Joseph E. Persico assumed three primary roles as a Commander-in-Chief that included the Commander-in-Chief as the Morale Officer, Recruiter-in-Chief, as well as Strategist-in-Chief. Considering the three roles of a Commander-in-Chief that have been defined, the Strategic-in-Chief should be the most significant in analyzing Franklin D. Roosevelt’s record. As a wartime Commander-in-Chief, Franklin D. Roosevelt left much of the tactical decisions, as well as the day-to-day fights on the battlefield under the care of his commanders. However, he made major strategic decisions on his own (Persico, 2013).
FDR, as the Commander-in-Chief of the United States Armed Forces, especially in the wake of World War II, best played the role of a Strategist-in-Chief that can then be used to analyze his record (Morris, 2010). He was active and well-involved in the determination of the strategy. In the process of his discussions with Winston Churchill, the British Prime Minister, FDR steadily proposed and strategized the invasion of the European region with the aim of liberating it from the hold of Germany under Hitler. Subsequently, the United States undertook this strategy on June 6, 1944, with the collaboration of its allies through the launch of a massive invasion of the coastline of France (Morris, 2010). The invasion of Normandy was the beginning of a campaign against Germany and Hitler’s rule. FDR made the decision and strategy to defeat Germany first. He also insisted on unconditional surrender by enemies of the United States.
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The strategy that he made, in this case, was highly effective, depicting his prowess in this area. Defeating Germany first and thus, Hitler would ultimately mean that they would beat Japan (Persico, 2013). FDR also launched the Manhattan Project for the building of an atomic bomb, which led to the overnight surrender by Japan (Hamilton, 2017). In this case, the strategy of unconditional surrender was highly effective because if the U.S. did not demand it, then they would have been required to negotiate with the Nazis, which was a doubtful situation to achieve good outcomes.
References
Hamilton, N. (2017). Commander in Chief: FDR's Battle with Churchill, 1943. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Trade & Reference Publishers.
Morris, I. (2010). The American Presidency: An Analytical Approach. Cambridge University Press.
Persico, J. (2013). Roosevelt's Centurions: FDR and the Commanders He Led to Victory in World War II. Random House Publishing Group.
Syl, S. (2000). Presidential Elections and Other Cool Facts, 4th Edition. Barron's Educational Series.
