U.S. Grand Strategy

Abstract

On 1 May 1919, the acting secretary of the Navy, Franklin D, Roosevelt, wrote the Secretary of State as follows: It is a fundemental principle that the foreign policy of our government is in the hands of the State Department….As it is upon our foreign policy that naval estimates must be based, it will be recognized that the Navy Departments has a vital interest in this question. It is probable that certain policies are of such immportance to our national interest that they must be defended at all cost. On the other hand certain policies are not, by the expense they would entail, justified if they lead to war.