war strategy with the objectives of halting the German advances in the Soviet Union and in North Africa; launching an invasion of western Europe with the aim of crushing Nazi Germany between two fronts; and saving China and defeating Japan. Public opinion, however, gave priority to the destruction of Japan, so American forces were sent chiefly to the Pacific in 1942.[229] In the opening weeks of the war, Japan had conquered the Philippines, and the English and Dutch colonies in Southeast Asia, capturing Singapore in February 1942. Furthermore Japan defeated the Allied Forces in Burma and advanced almost to the borders of Bengal in India, thus cutting off the overland supply route to China. Roosevelt met with Churchill in late December and planned a broad informal alliance among the U.S., Britain, China and the Soviet Union. This included Churchills initial plan to invade North Africa (called Operation Gymnast) and the primary plan of the U.S. generals for a western Europe invasion, focused directly on Germany (Operation Sledgehammer). An agreement was also reached for a centralized command and offensive in the Pacific theater called ABDA (American, British, Dutch, Australian) to save China and defeat Japan. Nevertheless, the Atlantic First strategy was intact, to Churchills great satisfaction.[230] On New Years Day 1942, Churchill and FDR issued the Declaration by United Nations, representing 26 countries in opposition to the Tripartite Pact of Germany, Italy and Japan.[231] Internment of Germans, Japanese and Italians Main articles: German American internment, Japanese American internment and Italian American internment When the war began, the danger of a Japanese attack on the coast led to growing pressure to move people of Japanese descent away from the coastal region. This pressure grew due to fears of terrorism, espionage, and/or sabotage; it was also related to anti-Japanese competition and discrimination. On February 19, 1942, President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, which relocated hundreds of thousands of the Issei (first generation of Japanese immigrants who did not have U.S. citizenship) and their children, Nisei (who had dual citizenship). They were forced to give up their properties and businesses, and transported to hastily built camps in interior, harsh locations. After both Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy declared war on the United States in December 1941, German and Italian citizens who had not taken out American citizenship and who spoke out for Hitler and Mussolini were often arrested or interned. War strategy Roosevelt and Churchill at Casablanca Conference in early 1943 The Big Three (Roosevelt, Churchill, and Joseph Stalin), together with Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek, cooperated informally on a plan in which American and British troops concentrated in the West; Soviet troops fought on the Eastern front; and Chinese, British and American troops fought in Asia and the Pacific. The Allies formulated strategy in a series of high profile conferences as well as contact through diplomatic and military channels. Roosevelt guaranteed that the U.S. would be the Arsenal of Democracy by shipping $50 billion of Lend Lease supplies, primarily to Britain and to the USSR, China and other Allies. In October 1942, the President was advised that military resources were desperately needed at Guadalcanal to prevent overrunning by the Japanese. FDR heeded the advice, redirected armaments and the Japanese Pacific offensive was stalled.[232] Chiang Kai-shek, Roosevelt, and Winston Churchill at the Cairo Conference, December 1943 The Allies undertook the invasions of French Morocco and Algeria (Operation Torch) in November 1942. FDR very much desired the assault be initiated before election day, but did not order it. FDR and Churchill had another war conference in Casablanca in January 1943; Stalin declined an invitation. The Allies agreed strategically that the Mediterranean focus be continued, with the cross-channel invasion coming later, followed by concentration of efforts in the Pacific.[233] Hitler reinforced his military in North Africa, with the result that the Allied efforts there suffered a temporary setback; Allied attempts to counterbalance this were successful, but resulted in war supplies to the USSR being delayed, as well as the second war front.[234] Later, their assault pursued into Sicily (Operation Husky) followed in July 1943, and of Italy (Operation Avalanche) in September 1943. In 1943 it was apparent to FDR that Stalin, while bearing the brunt of Germanys offensive, had not had sufficient opportunity to participate in war conferences. The President made a concerted effort to arrange a one-on-one meeting with Stalin, in Fairbanks. However, when Stalin learned that Roosevelt and Churchill had postponed the cross-channel invasion a second time, he cancelled.[235] The strategic bombing campaign was escalated in 1944, pulverizing all major German cities and cutting off oil supplies. It was a 50–50 British-American operation. Roosevelt picked Dwight D. Eisenhower, and not George Marshall, to head the Allied cross-channel invasion, Operation Overlord that began on D-Day, June 6, 1944. Some of the most costly battles of the war ensued after the invasion, and the Allies were blocked on the German border in the Battle of the Bulge in December 1944. When Roosevelt died on April 12, 1945, Allied forces were closing in on Berlin. Meanwhile, in the Pacific, the Japanese advance reached its maximum extent by June 1942, when the U.S. Navy scored a decisive victory at the Battle of Midway. American and Australian forces then began a slow and costly progress called island hopping or leapfrogging through the Pacific Islands, with the objective of gaining bases from which strategic airpower could be brought to bear on Japan and from which Japan could ultimately be invaded. In contrast to Hitler, Roosevelt took no direct part in the tactical naval operations, though he approved strategic decisions.[236] FDR gave way in part to insistent demands from the public and Congress that more effort be devoted against Japan; he always insisted on Germany first. Post-war planning Further information: Tehran Conference and Yalta Conference Churchill, FDR, and Stalin at Yalta, two months before Roosevelts death By late 1943, it was apparent that the Allies would ultimately defeat the enemy, so it became increasingly important to make high-level political decisions about the course of the war and the postwar future of Europe. Roosevelt met with Churchill and the Chinese leader Chiang Kai-shek at the Cairo Conference in November 1943, and then went to the Tehran Conference to confer with Churchill and Stalin. While Churchill warned of potential domination by a Stalin dictatorship over eastern Europe, Roosevelt responded with a statement summarizing his rationale for relations with Stalin: I just have a hunch that Stalin is not that kind of a man. ... I think that if I give him everything I possibly can and ask for nothing from him in return, noblesse oblige, he wont try to annex anything and will work with me for a world of democracy and peace.[237] At the Tehran Conference, Roosevelt and Churchill discussed plans for a postwar international organization. For his part, Stalin insisted on redrawing the frontiers of Poland. Stalin supported Roosevelts plan for the United Nations and promised to enter the war against Japan 90 days after Germany was defeated. By the beginning of 1945, however, with the Allied armies advancing into Germany and the Soviets in control of Poland, the postwar issues came into the open. In February, Roosevelt traveled to Yalta, in Soviet Crimea, to meet again with Stalin and Churchill. While Roosevelt maintained his confidence that Stalin would keep his Yalta promises regarding free elections in eastern Europe, one month after Yalta ended, Roosevelts Ambassador to the USSR Averell Harriman cabled Roosevelt that we must come clearly to realize that the Soviet program is the establishment of totalitarianism, ending personal liberty and democracy as we know it.[238] Two days later, Roosevelt began to admit that his view of Stalin had been excessively optimistic and that Averell is right.[238] Declining health Roosevelt, who turned 62 in 1944, was a chain-smoker[239][240] who had been in declining health since at least 1940. Noticeably fatigued, in March 1944, he went to Bethesda Hospital for tests and was found to have high blood pressure, atherosclerosis, coronary artery disease causing angina pectoris, and congestive heart failure.[241][242][243] They and two outside specialists ordered Roosevelt to rest. His personal physician, Admiral Ross McIntire, created a daily schedule for the President that banned business guests for lunch and required him to rest for two hours each day. McIntire several times, however, denied during the 1944 election campaign that his patients health was poor, for example stating on October 12 that The Presidents health is perfectly OK. There are absolutely no organic difficulties at all.[244] Roosevelt may have used his authority over the Office of Censorship to avoid press reports on his declining health before the election.[245] Election of 1944 Main article: United States presidential election, 1944 Roosevelt, aware that most publishers were opposed to him, issued a decree in 1943 that blocked all publishers and media executives from visits to combat areas; he put General Marshall in charge of enforcement. The main target was Henry Luce, the powerful publisher of Time and Life magazines. Historian Alan Brinkley argues the move was badly mistaken, for had Luce been allowed to travel, he would have been an enthusiastic cheerleader for American forces around the globe. But stranded in New York City, Luces frustration and anger expressed itself in hard-edged partisanship.[246] Party leaders insisted that Roosevelt drop Henry A. Wallace, who had been erratic as Vice President and was too pro-Soviet. James F. Byrnes of South Carolina, a top FDR aide, was considered ineligible because he had left the Catholic Church and many Catholic voters would not vote for him. Roosevelt replaced Wallace with Missouri Senator Harry S. Truman, best known for his battle against corruption and inefficiency in wartime spending. The Republicans nominated Thomas E. Dewey, the liberal governor of New York. The opposition lambasted FDR and his administration for domestic corruption, bureaucratic inefficiency, tolerance of Communism, and military blunders. Labor unions, which had grown rapidly in the war, threw their all-out support behind Roosevelt. In a relatively close 1944 election, Roosevelt and Truman won 53% of the vote and carried 36 states.[247][page needed] The President campaigned in favor of a strong United Nations, so his victory symbolized support for the nations future participation in the international community.[248] Due to the Presidents health and the ongoing state of war, the Presidents fourth inauguration was held on the White House lawn.[249]
Posted on: Tue, 20 Jan 2015 03:37:45 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015