Did Franklin Roosevelt simply 'drift into war' or did he 'conspire to bring about American military intervention from the beginning'?

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Did Franklin Roosevelt simply ‘drift into war’ or did he ‘conspire to bring about American military intervention from the beginning’?

        It appears that in the years preceding the Second World War, finding any historical controversy over Franklin Roosevelt’s foreign policy is extremely difficult. From the start he had been dedicated to an American policy of isolationism and there are no records to suggest otherwise. However, with the birth of new theories in more recent times, the otherwise flawless nature of FDR’s foreign policy as been brought into question. Where once before it was thought that the US were brought into the war because of the attack on its naval fleet in Pearl Harbour, and later the declaration of war from Germany, now new theories have surfaced which involve deception and lies on behalf of Roosevelt. Despite ongoing arguments and lack of factual evidence, I intend to outline the issues involved and formulate some of my own conclusions about Roosevelt’s foreign policy and the path of the US into World War II.

        Isolationism in the 1930’s was not a new policy to America. In fact, the concept had existed ever since 1795 and the start of the republican reign in the US. In one of George Washington’s speeches he talks about how the ‘US should stay at home’ and stay well clear from far-off continental affairs. Later, President James Monroe, in a famous speech in 1823 described the world as being two hemispheres, which he saw as us and them. American policy for the last century had been to stay clean of contamination from, and alliances with other nations. The impact of the First World War had a huge impact on American foreign policy, so much so that public opinion following the war in 1920 – 1930 reinforced the thinking of isolationism in the US. America refused to join the League of Nations purely because of ‘Article X’, which meant that all members were to act on behalf of another under threat from an aggressor. 

        When President Franklin D. Roosevelt came to power in the 1930’s, he maintained the US isolationism policy. In fact Roosevelt changed very little in terms of foreign policy, ‘he tended to ignore foreign policy as he concentrated on problems of economic recovery at home’. His concentrations were on domestic matters, having taken office during the financial crisis of the early 1930’s following the Wall Street Crash in 1929. Roosevelt managed to revive the nation’s confidence and it showed through his re-election. Public opinion was something that FDR was very wary of, and therefore he kept a close eye on opinion polls and used them to determine his policy. He thought it unwise to tell the public everything and usually kept his most controversial thoughts to himself. However, he spoke out frequently on the topic of isolationism and backed most of the US neutrality laws passed by congress. He refused to commit the US to any European conflict and supported this statement on many occasions. It is due to these contradictions that conspiracy theories have emerged; how could a man so adamant on staying out of a war end up leading his nation into one? One sceptic of Roosevelt describes him as a split character, ‘..a concept of two Roosevelt’s, one the public figure saying what the people wanted to hear, the other the private man with an entirely different set of beliefs.’

        In 1935 as the beginnings of European strife became more evident, American thinking was sharpened. Events such as the Italian invasion of Abyssinia and German rearmament showed the serious threats from the fascist powers in Europe. These external factors caused the introduction of the Neutrality Laws. These laws were introduced in 1935, 1936 and 1937. These prohibited the sale of any arms to any nations at war; they prevented US citizens from travelling on belligerent ships, they later extended the arms embargo to any third party involved even if it wasn’t militarily and introduced the “cash & carry” provision on non-military goods. Roosevelt was torn between his hatred of foreign aggressors and his determination that America would not be drawn into any war. Isolationists were not happy with the introduction of these Neutrality Laws as they said FDR managed to manipulate them. He refused to acknowledge the Sino Chinese war, meaning that he could continue to sell arms to China. The problem with the Neutrality Laws was that they saw both actors in the same light. Roosevelt wanted the power to choose between powers, but congress wouldn’t allow it. This was one of the ideas behind the cash and carry scheme. It was first introduced so that US ships wouldn’t have to traverse the Atlantic, thus removing the threat of being sunk by a foreign power. However, in doing this Roosevelt also knew that it would mostly benefit the British and French as they held naval supremacy. There are clear signs that Roosevelt had strong feelings towards the non-aggressors in Europe.

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        It was this feeling that provoked the President of the United States to make a speech on over seas aggression. In 1937 in Chicago, Roosevelt made a famous talk known as the ‘Quarantine Speech’. Although he makes no specific reference to any nation it is apparent that the war in China is at the forefront of his thinking. He talks of the terror that is plaguing our world and in a significant chapter goes on to say ‘if those things come to pass in other parts of the world let no one imagine that America will escape…’ Dramatically FDR has said ...

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