The fall of France and the subsequent siege of Britain created a situation that was in effect the one for which the newest of the American strategic plans had been designed. Based on the assumption of a complete German victory in Europe, which would burden the United States with most of the weight of defending the Western Hemisphere, this new plan--the R[SIZE=-1]AINBOW[/SIZE] 4 plan--provided for taking into protective custody the Old World possessions in the New World on the ground that Hitler would otherwise grab them up as spoils of war.[SIZE=-1]1[/SIZE] The plan contemplated the organizing of a Caribbean theater of operations as a major measure of defense, one that would in fact serve the dual purpose of furthering the southerly orientation of R[SIZE=-1]AINBOW[/SIZE] 4 and of protecting the Atlantic approaches to the Panama Canal. While subsidiary R[SIZE=-1]AINBOW[/SIZE] 4 plans were being laid, the President and his advisers were arranging the details of the destroyer-base exchange with the British Government. As soon as the exchange took place a survey of the prospective base sites in the Caribbean area--British Guiana on the southern periphery, Trinidad, St. Lucia, Antigua, and Jamaica--was undertaken by an Army-Navy board and preparations for developing the bases were begun. Read more here: http://ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USA/USA-WH-Guard/USA-WH-Guard-13.html
