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