Those Angry Days: Roosevelt, Lindbergh, and America's Fight Over World War II, 1939-1941 by Lynne Olson

Author:Lynne Olson [Olson, Lynne]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: International Relations, Presidents & Heads of State, 20th Century, Adventurers & Explorers, General, United States, Political Science, International, Biography & Autobiography, Military, Law, World War II, History
ISBN: 9781400069743
Google: Fj0gjFtj6IgC
Amazon: 1400069742
Publisher: Random House
Published: 2013-03-26T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 18

“WELL, BOYS, BRITAIN’S BROKE”

At the moment Roosevelt was celebrating his election victory at Hyde Park, Luftwaffe bombers were returning to their bases in France after their fiftieth night of bombing London. Since the Blitz began, more than thirty thousand Britons had been killed in German raids, at least half of them in the British capital. Millions of houses had been damaged or destroyed, along with a number of London’s most famous landmarks. Ten Downing Street, the Colonial Office, the Treasury, and the Horse Guards Building all had been battered by bombs. Hardly a pane of glass was left in the War Office, and Buckingham Palace had been hit several times.

But the incessant bombing was far from the only peril facing Britain at the end of 1940. The country was encircled by a gauntlet of German submarines, ships, and aircraft, all waiting to feast on the merchant ships bringing vital supplies to the besieged island. “Not since the Spanish Armada swept north in 1588 has the maritime nation of Britain faced such a threat as now confronts it,” Life reported. “Compared with its present situation, World War I was a pleasure cruise. Then Germany was bottled in the Baltic. Now it has naval and air bases scattered along the coast of Europe from Norway to Spain.” In Washington, Admiral Harold Stark, the naval chief of staff, told Henry Stimson, Frank Knox, and General George Marshall that at its current rate of shipping losses, Britain could not hold out for more than six months.

Since June, the exigencies of the U.S. presidential campaign had taken precedence over the desperate needs of Britain; thus far, the only substantial aid it had received from America was several dozen bombers and the fifty old destroyers. Surely, with the election over, British officials thought, they could look to the White House for swift and decisive action.

Winston Churchill and many in his government had awaited the fifth of November like children anticipating Christmas; they had convinced themselves that if Roosevelt were reelected, he would finally fulfill his promises of aid and perhaps even enter the war. The day after the president’s victory, an exultant Churchill sent a congratulatory cable, noting that during the campaign he had had to refrain from publicly supporting FDR’s reelection but “now, I feel you will not mind my saying that I prayed for your success and that I am truly grateful for it.”

Not only did Britain require considerably more assistance, it was in urgent need of a new way to finance it. Its purchases of armaments and other supplies from America—which, under the revised Neutrality Act, had to be paid for in dollars—had drained Britain of most of its dollar and gold reserves. To continue those shipments, the British Treasury had been forced to borrow from the gold reserves of the Belgian government in exile, now based in London.

Using sympathetic American correspondents in London as its conduits, the British government tried to convey to the American people how dire the country’s situation really was.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.