“Greenland occupies a position of vital importance in the defense of the North Atlantic approaches to the United States….It is essential to the defense of the United States that Greenland not be used by any power hostile to the Western Hemisphere.” ~ President Franklin D. Roosevelt

 Who knew?

The recent debate over Greenland is not new. It was in the news in 1941. Franklin D. Roosevelt saw Greenland as a strategic military asset essential to the defense of the US during World War II and declared a “Policy of Hemispheric Defense.”

In 1941, FDR’s administration said: 

“Greenland occupies a position of vital importance in the defense of the North Atlantic approaches to the United States….It is essential to the defense of the United States that Greenland not be used by any power hostile to the Western Hemisphere.”

On April 9, 1941, nine months BEFORE the United States was attacked at Pearl Harbor, and when the US was NOT at war with Germany, the US under FDR declared:

“The Government of the United States of America, in accord with its POLICY OF HEMISPHERIC DEFENSE, will undertake to protect Greenland against aggression.”

“For this purpose, the Government of the United States of America is authorized to construct, maintain, and operate such defense facilities as it deems necessary in Greenland, including airports, seaplane bases, and radio and meteorological installations.”

Franklin D. Roosevelt’s hemispheric defense policy 1940–41 was a collective security doctrine: the entire hemisphere, and its strategic approaches, must be actively defended against modern global war—even beyond traditional borders.

Credit Dutch Valkema