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"Roosevelt 'had said that he would wage war, but not declare it, and that he would become more and more provocative. ' "
So reported British Prime Minister Winston Churchill to his cabinet upon his return to London in August 1941, following his first conference with the President of the United States, Franklin Roosevelt. Churchill went on to claim that he and the president had worked out the details of a system for escorting supply convoys in the Atlantic, and that FDR had ordered the U.S. Navy to shoot German U-boats (submarines) on sight and thus "force" an incident.1 Is that what happened?
Less than four months later, in December 1941, the United States went to war with Japan, Germany, and Italy, all within the space of four days. In each case, Roosevelt evaded a straightforward request for a declaration of war, asserting instead that war had been thrust upon America. Pearl Harbor generated a somber accusation:
Yesterday, December 7, 1941-a date which will live in infamy-the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan. ... I ask that the Congress declare that since the unprovoked and dastardly attack by Japan on Sunday, December 7, a state of war has existed between the United States and the Japanese empire.2
Then, on December 11, following Hitler's seemingly gratuitous declaration of war earlier that day, Roosevelt sent a message to Congress "requesting the recognition of a state of war with Germany and Italy," because those governments had "declared war against the United States."3
The path to war for Roosevelt and the United States seemed obvious. The president had said in September 1939 that Hitler was "pure, unadulterated evil."' The apparent logic is simple: by late 1941, he had settled on deceit and deception-waging but not declaring war-to bring the United States into the ongoing conflict with Nazi Germany, which is precisely the argument made by some historians and by FDR's most bitter critics since 194l.5
But things are not always what they seem on the surface.
The actual path to war for the United States was long and complex. It began with the peace settlements following the First World War, agreements that created a renewed structure...