Their Finest Hour (65 page)

At the lychgate we may all pass our own conduct and our own judgments under a searching review. It is not given to human beings, happily for them, for otherwise life would be intolerable, to foresee or to predict to any large extent the unfolding course of events. In one phase men seem to have been right, in another they seem to have been wrong. Then again, a few years later, when the perspective of time has lengthened, all stands in a different setting. There is a new proportion. There is another scale of values. History with its flickering lamp stumbles along the trail of the past, trying to reconstruct its scenes, to revive its echoes, and kindle with pale gleams the passion of former days. What is the worth of all this? The only guide to a man is his conscience; the only shield to his memory is the rectitude and sincerity of his actions. It is very imprudent to walk through life without this shield, because we are so often mocked by the failure of our hopes and the upsetting of our calculations; but with this shield, however the Fates may play, we march always in the ranks of honour.

Whatever else history may or may not say about these terrible, tremendous years, we can be sure that Neville Chamberlain acted with perfect sincerity according to his lights and strove to the utmost of his capacity and authority, which were powerful, to save the world from the awful, devastating struggle in which we are now engaged…. Herr Hitler protests with frantic words and gestures that he has only desired peace. What do these ravings and outpourings count before the silence of Neville Chamberlain’s tomb? Long, hard, and hazardous years lie before us, but at least we enter upon them united and with clean hearts….

He was, like his father and his brother Austen before him, a famous Member of the House of Commons, and we here assembled this morning, members of all parties, without a single exception, feel that we do ourselves and our country honour in saluting the memory of one whom Disraeli would have called “an English worthy.”

Roosevelt Re-elected President — British Munitions Contracts in the United States
—
Lord Lothian Visits Me at Ditchley — “Cash and Carry,” November,
1939
— British Losses of Dollars in the Twilight War
—
A New Era, May,
1940
— I Draft My Letter of December
8, 1940
, to the President
—
The Common Interests of Britain and the United States
—
Need of Forward Planning
—
British Recovery Since June
—
Impending Peril on the Atlantic in
1941
— Our Shipping Losses
—
British and German Battleship Strength — The Menace of Japan — The Atlantic Lifeline
—
American Influence on Eire
—
My Request for Two Thousand Additional Aircraft a Month — Army Equipment — How to Pay the Bill? — Appeal to the United States — The President’s Discovery: “Lend-Lease” — His Press Conference of December
17
— “Eliminate the Dollar Sign” — Lend-Lease Bill Presented to Congress
—
Sudden Death of Philip Lothian — I Choose Lord Halifax as His Successor
—
My Tribute to Lord Halifax
—
Mr. Eden Returns Home to the Foreign Office
—
Captain Margesson Secretary of State for War
—
Waiting for Lend-Lease
—
New Year Greetings to the President.

A
BOVE THE ROAR AND CLASH OF ARMS
there now loomed upon us a world-fateful event of a different order. The presidential election took place on November 6. In spite of the tenacity and vigour with which these four-yearly contests are conducted, and the bitter differences on domestic issues which at this time divided the two main parties, the Supreme Cause was respected by the responsible leaders, Republicans and Democrats alike. At Cleveland on November 2, Mr. Roosevelt said: “Our policy is to give all possible material aid to the nations which still resist aggression across the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.” His opponent, Mr. Wendell Willkie, declared next day at Madison Square Garden: “All of us – Republicans, Democrats, and Independents – believe in giving aid to the heroic British people. We must make available to them the products of our industry.”

This larger patriotism guarded both the safety of the American Union and our life. Still, it was with profound anxiety that I awaited the result. No newcomer into power could possess or soon acquire the knowledge and experience of Franklin Roosevelt. None could equal his commanding gifts. My own relations with him had been most carefully fostered by me, and seemed already to have reached a degree of confidence and friendship which was a vital factor in all my thought. To close the slowly built-up comradeship, to break the continuity of all our discussions, to begin again with a new mind and personality, seemed to me a repellent prospect. Since Dunkirk, I had not been conscious of the same sense of strain. It was with indescribable relief that I received the news that President Roosevelt had been re-elected.

Former Naval Person to President Roosevelt.

6.XI.40.

I did not think it right for me as a foreigner to express any opinion upon American politics while the election was on, but now I feel you will not mind my saying that I prayed for your success and that I am truly thankful for it. This does not mean that I seek or wish for anything more than the full, fair, and free play of your mind upon the world issues now at stake in which our two nations have to discharge their respective duties. We are entering upon a sombre phase of what must evidently be a protracted and broadening war, and I look forward to being able to interchange my thoughts with you in all that confidence and good will which has grown up between us since I went to the Admiralty at the outbreak. Things are afoot which will be remembered as long as the English language is spoken in any quarter of the globe, and in expressing the comfort I feel that the people of the United States have once again cast these great burdens upon you I must avow my sure faith that the lights by which we steer will bring us all safely to anchor.

Curiously enough, I never received any answer to this telegram. It may well have been engulfed in the vast mass of congratulatory messages which were swept aside by urgent work.

Up till this time we had placed our orders for munitions in the United States separately from, though in consultation with, the American Army, Navy, and Air Services. The ever-increasing volume of our several needs had led to overlapping at numerous points, with possibilities of friction arising at lower levels in spite of general good will. “Only a single, unified Government procurement policy for all defence purposes,” writes Mr. Stettinius,
¹
“could do the tremendous job that was now ahead.” This meant that the United States Government should place all the orders for weapons in America. Three days after his re-election the President publicly announced a “rule of thumb” for the division of American arms output. As weapons came off the production line, they were to be divided roughly fifty-fifty between the United States forces and the British and Canadian forces. That same day the Priorities Board approved a British request to order twelve thousand more aeroplanes in the United States in addition to the eleven thousand we had already booked. But how was ail this to be paid for?

* * * * *

In mid-November Lord Lothian flew home from Washington and spent two days with me at Ditchley. I had been advised not to make a habit of staying at Chequers every week-end, especially when the moon was full, in case the enemy should pay me special attention. Mr. Ronald Tree and his wife made me and my staff very welcome many times at their large and charming house near Oxford. Ditchley is only four or five miles away from Blenheim. In these agreeable surroundings I received the Ambassador. Lothian seemed to me a changed man. In all the years I had known him, he had given me the impression of high intellectual and aristocratic detachment from vulgar affairs. Airy, viewy, aloof, dignified, censorious, yet in a light and gay manner, he had always been good company. Now, under the same hammer that beat upon us all, I found an earnest, deeply stirred man. He was primed with every aspect and detail of the American attitude. He had won nothing but good will and confidence in Washington by his handling of the destroyer-cum-bases negotiations. He was fresh from intimate contact with the President, with whom he had established a warm personal friendship. His mind was now set upon the dollar problem; this was grim indeed.

Before the war the United States was governed by the pre-war Neutrality Act, which obliged the President on September 3, 1939, to place an embargo on all shipments of arms to any of the belligerent nations. Ten days later, he had called Congress to a special session to consider the removal of this ban, which, under the appearance of impartiality, virtually deprived Great Britain and France of all the advantages of the command of the seas in the transport of munitions and supplies. It was not until the end of November, 1939, after many weeks of discussion and agitation, that the Neutrality Act was repealed and the new principle of “Cash and Carry” substituted. This still preserved the appearance of strict neutrality on the part of the United States, for Americans were as free to sell weapons to Germany as to the Allies. In fact, however, our sea-power prevented any German traffic, while Britain and France could “carry” freely as long as they had “cash.” Three days after the passage of the new law, our Purchasing Commission, headed by Mr. Arthur Purvis, a man of outstanding ability, began its work.

* * * * *

Britain entered the war with about 4,500,000,000 in dollars, or in gold and in United States investments that could be turned into dollars. The only way in which these resources could be increased was by new gold-production in the British Empire, mainly of course in South Africa, and by vigorous efforts to export goods, principally luxury goods, such as whisky, fine woollens, and pottery, to the United States. By these means an additional two thousand million dollars were procured during the first sixteen months of the war. During the period of the “Twilight War,” we were torn between a vehement desire to order munitions in America and gnawing fear as our dollar resources dwindled. Always in Mr. Chamberlain’s day the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Sir John Simon, would tell us of the lamentable state of our dollar resources and emphasise the need for conserving them. It was more or less accepted that we should have to reckon with a rigorous limitation of purchases from the United States. We acted, as Mr. Purvis once said to Stettinius, “as if we were on a desert island on short rations which we must stretch as far as we could.”
²

This had meant elaborate arrangements for eking out our money. In peace, we imported freely and made payments as we liked. When war came, we had to create a machine which mobilised gold and dollars and other private assets, which stopped the ill-disposed from remitting their funds to countries where they felt things were safer, and which cut out wasteful imports and other expenditures. On top of making sure that we did not waste our money, we had to see that others went on taking it. The countries of the sterling area were with us: they adopted the same kind of exchange-control policy as we did and were willing takers and holders of sterling. With others we made special arrangements by which we paid them in sterling, which could be used anywhere in the sterling area, and they undertook to hold any sterling for which they had no immediate use and to keep dealings at the official rates of exchange. Such arrangements were originally made with the Argentine and Sweden, but were extended to a number of other countries on the Continent and in South America. These arrangements were completed after the spring of 1940, and it was a matter of satisfaction – and a tribute to sterling – that we were able to achieve and maintain them in circumstances of such difficulty. In this way we were able to go on dealing with most parts of the world in sterling, and to conserve most of our precious gold and dollars for our vital purchases in the United States.

When the war exploded into hideous reality in May, 1940, we were conscious that a new era had dawned in Anglo-American relations. From the time I formed the new Government and Sir Kingsley Wood became Chancellor of the Exchequer we followed a simpler plan, namely, to order everything we possibly could and leave future financial problems on the lap of the Eternal Gods. Fighting for life and presently alone under ceaseless bombardment, with invasion glaring upon us, it would have been false economy and misdirected prudence to worry too much about what would happen when our dollars ran out. We were conscious of the tremendous changes taking place in American opinion, and of the growing belief, not only in Washington but throughout the Union, that their fate was bound up with ours. Moreover, at this time an intense wave of sympathy and admiration for Britain surged across the American nation. Very friendly signals were made to us from Washington direct, and also through Canada, encouraging our boldness and indicating that somehow or other a way would be found. In Mr. Morgenthau, Secretary of the Treasury, the cause of the Allies had a tireless champion. The taking-over of the French contracts in June had almost doubled our rate of spending across the Exchange. Besides this, we placed new orders for aeroplanes, tanks, and merchant ships in every direction, and promoted the building of great new factories both in the United States and Canada.

* * * * *

Up till November, 1940, we had paid for everything we had received. We had already sold $335,000,000 worth of American shares requisitioned for sterling from private owners in Britain. We had paid out over $4,500,000,000 in cash. We had only two thousand millions left, the greater part in investments, many of which were not readily marketable. It was plain that we could not go on any longer in this way. Even if we divested ourselves of all our gold and foreign assets, we could not pay for half we had ordered, and the extension of the war made it necessary for us to have ten times as much. We must keep something in hand to carry on our daily affairs.

Lothian was confident that the President and his advisers were earnestly seeking the best way to help us. Now that the election was over, the moment to act had come. Ceaseless discussions on behalf of the Treasury were proceeding in Washington between their representative, Sir Frederick Phillips, and Mr. Morgenthau. The Ambassador urged me to write a full statement of our position to the President. Accordingly that Sunday at Ditchley I drew up, in consultation with him, a personal letter. On November 16, I telegraphed to Roosevelt, “I am writing you a very long letter on the outlook for 1941 which Lord Lothian will give you in a few days.” As the document had to be checked and rechecked by the Chiefs of Staff and the Treasury, and approved by the War Cabinet, it was not completed before Lothian’s return to Washington. On November 26, I sent him a message, “I am still struggling with my letter to the President, but hope to cable it to you in a few days.” In its final form the letter was dated December 8, and was immediately sent to the President. This letter was one of the most important I ever wrote. As it gives a view of the whole situation agreed to by all concerned in London, and as it played a recognisable part in our fortunes, it deserves study.