FDR - Jean Edward Smith [294]
Encouraged by reports from Lothian of possible American support, Churchill renewed his plea for the vessels on July 31. “It is some time since I ventured to cable personally to you,” he told FDR. “In the past ten days we have had eleven destroyers sunk or damaged,” said Churchill.
Destroyers are frightfully vulnerable to air-bombing, and yet they must be held in the air-bombing area to prevent sea-borne invasion. We could not keep up the present rate of casualties for long, and if we cannot get a substantial reinforcement the whole fate of the war may be decided by this minor and easily remediable factor.
This is a frank account of our present situation, and I am confident that you will leave nothing undone to ensure that fifty or sixty of your oldest destroyers are sent to me at once.…
Mr. President, with great respect I must tell you that in the long history of the world this is a thing to do now.59
Lothian followed up Churchill’s cable with a lengthy late-night meeting with Secretary Knox on August 1. Both agreed the destroyers were vital. Knox asked point-blank if the British had considered trading base sites in the Western Hemisphere for the vessels. Lothian conceded they had not. Knox agreed to raise the issue at cabinet the next day, and Lothian volunteered to query his government.60
The cabinet convened on August 2 in crisis mode. Stimson, who could remember tense sessions under Taft and Hoover, called it “one of the most serious and important debates that I have ever had in a cabinet meeting.”61 Knox recounted his conversation with Lothian and suggested the destroyers be traded for bases in the West Indies. Hull questioned whether the acquisition of British territory might not violate Inter-American agreements. FDR said it might, but the bases could be leased instead of transferred, which would not pose a problem.
There were two sticking points. It was unanimously agreed that congressional authorization would be required, and FDR worried about the political fallout. Without Willkie’s support, Republicans on Capitol Hill would not go along. Wallace, Attorney General Robert Jackson, and Ickes thought it would be risky to consult him. He might refuse and leave the administration holding the bag. Knox, Stimson, and Hull disagreed. Everyone in the room turned to Farley, whose political judgment weighed heavily with his colleagues. “Consult him,” said Farley. “It is good for the country, and what is good for the country is good politics.”62 FDR agreed. That evening he called Kansas editor William Allen White, a mutual friend of the two candidates, who was vacationing near Willkie in Colorado. White thought Willkie would agree and said he would give it a try.63
On August 3 Churchill replied to Lothian. His Majesty’s Government would agree to swap bases for destroyers but would prefer to lease the facilities to the United States rather than transfer title. That dovetailed with FDR’s desire. “It is vital to settle quickly,” Churchill told Lothian. “Now is the time when we want the destroyers. Go ahead on these lines full steam.”64
The Century Group, meanwhile, stepped up its public pressure. On August 4, at the group’s behest, General of the Armies John J. Pershing, the nation’s most revered military hero, spoke to the country over a national radio hookup from his home in Washington’s Carlton Hotel. “The British Navy needs destroyers to convoy merchant ships and to repel invasion. The most critical time is the next few weeks and months. Today may be the last time when, by measures short of war, we can still prevent war.”65
Pershing’s address kicked off a national campaign to make it politically