Description
Conceived by Charles Beard as a sequel to his provocative study of American Foreign Policy in the Making, 1932-1940, President Roosevelt and the Coming of the War outraged a nation, permanently damaging Beard's status as America's most influential historian.
Beard's main argument is that both Democratic and Republican leaders, but Roosevelt above all, worked quietly in 1940 and 1941 to insinuate the United States into the Second World War. Basing his work on available congressional records and administrative reports, Beard concludes that FDR's image as a neutral, peace-loving leader was a smokescreen, behind which he planned for war against Germany and Japan even well before the attack on Pearl Harbor.
Beard contends that the distinction between aiding allies in Europe like Great Britain and maintaining strict neutrality with respect to nations like Germany and Japan was untenable. Beard does not argue that all nations were alike, or that some did and others did not merit American support, but rather that Roosevelt chose to aid Great Britain secretly and unconstitutionally rather than making the case to the American public. President Roosevelt shifted from a policy of neutrality to one of armed intervention, but he did so without surrendering the appearance, the fiction of neutrality. This core argument makes the work no less explosive in 2003 than it was when first issued in 1948.
About the Author
Charles A. Beard was the dean of the pre-World War II generation of American historians, and is widely regarded as the first historian to place economic factors at the center of American political life. The author of more than thirty books exploring the whole of America's past, Beard taught at several universities before retiring to full-time writing. In 1948, he received a medal from the National Institute of Arts and Letters. He died later that year. Campbell Craig is lecturer in American history and director of the honors program in diplomacy and international relations at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand. He was educated at Carleton College, the University of Chicago, and Ohio University. His current interest is in International Cold War and nuclear history, a topic about which he has written two books.
Book Information
ISBN 9780765809988
Author Charles Beard
Format Paperback
Page Count 644
Imprint Transaction Publishers
Publisher Taylor & Francis Inc
Weight(grams) 861g