Some of the conclusions to which the responsible officials of the United States had been led by events in Europe were placed before Congress by the President in a message on May 16 requesting over a milliard of dollars in additional funds for defensive purposes. "The clear fact is that the American people must recast their thinking about national protection," the President said. He pointed out that motorized armies could now sweep through countries at the rate of 200 miles a day. Parachute troops could be landed from -aeroplanes behind the outer defences. People supposed to be peaceful visitors or tourists turned out actually to be part of an enemy unit of occupation. Surprise which had always been an effective technique in warfare had become all the more dangerous because of the amazing speech with which mechanized armies could reach their objectives. The whole picture, as far as the United States was concerned, was summed up by the President in one significant sentence, "so-called impregnable fortifications no longer exist." From this fact arose the necessity of being able "to attack an aggressor on his route before he can establish strong bases within the territory of American vital interests."
The policy of sitting and waiting for the attack to come at whatever spot the enemy might choose is one to which American defence experts, contrary to the views of some of their French and British colleagues, have never subscribed. They still hold fast to the old adage, "attack is the best defence." As the President said in his defence message, "A defence which allows an enemy to consolidate his approach without hindrance will lose. A defence which makes no effective effort to destroy the lines of supplies and communications of the enemy will lose."
In addition to the defence of the continental United States the President reminded Congress that the joint defence of the Western Hemisphere must also be considered. The popular and over-simplified view of the Monroe Doctrine, that the United States is obligated to protect all Latin American countries from attack, was not in question. But, as the President pointed out, the original aim of President Monroe in keeping all hostile forces out of the Western Hemisphere because they threatened the security of the United States itself had become more essential than ever before. Air navigation had increase the speed of possible attack to more than 200 miles an hour, while at the time when the Monroe Doctrine was promulgated fleets under sail moved at an average speed of five miles an hour. It some of the outer bases of the Western Hemisphere were captured, the United States would be within easy bombing distance. From Alaska, with its white' population of only 30,000 people, bombing planes could reach Seattle, Tacoma and Portland within four or five hours. From Greenland planes could reach the New England coast in six hours, The most easterly points of Brazil could be reached in seven hours from the Cape Verde Islands off the coast of Africa and once an enemy force was established there Cuba and the Canal Zone were within easy striking distance. Cuba, moreover, was but 2% hours from Tampico (Mexico) and Tampico, the same number of hours from the heart of the Middle West. The isolationists of St.
Louis, Kansas City and Omaha might be as determined as they please never to go to war, but even they would find a high explosive bomb a difficult object to deflect by neutrality resolutions.
Thus the growth of air power has made it essential for the United States, whether it wishes to or not, to see that no hostile force gains a foothold anywhere on the American continent. The Latin American countries are thinly populated and many of them are no more capable of defending themselves from attack than Denmark, Norway and the Baltic States. Said President Roosevelt, "more than ever this protection calls for ready-at-hand weapons capable of great mobility because of the potential speed of modern attacks." President Roosevelt, in other words, was warning the country that they must have at hand an army capable of despatching an expeditionary force at a moment's notice should there be a threat to the independence of any Western Hemisphere state. 2
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.