Election of 1940: Breaking With Tradition: 1940 United States Presidential Election

When World War II began in September 1939 with Germany's invasion of Poland and Britain and
France's subsequent declaration of war upon Germany, Roosevelt sought ways to assist Britain and
France militarily.[229] Isolationist leaders like Charles Lindbergh and Senator William
Borah successfully mobilized opposition to Roosevelt's proposed repeal of the Neutrality Act, but
Roosevelt won Congressional approval of the sale of arms on a cash-and-carry basis.[230] He also
began a regular secret correspondence with Britain's First Lord of the Admiralty, Winston Churchill,
in September 1939 — the first of 1,700 letters and telegrams between them.[231] Roosevelt forged a
close personal relationship with Churchill, who became Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in May
1940.[232]
The Fall of France in June 1940 shocked the American public, and isolationist sentiment declined.
[233]
In July 1940, Roosevelt appointed two interventionist Republican leaders, Henry L.
Stimson and Frank Knox, as Secretaries of War and the Navy, respectively. Both parties gave
support to his plans for a rapid build-up of the American military, but the isolationists warned that
Roosevelt would get the nation into an unnecessary war with Germany.[234] In July 1940, a group of
Congressmen introduced a bill that would authorize the nation's first peacetime draft, and with the
support of the Roosevelt administration the Selective Training and Service Act of 1940 passed in
September. The size of the army would increase from 189,000 men at the end of 1939 to 1.4 million
men in mid-1941.[235] In September 1940, Roosevelt openly defied the Neutrality Acts by reaching
the Destroyers for Bases Agreement, which, in exchange for military base rights in the British
Caribbean Islands, gave 50 WWI American destroyers to Britain.[236]
Election of 1940: Breaking with tradition

Main article: 1940 United States presidential election
In the months prior to the July 1940 Democratic National Convention, there was much speculation
as to whether Roosevelt would run for an unprecedented third term. The two-term tradition, although
not yet enshrined in the Constitution,[h] had been established by George Washington when he
refused to run for a third term in the 1796 presidential election. Roosevelt refused to give a definitive
statement as to his willingness to be a candidate again, and he even indicated to some ambitious
Democrats, such as James Farley, that he would not run for a third term and that they could seek
the Democratic nomination. However, as Germany swept through Western Europe and menaced
Britain in mid-1940, Roosevelt decided that only he had the necessary experience and skills to see
the nation safely through the Nazi threat. He was aided by the party's political bosses, who feared
that no Democrat except Roosevelt could defeat Wendell Willkie, the popular Republican nominee.
[237]
1940 electoral vote results

At the July 1940 Democratic Convention in Chicago, Roosevelt easily swept aside challenges from
Farley and Vice President Garner, who had turned against Roosevelt in his second term because of
his liberal economic and social policies.[238] To replace Garner on the ticket, Roosevelt turned to
Secretary of Agriculture Henry Wallace of Iowa, a former Republican who strongly supported the
New Deal and was popular in farm states.[239] The choice was strenuously opposed by many of the
party's conservatives, who felt Wallace was too radical and "eccentric" in his private life to be an
effective running mate. But Roosevelt insisted that without Wallace on the ticket he would decline re-
nomination, and Wallace won the vice-presidential nomination, defeating Speaker of the
House William B. Bankhead and other candidates.[238]
A late August poll taken by Gallup found the race to be essentially tied, but Roosevelt's popularity
surged in September following the announcement of the Destroyers for Bases Agreement.[240] Willkie
supported much of the New Deal as well as rearmament and aid to Britain, but warned that
Roosevelt would drag the country into another European war.[241] Responding to Willkie's attacks,
Roosevelt promised to keep the country out of the war.[242] Roosevelt won the 1940 election with 55%
of the popular vote, 38 of the 48 states, and almost 85% of the electoral vote.[243]
Third and fourth terms (1941–1945)

Main article: Foreign policy of the Franklin D. Roosevelt administration
The world war dominated FDR's attention, with far more time devoted to world affairs than ever
before. Domestic politics and relations with Congress were largely shaped by his efforts to achieve
total mobilization of the nation's economic, financial, and institutional resources for the war effort.
Even relationships with Latin America and Canada were structured by wartime demands. Roosevelt
maintained close personal control of all major diplomatic and military decisions, working closely with
his generals and admirals, the war and Navy departments, the British, and even with the Soviet
Union. His key advisors on diplomacy were Harry Hopkins (who was based in the White
House), Sumner Welles (based in the State Department), and Henry Morgenthau Jr. at Treasury. In
military affairs, FDR worked most closely with Secretary Henry L. Stimson at the War Department,
Army Chief of Staff George Marshall, and Admiral William D. Leahy.[244][245][246]
Lead-up to the war
State of the Union
(Four Freedoms)
(January 6, 1941)
MENU
0:00
Franklin Delano
Roosevelt's January 6,
1941 State of the
Union
Address introducing
the theme of the Four
Freedoms (starting at
32:02)
Problems playing this file? See media

help.
By late 1940, re-armament was in high gear, partly to expand and re-equip the Army and Navy and
partly to become the "Arsenal of Democracy" for Britain and other countries.[247] With his famous Four
Freedoms speech in January 1941, Roosevelt laid out the case for an Allied battle for basic rights
throughout the world. Assisted by Willkie, Roosevelt won Congressional approval of the Lend-
Lease program, which directed massive military and economic aid to Britain, and China.[248] In sharp
contrast to the loans of World War I, there would be no repayment after the war.[249] As Roosevelt
took a firmer stance against Japan, Germany, and Italy, American isolationists such as Charles
Lindbergh and the America First Committee vehemently attacked Roosevelt as an irresponsible
warmonger.[250] When Germany invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941, Roosevelt agreed to extend
Lend-Lease to the Soviets. Thus, Roosevelt had committed the U.S. to the Allied side with a policy
of "all aid short of war."[251] By July 1941, Roosevelt authorized the creation of the Office of the
Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs (OCIAA) to counter perceived propaganda efforts in Latin
America by Germany and Italy.[252][253]
In August 1941, Roosevelt and Churchill conducted a highly secret bilateral meeting in which they
drafted the Atlantic Charter, conceptually outlining global wartime and postwar goals. This would be
the first of several wartime conferences;[254] Churchill and Roosevelt would meet ten more times in
person.[255] Though Churchill pressed for an American declaration of war against Germany, Roosevelt
believed that Congress would reject any attempt to bring the United States into the war.[256] In
September, a German submarine fired on the U.S. destroyer Greer, and Roosevelt declared that the
U.S. Navy would assume an escort role for Allied convoys in the Atlantic as far east as Great Britain
and would fire upon German ships or submarines (U-boats) of the Kriegsmarine if they entered the
U.S. Navy zone. This "shoot on sight" policy effectively declared naval war on Germany and was
favored by Americans by a margin of 2-to-1.[257]

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Election of 1940: Breaking With Tradition: 1940 United States Presidential Election

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When World War II began in September 1939 with Germany's invasion of Poland and Britain and

Election of 1940: Breaking with tradition

1940 electoral vote results

Third and fourth terms (1941–1945)

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