good morning jacob

  

 

 S  U  N  D  O  W  N  E  R

 

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   dad

coldValentine

Post War

  

 Roosevelt surprised Stalin at Yalta when he claimed

Americans would not tolerate occupying Europe for

more than two years.  The one nation capable of 

preventing the Soviet takeover of all Europe would

just up and leave.  What a gift to Stalin were that true.

Western Europe lay devasted by war now, but it had

the ability to recover and become once again a

premier economic jewel of the planet.  

An Iron Curtain economy combined with the financial

and industrial resources of Britain, Germany, France,

Italy and Spain would present a formidable challenge

to America's economic global dominance.  

 Truman would do whatever it took to prevent

Russian control of all Europe.  The United States

would find itself outmatched economically were

they confronted by this hostile behemoth.

 The Communists gained prestige and credibility

for their courageous resistance to the Nazi

occupiers of their land.  In Third World countries

the Communists were identified as nationalists

fighting for independence from repression and

economic exploitation.  They were viewed as

champions of the people.

 It became obvious to Truman's people that Germany

was the key to recovery in Western Europe.

The German nation remained the industrial powerhouse

of Europe and it would be quickest to restore its factories

and assemble its highly skilled workforce.

 The U.S. fought to preserve democracy in Europe but

the Third World nations of Asia, Africa and Latin America

were often treated with a different set of priorities. 

The people of these lands were governed by

repressive regimes that only continued the practices

of colonial rule.  America found itself in partnership 

with dictators in order to prevent the nations' takeover

by communist revolutionaries. 

 MAD.  Mutual Assured Destruction.

A nuclear war would be unwinnable.

Civilization would be destroyed.

Survivors of the holocaust would envy the dead.

How does any leader navigate between surrender

and the likely destruction of organized humanity?

The nations would soon enough be tested

with just this threat.

*  *  *  *  *

©  Tom Taylor 

 OVER   EASY

coldValentine

good morning jack

  

 

O  L  D     E  N  G  L  I  S  H

   

 

love

   dad

coldValentine

Stalin

  

Only the most paranoid and ruthless of leaders

survived the cutthroat Kremlin politics. Still, 

rising through the ranks required a prospective leader

to control his emotions.  Success required cold

pragmatism - a sober but cynical view of reality.

Human relations were calculating, tactical.

Anyone not under Stalin's control was judged to be

his rival.  The three friends he shares company with

above were all put to death for disloyalty to Stalin.

Stalin was an unpredictable, overpowering personality.

You never knew how you would be treated by him -

cool and controlled or in a fit of rage.

You could be the scapegoat of one of his mistakes.

Someone has to pay for this outrage.

During Stalin's Great Purge of the 1930s 

you didn't have to be guilty to be convicted.

Having any reason to be disloyal to Stalin was

itself an act of disloyalty, requiring cleansing punishment.

Your agony would set the proper example.

Stalin was surrounded by a world that wanted him dead.

For Stalin, loyalty was based on fear.

Eisenhower honored Roosevelt's promise to Stalin

and let the Red Army take Berlin.  

Twenty-seven million Russians dead.  They earned it.

On his drive to Yalta, Roosevelt viewed mile after mile

of landscape ravaged by war.  Roosevelt said of the 

invading Germans - I hope they get what they deserve.

Cold War Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev was

influenced by Stalin's belief in Eisenhower.

The General was a decent man.

You could trust him to be honest... 

for a bourgeoise capitalist. 

Roosevelt felt he could persuade Stalin into making

concessions to the West.  FDR had faith in the bond

he had made with the Soviet leader.  Despite their

clashing ideologies, they could find shared values

and outlooks on the future.

Stalin found Roosevelt agreeable.  He liked the president

even more than he liked Eisenhower.  Roosevelt

understood his nation's problems.  Not like Truman.

You couldn't work with this man.

But Roosevelt had the gaunt appearance of one 

who could die at any moment.  Slump in a chair

and expire.  Just like that.

Roosevelt vanishes from the American scene.

So begins a new chapter.  

The Cold War.

 The Soviet Union dominated Europe.

The Red Army was the largest in the world.

Russia was consistently increasing its industrial capacity.

Mao led a successful revolution in Asia and brought

Communist rule to China.  Suddenly the Soviet Union

had a powerful ally in the East.

U.S. global dominance was broken.

*  *  *  *  *

 OVER   EASY

coldValentine

good morning jessicca

  

H  O  M  E  C  O  M  I  N  G

love

   dad

coldValentine 

Roosevelt's Vision

  

 Roosevelt was a gifted politician, a leader of

historic proportions.  His embrace of idealism was

tempered by shrewdness and cunning.

He remained always aware of which direction

the political wind blew.

Humanity had a way of twisting principle 

into something closer to the needs of

human nature.  Love.  Fear.  Power.

Strong feelings that often overlook principle.

"It's easier to fight for one's principles than 

to live up to them."  

Alfred Adler, psychologist.

 Democracy is not just about counting votes.

What democracy denies the people open and honest

debate?  In a true democracy only the people's will 

gave leaders the authority to govern them.

Self determination.

Making one's own choices.

The population of any colony had little, if any,

ability to make decisions about their welfare.

Colonizers based their authority to rule on

governing by force.  They took valuables from

the land's native people because they could.

The higher society rules.

More primitive cultures serve.

Imperialism.

 Roosevelt would have Churchill free Britain's colonies.

How could you claim to be fighting for democracy  

when you were repressing people worldwide?

Colonies must become free nations.  Roosevelt insisted.

This provision in the Atlantic Charter was non-negotiable.

Churchill signed.

Churchill was alone fighting Hitler.  The rest of the world

watched the drama, spectators to a battle pitting the

forces of democracy against the authoritarian's minions.

Signing some document about ridding the world 

of colonies didn't matter.  It was a splendid gesture.

Churchill was at war.  Winning was everything.

Do what you must.

 The promise of prosperity across the globe made 

world markets, free of tariffs, so appealing.

Capitalists would work their magic by efficiently 

directing seed money to the most capable performers.

Competition creates wealth.  There are also losers.

Lost jobs.  Lost careers.  Lost communities.

Free Trade may have been an economic win overall

but tariffs were in the national interest.

Often they were protection against unfair

competition instigated by the predatory practices 

of foreign governments and corporations.

 

 Collective security.  No more every nation for themself.

This was to be League of Nations 2.0.  The U.S. would

play the leading role.  There would be a council made up

of the four great powers: U.S.A., Soviet Union, Britain

and China.  They would provide the oversite of  

smaller nations.

A world body of peace could not be based upon

lack of trust.  War's end revealed new threats

to peace.  The unnatural alliance between the Capitalist

West and Communist East ended with the death of Hitler.

Cooperation was no longer in the national interest.

 The oppressed workers eventually win the struggle

with their capitalist overseers and find real freedom.

Lenin predicted the class struggle would end with

spontaneous worker revolts in the most advanced

industrial nations worldwide.  Stalin saw a more

traditional victory of territorial conquest, peaceful

or otherwise, and with the Kremlin in control.

The East and West were now adversaries.

It would be up to the diplomats to keep

them out of war.

*  *  *  *  *

©  Tom Taylor

OVER   EASY

coldValentine

good morning jeremy

  

C   H   O   R   U   S

 

love

   dad

coldValentine

Brave New World

  

Nuclear weapons command deference.

They are an option quietly waiting to be used.

Fear of annihilation has so far prevented leaders

from choosing nuclear war.

But this remains a viable option, always.

Did anyone honestly think Stalin would allow free elections

in countries occupied by his army?  His promises to 

Roosevelt and Churchill at Yalta were mostly worthless.

In truth, the Big Three were tired of arguing among

themselves.  When it came to controlling Eastern

Europe, Stalin had the winning hand.

The countries in dispute were already his.

So they signed a gentleman's agreement

saying Stalin owed them an election and such.

Useless verbiage.

Stalin's military controlled all the great capitols -

Warsaw, Vienna, Budapest, Prague.

Twenty-six million Russians dead from this war.

Russia earned her prize.  Countries friendly to Moscow.

They were an important buffer, providing military

defense for the Soviet Union.  The West was not

to be trusted. No Kremlin leader would ever sanction 

ceding any of these countries to Anglo-American control.

Moscow would not yield on this matter of Russian security.

Roosevelt dead.  Hard to imagine.

Elected to the presidency four times.

Many people had known no other man

as president.  He was a legend.  War hero.

The nation's leader in years of Great Depression.

Roosevelt led the revolutionary New Deal.

There would never be another like him,  

ever again.

Folksy.  Harry Truman.  Missouri senator.

Head of the Foreign Relations Committee.

He may be from hardscrabble but he was no one's boob.

Grieving New Dealers thought otherwise.  Hopeless.

Someone needed to be with him.  Show him

how to be president.

Congress knew Truman and they thought he was 

up to the job.  Barely three months as Vice President,

then suddenly here he was.  The White House.

A haberdasher from Kansas City presiding in the Oval Office.

Truman wasn't even Roosevelt's pick for vice president.

He became a compromise running mate when Labor 

vetoed the President's choice.

Turns out the people liked Harry.  Straight talker.

Authentic.  Direct.  He was one of them.

Their President.

Refreshing.

 War has ended.  But the turmoil only grew.

There were no jobs.  People needed shelter.

Mass amounts of food must continuously

be brought in from the other nations,

themselves not much better off.

Power out in many places.  Transportation

in short supply.  Security - what a joke.

Britain was exhausted by the war.

This situation was not sustainable.

Only the U.S. could provide the fortune in aid

Europe needed.  The real question became:

would America allow it?

Did Washington have the will?

*  *  *  *  *

OVER   EASY 

coldValentine

good morning justin

  

M A Y     Y O U R     S U N     R I S E

 

love 

   dad

 

coldValentine

RealPolitik

  

1940, 22 June

Britain is now alone in its battle with Hitler's Germany.

Winning is not an option.

Churchill is fighting for survival.

1941, 22 June

Germany invades Russia.

Britain is no longer alone in the struggle 

against Hitler.  The Fuhrer has bet on 

Stalin's quick collapse.  Intelligence fed him

what he wanted to hear.  His generals fought him

over how to win the war.

France gave him the confidence needed to make 

this fatal error.

1941, 7 December

Game changer.  America is at war.

Hitler declares war on the U.S.

Churchill is exultant.  The globe's two 

industrial giants are suddenly his allies.

Britain will be on the winning side.

1941, winter

The Nazis come up just short of Moscow,

a spent force.  Add Leningrad and Baku to

Hitler's objectives.  None of them achieved.

German forces ravaged the country and, still,

they couldn't deliver the knock-out blow.

1942, winter

Germany's best army in Russia is destroyed.

There is no recovery from this one.  Hitler's chance

at victory in Russia has passed.

1943, November 

The tide had turned.  The Big Three were comfortable

talking of their plans as victors.  Churchill stood as the

lone advocate of France's restoration to great power status.

He resisted Germany's dismemberment and fought 

Stalin's draconian demands for reparations.

Stalin called this Churchill's "soft peace".

In fact it was the Prime Minister's attempt at restoring

the Balance of Power to continental Europe.

Equilibrium between competing powers helps prevent

acts of war.  In this instance the Soviet Union was

the clear dominant power of Europe.  With war's end

came the realization that Germany, France and Italy

were all vulnerable to Communist rule.

Only U.S. forces in Europe could provide a 

credible defense to the Red Army.

1944, 6 June

Allies gain a second front on continental Europe.

For Hitler, the end is in sight.

1945, February

Roosevelt was weeks from death.

It was an exhausting journey from Washington

to this Russian resort along the Black Sea.

Roosevelt talked about principles and providing

global peace through harmony and good will.

Stalin didn't concern himself with the wistful 

musings of this worn-out old man.

Stalin already had what he wanted.

His army occupied all of Eastern Europe.

Each of these countries quickly became ruled 

by leaders who were Kremlin friendly.

Here was Moscow's protective barrier.

Here would be Russia's reward.

*  *  *  *  *

©  Tom Taylor

OVER   EASY

coldValentine