President Roosevelt's Struggle with the Isolationists and Dictators


Figure 1.--.

Today we tend to think that President Roosevelt's victory over the isolationists was preordained as the threat from the NAZIs and Japanese militarists. This was emphatically not the case. Many Americans were convinced that the great evil was war itself and the danger of involvement in another European war and not the threat from abroad. This abhorence of war certainly can be understood and it speaks well of the American character that the desire to avoid war was so pervasive. But it is clear today that the avoidance of war in fact put the nation in jeporady. The depth of the American feeling on the mater was such that what is surprising that the President was able to prevail in his confrontation. Why did the President succeed? There are a range of reasons. Certainly many had come to trust President during the Great Depression. Presidebt Roosevelt rcognized the danger of Hitler and the NAZIs from the very beginning. The difficulty was convincing Americans of the danger. The President's was consumed with the Depression and domestic issues through most of the 1930s. He did take one very important step early in his administration. He recognized the Soviet Union. We have no real statement as to why he proceeded so agressively with this action as there are no Roosevelt menmoirs. We know, however, that it was a priority. He even took it out of the hands of the State Department and persued this from the White House. Certainly a key consideration must have been geo-politics. The Soviet Union would be critical in any effort to contain the rise of NAZIsm. Little more could be done untill the late 30s. President Roosevelt's strategy was five fold. One was to let the barbarism of the NAZI and Japanese tyranies speak for themselves. Two was to push for reamament so that America would be able to confront the dictators when the time came. Three was to support the Allies (Britain and France) democracies in the hope that they could successfully deal with Hitler. Four was to carefull form public opinion, taking care not to get to far in front of public opinion. Five was to persued the campaign as a bibartisan effort.

The President's Challenge

Today we tend to think that President Roosevelt's victory over the isolationists was preordained because the threat from the NAZIs and Japanese militarists. This was emphatically not the case. Many Americans were convinced that the great evil was war itself and the danger was involvement in another European war and not the threat from abroad. This abhorence of war certainly can be understood and it speaks well of the American character that the desire to avoid war was so pervasive. But it is clear today that the avoidance of war in fact put the nation in jeporady. The depth of the American feeling on the mater was such that what is surprising that the President was able to prevail in his confrontation. A lesser leader might well have failed in this effort.

President Roosevelt's Success

Why then the President succeed? There are a range of reasons. Certainly many had come to trust President during the Great Depression. President Roosevelt rcognized the danger of Hitler and the NAZIs from the very beginning. The difficulty was convincing Americans of the danger. The President's was consumed with the Depression and domestic issues through most of the 1930s. He did take one very important step early in his administration. He recognized the Soviet Union. We have no real statement as to why he proceeded so agressively with this action as there are no Roosevelt menmoirs. We know, however, that it was a priority. He even took it out opf the hands of the State Department and persued this from the White House. Certainly a key consideration must have been geo-politics. The Soviet Union would be critical in any effort to contain the rise of NAZIsm. Little more could be done untill the late 30s. President Roosevelt's strategy was five fold. One was to let the barbarism of the NAZI and Japanese tyranies speak for themselves. Two was to push for reamament so that America would be able to confront the dictators when the time came. Three was to support the Allies (Britain and France) democracies in the hope that they could successfully deal with Hitler. Four was to carefull form public opinion, taking care not to get to far in front of public opinion. Five was to persued the campaign as a bibartisan effort.

The President's Popularity

Certainly many Americans had come to trust President during the Great Depression. Many economists today question the New Deal economic program. A large number of increasingly desperate Americans at the time, however, came to see President Roosevelt a economic savior. New Deal programs saved banks and thus individual savings, supported farm prices, offered employment, surplus food, youth programs, and more to people the Depression had reduced to poverty. President Roosevelt was controversial because some objected to the expansion of Federal power and the cost of the enterprise. The great majority of Americans agreed with the President that the Federal Government had the responsibility to assist destitute Americans. This issue was decided in the election of 1936 when President Roosevelt was reelected in one of the greatest electoral mandates in American history. President Roosevelt's support, however, was not unlimited and was seen in the court packing fiasco (1937). But it did mean that what he said would get a hearing. It provided a base of support that he could build upon in the fight against the isolationists.

Early Appreciation of the NAZIs

President Roosevelt rcognized the danger of Hitler and the NAZIs from the very beginning. The difficulty was convincing Americans of the danger. Both Roosevelt and Hitler at first focused on domestic issues. Hitler unlike Roosevelt used a vast military rearmament program, at first conducted in secret, to bring Germany out of the Depression. The remilitarization of the Rhineland was Hitler's first step to confront the democracies (1935). The Anchluss was conducted with such ease (1938) that Hitler decided to act aggressively against Czechoslovakia (1938). By this time President Roosevelt's early warnings began to materialize.

Recognition of the Soviet Union

The President was consumed with the Depression and domestic issues through most of the 1930s. He did take one very important step early in his administration. He recognized the Soviet Union. We have no real statement as to why he proceeded so agressively with this action as there are no Roosevelt menmoirs. We know, however, that it was a priority. He even took it out of the hands of the State Department. There was considerable resistace to this within the tte Depaetment. One junior diplomat who would play a major role in formlating Cold War politics, Gorge Kennn, was stronly opposed. One historian writes, "When the American mibister at Riga gathered the Russian experts in August of 1933 to solicit their formal opinions on recognition, Kennan spoke first. 'We should have no trlationshop at all with them, ' he sid, citing Soviet pledges to spread Communist revolution. 'There is no ound basis for believing that thaey hve chnged their minds in any way.' He was even more blunt in his letters. 'Recognition coninues hang over our head like a sword of Damocies. ' he wrote home that month." [Isaacson and Thomas] But Rosevelt decided to proceed with rrcgnituin and do it from the White House. Thre were a variety of issues at play. There was hope of exports sales, especially grain sales. The Soviets pledged to refrain from subversion and to respect religious rights. Certainly a key consideration must have been geo-politics. The Soviet Union would be critical in any effort to contain the rise of NAZIism and the Japanese militarists. There was opposition in the State Department. So the to end the diplomatic wrangling wrote to Soviet President Kalinin (October 1933). Stalin of course was the real power, but diplomatic conventions required the President to write to Kalinin. Foreign Maxim Minister Litinov immediateky arrived in Washington. President Roosevelt recognized the Soviet Union (November 1933). (The action did not require Congressional authorization.) Little more could be done until the late 30s. The Soviets reneggged on their pledges. The Third International made America its priority target and American Communists were made the stars of the Congress. [Morgan, pp. 396-98.] It might be said the action was an example of the President's navite. The President did have a idealized concept of personal diplomacy and his ability to charm. On the other hand the President's role in the recognition of the Soviet Union was to have positive results when after the NAZI invasion (June 1941), the Soviets were knocked into the Allied coalition against the NAZIS.

Strategy

President Roosevelt waged a carefully considered and highly effective campaign against the isolationists. His strategy was five fold. One was to let the barbarism of the NAZI and Japanese tyranies speak for themselves. Two was to push for reamament so that America would be able to confront the dictators when the time came. Three was to support the Allies (Britain and France) democracies in the hope that they could successfully deal with Hitler. Four was to carefull form public opinion, taking care not to get to far in front of public opinion. Five was to persued the campaign as a bibartisan foreign affairs effort rather than a way to avance his domestic agenda. The campaign evolved slowly, but was persued relentlessly. The end result, was that America not only played an important role in saving Britain, but when the Japanese finally brought America into the War, it was a united America fully committed to defeating the Axis no matter what the cost.

Sources

Isaacson, Walter and Evan Thomas. The Wise Men: Six Friends and the World They Made (2012),

Morgan, Ted. FDR: A Biography (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1985), 830p.







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Created: 7:25 PM 1/18/2006
Last updated: 11:04 PM 7/9/2012