Pearl Harbor: The Seeds and Fruits of Infamy - Ludwig von Mises ...

18 Pearl Harbor: The Seeds and Fruits of Infamy
FDR’s fi rst letter to Churchill began: “I want you to know
how glad I am that you are back again in the Admiralty.” He
continued:
What I want you and the Prime Minister to know is that I
shall at all times welcome it if you will keep me in touch personally
with anything you want me to know about. You can
always send sealed letters through your [diplomatic] pouch or
my pouch. 26
Th is expression of warm friendship was hardly the “impartial
neutrality” he was asking of “all persons within the jurisdiction of
the United States.”
U.S. “Neutrality Patrol” in the Atlantic
On September 6, Roosevelt announced that the Navy would
start a “Neutrality Patrol” of the Atlantic up to 200 or 300 miles
off shore, ostensibly to protect U.S. merchantmen:
Th e patrolling ships were to report all belligerent warships,
except convoy escorts, by radio. In the event of a submarine
contact, “the movements of the submarine shall be observed
and a surveillance patrol maintained in the general area.” 27
And then on September 8, he proclaimed a national
emergency. 28
Disturbed at the delay in getting the “Neutrality Patrol”
underway, FDR sent a secret message on October 9, 1939, to
the U.S. Navy Department: “When any aircraft or surface ship
26 Francis L. Loewenheim, Harold D. Langley, and Manfred Jones, eds.
Roosevelt and Churchill: Th eir Secret Wartime Correspondence (New York: E.P.
Dutton, 1975), p. 89.
27 Patrick Abbazia, Mr. Roosevelt’s Navy: Th e Private War of the Atlantic Fleet,
1939-1942 (Annapolis, Md.: Naval Institute Press, 1975), p. 65.
28 U.S. Congress, Events, p. 216.