February 1945

Good news, H.A.’s old nemesis, Jesse Jones [former Chairman of the  powerful Reconstruction Finance Corporation -AS] is gone from [Department of] Commerce.  Conservative business leaders wanted Jones to be Vice President rather than H.A. in 1940 and put on a strong, but fortunately unsuccessful, effort.   Jones and H.A. had different views on the focus and direction of the New Deal and clashed frequently.   H.A. wanted Commerce to engage in activities to support full employment, control big businesses and assist small businesses, provide a guaranteed annual wage, and other progressive measures.  Jones a supporter of big business naturally was opposed to these ideas.


There will not be a successor named any time soon.  FDR is at the Argonaut Conference at Yalta and left instructions not to be bothered with domestic matters.   With Jones’ resignation, a bill is moving through Congress to remove the lending agencies [like the Reconstruction Finance Corporation] from Commerce to give the Congress more control of these agencies.  Big business fear H.A. and are organizing opposition to him – including Red-baiting campaigns.  Congressman Leonard Hall [New York Republican – AS] just accused H.A. of acting as if he had “received a call to change the New Deal to the New Communism.” 


I know Communists.  FDR is currently meeting with a Communist [Russia’s General Secretary Joseph Stalin – AS].  H.A. is NOT a Communist.  However, for those members of Congress who owe their allegiance to big business anyone who disagrees with their agenda to promote the interests of big business is a Communist.  H.A. wants to promote the interest of the common man - the family farmer, small businessmen, and the people who work for them.   He supports capitalism, but a capitalism that is just and fair.  A capitalist system that provides opportunities for all Americans to succeed.   We can’t go back to policies that favor big business and financial speculation.  What better lesson could we have on that failed system than the Great Depression.  The New Deal must work for all the people not just the entitled and connected one-percent. 


As an anarchist I should not be working for H.A.  I guess I’m not a good anarchist.  But H.A. is different.   Anarchists are right – power corrupts.  However, H.A. seems indifferent to power.   He uses his power not to aggrandize himself, his position, or the government itself.  He sees himself as a technician using the government as a tool to fix problems.  Working with H.A., I have become even stronger anarchist, because I clearly see that H.A. is the exception that proves the rule.  


©  2012 Ron Millar