Looking back to Roosevelt on sea row

ON DISTANT SHORE
By Val G. Abelgas

Roosevelt and Churchill

In 1941, America was faced with a dilemma. Adolf Hitler’s German troops had invaded virtually all of Europe and were laying siege on both England and Russia. The United States had followed an isolationist policy since the end of World War I and most Americans were against the US getting involved in the war in Europe. At the same time, there were fears that if Britain fell, the Germans would soon be on the beaches of America.

The isolationists wanted the country to prepare for war, but not to intervene in Europe. They wanted the government of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt to recruit more troops, build more tanks and other war equipment and boost the country’s military capability. Congress instituted the draft, which enabled the country to build up its troops.

It had been one and half years since Germany invaded Poland in its quest to dominate Europe, and perhaps the world. Britain needed more tanks, jets, warships, weapons and ammunition to repulse the German invasion, to fight the Luftwaffe bombers that bombarded London almost daily, and to protect supply ships bringing food and other supplies to England from attacks by U-2 submarines.

The Germans were also knocking at the doors of Moscow and only the cruel winter was slowing them down.

British Prime Minister Winston Churchill appealed to Roosevelt for help. Roosevelt wanted to send the needed war materiel to Britain but the Neutrality Act prevented him from sending the war materiel unless they were paid in cash, and Britain had run out of funds. At the same time, the Republicans, especially the isolationist Republicans, were determined to stop Roosevelt from sending any war material to Europe. It did not help that the presidential election was just months away when the British appeal was first made in 1940 and Roosevelt was running for reelection.

Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt

Roosevelt’s quest to convince Americans of the need to send military equipment and supplies to Europe and to eventually join the war was narrated in detail in Doris Kearns Goodwin’s book, “No Ordinary Time,” a biographical masterpiece on Franklin Delano and Eleanor Roosevelt during the Second World War, a book I read a few months ago.

Roosevelt, who later became very close to Churchill, was sympathetic to Britain and he knew that to prevent the Germans from setting their eyes on the US, more than prepare for war, Americans also needed to help the British and the Russians repulse the well-equipped Germans.

And so Roosevelt thought of the lend-lease program that would allow the US to provide the British and other allies with critical war materiel that didn’t have to be paid in cash. That way, he explained, the US can help the British, Russians and other allies defeat the Germans or, at the very least, slow down the Germans until the US could fully prepare for war.

Roosevelt, just recently reelected to an unprecedented third term, was able to convince Congress to pass the measure, and on March 11, 1941, Roosevelt signed it into law. Between 1941 and 1945, the US was able to send more than $50 billion (equivalent to about $640 billion today) worth of war equipment and supplies to Britain, Russia, France, China and other Allied nations.

The military shipments not only slowed down the German offensive in Britain, Russia and North Africa, it eventually led to the eventual defeat of Hitler and his troops. America, of course, eventually entered the war in Europe nine months later in December 1941. The rest is history.

Now 72 years later, America is again caught in a dilemma not over a world war, but over a regional conflict that if not handled well, could erupt into a major war that would eventually involve the United States against an arrogant, ambitious and emerging superpower.

In an article entitled “US dilemma in South China Sea response,” Associated Press writer summed up the dilemma: “Criticize Beijing too strongly and the Obama administration will strain its relationship with the emerging superpower. Let it pass and undermine two years of intense diplomacy that has promoted the U.S. standing among Southeast Asian nations that are intimidated by China’s rise.”

Despite repeated assurances by the US that it would stand by its allies, including the Philippines, in the event of foreign aggression, China continues to test the patience of its neighbors with its aggressive actions in the South China Sea, the East China Sea and the Indian Ocean.

China has strung a series of islands, ports and bases in what has been called a “string of pearls” in its effort to expand its control over vast areas of the region. The latest addition to its “string of pearls” are the Panatag (Scarborough) and Ayungin Shoals, two islets with rich fishing grounds and possibly oil resources that are strategically located in the sea lanes of Southeast Asia.

The Chinese aggression has pitted the emerging superpower against American allies the Philippines, Japan, Vietnam and India. Amid the escalating tension between China and these US allies, America has remained vague in its position. How can it come to the defense of its allies without prematurely breaking its ties with a nation that is the biggest market for American products and also its biggest investor and creditor? How can it stop Chinese aggression without provoking a war that the struggling US economy may not be able to handle at this time? And yet, how can it watch idly as the biggest threat to its military and economic dominance rapidly expands its sphere of control and influence?

Roosevelt told the Americans the best way to prevent war from coming to American shores is to help the country’s allies repulse the aggressor.

Cleo Paskal, an associate fellow at the Royal Institute of International Affairs, suggests in an article in the Huffington Post, that the US should turn to Roosevelt’s lend-lease program to resolve the dilemma over the Chinese.

“One way to undermine Chinese strategic calculus, and to ensure peace, is to build up a credible regional deterrent. Korea, Singapore and Japan have advanced (though small compared to China) navies and, if they work together, can start to head in that direction,” he wrote.

“Additionally, the US could offer ‘lend-lease’ agreements to other, less militarily advanced nations that are persistently targeted by China, in particular Vietnam, Philippines and India. Lend lease means transferring surplus or obsolete US military equipment to friendly nations to help distribute the burden of keeping the peace…

“During WWII, lend lease did not prevent a war, but it helped to win a war. This new lend lease option is intended to prevent a war. Currently, the Vietnamese, Filipino and Indian navies are not strong enough to ensure freedom of the seas in the Indo-Pacific against all comers, and they don’t have the economic capacity to immediately create that capability by themselves. Meanwhile, Vietnam and the Philippines are clearly being targeted by China, as noted above, and India is similarly being challenged by China along its land border, and encircled by Chinese bases in the Indian Ocean.”

It may not be the only solution, but the bottom line is that America should resolve its dilemma soon before this seemingly small regional conflict erupts into a conflagration that could reach American shores.

(valabelgas@aol.com)