Churchill
The secret of the Churchill-Roosevelt Correspondence. September 1939-May 1940.
James Leutze.
In September 1939 President F.D. Roosevelt began one of the most remarkable correspondence in history by sending a personal letter to Churchill, then still First Lord of the Admiralty. Across the years the total number of messages would grow to nearly 2000 letters.
The fall of France, in June 1940, left Britain in a desperate situation. Threatened with a Nazi invasion and with his country under savage attack, Churchill was determined to obtain assistance and eventually a declaration of war against Germany and its allies from the United States.
Churchill intensified his contacts with President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who had started corresponding with him even before Churchill became Prime Minister. Churchill also welcomed the American supplies, both military and civilian, that Roosevelt had provided through such measures as the Lend-Lease Act of March 1941. Many Americans, however, were reluctant to enter the conflict, and Roosevelt felt compelled to adopt a gradual approach toward full belligerency.
In this work the researcher tries to reveal whether this correspondence between Churchill and Roosevelt during the 1939-40 was just the exchange of information between the countries or it was much more sensitive and contained the information on the US involvement in the war, what was in conflict with the American foreign policy of that time. The latter assumption was sufficiently popular in certain circles. As author stresses, ‘to many, this exchange between the president of a neutral country and the head of a warring nation’s naval establishment seemed unneutral, imprudent and possibly indicative of a deeper relationship’. (p.12).
This concern was due to many factors.
1. Firstly, the US government did not want to declassify full Churchill-Roosevelt correspondence even after a considerable period of time. The author notes here, that after the declassification of these
James Leutze.
In September 1939 President F.D. Roosevelt began one of the most remarkable correspondence in history by sending a personal letter to Churchill, then still First Lord of the Admiralty. Across the years the total number of messages would grow to nearly 2000 letters.
The fall of France, in June 1940, left Britain in a desperate situation. Threatened with a Nazi invasion and with his country under savage attack, Churchill was determined to obtain assistance and eventually a declaration of war against Germany and its allies from the United States.
Churchill intensified his contacts with President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who had started corresponding with him even before Churchill became Prime Minister. Churchill also welcomed the American supplies, both military and civilian, that Roosevelt had provided through such measures as the Lend-Lease Act of March 1941. Many Americans, however, were reluctant to enter the conflict, and Roosevelt felt compelled to adopt a gradual approach toward full belligerency.
In this work the researcher tries to reveal whether this correspondence between Churchill and Roosevelt during the 1939-40 was just the exchange of information between the countries or it was much more sensitive and contained the information on the US involvement in the war, what was in conflict with the American foreign policy of that time. The latter assumption was sufficiently popular in certain circles. As author stresses, ‘to many, this exchange between the president of a neutral country and the head of a warring nation’s naval establishment seemed unneutral, imprudent and possibly indicative of a deeper relationship’. (p.12).
This concern was due to many factors.
1. Firstly, the US government did not want to declassify full Churchill-Roosevelt correspondence even after a considerable period of time. The author notes here, that after the declassification of these