CONTENTS Title Page Prologue PART I SWIMMING TO HEALTH 1882-1928 Chapter Chapter Chapter Chapter Chapter Chapter Chapter Chapter Chapter Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Photo Insert One Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17 PART II THE SOUL OF THE NATION 1929-1937 Chapter 18 Chapter 19 Chapter 20 Chapter 21 Chapter 22 Chapter 23 Chapter 24 Chapter 25 Chapter 26 Chapter 27 Chapter 28 Chapter 29 Chapter 30 Chapter 31 Chapter 32 Chapter 33 PART III THE FATE OF THE WORLD 1937-1945 Chapter 34 Chapter 35 Chapter 36 Chapter 37 Chapter 38 Chapter 39 Chapter 40 Chapter 41 Chapter 42 Chapter 43 Chapter 44 Chapter 45 Chapter 46 Chapter 47 Chapter 48 Chapter 49 Chapter 50 Chapter 51 Photo Insert Two Chapter 52 Chapter 53 Chapter 54 Chapter 55 Chapter 56 Chapter 57 Acknowledgments Sources Notes Also by H.W Brands Copyright Prologue FRANKLIN ROOSEVELT’S SUNDAY MORNING BEGAN AS MOST OF HIS Sundays began: with a cigarette and the Sunday papers in bed He wasn’t a regular churchgoer, confining his attendance mainly to special occasions: weddings, funerals, his three inaugurations In his youth and young adulthood he had often spent Sundays on the golf course, but his golfing days were long over, to his lasting regret This Sunday morning—the first Sunday of December 1941—he read about himself in the papers The New York Times gave him the top head, explaining how he had sent a personal appeal for peace to the Japanese emperor Neither the Times nor the Washington Post, which provided similar coverage, included the substance of his appeal, as he had directed the State Department to release only the fact of his having approached the emperor This way he got credit for his efforts on behalf of peace without having to acknowledge how hopeless those efforts were The papers put the burden of warmongering on Japan; the government in Tokyo declared that its “patience” with the Western powers was at an end Heavy movements of Japanese troops in occupied Indochina—movements about which Roosevelt had quietly released corroborating information—suggested an imminent thrust against Thailand or Malaya Sharing the headlines with the prospect of war in the Pacific was the reality of war in the Atlantic and Europe The German offensive against the Soviet Union, begun the previous June, seemed to have stalled just short of Moscow Temperatures of twenty below zero were punishing the German attackers, searing their flesh and freezing their crankcases The Germans were forced to find shelter from the cold; the front apparently had locked into place for the winter On the Atlantic, the British had just sunk a German commerce raider, or so they claimed The report from the war zone was sketchy and unconfirmed The admiralty in London volunteered that its cruiser Dorsetshire had declined to look for survivors, as it feared German submarines in the area Roosevelt supposed he’d get the details from Winston Churchill The president and the prime minister shared a love of the sea, and Churchill, since assuming his current office eighteen months ago, had made a point of apprising Roosevelt of aspects of the naval war kept secret from others outside the British government Churchill and Roosevelt wrote each other several times a week; they spoke by telephone less often but still regularly An inside account of the war was the least the prime minister could provide, as Roosevelt was furnishing Churchill and the British the arms and equipment that kept their struggle against Germany alive Until now Roosevelt had left the actual fighting to the British, but he made certain they got what they needed to remain in the battle The situation might change at any moment, though, the Sunday papers implied The Navy Department—which was to say, Roosevelt—had just ordered the seizure of Finnish vessels in American ports, on the ground that Finland had become a de facto member of the Axis alliance Navy secretary Frank Knox, reporting to Congress on the war readiness of the American fleet, assured the legislators that it was “second to none.” Yet it still wasn’t strong enough, Knox said “The international situation is such that we must arm as rapidly as possible to meet our naval defense requirements simultaneously in both oceans against any possible combination of powers concerting against us.” Roosevelt read these remarks with satisfaction The president had long prided himself on clever appointments, but no appointment had tickled him more than his tapping of Knox, a Republican from the stronghold of American isolationism, Chicago By reaching out to the Republicans—not once but twice: at the same time that he chose Knox, Roosevelt named Republican Henry Stimson secretary of war—the president signaled a desire for a bipartisan foreign policy By picking a Chicagoan, Roosevelt poked a finger in the eye of the arch-isolationist Chicago Tribune, a poke that hurt the more as Knox was the publisher of the rival Chicago Daily News Roosevelt might have chuckled to himself again, reflecting on how he had cut the ground from under the isolationists, one square foot at a time; but the recent developments were no laughing matter Four years had passed since his “quarantine” speech in Chicago, which had warned against German and Japanese aggression The strength of the isolationists had prevented him from following up at that time, or for many months thereafter But by reiterating his message again and again—and with the help of Hitler and the Japanese, who repeatedly proved him right—he gradually brought the American people around to his way of thinking He persuaded Congress to amend America’s neutrality laws and to let the democracies purchase American weapons for use against the fascists He sent American destroyers to Britain to keep the sea lanes open His greatest coup was LendLease, the program that made America the armory of the anti-fascist alliance He had done everything but ask Congress to declare war The Sunday papers thought this final step might come soon He knew more than the papers did, and he thought so, too BUT THERE WAS something he didn’t know, or even imagine Roosevelt was still reading the papers when an American minesweeper on a predawn patrol two miles off the southern coast of the Hawaiian island of Oahu, near the entrance to Pearl Harbor, spotted what looked like a periscope No American submarines were supposed to be in the area, and the minesweeper reported the sighting to its backup, the destroyer Ward The report provoked little alarm, partly because Hawaii was so far from Japan and partly because Pearl Harbor’s shallow bottom seemed sufficient protection against enemy subs Some officers on the Ward questioned the sighting; eyes play tricks in the dark Perhaps there was an American sub in the area; this wouldn’t have been the first time overzealous security or a simple screwup had prevented information from reaching the patrols In any event, the Ward responded slowly to the asserted sighting and spent most of the next two hours cruising the area and discovering nothing While the desultory search continued off Oahu, Roosevelt in Washington pondered the latest diplomatic correspondence American experts had cracked Japan’s code more than a year earlier; since then Roosevelt had been secretly reading over the shoulder of the Japanese ambassador Yesterday evening—Saturday, December 6—he had read a long message from Tokyo to the Japanese embassy The message answered an ultimatum from Roosevelt, coming after many weeks of negotiations with the Japanese, in which the president insisted that Japan give up the territory it had seized in Southeast Asia and disavow designs on more The Saturday message from Tokyo left no doubt that the Japanese government rejected the president’s ultimatum “This means war,” Roosevelt told Harry Hopkins, his closest adviser and constant companion these days Hopkins agreed Hopkins added that since war had become unavoidable, there would be advantages to striking the first blow Roosevelt shook his head “We can’t that,” he said “We are a democracy and a peaceful people.” He paused “We have a good record.” But there was something strange about the Saturday message The introduction explained that it contained fourteen parts, yet only thirteen were included The final part had been withheld until this morning, Sunday A courier brought it to the White House just before ten o’clock Roosevelt read it quickly It said what anyone could have inferred from the previous parts: that Japan was breaking off the negotiations with the United States The Japanese ambassador was instructed to deliver this news to the State Department at one o’clock that afternoon The precision of the instruction was unusual Why one o’clock? The most probable answer appeared to be that the delivery would coincide with the expected Japanese attack against Thailand or Malaya At six o’clock Hawaiian time—eleven o’clock in Washington—a task force of six Japanese aircraft carriers turned into a stiff wind three hundred miles north of Oahu The ships and their four hundred warplanes constituted the most powerful naval strike force ever assembled till then—a fact that made it all the more remarkable that the carriers had managed to slip away from Japan and steam for eleven days toward Hawaii undetected by American intelligence or reconnaissance Nor did any Americans see or hear the wave after wave of torpedo planes, bombers, and fighters the carriers launched into the predawn sky The planes formed into assigned groups and headed south Roosevelt frequently took lunch at his desk in the Oval Office, and he did so this Sunday Hopkins joined him They were eating and discussing the crisis in the Pacific and the war in Europe when a radar station on the north shore of Oahu detected signals on its screens unlike anything the operators had ever observed Radar was a new technology, introduced in Hawaii only months before The operators were novices, and their screens had often been blank But suddenly the screens lit up, indicating scores of aircraft approaching Oahu from the north One of the operators telephoned headquarters The duty officer there told him not to worry A reinforcement squadron of American bombers was expected from California; the headquarters officer assumed that these were the aircraft on the north shore radar screens Roosevelt and Hopkins had finished eating when the first wave of Japanese planes approached Pearl Harbor Roosevelt had a mental image of Pearl, as he had visited the naval base early in his presidency But it had grown tremendously in the seven years since then It boasted one of the largest dry-docks in the world, a rail yard with locomotives and cars that moved freight between the berthed vessels and various warehouses, a factory complex that could fabricate anything needed to maintain or repair a ship, tank farms with fuel enough for extended campaigns across the Pacific, a midharbor naval air station on Ford Island to defend the base and the ships, a naval hospital to treat the sick and wounded, barracks for the enlisted men and civilian personnel, and other support facilities along the harbor and in the surrounding area But the heart of Pearl Harbor was “Battleship Row,” on the east side of Ford Island, where seven of America’s greatest warships were moored this Sunday morning An eighth was in the drydock These vessels, the pride of America’s Pacific fleet, embodied a generation of efforts to secure America’s national interest in the western ocean Their construction had begun on the Navy Department watch of Franklin Roosevelt, who as assistant navy secretary from 1913 to 1920 had employed every means of patriotic persuasion, bureaucratic guile, and political finesse to augment America’s naval power The Arizona, the Oklahoma, the Tennessee, and the Nevada, now gleaming in the Sunday morning sun, were his babies, and no father was ever prouder All was calm aboard the battleships as the Japanese planes approached the base The sailors and civilians on the ships and ground initially mistook the planes for American aircraft When the sirens wailed a warning, most within earshot assumed it was another drill But as the Japanese fighters screamed low over the airfield, strafing the runways and the American planes on the tarmac, the reality of the assault became unmistakable Some Americans on the ground thought they could almost reach out and touch the rising sun painted on the wings of the Japanese aircraft, so low did the fighters descend; others, with a different angle, could peer into the faces of the Japanese pilots through the cockpit windows as the planes tore by The Japanese fighters suppressed any defensive reaction by American aircraft, guaranteeing the attackers control of the air The Japanese bombers and torpedo planes concentrated on the primary targets of the operation: the American battleships The torpedo planes approached low and flat, dropping their munitions into the open water beside Battleship Row The torpedo warheads contained a quarter ton of high explosives each, and the torpedoes’ guidance systems had been specially calibrated for Pearl’s shallow waters The American crewmen aboard the battleships saw the torpedo planes approaching; they watched the torpedoes splash into the water; they followed the trails from the propellers as the torpedoes closed in on the ships With the ships motionless and moored, and the surprise complete, there was nothing the seamen could to prevent the underwater missiles from finding their targets The California took two torpedo hits, the West Virginia six, the Arizona one, the Nevada one, the Utah two The Oklahoma suffered the most grievously from the torpedo barrage Five torpedoes blasted gaping holes in its exposed port side; it swiftly took on water, rolled over, and sank More than four hundred officers and men were killed by the explosions, by the fires the torpedoes touched off, or by drowning The destruction from below the surface of the harbor was complemented by the Japanese bombers’ attacks from high overhead Dive bombers climbed two miles into the sky to gain potential energy for their bombing runs; the Americans on the ground and ships heard their rising whine long before the planes burst through the scattered clouds and released their munitions upon the ships and the facilities on shore Conventional bombers dropped their payloads from a few thousand feet in elevation; what those on the ground and ships first heard of these was the whistling of the armor-piercing bombs as gravity sucked them down The misses were more obvious at first than the hits; geysers of water spewed into the air from the physical impact of the errant bombs The ones that hit their targets disappeared into the holes they punched in the decks, hatches, and gun turrets of the vessels Only when they had plumbed the depths of the ships did they detonate, and even then the overburden of steel muffled and shrouded their explosions But the explosions were more destructive for being contained Nearly all the battleships sustained severe bomb damage; by far the worst befell the Arizona Several bombs set it afire and triggered a massive secondary explosion that split its deck and burst its hull More than a thousand seamen died “F.D.R.’s story WAR PLANS! ” : Chicago Tribune, Dec 4, 1941 Other papers picked up and repeated the “They have never constituted an authorized program”: New York Times, Dec 6, 1941 “If we had been at war”: Ickes, 3:659 “I refuse to believe”: New York Times, Dec 6, 1941 “deep and far-reaching emergency”: To Hirohito, Dec 6, 1941 CHAPTER 44 “It has been a hard two weeks”: Lash, 643–44 “I think she is failing fast”: E Roosevelt and A Roosevelt, 135 “The funeral was nice and simple”: Ibid., 136 “Pa has taken Granny’s death”: Ibid., 137 “She had carefully saved”: Tully, 105 “He never looked toward the grave”: Washington Post, Sept 10, 1941 “I just can’t”: E Roosevelt and A Roosevelt, 137 “Hyde Park could be”: Roosevelt and Shalett, 319 “This son of man has just sent his final message”: Ibid., 646 “Sit down, Grace”: Tully, 256 “Yesterday, December 7, 1941”: Address to Congress, Dec 8, 1941 “became engaged in a war against the United States”: Sherwood, 441 “The sudden criminal attacks”: Fireside Chat, Dec 9, 1941 “Our patience is ended…place in the sun”: New York Times, Dec 12, 1941 “The long known and the long expected”: Message to Congress, Dec 11, 1941 “I’ve always heard things came in threes”: New York Times, Dec 12, 1941 CHAPTER 45 “So we had won after all!”: Churchill, 3:605–6 “Now that we are”: From Churchill, Dec 9, 1941 “In August it was easy to agree”: Unsent draft to Churchill, Dec 10, 1941 “Delighted to have you here”: To Churchill, Dec 10, 1941 “I clasped his strong hand”: Churchill, 3:662–63 “There was general agreement”: Churchill to war cabinet, Dec 23, 1941, Churchill 3:664 “The Prime Minister of Great Britain”: Sherwood, 442–43 “Our view remains that Germany”: Memo by U.S and British chiefs of staff, Dec 31, 1941, FRUS: Conferences at Washington, 1941–1942, and Casablanca, 1943 “As a result of what I saw in France”: U.S minutes of meeting, Dec 25, 1941, FRUS: Washington and Casablanca, 92–93 “highest authority”: Ibid “continuous line of battle”: Minutes by Sexton, Dec 26, 1941, FRUS: Washington and Casablanca “You should work on Churchill”: Sherwood, 457 “Don’t be in a hurry…meet the American view”: Churchill, 3:673–74 “common program of purposes and principles”: Declaration of United Nations, Jan 1, 1942 “Generals Arnold, Eisenhower, and Marshall”: Stimson diary, Dec 25, 1941 “His view was that these reinforcements”: Hollis to Smith, Dec 24, 1941, FRUS: Washington and Casablanca “I then read to him extracts”: Stimson diary, Dec 25, 1941 “We discussed various things”: Ibid “This is a strange Christmas Eve”: Churchill, 3:670 “I wish indeed that my mother…and in peace”: New York Times, Dec 27, 1941 “auspicious and impressive…less oratory and more action”: Ibid “The last evening of Churchill’s visit”: Sherwood, 477–78 CHAPTER 46 “In this year, 1942…Italy and Japan”: State of the Union address, Jan 6, 1942 “This is a new kind of war…freedom from fear”: Fireside Chat, Feb 23, 1942 “This is not an impudent question, sir”: Press conference, Dec 9, 1941 “subversive activities in the United States…those cocksuckers”: Ronald Kessler, The Bureau: The Secret History of the FBI (2002), 52–53; Richard Gid Powers, Broken: The Troubled Past and Uncertain Future of the FBI (2004), 168 “This task must be conducted”: Statement, Sept 6, 1939 “With those aliens who are disloyal”: Signing statement, June 29, 1940 “There must not be permitted”: Powers, Broken, 186 “We’re charged with wanting to get rid of the Japs”: Greg Robinson, By Order of the President: FDR and the Internment of Japanese Americans (2001), 90 “In view of the circumstances”: New York Times, Feb 12, 1942 “The Fifth Column on the Coast”: Washington Post, Feb 12, 1942 “We are so damned dumb”: Ibid., Feb 15, 1942 “When it comes to suddenly mopping up”: Morgenthau, 3:3 “the Department of Justice would not under any circumstances”: Francis Biddle, In Brief Authority (1962), 218 “The second generation Japanese”: Stimson diary, Feb 10, 1942 “There will probably be some repercussions”: Robinson, By Order of the President, 106 “the successful prosecution of the war”: Executive Order 9066, Feb 19, 1942 “The Philippine theater is the locus of victory or defeat”: H W Brands, Bound to Empire: The United States and the Philippines (1992), 190 “The people of the United States”: Message to Philippine people, Dec 28, 1941 “Our troops have been subsisted”: Brands, Bound to Empire, 196 “These people are depending on me now”: Ibid., 197 “The President of the United States ordered me”: New York Times, March 21, 1942 “When I reflect how I have longed and prayed”: From Churchill, March 5, 1942 “I reacted so strongly and at such length”: Churchill, 4:209 “I have given much thought”: To Churchill, March 10, 1942 “We must not on any account”: From Churchill, March 4, 1942 “disastrous effect”: To Churchill, Aug 11, 1942 “Its proposed application to Asia and Africa”: From Churchill, Aug 9, 1942 “I am sure you will have no objection”: To Churchill, Aug 13, 1942 CHAPTER 47 “I realize how the fall of Singapore has affected you”: To Churchill, Feb 18, 1942 “Thirteen B-25s effectively bombed…than we sent over”: From Arnold, May 3, 1942, FDRL “How about the story about the bombing”: Press conference, April 21, 1942 “What Harry and Geo Marshall will tell you”: To Churchill, April 3, 1942 “Marshall presented in broad outlines”: Sherwood, 523 “momentous proposal”: Churchill, 4:317–20 “I am delighted with the agreement”: To Churchill, April 21, 1942 “whole-hearted”: From Churchill, April 17, 1942 “I am very heartened at the prospect”: To Churchill, April 21, 1942 “I have a cordial message from Stalin”: Ibid “I am looking forward”: To Stalin, May 4, 1942 “His style was cramped…second front this year”: Sherwood, 561–63 “Full understanding was reached”: Roosevelt-Molotov statement, June 11, 1942 “We know there will be two kinds…and possibly China”: Sherwood, 572–73 “May I very briefly recall”: From Stimson, no date, FRUS: Washington and Casablanca, 458 “You are familiar with my view”: From Marshall, June 23, 1941, FRUS: Washington and Casablanca, 476 “We are bound to persevere”: From Churchill, June 20, 1942 “This was one of the heaviest blows”: Churchill, 4:383 “extremely powerful bombs of a new type”: From Einstein, Aug 2, 1939, FDRL “Our talks took place after luncheon”: Churchill, 4:379–80 “One thing that might help win this war”: Robert H Ferrell, ed., The Eisenhower Diaries (1981), 48, 50 “an integrated, general plan of operations” Memo from King, March 5, 1942, FDRL “Good for you”: To Churchill, July 2, 1942 “No responsible British General”: From Churchill, July 8, 1942 “You will proceed immediately to London”: To Hopkins, Marshall, and King, July 16, 1942, Sherwood, 603–04 “Marshall and King pushed very hard…full speed ahead”: Sherwood, 611–12 CHAPTER 48 “I should greatly like to have your aid”: From Churchill, Aug 4, 1942 “Stalin took issue at every point”: From Harriman, Aug 10, 1942, FRUS: 1942, vol “The Soviet Command built their plan”: Stalin aide-mémoire, Aug 13, 1942, FRUS: 1942, 3:621 “I am sorry that I could not have joined with you”: To Stalin, Aug 18, 1942 “Everything for us now turns on hastening Torch”: Churchill, 4:494 “The President has gone to Hyde Park”: Ibid., 450–51 “The attack should be launched”: To Churchill, Aug 30, 1942 “as sharp a reproof…we needed him most”: Sherwood, 635 “They are almost prayerfully anxious”: New York Times, Sept 22, 1942 “You did not know that was going on?”: Press conference, Oct 6, 1942 “four main areas of combat”: Fireside Chat, Sept 14, 1942 “You know…‘supposed to be secret’”: A Merriman Smith, Thank You, Mr President (1946), 54 “Quite frankly I regard”: To Early, Oct 24, 1944, FDRL “to keep the cost of living”: Message to Congress, April 27, 1942 “stabilize the cost of living…of our own making”: Message to Congress, Sept 7, 1942 “a comprehensive national economic policy”: Executive Order 9250, Oct 3, 1942 “This whole nation of 130,000,000”: Fireside Chat, Oct 12, 1942 “When I went in to see Roosevelt”: Forrest C Pogue, George C Marshall (1966), 2:402 “F.D.R was on edge…We are striking back”: Tully, 264 “Upon the outcome depends”: Burns, 2:292 “I speak to you as one”: Radio address, Nov 7, 1942 “My dear old friend…the Axis yoke”: to Pétain, Nov 8, 1942; Sherwood, 645–47; from Churchill, Nov 2, 1942 “You invoke pretexts which nothing justifies”: Sherwood, 645 “That man is Darlan”: Ambrose, Eisenhower, 1:208 “a nice old proverb of the Balkans”: Press conference, Nov 17, 1942 “I have accepted General Eisenhower’s political arrangements”: Statement, Nov 17, 1942 “I appreciate fully the difficulties”: Sherwood, 654 “This is not the end”: New York Times, Nov 11, 1942 “Darlan’s murder”: Churchill, 3:644 CHAPTER 49 “We here are all highly gratified”: From Stalin, Nov 14, 1942 “It seems to me that the Americans”: Stalin to Churchill, Nov 29, 1942, in Churchill to Roosevelt, Dec 2, 1942 “The more I consider our military situation”: To Stalin, Dec 2, 1942 “I think I can tell you in advance”: From Churchill, Nov 26, 1942 “It is impossible for me to leave the Soviet Union”: From Stalin, Dec 14, 1942 “I prefer a comfortable oasis to the raft at Tilsit”: To Churchill, Dec 2, 1942 “The aliases from this end”: To Churchill, Jan 2, 1943 “Should you bring Willkie with you”: From Churchill, Jan 3, 1943 “I’m not crazy about flying”: To ER, Jan 13, 1943 “I dislike flying the more I of it!”: To John Roosevelt, Feb 13, 1943 “Inasmuch as I know that the Congressman”: Washington Post, March 6, 1943 “It was quite a place”: Elliott Roosevelt, As He Saw It, 65–66 “It gave me intense pleasure”: Churchill, 3:675–76 the Combined Chiefs produced a document: Final report of Combined Chiefs, Jan 23, 1943, FRUS: Washington and Casablanca “At the time of France’s surrender in 1940”: Dwight D Eisenhower, Crusade in Europe (1948), 84 “I had continuous difficulties”: Churchill, 3:682 “De Gaulle is on his high horse…Get some sleep yourself, Elliott”: Roosevelt, As He Saw It, 69–77 “No distractions should be permitted…very slender reed”: McCrea notes of Roosevelt-Giraud meeting, Jan 19, 1943, Roosevelt, As He Saw It, 90–91 “We delivered our bridegroom”: To Hull, Jan 18, 1943, FRUS: Washington and Casablanca “Roosevelt asked whether de Gaulle”: Stimson diary, Feb 3, 1943 “the people realized that personal pride”: John McCrea notes of Roosevelt–de Gaulle meeting, Jan 22, 1943, FRUS: Washington and Casablanca “De Gaulle was a little bewildered”: Hopkins notes, Jan 24, 1943, FRUS: Washington and Casablanca “Another point”: Press conference, Jan 24, 1943 “some feeling of surprise…our war effort”: Churchill, 3:686–87 “We have decided the operations”: Roosevelt and Churchill to Stalin, Jan 25, 1943 “I thank you for the information”: From Stalin, Jan 30, 1943 “When this is accomplished”: Roosevelt and Churchill to Stalin, Feb 9, 1943 “In order to prevent the enemy from recovering”: From Stalin, Feb 16, 1943 “unexpected heavy rains”: To Stalin, Feb 22, 1943 “You will recall that you and Mr Churchill”: From Stalin, March 16, 1943 CHAPTER 50 “The abolition of the extraterritorial system”: Message to Senate, Feb 1, 1943 “Nations, like individuals, make mistakes”: Message to Congress, Oct 11, 1943 “workers should not be discriminated against”: Message to Congress, Sept 13, 1940 “the policy of the War Department”: D Kennedy, 766 “I feel very strongly…Get it stopped”: Lash, 534 “I replied that there would be no violence”: Jervis Anderson, A Philip Randolph: A Biographical Portrait (1973), 255 “Walter, how many people will really march?”: Ibid., 257–58; White, A Man Called White, 190–92 “I hereby reaffirm the policy”: Executive Order 8802, June 25, 1941 “We’ll destroy every zoot suit”: Los Angeles Times, June and 10, 1943 “Anthony spent three evenings with me”: To Churchill, March 17, 1943 “a good deal of resistance…German public opinion”: Hopkins memo, March 15, 1943, FRUS: 1943, vol “This body should be world-wide…on our side”: Hopkins memo, March 27, 1943, FRUS: 1943, vol “I fear it will be the same story over again”: Stimson diary, May 10, 1943 “The United States accepts the strategic concept”: Memo by Joint Chiefs, undated, FRUS: Washington and Quebec, 222 “emphasis and priority…spring of 1944”: Combined Chiefs of Staff minutes, May 12, 1943, FRUS: Washington and Quebec “invariably created a vacuum…until 1945 or 1946”: Combined Chiefs of Staff minutes, May 13, 1943, FRUS: Washington and Quebec “every day a day in which we have toiled…hideous facts”: New York Times, May 20, 1943 “Mr President, what is your reaction”: Press conference, July 27, 1943 “the moronic little king”: New York Times, July 27, 1943 “Neither of us”: Press conference, July 27, 1943 “The first crack in the Axis has come”: Fireside Chat, July 28, 1943 “We still have to knock out”: Ibid “It seems highly probable”: To Churchill, July 30, 1943 “It is for their responsible government…on which to act:”: From Churchill, July 29 and 30, 1943 “I told the press today”: To Churchill, July 30, 1943 “My position is that once Mussolini”: From Churchill, July 31, 1943 “Poor Eisenhower is getting pretty harassed…than a master”: Ambrose, Eisenhower, 1:254–55 “Now is the time for every Italian”: Joint statement by Roosevelt and Churchill, Sept 10, 1943 “We are in for some very tough fighting”: Ambrose, Eisenhower, 1:263 CHAPTER 51 “Heavy following seas”…3806 miles”: Log of President’s Trip, Nov 12–19, 1942, FRUS: Conferences at Cairo and Tehran, 1943 “Peanut is really no dictator”: Joseph W Stilwell, The Stilwell Papers, ed Theodore H White (1991 ed.), 197 “I was impressed by his calm”: Churchill, 4:328 “President Roosevelt expressed his view”: Chinese summary of Nov 23 meeting, FRUS: Cairo and Tehran “Let us make it a family affair…the President more gay”: Churchill, 4:340–41 “From the air we sighted train loads”: Log, Nov 27, 1943, FRUS: Cairo and Tehran “nervous time”: Sherwood, 776 “If anything like that were to happen”: Churchill, 4:343–44 “I am glad to see you”: Charles Bohlen minutes of Roosevelt-Stalin meeting, Nov 28, 1943, FRUS: Cairo and Tehran “I reflected on Stalin’s fluency”: Charles E Bohlen, Witness to History, 1929–1969 (1973), 142–43 “The Chinese have fought very badly…would mean revolution”: Bohlen minutes, Nov 28, 1943, FRUS: Cairo and Tehran “We are sitting around this table…and northern France”: Bohlen minutes and Combined Chiefs of Staff minutes of Roosevelt-Stalin-Churchill meeting, Nov 28, 1943, FRUS: Cairo and Tehran “unbelievable quantity of food”: Bohlen, Witness to History, 147 “rotten to the core…of German capitulation”: Bohlen minutes and supplementary memorandum of Roosevelt-Stalin-Churchill meeting, Nov 28, 1943, FRUS: Cairo and Tehran “Roosevelt was about to say something else”: Bohlen, Witness to History, 143–44 “You know, the Russians are interesting people”: Perkins, 83–84 “The most notable feature of the dinner”: Bohlen minutes of Roosevelt-Stalin-Churchill meeting, Nov 29, 1943, FRUS: Cairo and Tehran “There are six to seven million Americans”: Bohlen minutes of Roosevelt-Stalin meeting, Dec 1, 1943, FRUS: Cairo and Tehran “Ike, you and I know who was the Chief of Staff”: Sherwood, 770 “We are engaged in a global war…if we keep him here”: Pogue, George C Marshall, 3:272–73 “Hopkins came to see me…‘out of the country’”: Sherwood, 803 “Who will command Overlord?”: Bohlen minutes of Roosevelt-Churchill-Stalin meeting, Nov 29, 1943, FRUS: Cairo and Tehran “Well, Ike”: Eric Larabee, Commander in Chief: Franklin Delano Roosevelt, His Lieutenants, and Their War (1987), 438 CHAPTER 52 “Resolved”: New York Times, Nov 6, 1943 “the necessity of establishing”: Washington Post, Nov 2, 1943 “William Bullitt, stand where you are…‘go down there!’”: Burns, 2:350; Benjamin Welles, Sumner Welles: FDR’s Global Strategist (1997), 343–45 “The President asked me to see him…more value than anyone”: Welles, Sumner Welles, 347–49 “Cut his throat”: Ibid., 354 “I not remember ever seeing the President”: Rosenman, 411 “We had an awfully good time”: Press conference, Dec 17, 1943 “Would you care to express any opinion”: Press conference, Dec 28, 1943 “We have come to a clear realization…here at home”: State of the Union address, Jan 11, 1944 “Within the past few weeks”: Fireside Chat, Dec 24, 1943 “These are not mere strikes”: Press conference, April 29, 1943 “The action of the leaders of the United Mine Workers”: Statement, June 23, 1943 87 percent…“coal-black soul!”: D Kennedy, 643 “For the entire year of 1942”: Veto message, June 25, 1943 “Railroad strikes by three brotherhoods”: Executive Order 9412, Dec 27, 1943 “they and the organizations they represent”: Washington Post, Dec 30, 1943 “I hereby charge that the responsibility”: Ibid., Jan 4, 1944 CHAPTER 53 “We Jews of America”: Henry Morgenthau, All in a Lifetime (1922), 404 “Citizens, regardless of religious allegiance”: New York Times, July 22, 1942 “taken proportions and forms”: Statement on Axis crimes, Aug 21, 1942 “Unless action is taken immediately”: David S Wyman, The Abandonment of the Jews: America and the Holocaust, 1941–1945 (1984), 72–73 “the President said that he was profoundly shocked”: New York Times, Dec 9, 1942 “From all the occupied countries”: New York Times, Dec 18, 1942 “cease to exist…we shall win the war”: New York Times, July 15, 2000; Michael Beschloss, The Conquerors: Roosevelt, Truman, and the Destruction of Hitler’s Germany, 1941–1945 (2002), 40 “One of the greatest crimes in history”: “Personal Report to the President,” Jan 16, 1944, FDRL; Morgenthau memo, Jan 16, 1944, FDRL “all measures within its power”: Executive Order 9417, Jan 22, 1944 “In one of the blackest crimes of all history”: Statement on war refugees, March 24, 1944 “the Boss was not disposed to”: Washington Post, April 17, 1983 “We’ll be accused of participating”: Beschloss, Conquerors, 66 “Yesterday, on June 4”: Fireside Chat, June 5, 1944 “My Lord! All smiles, all smiles!”: Press conference, June 6, 1944 “I think we have these Huns”: Pogue, George C Marshall, 3:391 “an unheard-of achievement”: Headnote to Stalin to Roosevelt, June 6, 1944 “It rejoices all of us”: From Stalin, June 7, 1944 “It is remarkable”: From Churchill, June 7, 1944 “He may visit Washington”: To Churchill, June 9, 1944 “While I know that the chief interest tonight”: Fireside Chat, June 12, 1944 “Every one of our sons”: To Robert Hannegan, July 11, 1944 “The easiest way of putting it is this”: To Jackson, July 14, 1944 “very happy”: New York Times, July 18, 1944 “You have written me about Harry Truman”: To Hannegan, July 19, 1944 “Hell, I don’t want to be president…in the first place?”: David McCullough, Truman (1992), 308– 14; Merle Miller, Plain Speaking: An Oral Biography of Harry S Truman (1974), 181–82 “You don’t know how very much”: New York Times, July 22, 1944 “I shall not campaign, in the usual sense”: Message to the Democratic convention, July 20, 1944 “The humiliation of forcing me”: Larabee, Commander in Chief, 342–43 “One officer was conspicuously absent…worried to distraction”: Rosenman, 456–59 “Well, Douglas”: Larabee, Commander in Chief, 343–44 “Give me an aspirin”: William Manchester, American Caesar: Douglas MacArthur, 1880–1964 (1978), 427 “When General MacArthur was about to leave”: Press conference, July 29, 1944 CHAPTER 54 “I was shocked by his appearance”: Sherwood, 821 “He appeared to be very tired”: Howard G Bruenn, “Clinical Notes on the Illness and Death of Franklin D Roosevelt,” Annals of Internal Medicine (1970), 579–91; Memo to Harper, undated, FDRL “This memorandum was rejected…and current events”: Bruenn, “Clinical Notes.” “What would you think about our inviting”: Goodwin, 517 “They were occasions which I welcomed”: Anna Roosevelt Halsted manuscript, undated, FDRL “I had really a grand time”: Jean Edward Smith, FDR (2007), 606–07 “He slept soundly and ate well”: Bruenn, “Clinical Notes.” a low-fat diet: “Special Diet for the President,” undated, FDRL “As usually happens…his normal, robust appearance”: Bruenn, “Clinical Notes” McIntire notes of FDR’s vital signs, Sept 20–Oct 4, 1944, FDRL “You hear them everywhere you go”: Washington Post, Oct 28, 1944 “good, very good”: New York Times, Sept 26, 1944 “The President’s health is perfectly O.K.”: Ibid., Oct 13, 1944 “even more than the usual crop”: Radio address, Nov 2, 1944 “You ought to hear him”: Sherwood, 821 “Imitation may be”: Address, Sept 23, 1944 “Al Smith had qualities of heart”: Statement, Oct 4, 1944 “doubly hypothetical surmise”: Sherwood, 830 “tremendous courage”: Statement, Oct 8, 1944 “It’s just a precaution…of righteous victory!”: William B Brewer, Retaking the Philippines: America’s Return to Corregidor and Bataan, July 1944–March 1945 (1986), 46–50; Douglas MacArthur, A Soldier Speaks: Public Papers and Speeches of General of the Army, Douglas MacArthur, ed Vorin E Whan Jr (1965), 132–33 “Please excuse this scribble”: Douglas MacArthur, Reminiscences (1964), 216–18 “The whole American nation today exults”: Statement to MacArthur, Oct 20, 1944 “The power which this nation”: Address, Oct 21, 1944 CHAPTER 55 “Dearest Franklin”: Lash, 713 “I offered a way”: ER, 2:250 “One feels”: ER trip diary, Oct 30, 1942, FDRL “Mrs Roosevelt has been winning”: From Churchill, Nov 1, 1942 “What would you in China”: ER, 2:284 “Those delicate little petal-like fingers”: Lash, 679 “This trip will be attacked”: Ibid., 682 “This is the kind of thing”: From ER, Sept 6, 1943, FDRL “I’ve never been so hedged”: Lash, 688 “Wherever Mrs Roosevelt went”: Christian Advocate, Dec 30, 1943 “I wrote a column”: ER to Joseph Lash, July 14, 1944, FDRL “I don’t think Pa”: Roosevelt and Shalett, 353 “Mrs Roosevelt urged the President”: Sherwood, 831 “Men and women”: New York Times, Aug 26, 1945 “We rejoice with the gallant French people”: Statement, Aug 24, 1944 “We should have sufficient material”: Briefing paper by Groves, Dec 30, 1944, FRUS: Conferences at Malta and Yalta, 1945 “This was the first indication”: Sherwood, 844–45 “He says that if we had spent ten years”: Log of Malta trip, Feb 2, 1945, FRUS: Malta and Yalta “more bloodthirsty…only out of kindness”: Bohlen notes of Roosevelt-Stalin meeting, Feb 4, 1945, FRUS: Malta and Yalta “the whole map of Europe, in fact”: Combined Chiefs of Staff minutes of Roosevelt-Stalin-Churchill meeting, Feb 4, 1945, FRUS: Malta and Yalta “Marshal Stalin, the President, and the Prime Minister…where for they sang”: Bohlen minutes of Roosevelt-Stalin-Churchill dinner meeting, Feb 4, 1945, FRUS: Malta and Yalta “I would like to know, definitely…would be the limit”: H Freeman Matthews minutes, Feb 5, 1945, FRUS: Malta and Yalta “in the Black Sea area”: Joint communiqué, Feb 7, 1945, FRUS: Malta and Yalta “in an excellent humor…from our grasp”: Bohlen minutes, Feb 8, 1945, FRUS: Malta and Yalta “I come from a great distance…they will be shot”: Matthews minutes, Feb 6, 1945, FRUS: Malta and Yalta “I am greatly disturbed”: To Stalin, Feb 6, 1945 “Nazi Germany is doomed…and secret ballot”: Yalta communiqué, Feb 12, 1945, FRUS: Malta and Yalta “The leaders of the three Great Powers”: Agreement, Feb 11, 1945, FRUS: Malta and Yalta CHAPTER 56 “It was the best I could do”: Berle, 477 “Ten years from now”: Bohlen minutes, Feb 6, 1945, FRUS: Malta and Yalta “The President has lost ten pounds”: Margaret Suckley, Closest Companion: The Unknown Story of the Intimate Friendship between Franklin Roosevelt and Margaret Suckley, ed Geoffrey C Ward (1995), 346 “I had quite a talk with Anna”: Ibid., 366–70 “He was obviously greatly fatigued”: Bruenn, “Clinical Notes.” “very tired”: Churchill, 6:391, 397 “Franklin feels his death very much”: Suckley, Closest Companion, 397 “I hope that you will pardon me…We cannot fail them again”: Address to Congress, March 1, 1945 “I did not think it”: Hassett, 318 “Tonight had another talk”: Ibid., 327–28 “The drive was too long”: Suckley, Closest Companion, 413 “His color was much better”: Bruenn, “Clinical Notes.” “preceded by an Old-fashioned cocktail”: Hassett, 332 “His voice was wonderful”: Smith, Thank You, Mr President, 186 “I have been offered”: Morgenthau, 3:417 “In the quiet beauty of the Georgia spring”: Hassett, 333 “He had slept well”: Bruenn, “Clinical Notes.” “He came in, looking very fine”: Suckley, Closest Companion, 417 “He was in good spirits but did not look well”: Hassett, 333 “We have fifteen minutes…‘back of my head’”: Suckley, Closest Companion, 418 “It was apparent that the President”: Bruenn, “Clinical Notes” Notes by Bruenn, April 12, 1945, FDRL CHAPTER 57 “I have a terrible announcement to make…miracle”: New York Times and Washington Post, April 13–16, 1945 “He should gain weight…in the question”: Lash, 719–20 “I did not even ask why”: ER, 2:344 “I am more sorry for the people…trouper to the last”: Ibid.; New York Times, April 13, 1945; McCullough, Truman, 342 She said that Lucy had been with the president: Lash, 722 “I had schooled myself to believe”: ER, 2:348–49 “She would rather light a candle”: New York Times, Nov 8, 1962 “Americans are gathered together”: Posthumous message, April 13, 1945 “You cannot go all this way”: Churchill, 4:694 “It’s the most lovely spot”: Charles McMoran Wilson Moran, Churchill: The Struggle for Survival, 1940–1965, Taken from the Diaries of Lord Moran (1966), 90 “Come, Pendar, let’s go home”: Kenneth Pendar, Adventure in Diplomacy: Our French Dilemma (1945), 154 ALSO BY H W BRANDS The Reckless Decade T.R The First American The Age of Gold Lone Star Nation Andrew Jackson Copyright © 2008 by H.W Brands All Rights Reserved Published in the United States by Doubleday, an imprint of The Doubleday Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York www.doubleday.com DOUBLEDAY is a registered trademark and the DD colophon is a trademark of Random House, Inc All photographs are courtesy of the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Library, except for “With Hoover en route to the Capitol” and “Signing the Social Security Act,” which are courtesy of the Library of Congress Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Brands, H W Traitor to his class: the privileged life and radical presidency of Franklin Delano Roosevelt / H W Brands.—1st ed p cm Includes bibliographical references Roosevelt, Franklin D (Franklin Delano), 1882–1945 Presidents—United States—Biography United States—Politics and government—1933–1945 I Title E807.B735 2008 973.917092—dc22 [B] 2008015164 eISBN: 978-0-385-52838-2 v1.0 ... shallow waters The American crewmen aboard the battleships saw the torpedo planes approaching; they watched the torpedoes splash into the water; they followed the trails from the propellers as the. .. more than eight years they remained astonished at his ability to make visitors to the White House come away thinking he had agreed with whatever they had told him, without in fact his agreeing to. .. disappeared into the holes they punched in the decks, hatches, and gun turrets of the vessels Only when they had plumbed the depths of the ships did they detonate, and even then the overburden