Hawaii Chronicles III: World War Two in Hawaii from the Pages of Paradise of the Pacific

America “On Defense” in the Pacific

America “On Defense” in the Pacific E Will history repeat itself? In 1914, Assistant Secretary of the Navy Franklin Delano Roosevelt asserted that our national defense was unready for war and urged that his country prepare—the World War followed. Twenty-four years later, in 1938, President Roosevelt made the same assertion and the same urge. Will history repeat itself, and will the Second World War begin in 1938? National defense means an efficient national offense. The United States cannot be defended by waiting on our coasts for the enemy. All of our foreign wars were “defensive wars”—even the Mexican War when Our Navy presented the Union with California and its hinterland . Vital phases of every one of our wars with foreign enemies occurred on foreign soil or water. During the American Revolution (1775–1783), small naval squadrons harassed British commerce in European waters, landings were made in England, while France and Holland provided naval bases in Europe or the West Indies. We won the French Naval War of 1798–1801 because of naval victories in the West Indian area and other foreign parts. The War of 1812 (1812–1815) was an American victory due almost entirely to American naval achievements in seas removed from our coasts. It was during this war that the first American warship (frigate Essex) appeared in the eastern Pacific; that the first American warship (Sir Andrew Hammond) visited Hawaii; and that the first American naval base was established in the Pacific—at Nukuhiva, Marquesas. The Mexican War (1846–1848) was fought entirely beyond the boundaries of the United States. Even during our domestic quarrel of 1861–1865 vessels of the two American navies competed for supremacy on alien oceans. No battles of any character were fought on American soil or waters during the Spanish-American 17 First published February 1938. War of 1898. Finally, during the grandest “defensive war” in American history,millions ofAmerican citizens went to Europe andAsia,in 1917 and 1918, to defend the United States. “Invasion is not what this country has to fear,” wrote Assistant Secretary of the Navy Franklin Delano Roosevelt in January of 1914. “In time of war would we be content like the turtle to withdraw into our shell and see an enemy supersede us in every outlying part, usurp our commerce and destroy our influence as a nation throughout the world? Yet this will happen just as surely as we can be sure of anything human if an enemy of the United States obtains control of the seas. And that control is dependent absolutely on one thing—the preponderant efficiency of the battle fleet. “Our national defense must extend all over the western hemisphere , must go out a thousand miles into the sea, must embrace the Philippines and over the seas wherever our commerce may be.To hold the Panama Canal, Alaska, American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, the naval base at Guantanamo, and the Philippines, we must have battleships . We must create a navy not only to protect our shores and our possessions but also our merchant ships in time of war, no matter where they may go.” That was twenty-four years ago. In 1938 President Roosevelt again feels that the army and navy are not adequate for war and recommends to Congress that the country be efficiently placed “on defense.” “As Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy it is my constitutional duty to report that our national defense, in light of increasing armament of other nations, is inadequate for the purposes of national security and requires an increase for that reason,” wrote the President in a special message to Congress on January 28, 1938. The Chief Executive made it clear that he based his recommendations “not on aggression but on defense.” “Adequate defense means that for the protection not only of our coasts but communities far removed from our coasts we must keep any potential enemy many hundred miles away from our continental limits,” explained President Roosevelt. “We cannot assume our defense would be limited to one ocean or one coast,” and “we cannot be certain the connecting link—Panama Canal—would be safe. Adequate defense affects therefore simultaneous defense of every part of the United States.” While urging Congress to appropriate adequate funds for the army, Hawai‘i Chronicles 18 the President recommended that funds, approximated by officials at almost a billion dollars, be provided with which to improve...