Roosevelt had embarked on a ‘major bureaucratic and political effort’ to shift America’s stance away from strict neutrality, opening the door both to American rearmament and the possibility of military assistance for America’s friends in Europe.74 By the end of the year, the French had dispatched a purchasing mission with instructions to buy as many as 1,000 American combat aircraft and Roosevelt personally intervened with the American armed forces to ensure that the French were shown the best weapons that American industry had to offer.
