A L E T T E R T O R O O S E V E L T

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––––––––––––––––––––– Winston Churchill ––––––––––––––––––––––

London [via U.S. Embassy]

May 15, 1940

Most Secret and Personal. President Roosevelt from Former Naval Person.

Although I have changed my office, I am sure you would not wish me to

discontinue our intimate, private correspondence. As you are no doubt aware,

the scene has darkened swiftly. The enemy have a marked preponderance in the

air, and their new technique is making a deep impression upon the French. I

think myself the battle on land has only just begun, and I should like to see

tanks [masses] engaged. Up to the present, Hitler is working with specialized

units in tanks and air. The small countries are simply smashed up, one by one,

like matchwood. We must expect, though it is not yet certain, that Mussolini

will hurry in to share the loot of civilization. We expect to be attacked here

ourselves, both from the air and by parachute and air borne troops in the near

future, and are getting ready for them. If necessary, we shall continue the war

alone and we are not afraid of that. But I trust you realize, Mr. President, that

the voice and force of the United States may count for nothing if they are

withheld too long. You may have a completely subjugated, Nazified Europe

established with astonishing swiftness, and the weight may be more than we can

bear. All I ask now is that you should proclaim nonbelligerency, which would

mean that you would help us with everything short of actually engaging armed

forces. Immediate needs are: first of all, the loan of forty or fifty of your older

destroyers to bridge the gap between what we have now and the large new

construction we put in hand at the beginning of the war. This time next year we

shall have plenty. But if in the interval Italy comes in against us with another

one hundred submarines, we may be strained to breaking point. Secondly, we

want several hundred of the latest types of aircraft, of which you are now

getting delivery. These can be repaid by those now being constructed in the

United States for us. Thirdly, anti-aircraft equipment and ammunition, of which

again there will be plenty next year, if we are alive to see it. Fourthly, the fact

that our ore supply is being compromised from Sweden, from North Africa,

and perhaps from northern Spain, makes it necessary to purchase steel in the

United States. This also applies to other materials. We shall go on paying dollars

for as long as we can, but I should like to feel reasonably sure that when we can

pay no more, you will give us the stuff all the same. Fifthly, we have many

reports of possible German parachute or air borne descents in Ireland. The visit

of a United States squadron to Irish ports, which might well be prolonged,

would be invaluable. Sixthly, I am looking to you to keep that Japanese dog

quiet in the Pacific, using Singapore in any way convenient. The details of the

material which we have in mind will be communicated to you separately.

With all good wishes and respect.

Source: “Letter to President Roosevelt, May 15, 1940” by Winston Churchill.

Crown copyright is reproduced with the permission of the Controller of Her

Majesty’s Stationery Office.