Franklin Delano Roosevelt A Man of the Century

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The all-important question of the constitutional powers of the President to carry out the transaction had to be answered. A brilliant memorandum was prepared by FDR’s assistant, Ben Cohen, who asked several of the country’s most eminent, respected lawyers to examine it as a basis of a letter for the New York Times. The letter, a decisive intervention in the public debate, was published in the New York Times on August 11, 1940 and signed by four Centurions: Dean Acheson, Charles Burlingham, Thomas Thacher and George Rublee. One final step had to be taken. There had to be an assurance from Wendell Willkie that he would not attack President Roosevelt for carrying out the destroyer transaction. The political stakes were very high. The Republicans could have energized the isolationist voters who were already discouraged by Willkie’s internationalism. The chairman of the Century Group, Lewis Douglas, was one of Willkie’s most ardent supporters and trusted advisers. A telephone call was arranged between Centurion Archibald MacLeish and Russell Davenport of Fortune Magazine, a leader of Willkie’s campaign. Davenport gave the needed assurance from Willkie. President Roosevelt announced the destroyer transaction on September 3. It was an historic moment, publicly turning the tide in the United States from isolationism to active participation in the struggle by democracies against the forces of tyranny. Sherwood’s Fight for Freedom Committee continued the effort by supporting the Lend Lease legislation which the Congress passed in the following March. In 1940 – with Europe under Hitler’s boot – U.S. military strength ranked as 17 th in the world – behind Portugal. Isolationist sentiment remained powerful and was fully reflected in the Congress. The destroyer deal helped save Britain’s lifeline from the unremitting attacks of German submarines. Hitler called it a belligerent act. It was. President Roosevelt proposed Lend Lease. He announced the Four Freedoms as the goal that would justify the terrible sacrifices that lay ahead. He met with Winston Churchill. They announced the Atlantic Charter, the blueprint for the survival of democracy, and together they created the partnership that we hail today as the most important alliance of the troubled 20 th century. All this – and America was not yet at war, but America’s isolationists could no longer prevail. FDR’s third term victory decided the direction of 12
the nation. On March 28, 1941, less than five months after the election, FDR’s noble and notable opponent, Wendell Willkie, spoke at a meeting at the Century Club. A Centurion friend (Bice Clemow) wrote President Roosevelt describing the Willkie speech as “one of the most unusual occasions in all the annals of the Century.” Wendell Willkie’s plea for a common front behind the President’s foreign policy brought ringing applause from his audience. Willkie told his fellow Centurions that he was doing everything he could to help build strong public sentiment behind the country’s foreign policy so that the man who beat him for the presidency “would become the most famous occupant of the office from George Washington on.” The packed library trembled with cheers and applause. Willkie became FDR’s emissary to Winston Churchill. He toured the globe and wrote his immensely successful book, One World. But for his untimely death on October 1944, Wendell Willkie may well have worked out a political partnership with Franklin Roosevelt that would have realigned the political forces of the country in a way that would have given a solid, continuing base to the internationalist liberal values that both men advocated. Franklin Roosevelt’s last known communication with the Century Club was on June 10, 1944. Herbert Houston had asked him to write a supporting letter for Edward Stettinius, then Undersecretary of State. Roosevelt instead chose to ask Mr. Houston to transmit a message for him to the Committee on Admissions that Stettinius was a good man who would add greatly to the values that the Century Association cherished. Eric Larrabee, while president of the Century Association, wrote a majestic book about Franklin Roosevelt entitled Commander-in-Chief. * In it he tells the story of Roosevelt and Churchill being together for the Casablanca Conference in January 1943. As the conference ended, Churchill persuaded Roosevelt to go with him to Marrakech “to watch the sun go down on the Atlas Mountains,” a favorite sight of Churchill’s. Finally the time came for Roosevelt’s departure from Marrakech. At 7:30 in the morning, a ghastly time for the Prime Minister, he came to the airfield wearing his black velvet slippers, his blue flannel coverall, and his dressing gown, topped off by the hat of a Field * Houghton Mifflin (1987) 13
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Franklin Delano Roosevelt A Man of the Century

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