FDR: 1940 - The war years
Contents
The war years (1940)
Roosevelt got elected to his third term by scam. He wanted to send out the image that he didn't want a third term, and would only reluctantly accept it because the people demanded it of him: his public service (the draft). Like many of his political machinations this was a fraud. The "decree" was heavily sponsored by him, and he spent a good amount of time as President bashing any the potential candidates (in his own party or the other). The only person he could support would be himself: and he was not going to give up the reigns of power freely. With enough arm-twisting (literally), plants on the convention floor (union leg-breakers with loud speakers), they started the "Roosevelt" chant, brought out the goons with the phony placards, and overcame the resistance with physical violence. Those in the know, just shut up and went along. Thus he won the nomination of his party, via his usual dirty tricks.
Neutrality?
Roosevelt on one side had publicly supported the "neutrality" act designed to keep the United States out of another world war -- but on the other side, he needed desperately to get involved and spend, spend, spend. So FDR did the build up while perpetuating a fallacy of neutrality. He kept telling the people(voters) we weren't going to get involved, but that was only because polls kept saying that war was not popular (83% against), but all evidence (and communications he shared with the allies) is that he was an eager war-hawk, looking for an excuse to get involved.
Once he won the 1940 election, he stepped up the rhetoric and propaganda campaigns, "there can be no appeasement of ruthlessness" , "we must be the great arsenal of democracy", and so on. He gave 50 Destroyers to England, an act of war (without the permission of Congress or the Navy). When pressed on that, FDR said that he had the permission of Attorney-General Jackson, as if the AG had any authority to authorize it. Jackson later admitted FDR had never talked to him about it, let alone have his agreement (Roosevelt lied to the public). He gave numerous planes, guns, ships and other war supplies, and we were stockpiling and building for war: $18 Billion had already been appropriated for the war effort. Then FDR started conscription (the draft). Not acts of a country that is planning on "staying out of it".
Roosevelt needed to provoke an excuse to polarize Americans and get us in a war. We did many things that were considered acts of war to try to provoke the Japanese and Germans. Our diplomatic tone, military aide, military buildup, and so on, were obvious: we were going to war, but we were going to make "them" start it. Giving military equipment (and personelle) to an enemy (and transporting supplies there when a country is at war with another country), is generally considered an act of war (lend-lease). He did that to the UK and Russia (once Germany declared war on Russia). He sent marines to Iceland (and UK). He seized Germany's assets, had the German consulates closed, expelled their diplomats (all acts of war). Do you think there was any doubt to the Germans that we were involved in war, and which side we were on? But the media reported the fiction as FDR required.
War in the Pacific
We knew that Japan needed resources, and could be provoked easily. So basically we kept giving the Japanese ultimatums saying that if they didn't stop in China, or dramatically change it's pacific policy, that we would be at war. Basically, we had some oral and some written ultimatums that culminated with a defacto declaration of War in November, by Secretary of State Hull, that demanded an unconditional withdraw from Manchuria (which Japan needed for natural resources).
We knew there was no way that Japan was going to comply with this. We moved our pacific fleet forward to pearl harbor (to bait the Japanese). Roosevelt "froze" all assets owned by the Japanese (act of war). FDR embargoed all shipments of gasoline and scrap iron to Japan(an act of war). All of our intelligence told us that Japan was going to have to go to war. We noted that their fleet kept disappearing for attack training.
Roosevelt said to Churchill in August that he felt he could 'avoid an attack from the Japanese for at least 3 more months'. We noted weeks before the attack that all the Japanese merchant fleet had disappeared (preparation for invasion). Our intelligence (and FDR) knew that there was going to be a surprise attack on one of our islands -- we just didn't know which one.
December 6, 1941 U. S. cipher code breakers intercepted and decoded the final response of the Japanese government to the U. S. note of November 26 that demanded the Japanese to withdraw from China and other treaty stipulation. When notified of these developments, President Roosevelt reportedly exclaimed, "This means war!" November 27, 1941 Roosevelt told Secretary of War Stimson (who noted it in his diary) that our course was to maneuver the Japanese into attacking us -- which would put us into the war and solve our problems (meaning FDR's political ones with us getting involved). The Japanese attacked in the only way they could, a quick surprise attack to try to end our fighting ability quickly and decisively. Roosevelt succeeded in provoking the war with the Japanese.
Up until Pearl Harbor, 75% of the people in polls were against us getting involved in the war. Afterwards it was near unanimously for it. FDR succeeded in provoking them into giving him what he needed. The Japanese were still wrong for the attack (they had intended on declaring war before the attack, not the other way around): but we were the aggressors. The whole thing came down just as FDR wanted it to -- a few thousand dead in a "surprise" attack gave FDR the excuse he needed to enter the war. We knew an attack was coming, we just through South Pacific or Midway: Pearl Harbor and success of the attack was more than we expected. But there's no doubt that he was defrauding the public by claiming he didn't want war: and went against their wishes (and his promise) in his usual slimy, political way.
The American Kristallnacht - one of the great shame's of American History is Executive Order 9066, issued by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt on February 19, 1942. It allowed the internment of 120,000 Japanese Americans -- basically because you just can't trust those slanty-eyed devils from the east! This was inexcusable. FDR's propaganda ministry (the OWI) was making and distributing racist films and stories about how the Japanese race could not be trusted -- and all the media jumped on board. While mostly Japanese Americans were interned, the order did get applied to others including some German and Italian immigrants along the West Coast. All the rationalizations in the world can not forgive us (and our President) for ignoring the Constitution and the tenets of freedom, and rounding up people because of their heredity, taking their things, and imprisoning them. This shame belongs forever bound to the legacy of the President that ordered it, and the Congress and Supreme Court that allowed it to happen.
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War in Europe
The President claimed that Lend-Lease (giving Arms and men to England) was a way to "keep us out of the war". People on both sides of the aisle in congress said this was bunk, and was Roosevelt's law to allow him to fight an undeclared war. They questioned him on the only safe way to get the weapons to England would be military convoys and FDR said he was against convoys, "Convoys, mean shooting and shooting means war". As those words were being uttered, FDR was starting convoys. We were helping the British hunt German submarines (in American warships), and yet FDR was claiming that we were not yet involved in the war -- and we pretended that the Germans were starting it.
The Atlantic Charter
In 1941 the President staged a great event. Roosevelt and Churchill met at sea (off the coast of Newfoundland) to create a "joint declaration". It was all about grand plans for open trade and freedom (and non-territorialism), and how they would protect individuals rights to govern themselves, and so on. It was a collection of noble statements.
This whole thing was a fraud, it was never signed, and never lived up to. It was just a press release done at FDR's request. It helped FDR look good early on -- and that was what was really important. He later admitted as much -- in 1944 (12/10) he was asked at a press conference about the Atlantic Charter to which he responded, "There wasn't any copy of the Atlantic Charter as far as I know." Correspondents were stunned. The document in the National Museum in Washington, framed and illuminated, was all fraud -- and was quickly removed. John O'Donnel (FDR's appointee to the OWI, Office of War Information e.g. propaganda ministry) had created the physical document and and added FDR's and Churchill's signatures to it. FDR had never thought to bring this to the attention of people while 240,000 copies of the false document were being printed and distributed, nor while it was being displayed at the Museum -- once he was elected for his final term, he could admit the truth. Roosevelt had to minimalize it then, because he had no intentions of living up to it (nor had he all along). It had just been him testing the waters for his United Nations (League of Nations revisited), and all to make himself look good.
Plans
Stalin and Soviet plans should have been a serious concern in the war. Advisors and diplomats knew that USSR had designs on capturing as much land as possible, and keeping it. The Iron Curtain was not as much of a surprise as some think -- it was known long before it happened, especially by seasoned diplomats -- meaning everyone seemed to know what was going to happen but FDR.
The British Military planners wanted to invade the Balkans early on, and cutting off Germany's resources (which were mostly coming from and through that area). Churchill supported this and had suspicions of USSR's designs on these lands. It was a sort of "starve them out" and siege attack against Germany. But the idea was to drive up into Russia, then team up with them to fight west. This would require co-occupation, and near side operations, but would prevent the USSR from just usurping all lands grabbed. Roosevelt was against it, and went in favor of other plans.
Early in the planning American Military planners wanted to invade France as early as possible. They wanted to prevent Russian land grabs as much as possible too -- but they wanted to start in the west, and drive east as fast as possible. They started plans for invasion of France in 1942 (Sledgehammer) or 1943 (Bolero). FDR supported Bolero, and pushed this on England (under threat of focusing on Japan if England didn't want to play by our rules) -- so Britain dropped the Balkans plan, and agreed to Bolero. Plans were laid, and Bolero was ready to go. But FDR was in contact with Stalin, and FDR decided that a North African campaign (Gymnast / Torch) was necessary first -- and that meant delaying French invasion for another year (1944) -- of course this helped the Soviets grab far more land than they would have otherwise.FDR went directly against the advice of all his military advisors, and England's agreements, and changed the plans himself.
Imagine what another year (or two) of us fighting in Europe would have meant to lessen the territories grabbed by Stalin -- the Iron Curtain may have never decended. Of course the cost in American lives would have been higher as well, but the cost in Jewish lives would have been lower. It seems that FDR didn't care about the plight of the Jews, nor in any of the countries that were later occupied by the USSR.
Promises Promises
1940 Roosevelt contacted all the countries occupied by Axis Powers and had their diplomatic representatives sent to him. This included France, Belgium, Holland, Norway, the Baltic States, Poland, Czechoslovakia and the Balkan states (Rumania, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Hungary and Greece) and China and said, "Be assured, gentlemen, that the restoration of the countries occupied by Germany and suffering under the Axis yoke is my greatest concern, which is shared in like degree by Mr. Churchill. We promise that all will be done to insure the independence of these countries."
Multiple times FDR and the U.S. promised to the Polish Govt. in exile that we would defend the Atlantic Charter, and not allow the USSR to just take over Poland. Poland knew that Stalin wanted to do this -- and they really disliked that idea. Russia never gave up their claims that they would keep these lands -- and people kept pushing FDR to demand they relinquish it as part of the Lend-Lease or other negotiations and treaties. FDR didn't seem to care (in private), while publicly telling the polish (and the polish voters) to just trust FDR. Publicly Hull was saying things like "the U.S." would defend the cause of Poland as he would defend the cause of his own country". Yet as early as the Moscow Conference, Roosevelt had secretly agreed to allow the Soviets to keep Poland up to the Curzon line -- which had been formalized at Teheran Conference with the stipulation that the Soviets not make it public. Later FDR just gave up on the whole country -- what are promises and a few million people to a politician?
So it wasn't just military incompetence that was Roosevelt's shortcoming, it was also diplomatic incompetence (or treachery) as well. The whole time we were giving the Russians Weapons and money to fight Germany it was terminally stupid to not put conditions on them -- like getting the USSR to agree to give up claims on Poland, Balkans, Baltic states, and so on. Stalin wouldn't discuss it, which should be been our queue to stop supporting him or demand it. FDR's diplomats and England's diplomats were telling FDR as much. All the countries that were going to be invaded by the USSR were begging for as much. They wanted FDR to promise to make the Soviet Union live under the rules of the Atlantic Charter (before they found out it was a fraud). FDR kept promising everything to everyone, and doing nothing about it. We paid for with many hundreds of thousands of more lives lost, and Billions more dollars, and hundreds of millions of people enslaved under Stalin.
Whose side was he on?
Of course the President didn't just back stab and double deal with all the countries that fell under the Iron Curtain. He was double-dealing with our supposed allies.
While FDR is having the Big-3 conference in Teheran, he's having secret meetings and agreements with Stalin -- and siding with Stalin publicly more than Churchill. The British (Churchill) was our real ally, and FDR was working against him. It was claimed this was part of his strategy to make Stalin feel like he wasn't being "ganged up on" and to get him to go along with the U.N. idea -- but at what price?
FDR was also messing with aggreements with Chiang Kai-shek that we would help the keep the British out of Hong Kong back -- and FDR sort of forced Chiang to take the Chinese-Communists into the government to help fight the Japanese. Of course he was also working against Chiang and dealing with Stalin to get him involved in fighting the Japanese in Manchuria (later in war) knowing that the Russia wanted to keep that area too (and that Chiang was against it). It wasn't until years after the war until all the secret IOU's of FDR got sorted out -- and no one walked away without a knife in their back.
FDR seemed to think he was a brilliant man, playing one person against the next. Or maybe he just knew he was going to die soon, and he only cared about looking good (and short term gains). The end result was that he betrayed almost everyone that dealt with him in one way or another -- and most of his diplomacy was very costly for America and her interests, not to mention our "allies".