The Plan Dog memorandum was a 1940 American government document written by Chief of Naval Operations Harold Stark. It has been called "one of the best known documents of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

." Confronting the problem of an expected two-front war against Germany and Italy in Europe and Japan in the Pacific, the memo set out the main options and suggested fighting a defensive war in the Pacific while giving strategic priority to defeating Germany and Italy. The memo laid the basis for the later American policy of

Europe first Europe first, also known as Germany first, was the key element of the grand strategy agreed upon by the United States and the United Kingdom during World War II. According to this policy, the United States and the United Kingdom would use the prepon ...

Background

During the Interwar Period, the Joint Planning Committee, which later became the

Joint Chiefs of Staff The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) is the body of the most senior uniformed leaders within the United States Department of Defense, that advises the president of the United States, the secretary of defense, the Homeland Security Council and the ...

, devised a series of contingency plans for dealing with the outbreak of war with various countries. The most elaborate of them,

War Plan Orange War Plan Orange (commonly known as Plan Orange or just Orange) is a series of United States Joint Army and Navy Board war plans for dealing with a possible war with Japan during the years between the First and Second World Wars. It failed to for ...

, dealt with the possibility of war with Japan. In light of the events of the late 1930s (the outbreak of the

Second Sino-Japanese War The Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) or War of Resistance (Chinese term) was a military conflict that was primarily waged between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. The war made up the Chinese theater of the wider Pacific Th ...

, the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, and the German conquest of Poland and Western Europe) American planners realized that the United States faced the possibility of a two-front war in both Europe and the Pacific.

was withdrawn, and five "Rainbow" plans were put forward. Unlike the earlier colored plans, which had assumed a one-on-one war, the Rainbow plans contemplated both the possibility of fighting multiple enemies and the necessity of defending other western hemisphere nations and aiding Britain.

Content

The memorandum built upon the conditions described in the Rainbow Five war plan. It described four possible scenarios for American participation in

, lettered A through E: :A - War with Japan in which he United Stateswould have no allies :B - War with Japan in which he United Stateswould have the British Empire... as nally. :C - War with Japan in which she is aided by Germany and Italy, and in which he United Statesis or is not aided by allies. :D - War with Germany and Italy in which Japan would not initially be involved, and in which he United Stateswould be allied with the British. :E - ..consider the alternative of now remaining out of the war, and devoting ..to exclusively building up ..defense of the

Western Hemisphere The Western Hemisphere is the half of the planet Earth that lies west of the prime meridian (which crosses Greenwich, London, United Kingdom) and east of the antimeridian. The other half is called the Eastern Hemisphere. Politically, the te ...

. The memorandum, which was submitted to Roosevelt on November 12, 1940, recommended option D, the origin of its name ("Dog" was D in the

Joint Army/Navy Phonetic Alphabet The Allied military phonetic spelling alphabets prescribed the words that are used to represent each letter of the alphabet, when spelling other words out loud, letter-by-letter, and how the spelling words should be pronounced for use by the Alli ...

I believe that the continued existence of the British Empire, combined with building up a strong protection in our home areas, will do most to ensure the status quo in the Western Hemisphere, and to promote our principal national interests. As I have previously stated, I also believe that Great Britain requires from us very great help in the Atlantic, and possibly even on the continents of Europe or
Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...
, if she is to be enabled to survive. In my opinion Alternatives (A), (B), and (C) will most probably not provide the necessary degree of assistance, and, therefore, if we undertake war, that Alternative (D) is likely to be the most fruitful for the United States, particularly if we enter the war at an early date. Initially, the offensive measures adopted would, necessarily, be purely naval. Even should we intervene, final victory in Europe is not certain. I believe that the chances for success are in our favor, particularly if we insist upon full equality in the political and military direction of the war.

The memo also suggested that until hostilities broke out, the US should adopt policy A:

Until such time as the United States should decide to engage its full forces in war, I recommend that we pursue a course that will most rapidly increase the military strength of both the Army and the Navy, that is to say, adopt Alternative (A) without hostilities.

"The strategy of Plan Dog gained the support of the army and implicitly of President Roosevelt, though he never formally endorsed it. Thus at the end of 1940 a powerful consensus for strategic focus on Germany developed at the highest levels of the American government. At a meeting on January 17, 1941, Roosevelt concluded that the primary objective must be maintenance of the supply lines to Britain and ordered the navy to prepare for the escort of convoys."

Aftermath

A few weeks after the

Attack on Pearl Harbor The attack on Pearl HarborAlso known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service upon the United States against the naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii ...

, at the

Arcadia Conference The First Washington Conference, also known as the Arcadia Conference (ARCADIA was the code name used for the conference), was held in Washington, D.C., from December 22, 1941, to January 14, 1942. President Roosevelt of the United States and Prime ...

, the United States adopted the recommendations of the memo in the form of the "Europe first" policy. Although the United States did not go entirely on the defensive in the Pacific, as the memo recommended, the European Theatre was given higher priority in resource allocation throughout the war. The memorandum was declassified in February, 1956.Letter from L. J. Darter (Head, Naval Archives Branch) to Herman Kahn (Director of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library)
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References

External links

{{wikisource, Response to CNO's Plan Dog

Memoranda World War II documents 1940 documents Military plans