At the time of the attack on the French Fleet, things were rather desperate for Britain. FDR was still walking the tightrope in the US and had to be very careful. In essence during this period is when Churchill was at his wartime best. He held all together until 1941. Britain should be grateful that Hitler unveiled his attack on the Russian Bear and abandoned "Operation Sea Lion". Hitler's strategic error of opening up two fronts actually sealed the fate for Germany. FDR was very supportive during this time frame but as usual utilized his well known enigma of international politics. No one knew what lurked in the mind of FDR. All we know is that he was hopeful of a favorable slant to Britain in her defense of the island.
Richard C. Geschke > From: [email protected] > To: [email protected]; [email protected] > Date: Wed, 21 Oct 2009 10:48:18 +0000 > Subject: [ChurchillChat] Re: Winston Churchill Essay - Help Please > > > Interesting and timely. Last even on at least the UK version of the history > channel there was a documentary about Churchill's decision to attack the > French fleet after the surrender. These issues were raised. While I have > always known that one effect of the attack was to make FDR realize the > British were serious, I did not realize how far against assistance FDR had > gone. If the Canadian historian interviewed is to be believed, FDR felt that > the message you are all refering to was an attempt to blackmail the US -- FDR > would have none of it. > > Fearing that Britian was about to collapse, FDR decided against assisting the > British and had called in a Canadian diplomat to suggest that the US and > Canada look to our own joint defense. The subject of the fleet came up and > FDR suggested that the British fleet be turned over to Canada in event of > British surrender. PM King's diary recorded his shock as he felt FDR was > trying to pry Canada away from the Empire. > ------Original Message------ > From: Major McKinley > To: [email protected] > Sent: Oct 20, 2009 5:02 PM > Subject: [ChurchillChat] Re: Winston Churchill Essay - Help Please > > I'd look up (and will paste) some items about the Roosevelt > administration's attitude towards the war, which required the recall > of US Ambassador Joe Kennedy, who saw the bleak situation of the Brits > and thought it was hopeless. The most the US hoped for was that when > -- they didn't think "if" -- Britain fell, they'd give us (Canada) > their fleet. Churchill told FDR that he would go down fighting, but > could not guarantee that another government in the UK might not make > more favorable terms with the invaders if the Germans came across the > Channel, and the biggest chit to play would have been the Royal Navy. > If anyone is confident in some well-researched alternative history, > perhaps they could recommend it. I think it's such a self-evident > Resolved it'll be hard to write. > > > > > Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T > > > _________________________________________________________________ Hotmail: Free, trusted and rich email service. http://clk.atdmt.com/GBL/go/171222984/direct/01/ --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "ChurchillChat" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/churchillchat?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
