Quote:
Originally posted by Spanky
When we said Roosevelt lied, and Penkse even cited that speech, you demanded more cites. In other words questioning the validity of our assertions. In addition, you argued against the fact that lend lease was a sweet heart deal for the british and also questioned whether my other assertions like the destroyer escorts really happened and whether such acts were really a provocation. Such arguments, demands for cites and assertions would only be made by someone who wanted to dispute the fact that FDR misled the American people.
Am I wrong?
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I wasn't asking for a cite, I was asking for more than a single sentence from that speech. I wanted context.
If Roosevelt had said, "Ladies and gentlemen, I will do everything in my power to keep America out of a foreign war. But we also need to defend liberty, and to ensure that at the end of the day, we do not stand alone against fascism and tyranny," that would send a very different message than if he had said, "Ladies and gentlemen, I will do everything in my power to keep America out of a foreign war. I will never send our children to fight on the side of one party or another in a dispute between foreign lands." Etc.
I do question the Lend-Lease deal being a gift to the British, on the basis of a book I've read about the period from the British point of view. If you are a fan of history, I recommend John Lukacs' Five Days in May (I think that's the title), about the point in May, 1940, when the British came closest to surrendering to Germany. Good stuff.
If you want me to believe that FDR (or GWB) misled people, you need to point to more than a single sentence in isolation.
