Chapter 2 Summary

The careful detail continues as FDR addresses Congress on May 16, 1940. Within this week, Holland had surrendered and the armies of Belgium and France were losing to the Germans. Roosevelt was in a difficult position. He wanted to help the Allies and predicted sooner or later, America would join the fight. However, he knew this was not a popular cause.

Americans had problems of their own. The Depression, which had lasted more than ten years, seemed to be ebbing, but the country was tired of the New Deal and reforms. Republicans who hated Roosevelt's domestic programs were in favor of his foreign policy and aiding the British. The Democrats, on the other hand, had the opposite view.

When he spoke to Congress that day, Roosevelt spent the first part of his speech explaining that in an age of modern air war, oceans no longer...