Well, Maurice, you have drawn me out. Yes, the US declared "neutrality," but that was mostly domestic politics, and it did not slow the development of the weapons that soon were to come flooding out of the US, nor did it mask the realization in Washington that the US would soon have to be bailing out its mother country and yours for the second time in less than 30 years. Just ask FDR.
P.S. Have you ever heard of the Atlantic Conference?
"As the morning mist lifted on 9 August, Winston Churchill stood on the bridge of HMS Prince of Wales dressed in the uniform of an Elder rother of Trinity House (an exotic quasi-naval uniform). Winston Churchill recounts the day in his memoirs as follows:
As soon as the customary naval courtesies had been exchanged, I went aboard the Augusta and greeted President Roosevelt, who received me with all honours. He stood supported by the arm of his son Elliott while the national anthems were played, and then gave me the warmest of welcomes.
I gave him a letter from the King and presented the members of my party. Conversations were then begun between the President and myself, Mr. Sumner Welles and Sir Alexander Cadogan, and the Staff officers on both sides, which proceeded more or less continuously for the remaining days of our visit, sometimes man to man and sometimes in larger conferences
On Sunday morning, August 10, Mr. Roosevelt came aboard H.M.S. Prince of Wales and, with his Staff officers and several hundred representatives of all ranks of the United States Navy and Marines, attended Divine Service on the quarter-deck. This service was felt by us all to be a deeply moving expression of the unity of faith of our two peoples, and none who took part in it will forget the spectacle presented that sunlit morning on the crowded the quarter-deck - the symbolism of the Union Jack and the Stars and Stripes draped side by side on the pulpit; the American and British chaplains sharing in the reading of the prayers; the highest naval, military, and air officers of Britain and the United States grouped in one body behind the President and me; the close-packed ranks of British and American sailors, completely intermingled, sharing the same books and joining fervently together in the prayers and hymns familiar to both. Those in Peril on the Sea" I chose the hymns myself -"For I We ended with "O God, and "Onward, Christian Soldiers.' our Help in Ages Past," which Macaulay reminds us the Ironsides had chanted as they bore John Hampden's body to the grave. Every word seemed to stir the heart. It was a great hour to live. Nearly half those who sang were soon to die."
I am no big fan of religion, but it seems to have its uses . . . . |
