David Reynolds Analysis

Just as a sculptor chisels away amorphous parts of marble, revealing a distinguishable form, so does David Reynolds sculpt the transformation of America to those unfamiliar with the events leading up to World War II. He whittles away an apparent formless generic history and makes sense of the events by exhuming certain concepts. For instance how President Franklin D. Roosevelt helped change the perspective of a reluctant United States to enter a war until the attack on Pearl Harbor. In addition, Reynolds examines the policies between 1938-1941 that were important for U.S. foreign relations and defense. He shapes a comprehensive history and narrates into a concise story from the Munich Conference in 1938 to the attack on Pearl Harbor on December
Americans seemed minimally concerned of issues abroad while struggling to recover from the Great Depression. Reynolds indicates that the U.S. was not inclined to enter a war or involve itself in international matters, due to the lingering negative economic effects of the first World War and the isolationist disposition of the 1930s. This temperament remained until 1939 when Hitler began the war and Roosevelt was much more inclined to bring the United States’ national security into question. Reynolds argues that this was one of the prominent ideas Roosevelt used to prepare Americans against potential German aggression. The shift of vigilance occurred during one of the fireside chats in late December of 1940 where Roosevelt presented his concern of America’s security to citizens. To drive this home Roosevelt exclaimed Hitler’s intentions of world control and his belief there were two opposing world forces that could not be reconciled. This is how Roosevelt strategically influenced American support and was able to get legislation for lend-lease
Reynolds asserts these aforementioned policies would in time be important to future strategies involving American foreign relations and national defense during the Cold War era, in what Roosevelt called quarantining the aggressors (Location 500). The constant uncertainty of global peace would become the forefront of national security. Reynolds highlights the 1936 Supreme Court ruling in the Curtiss-Wright case which drew core distinctions of the presidential power between domestic and foreign concerns. As a democracy, America’s safeguard would in time depend on the policies meant to foster good foreign relations and a formidable defense, but also on the judgment of the president to use his power to deter aggressive