In 1938 and 1939, the Americas watched horrified as the crises in Europe mounted and war seemed more of an inevitability than possibility. Yet, Canada and the US at first seem to have disparate reactions to this crisis.
Based on the reading, what is King's perception of the events in Europe? What are some of the key issues he considers as he attempts to map out Canada's involvement/lack thereof in the war?
What is the point of FDR's fireside chat 16? What is he trying to accomplish? How to we connect it to the attitudes in Canada?
According to the article, King was very ambiguous about Canada's involvement in the war at the beginning. But one thing that was for sure was the fact that he heavily supported Britain. He even said that if any time we felt this freedom to be imperiled by any aggressive act toward Britain, our people would almost certainly respond immediately to protect our common freedom." Also, the debate on whether to take in Jewish refugees was a puzzling piece for King and his country. He went back and forth on his opinions, but after attending a funeral of someone who died a few days after Kristallnacht, he suddenly felt it was right to take refugees in. But he never pushed for it in his critical Cabinet. It was very interesting to see that because of his inaction, Canada received so much less refugees than other countries (5,000 in Canada compared to 200,000 in the US).
ReplyDeleteIn FDR's Fireside chat, he wants to ensure the security of his country and the people of his country. He is warning hem of dangers ahead and he wants the people to know of the situation ahead of them.
It seems terrible to me that King admired Hitler for so long, even when everybody else realized how dangerous he was. When King was clear about the actual threat of a world war, he was in a tricky situation: The British-Canadian relationships were very imprtant for him, it seemed obvious for King that as soon as Britain would be at war, Canada had to be invovled too. He saw that as the duty Canadas towards the "mother country" But other heads of state didn't really agree with that, especially the french part of the country. They didn' t feel bonded to britain and would have liked Canada to be independant. So King hesitated as long as possible with the declaration, he tried both not to mess with Hitler and still support Britain.
ReplyDeleteFdr tries to keep the USA out of the conflict as long as possible, by supporting the Allies in Europe with arms.
“With all the best intentions in the world, he was juggling a handful of contradictory objectives.” With this being in the very beginning of the reading, my initial thought was that King knew that the events in Europe would not be easily handled, but he was willing to give in his best effort to dodge failure. However, with such numerous events occurring to and fro, “King’s ambiguity and his cautiousness led him to be unavoidably, albeit unfairly, portrayed as an isolationist and neutralist.” In my opinion, King seemed to be yearning for peace and agreements amongst the fighting nations. “[He]” has more faith in the wisdom of British politicians to reach an acceptable compromise with Hitler.” Concerning Canada, king’s decision to let Jewish refugees in was not an easy conclusion to choose; because of this, Canada brought in a significantly smaller amount of refugees than neighboring countries. Finally, FDR’s Fireside chat basically just emphasizes the security of the USA and warning its citizens of upcoming events.
ReplyDeleteFDR is trying to keep the nation calm and to explain the situation's graveness, (with out really explaining the situation) so that people understand the gist; America is in trouble, it will have to go to war, but it will be okay.
ReplyDeleteas for King he is most definitely trying to avoid war, though ironically doing so by promising to go war if Britain is threatened. HIs perception is of self importance and believes that he will be the one to establish piece between Britain, America and Germany. He is looking for an easy way out. It's easier to believe Hitler is a modest thoughtful person rather than a man seeking to annihilate an entire race of people.
King views on things stay pretty much the same throughout the war and that is if England goes to war then we shall to. This was very troubling for alot of people in parliament because they wanted nothing to do with England and the war as well. I think the encounter with Hitler that King had (pre-war) was the way most people perceived Hitler before the war and everything that he had done. People really liked the way Hitler was and the he was physically as well as spiritually/mentally. The reaction that King had was what i think most people felt when Hitler "turned" evil.
ReplyDeleteFDRs fireside chat was basically a call out to the american people to help with the war that could come. FDR was basically saying the situation doesn't look good and that any attack on america (or the other two countries Russia and England) would his hand and make those three attack Germany with brutal and devastating force. But he said it in a way that was calm and would not upset to many people. He prepared people for the worst and thats what they got.
King's confidence that war is Europe was avoidable led to his promise to Britain. He, like many, felt that Hitler was the solution to Europe's problems. He ,again like many, were taken by surprise when Hitler began to take over Eastern and soon Western Europe. FDR also saw this and saw that he must help the Allies, he convinced many with this fireside chat. People had been worried by Hitler's rise and with this many understood the Government's need to help the UK so as to stop Hitler from rising and spreading even more across Europe.
ReplyDeleteFDR's speech I found was really inspirational. I thought he was trying to raise the nationality of the people. He makes people want to contribute to this. He also is reassuring our nation that were going to war, but don't worry we'll be fine. The kings views were simply, if England goes to war then we'll go to war. Like what mike said, when king and hitler met, it perceived hitler as a very good guy who knew what he was talking about.
ReplyDeleteKing,a funkiest president Canada has ever had, perhaps like many back then, attracted by Hitler's marvelous personal charisma and trusted him that he is the one could fix the problems of Europe. With that fondness and Canadian's special bound with Britain,he did not expect Hitler would turned to a Devil like ambitious schemer, which explains his early inaction. Unlike King, FDR precept the dangerous that came from Europe's atmosphere well,and explains how the situation of Europe would be hazardous to America with a warning to the mass public of america.
ReplyDeleteKing had to balance his loyalty to Britain with appeasing the French Canadians. If he seemed to eager to support Britain and intertwine their fates, it would diminish his support back home, yet he in a way felt obligated to support the mother country and did believe that Canada should support her. This, I think is part of the reason King became so enamored with Hitler. More than just being in awe of him, King might have viewed Hitler as being the solution to all his problems. If he could subdue Hitler and get him to back off a bit to prevent the war, King would have solved a major issue without really taking a side. FDR's fireside chat was meant to arouse support for this arsenal of democracy that FDR was trying to turn his country into.
ReplyDeleteKing was unsure of what was to come from the mounting pressures in Europe, but he had faith that Hitler was a good man who would eventually let good prevail, and lead Germany to a long period of prosperity. King had to balance his inclination of liking Hitler, with his allegiance to Great Britain, as well as not to offend the people of Quebec who wants sovereignty as a nation. With the fireside chats, 16 in particular, FDR was getting the people on his side, or at least willing to listen to him. He was calling upon the American people to aid with the upcoming war. He wanted everyone to Unite, not under a political partisan, but as Americans. He wanted to let the people know what was to come in advance, so it would not completely frighten the American people when war broke out.
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