It was June 1940. France had fallen to the Germans; Great Britain had evacuated its armies from Dunkirk and was prepared for a Nazi invasion. America, though uneasy at the growing strength of Adolf Hitler (Number l), was nevertheless strongly isolationist and wanted to stay out of any European war.
President Roosevelt (Number 2) pondered his problems and his options. How could he build America’s defenses in the face of the antiwar sentiment? How could he help Great Britain defend itself and survive? How could he get Congress to see defense as a bipartisan issue?
Roosevelt made his decision. He appointed two prominent Republicans to the most important cabinet posts in his administration: secretary of war and secretary of the navy. Then the issue of defense would no longer be a partisan one.
He chose well, naming Henry L. Stimson secretary of war and Frank Knox (Number 60) secretary of the navy.
A Cabinet Appointee of Four Presidents
Stimson may be considered the most important figure in Roosevelt’s entire presidency. His service continued into the early months of the Truman (Number 14) administration, until the war ended.
Stimson had the credentials, the standing, the character—and the guts—to talk straight, stand up for what he believed was right, and make the tough decisions that had to be made. In short, he could put aside party labels and speak for the good of the country.
Henry L. Stimson was born in 1867 in New York City. He graduated first from Yale and then from Harvard Law School.He was a partner in a private law firm and then became a federal attorney. He served as secretary of war in the administration of President William Howard Taft. During World War I, he went to France as a colonel, commanding a field artillery unit.
He was President Herbert Hoover’s secretary of state from 1929 to 1933. During this time, Japan took over Manchuria.Stimson wanted to take economic sanctions against the Japanese. When this failed, he announced what became known as the Stimson Doctrine: The United States would not recognize any territorial change that had come about through aggression. Stimson returned to private law practice following Hoover’s failed reelection bid. When World War II broke out, Stimson recognized the danger of Hitler and spoke out against the Nazi regime. He called for the United States to aid Great Britain and France and for America to build up its own defenses. In June 1940, at the age of 73, Stimson became secretary of war.
The War Years
In his very first year as war secretary, Stimson would work vigorously to provide lend-lease aid for Britain, to pass the Selective Service Act to build an American fighting force, and to begin production of war materials. He pressed the country to take a stronger stand against both Nazi Germany and Japan.
In November 1941, it was made clear to the administration that the Japanese, who were well-known for making surprise attacks, were planning a move in the Pacific. The exact place for that attack was not known, but the key American military and naval commanders were told to be on guard. Because the United States was a peaceful country, it could not make the first move. These were dangerous times, but Stimson made it clear that Japan had to strike first before America could respond. On December 7, 1941, that attack came: Pearl Harbor.America responded. Millions of men and women were sent all over the globe: western Europe, North Africa, the Mediterranean, China, Australia, and throughout the Pacific.
In the closing months of heading the War Department, Stimson had to make what was undoubtedly the most profound recommendation of his long and distinguished career. It was for President Truman, who had succeeded to the office after the death of Roosevelt: Should the United States use the atomic bomb against Japan? His recommendation was that it should; it was.
In an article published in Harper’s 17 months after the war ended, Stimson summarized the thinking that went into that decision: The face of war is the face of death; death is an inevitable part of every order that a wartime leader gives.... The decision to use the atomic bomb was a decision that brought death to over a hundred thousand Japanese. No explanation can change that fact and I do not wish to gloss it over. But this deliberate, premeditated destruction was our least abhorrent choice. The destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki put an end to the Japanese war. It stopped the fire raids, and the strangling blockade; it ended the ghastly specter of a clash of great land armies.
When Stimson took over as secretary of war, there was partisan bickering between Democrats and Republicans over foreign policy. By the time the war had ended, and Stimson had completed his tenure, former isolationist members of Congress were actually supporting the new international organization known as the United Nations. This proves that although the major political parties may have differing points of view, from time to time they do try to present a united front to the rest of the world, especially in time of peril.
Henry L. Stimson died in 1950.
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