Brain Fuel

On December 7, 1941, the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor and four days later Germany and Italy also declared war on the U.S. Yet America’s involvement in World War II had been predetermined as early as May of 1940 when Adolph Hitler’s U-boats had nearly squeezed England into submission. Winston Churchill secretly requested 50 destroyers from Roosevelt and offered to give the U.S control of some British navy bases in the Caribbean. Despite intense isolationist opposition from Congress, Roosevelt circumvented the treaty process and cemented the deal through an executive agreement, which also included cooperation with British intelligence operations and weapons development. Some evidence suggests the Axis alliance of Germany, Japan, and Italy was formed as a reaction to this agreement and other cooperative actions involving FDR and Churchill. Drawing on newly-released classified documents, interview transcripts, and recently-published scholarship, this class describes the White House decision making behind these events and the relevance of these decisions for the exercise of presidential power today.