The Lexington Veterans Association brings veterans and community members together in fellowship
to be informed and inspired at our monthly speaker series.
to be informed and inspired at our monthly speaker series.
Serving Those Who Served
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Join us on May 13, 2024 |
"V is for Victory: FDR’s Efforts to Prepare the US for War"
Presented by Bob Lewis, Captain, Retired, US Navy
Live at Cary Library and via Zoom webinar, free and open to the public.
Coffee and conversation at 12:45, program begins at 1:15 p.m.
If you are watching via Zoom, Use this Zoom link.
Bob Lewis
The period between the outbreak of the European war in September 1939 and America’s entry into the war in December1941 was the turning point of the twentieth century. Over those two years, the disposition of forces in the world changed utterly. In 1939, the wind was at Adolf Hitler’s back; by June 1940, Europe was in turmoil. France had fallen to the Nazi blitzkrieg, and Hitler’s vision of world domination loomed large. Britain stood as the last bastion of resistance against Germany. The German general staff even had a secret plan, Operation Sea Lion, to invade England. Hitler’s forces conquered much of western Europe; but by the end of 1941, they faced the deadly combination of the United States, the Soviet Union, and the British Empire.
Retired Navy Captain Bob Lewis will describe how President Franklin Delano Roosevelt worked for two years behind the scenes to awaken and prepare the United States for its eventual involvement in World War II.
Starting in 1939, FDR actively worked to join the struggle against Hitler. He engaged in personal correspondence with British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, secretly planning the shipment of surplus war materials to Great Britain. In 1939, America was nervous and parochial; in 1940, while still neutral, America rearmed and remobilized; by the end of 1941, America was at war, and her course was set toward global leadership. FDR had skillfully navigated the complex political landscape of Pacifists, Defeatists, and Isolationists.
For example: FDR, a Democrat, appointed two prominent pro-interventionist Republicans, Henry Stimson and Frank Knox, to his cabinet as secretaries of War and the Navy. These high-profile appointments signaled the administration’s commitment to rearmament and aid for Britain. These appointments were a calculated and successful effort by the president to win bipartisan cooperation for what FDR considered the almost-inevitable U.S. entrance into the war. This has been described as the most crucial bi-partisanship alliance in U.S. history.
For another example: In the dark days between Hitler’s invasion of Poland in September 1939 and Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, FDR sent five remarkable men on dramatic and dangerous missions to Europe. The missions were highly unorthodox and confounded and infuriated diplomats on both sides of the Atlantic. The envoys were magnificent and unforgettable characters, and they were crucial to the course of the Second World War.
This story, which takes place before the U.S. declarations of war (against Japan December 8, 1941 and against Germany December 11, 1941), includes the Civil Conservation Corps, Lend Lease, convoy protection efforts, long-range bomber production, loans of patrol planes with American flight crews to England, the draft, and the contribution of FDR’s personal envoys to Europe.
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Thanks to Dinesh Patel, MD, Sue Stering, and volunteers from the Lexington Town Celebrations Committee
for the beautiful photographs included on our website.
for the beautiful photographs included on our website.