Analysis: Letter from President Roosevelt to Chancellor Adolf Hitler

Date: April 14, 1939

Author: Franklin D. Roosevelt

Genre: letter

Summary Overview

On March 15, 1939, Nazi German forces invaded Czechoslovakia, initiating a military campaign that would continue with invasions of Poland, Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, and France by the end of 1940. On April 14, 1939, US president Franklin D. Roosevelt issued a message to German chancellor Adolf Hitler, appealing to him to refrain from further aggression. Roosevelt argued that the Nazi expansion threatened to start a new war in Europe, and he called upon Hitler to agree not to attack any other sovereign nation in Europe, Africa, or the Middle East. In the interest of the hundreds of millions of people potentially affected by German expansion in Europe, Roosevelt implored Hitler to work with the United States and its allies to promote world peace.

Defining Moment

The ascension of Hitler to the role of German chancellor in 1933 (and then Führer, or “leader”) had tremendous implications for the international community. Hitler spoke of rescuing Germany from its crippled post–World War I condition to a strong state that would last for a thousand years. As Hitler created an internal order compliant with his ideology, he also looked outward from the boundaries imposed on his country after World War I, sending troops into the demilitarized Rhineland in 1936.

In 1937, Hitler made clear that his ambitions were to expand Nazi Germany well beyond its post–World War I borders. In 1938, Germany annexed Austria, in an event known as Anschluss, protecting Germany on its eastern border. Later that year, the German military moved south, annexing the portion of Czechoslovakia known as the Sudetenland (whose three million Sudeten Germans supported joining Germany). That move helped topple the democratic Czech government in Prague. With British leadership appeasing Hitler instead of moving forcefully to stop him, Czechoslovakia became part of the Nazi sphere of influence. By 1938, Hitler had also launched his most infamous campaign—the persecution, imprisonment, and finally genocide of Jews that subsequently became known as the Holocaust.

In the United States, Americans expected Roosevelt to focus on the Great Depression rather than on European matters. In addition to the Depression, the devastation of World War I remained on Americans' minds. The majority opposed US intervention against Hitler and Italian Fascist leader Benito Mussolini (who had invaded and occupied Ethiopia in 1935–36). Despite these political limitations, however, Roosevelt sought to maintain the United States' status as an important transatlantic leader. Many of his speeches focused on the need to support American allies in Europe during the growing crisis. Shortly after Hitler formalized the annexation of Czechoslovakia, Roosevelt looked to build upon his transatlantic policy by directly contacting Hitler in an attempt to end the growing tensions in Europe.

Author Biography

Franklin D. Roosevelt was born on June 30, 1882, in Hyde Park, New York. He attended Harvard University, graduating in 1903 after only three years. After studying law at Columbia University, Roosevelt practiced law in New York before entering politics as a state senator in 1910. Roosevelt was appointed assistant secretary of the Navy by President Woodrow Wilson, serving in that role from 1913 to 1920. In 1921, he was diagnosed with polio, a crippling disease that limited his mobility. In 1928, Roosevelt was elected governor of New York, earning reelection in 1930. In 1932, he won the presidency, gaining reelection three times thereafter, during which time he oversaw the country's recovery from the Great Depression and most of World War II. On April 12, 1945, Roosevelt died from a stroke while on vacation in Georgia.

Document Analysis

In 1939, recalling the devastation of World War I, Americans were overwhelmingly against engaging in another major international conflict. Nonetheless, as Hitler and his Nazi German forces continued their expansion efforts, the nations of Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East teetered on the brink of war. Limited by American isolationism yet cognizant of the implications of Hitler's actions, President Roosevelt wrote this communication directly to Hitler, appealing for the German leader to halt his campaign, embrace the notion of world peace, and join the international community.

Roosevelt wrote this letter a few weeks after the German annexation of Czechoslovakia but at a time during which it appeared Nazi troops were stationary. Roosevelt hoped his letter would convince Hitler to move no further. The continued advancement of the German military, Roosevelt writes, threatened a large number of sovereign nations on three continents. If Germany continued to show such hostility, Roosevelt warns, his actions would inevitably lead to a second world war.

Roosevelt tells Hitler that he had advised him in the past to pursue his nation's social, political, and economic interests using peaceful means. However, Hitler quite clearly had been utilizing the “threat of arms,” a policy that only promised war. To his credit, Roosevelt says, Hitler had said in the past that he had no desire for Germany to enter another war. However, Czechoslovakia had already lost its sovereignty by force. War, Roosevelt says, was nearly at hand.

Despite Hitler's imperial endeavors, Roosevelt argues that he still has time to change course. By virtue of its geographic isolation from Europe and its official neutrality on European matters, the United States could act as an intermediary and return Hitler's Germany to diplomatic circles. Roosevelt adds that the United States would help Germany address its concerns through the League of Nations instead of through military means. However, Roosevelt cautions, the United States would only be willing to do so if Germany makes certain provisions—specifically, declaring that Germany would not attack the other twenty-four sovereign European and the seven sovereign Middle Eastern nations within Germany's scope of interest. This pledge would cover not only the present but also the foreseeable future, Roosevelt states. In light of the relief this agreement would bring to the region, Germany would undoubtedly be able to negotiate and address interstate issues on the international stage rather than through war. Every major government in Europe, Roosevelt adds, is prepared to vigorously defend their respective citizens from German aggression, and Hitler has the power to avoid such a conflict.

Glossary

accrue: to happen or result as a natural growth; to be added as a matter of periodic gain or advantage

cognizance: awareness, realization, or knowledge

impend: to be imminent; about to happen; to threaten or menace

Bibliography and Additional Reading

“Franklin D. Roosevelt.” WhiteHouse.gov. White House, 2014. Web. 16 Oct. 2014.

Hauner, Milan. “Could Prague Have Defied Hitler?” World Policy Journal 21.1 (2004): 91–95. Print.

MacGregor Burns, James, and Susan Dunn. The Three Roosevelts: Patrician Leaders Who Transformed America. New York: Grove, 2002. Print.

McCullough, Tony. “FDR as Founding Father of the Transatlantic Alliance: The Roosevelt Doctrine of January 1936.” Journal of Transatlantic Studies 8.3 (2010): 224–35. Print.

Schoenl, William. “Jung's Evolving Views of Nazi Germany: From 1936 to the End of World War II.” Journal of Analytical Psychology 59.2 (2014): 245–62. Print.