President Roosevelt Expanded Presidential Power with 1940 Destroyers-for-Bases Deal
On September 2, 1940, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt announced the destroyers-for-bases deal with Britain, a pivotal exercise of presidential prerogative. The United States transferred fifty World War I-era destroyers to Britain in exchange for ninety-nine-year leases on eight British territories in the Western Hemisphere. This deal was controversial domestically because the U.S. was formally neutral in World War II, while Britain was desperately fending off a potential German invasion. Initially, President Roosevelt believed congressional approval was necessary for such a transfer, as the Espionage Act of 1917 prohibited transferring vessels of war to a country at war. Furthermore, in June 1940, Congress directed that the president could not transfer military items unless the chief of staff of the army or the chief of naval operations certified they were not essential to U.S. defense. However, facing Britain's increasingly dire situation and a lack of congressional support for a direct transfer, Pres... 
