V is for Victory: FDR’s Efforts to Prepare the US for War

Presented by Bob Lewis, Captain, USN, Retired

By June 1940, 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. Behind the scenes, FDR was secretly working with British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, planning the shipment of surplus war materials to Great Britain. He skillfully navigated the complex political landscape to prepare the United States for its eventual involvement in World War II. FDR, a Democrat, appointed pro-interventionist Republicans Henry Stimson and Frank Knox, as Secretaries of War and the Navy. The groundwork laid between November 1940 and December 7, 1941 – a full year before the attack on Pearl Harbor and our declaration of war against Germany and Japan – became the cornerstone for American participation in WWII.

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