F.D.R. Asks For Appropriations

THU 16 MAY 1940
President Roosevelt asks Congress to appropriate $546 million for the Army, $250 million for the Navy and Marine Corps, and $100 million for the President to provide for emergencies affecting the national security and defense. He also asks for authorizations for the Army, Navy and Marine Corps to make contract obligations in the further sum of $186 million, and to the President an additional authorization to make contract obligations for $100 million. He also suggests that 50,000 planes a year be built.

President Roosevelt responds noncommittally to Prime Minister Churchill's telegram of the previous day. Addressing the possible loan of destroyers, Churchill's first concern, the President informs the "Former Naval Person" that such a step cannot be taken without "specific authorization of the Congress" and that U.S. defense requirements assumed priority. He also informs Churchill that the U.S. Fleet would remain concentrated in Hawaiian waters, "at least for the time being."