Review of "Roosevelt & World War II," by Robert A. Divine
Review of
Roosevelt & World War II,
by Robert A. Divine
Four out of five stars
A brief synopsis of a great president
Given that when
he first took the oath of office the United States and the world was in the
depths of the greatest economic crisis of all time and that Franklin Roosevelt
let the Allies to victory in World War II, it is impossible to explain his
achievements in a mere 98 pages. Volumes have been written about the actions of
Franklin Roosevelt as the leader of the United States and its’ great industrial
might. The best that can be done in a short book is to provide a reasonably
accurate summary. Which is what is done here.
As the war
clouds gathered in Europe and Asia, the United States was extremely
isolationist, there were few people that could be considered internationalists.
Therefore, Roosevelt was extremely limited in what he could do in support of
the nations that were at war with Germany and Japan. That is made clear in this
short volume, in many ways Roosevelt had to walk a very narrow path as he conducted
very small steps in the direction towards a war footing. While it is easy to
state that he did not do enough to prepare for war, the reality is that he did
all he could.
Roosevelt has
also taken a great deal of heat for his relationship with Joseph Stalin,
another main point of this book. However, given how ruthless Stalin was in his
dealings with other nations and his own people, it is difficult to see a path
where the postwar world in Europe would have been any different. The Soviet armies
were in eastern Europe and the American soldiers simply wanted to go home once
the war was over in Europe.
The conclusion
of this book is the correct one. While there may have been some things that
Roosevelt could have done differently, his accomplishments were likely the best
that could have been done in the circumstances, before and during World War II.
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