Franklin Delano Roosevelt A Man of the Century

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As World War II approached, the Century Association reflected the profound division between those who believed that America’s national security and its values as a nation required it to support the democracies in the battle against the totalitarian forces besieging the world and those who were part of the America First movement who devoutly believed that involvement in European wars could only endanger democracy in America itself. As the Nazi conquest of France in June 1940 shook the world, FDR decided to run for a third term. Now his opponent was another Centurion, Wendell Willkie. In 1912, three Centurions ran against each other for the presidency (Theodore Roosevelt, Taft, Wilson), and in 1932 FDR had run against Centurion Herbert Hoover. Political balances were shattered when still another Centurion, Henry Stimson, Secretary of State under Herbert Hoover, accepted FDR’s offer to be Secretary of War. But partisan politics were set aside as Centurions with strong beliefs about our international obligations determined how best to influence the course of action being determined by their non-resident colleague and present Commander-in-Chief. A memorandum by Bethuel Webster is in our archives detailing luncheon meetings at the Century beginning in May 1940 which resulted in the organization of the Office of Scientific Research and Development led by Centurions Vannevar Bush and James Conant, then president of Harvard University. Centurion Robert Sherwood has written of frequent meetings at the Century in the summer of 1940 with a group that became known as the Fight For Freedom Committee which advocated interventionist policies. The Committee to Defend America by aiding the Allies had a strong Centurion identification, beginning with its chairman, William Allen White, a non-resident member who was editor of the Emporia Gazette of Kansas. Our beloved colleague, Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., has described these momentous days in a cogent, eloquent address now in the Century archives. Francis Pickens Miller, a noted Virginian and Centurion, writes in his memoir ∗ that his association with the Century Group in 1940 gave him a chance to do what was ∗ Man From the Valley, Memoirs of a 20 th Century Virginian, Francis Pickens Miller, University of North Carolina Press (1971) Pages 90 et seq. 10
probably the most useful work that he had ever done, in addition to having made possible the most satisfying experience in his life. He describes the events of that fateful summer and what it meant to be an American and have some part in turning the tide against tyranny. Mr. Miller’s role along with Lewis Douglas, Herbert Agar, Dr. Henry Sloane Coffin, Whitney Shepardson, and Henry van Dusen and others was to affect the political climate that enabled President Roosevelt to carry out the desperately needed transaction which gave the British fifty over-aged destroyers in return for long-term leases on military bases in the western hemisphere. Some of these Centurions were for their colleague Wendell Willkie. Some were for FDR. But they were all deeply conscious of the fact that there were national and international interests that transcended the partisan interests of the day. FDR was, of course, a consummate political leader. In one situation, a group came to him urging specific actions in support of a cause in which they deeply believed. He replied: I agree with you, I want to do it, now make me do it. He understood that a President does not rule by fiat and unilateral commands to a nation. He must build the political support that makes his decisions acceptable to our countrymen. He read the public opinion polls not to define who he was but to determine where the country was – and then to strategize how he could move the country to the objectives he thought had to be carried out. The summer of 1940 was a presidential campaign. The President needed the support of Republicans and Democrats before he could carry out the destroyer transaction. He needed also to be assured that Wendell Willkie would not use it as a political issue against him. The Century Group decided that the most effective spokesman for their point of view would be General John J. Pershing, the revered commander of the American Expeditionary Forces in Europe in World War I. Reaching the aged General and then convincing him to make a radio address to the nation was a challenge with hair-raising episodes and frequently bizarre circumstances. But the Centurions succeeded and on August 4, 1940 General Pershing made a national broadcast (written by another Centurion, Walter Lippman) supporting the destroyer transfer to Great Britain. That speech was regarded as a turning point in the effort to create the public support for the President. It was followed by radio broadcasts from other members of the Century Group which included Admiral Standley, Colonel “Wild” Bill Donovan, and Robert Sherwood. 11
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Franklin Delano Roosevelt A Man of the Century

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