The first priority was defeating Hitler, liberating Europe, ensuring that Britain’s decision to fight on alone would not end in British defeat.

Roosevelt died in April 1945, less than a month before Germany surrendered.

He did not live to see the victory he had worked toward for nearly 5 years.

But his response to Churchill’s declaration that Britain would fight on alone.

His decision to support Britain despite all obstacles had been vindicated.

Britain had survived.

Hitler had been defeated.

The war had been won.

What Roosevelt said when he heard Britain would fight on alone was not captured in a single memorable quote.

It was expressed through months of careful policymaking, through the destroyers for bases deal and lend lease, through his patient maneuvering around isolationist opposition, through his willingness to push the boundaries of neutrality to help a nation he believed was fighting for the survival of democracy itself.

He said in effect that Britain’s fight was America’s fight.

That the defense of Britain was the defense of America.

That Hitler must be stopped and that America would do whatever was necessary to ensure that Britain had the tools to stop him.

And in the end, that was enough.

Britain fought on.

America joined the fight.

Hitler was defeated.

The decision Churchill made in May 1940, the decision to fight on alone rather than negotiate with Hitler became the foundation for Allied victory.

And Roosevelt’s response to that decision, his commitment to support Britain no matter what, became one of the defining acts of his presidency.

The telephone call on May 15th, 1940, the conversation when Churchill told Roosevelt that Britain would never surrender, marked the beginning of a partnership that would win the Second World War.

Roosevelt’s response to that call, worked out over the following months through destroyers and lend lease and a dozen other measures, was the answer to a question that had haunted him since the war began.

Could America stay out of the war? Roosevelt had hoped so, but he had always doubted it.

When Churchill told him Britain would fight on alone, Roosevelt stopped hoping America could avoid the war and started preparing for the moment when America would have to enter it.

His response was not dramatic or immediate, but it was decisive.

He committed America to Britain’s survival, and in doing so, he committed America to the war.

That was what Roosevelt said when he heard Britain would fight on alone.

He said, “Yes, America would help.

Britain would survive.

Hitler would be defeated.

” And Roosevelt spent the next 18 months and then the next four years making those promises come

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