The political battle that took place during the 1940 presidential election divided Americans as much if not greater than any election before it ever had. The debate that consumed the country took place between the isolationists and the interventionists. Those who wanted to stay out of the war that was ravaging Europe (although some for nefarious reasons) and those who (while opposed to sending troops to Europe) felt that the United Stated should support those nations holding out against the Nazi machine. Americans faced a grave decision in choosing who to cast their vote for and it was not a black and white decision. The option was to choose between Franklin Roosevelt, a savvy politician who danced around the question of committing Americans to the war despite being a proven internationalist and Wendell Willkie, the unlikely Republican …show more content…
It was to Americans who had to be won over by a commander who needed to use this chat as a platform to persuade the people that “We must be the great arsenal of democracy. For us this is an emergency as serious as war itself. We must apply ourselves to our task with the same resolution, the same sense of urgency, the same spirit of patriotism and sacrifice as we would show were we at war.” In his chat, Roosevelt appealed for a “national effort” to call on any and all of America’s industrial and physical resources to put towards (what would become) the impending war mobilization. At that moment in time Roosevelt appealed to all Americans to embark on becoming the producers and suppliers of “more ships, more guns, more planes—more of everything” for the Allies while also caching resources for America’s inevitable entry into the war. It was Roosevelt’s way of introducing American citizens to what he felt would become America’s broader role in the world, even after the war would ultimately