The Patient Warrior

F.D.R.'s winning strategy was to buy America time to prepare

D-day came in the 58th month of the war in Europe, less than a year before Germany's surrender. Nothing on that day proved more essential to success than time. Not the time of tide and moon phase on June 6, 1944, but the much more consequential arc of the preceding 57 months. The nearly five years that separated D-day from the war's outbreak provided time for America the Unready to draft, train and deploy an invasion force of some 3 million men; time to season those untested civilian soldiers in North Africa and Italy; time to stockpile in Britain nearly 5...

Want the full story?

Subscribe Now

Subscribe
Subscribe

Learn more about the benefits of being a TIME subscriber

If you are already a subscriber sign up — registration is free!