From 1936-1939, Franklin D. Roosevelt took what seemed to be
a constitutional approach to foreign policy. As fascists took over Germany,
Italy, and Spain and Japan invaded China; the United States looked on from the
sidelines, not wanting to get involved in another world war. According to
Article 1, Section 8 of the United States Constitution, only Congress has the
power to declare war and call up an army to fight that war. The US Navy is the
only branch of the military that can be maintained during peacetime according
to the Constitution.
After the rise of fascism in Europe, Congress passed the
Neutrality Act of 1937 which prohibited the US government from selling arms to
nations involved in war. US citizens were also forbidden from traveling on
vessels of nations involved in war as well. In 1939 that law was amended to
allow the government to sell war materials to European democracies on a “cash
and carry” basis. This meant that if a nation like France or Britain paid cash
up front for weapons and took them back to Europe using their own
transportation an arms sale would be legal.
Once Germany, led by the fascist dictator Adolph Hitler,
invaded France; Congress passed a $37 billion appropriations bill to modernize
air power and to build up a two ocean navy.
Early in September 1940, the US agreed to trade 50 surplus destroyers
from World War I to Britain in exchange for eight valuable naval bases from as
far north as Newfoundland to as far south as British Guiana. This deal was
unconstitutional because Roosevelt did not consult the Congress for
authorization to do this deal. According to Article 2, Section 2 of the US
Constitution, the president must get advice and consent from the Senate on
foreign policy matters.
That same week in September 1940, the government instituted
a peacetime draft – the first in US history. Also Roosevelt reinterpreted the
Monroe Doctrine to mean that even though nations in Europe like France,
Holland, and Denmark had been invaded by Germany; Germany could not seize the
colonies that these nations have in the Western Hemisphere.
Another way that FDR did an end around Congress is that he
would allow the government to sell military surplus to private citizens who
would then in turn sell the items to Great Britain.
The final straw that broke the neutral stance of the United
States in dealing with the conflict in Europe was to pass An Act Further to
Promote the Defense of the United States or what is more commonly known as the
Lend-Lease Law of 1940. This law would permit the US government to lend or
lease arms to democracies in Europe; and after the fighting ended, these
countries would then return the tanks, planes, etc. to the US. The motive
behind this law was to send arms to Europe rather than troops to fight Germany
and Italy. This law was not passed until March of 1941 after FDRs election to
an unprecedented third term.
Many may look at this foreign policy and wonder where the
Progressives were in this. Typically a nation would go to war after being
attacked or war had been declared against it. Advisers that FDR had in his
administration were members of the Council on Foreign Relations, a progressive
organization that has been pushing for a one world government since the 1920s.
Members of the CFR own the large banks throughout the nation as well as the
Federal Reserve Bank. One thing that war creates is debt. Banks lend money and
earn interest on the money that is lent. Build up for a war can be very
lucrative for these banks. The CFR advisors in FDRs administration wanted the
United States to enter into a war in Europe so they could make money off the
interest that would be incurred from the increase in the national debt.
Book sources:
Bailey, Thomas A.
and David M. Kennedy. The American
Pageant. Seventh Ed. D.C. Heath and Company, Lexington, Mass. 1983
Perloff, James. The Shadows
of Power: The Council on Foreign Relations and the American Decline.
Western Islands, Appleton, Wisc. 1988.
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