Since the administration of Theodore Roosevelt, the chief aim of U.S. policy had been to assist the Filipino people in constructing a functioning democracy capable of repelling aggressors. The Philippines had been promised independence by 1946, and that commitment remained in force. For FDR, the successful decolonization of the Philippines was to set a righteous example for the world, and especially for the British. In this terrible global war, no major strategic decision could be separated from its long-term political or foreign policy consequences. In both Europe and the Pacific, the
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