June 1945

H.A. has an 87 percent approval rating according to the Gallup Organization.  Naturally, this is due in large part to the success in Europe in defeating Mussolini and Hitler, but it is still good news for a man unexpectedly thrust into leadership under the shadow of F.D.R.

However, the rhetoric from the birther and red menace idiots is growing.  I fear we are going to have another witch hunt on communists, socialists, and anarchists like happened after the last world war.

Even the heros of the current war are not immune from attack.

Several of my Lincoln comrades joined the OSS [Office of Strategic Services - we are monitoring Milton Wolff, Irving Goff, Vincent Lossowski, Milton Felson, Michael Jiminez – A.S.] in 1942.  After training they were given the rank of technical sergeants while their fellow graduates became commissioned officers.  Ignoring this snub, they followed the U.S. landings in North Africa that liberated thousands of Spanish Republican Refugees and International Bridagers who had fled to French north Africa at the beginning of the war.  The Lincoln OSS organized these political prisoners to fight against the fascists with the expectation that the Allies would ultimately help them remove Franco from power in Spain.  


The Lincoln OSS trained their Spanish and International Brigade comrades to infiltrate and operate behind German lines in North Africa and France.  [Colonel William J. ] Donovan the head of OSS was very impressed with their work and when informed of the slights given in rank he remedied the situation.  In 1943, the Lincoln OSS moved to Naples [with the exception of Felsen who was wounded and captured by the Germans –A.S.].   In Italy the Italian Communist Party had a vast underground network.  One comrade [Goff –A.S.], because of his activities in Spain, formed an alliance and quickly expanded the Allies contacts and agents behind German lines.  I'm told he said, “We had guerrillas operating on every highway, every railroad, every German convoy.  We had the identifications, the material in every car on every highway reported through the network of radios.” 

In March 1945 a Congressional subcommittee investigated the promotion of fourteen “Communist officers.”  Major General Clayton Bissell, head of army intelligence, defended the officers as did Donovan, “These men I’ve been in the slit trenches with, I’ve been in the muck with, and I’d measure them up with any men.”    Under continued pressure from the red baiters in Congress, the Lincoln OSS were evacuated immediately following the capitulation of German forces in Italy [May 1945 –A.S.], their promotions were denied, and all the Lincolns were discharged from the service.  Donovan feared the Congress, who controlled the purse strings, would retaliate against him if he did not. 

My comrades were not just heros in the OSS.  Other Lincoln’s joined the regular army and were exemplary solders [e.g. Bob Thompson who is under surveillance. –A.S.].   They too met similar fates as the Lincolns in the OSS.   

Since my comrades cannot even retain their positions in the OSS and military how can we hope to convince Americans to help free Spain from Franco.  Although he opposes Franco, H.A. is not interested in taking any action against him.  The VALB [Veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade –A.S. ] has been organizing around this issue, but the growing anti-communist fear  and red baiting ensures that their efforts will not be successful.


©  2012 Ron Millar

May 1945

A very odd movement has developed just weeks after, my boss, President Henry A. Wallace was sworn into office.   Several nuts have taken to the radio and lecture halls leading a crusade that H.A. is not a U.S. citizen, but a Soviet plant.  Based on this lie, they are calling for his removal as President. 

They claim that he does not have a valid birth certificate and secretly speaks Russian.  The fact is that H.A. was born on his family’s farm without the help of a doctor or even midwife, and he does indeed know Russian and a couple other languages.  He did not obtain a birth certificate until well into his adult years.  They also believe that H.A.’s trip to Russia and China in the Spring of 1944 was to receive orders from his Communist masters and they infer that he is responsible for F.D.R.’s death.  This is an insane conspiracy story.   The fact that F.D.R. sent H.A. on the trip never is mentioned and that the trip almost cost H.A. the Vice Presidency because he was not in the States to defend himself against the forces trying to remove him from the ticket.   I don’t know what brew they are adding to their morning tea or coffee, but it is making them crazy.

But saying they are crazy is too easy an answer.  This is an organized and complex campaign.  Crazy people don’t organize meetings and pay for radio and newspaper space to promote them.  Who is recruiting these people?  Who is writing the script for them? Who is paying them and their bookers to get them on the radio and in lecture halls around the country?  That is the real mystery and conspiracy!  As further proof, they say H.A.’s middle name is Russian, “Agard” – it is really from Horace Agard a Methodist minister relative of H.A.’s mother.  But I guess old Horace could be a Soviet plant too – assuming these nuts believe that there really was a Horace Agard!

Friends, I know Communists and I can assure you that H.A. is not one.  A progressive democrat yes – a Communist definitely not!  I don’t even think the Socialist Party would have him.  However, for people like this there is no distinction between liberals, communists, socialists, or anarchists – we are just lumped together as the Red Menace.  Sadly, the members of these various groups do recognize the differences and spend the vast majority of their time attacking each other rather than working together to bring positive change to the nation.

H.A. is ignoring this silly sideshow.

We have more important things to do – the war in Europe is over!  However, I am sorry that F.D.R. did not live to see this day.  Sadly, as one war ends forces are trying to spark another – and we haven’t defeated the Japanese yet.  Churchill is part of this movement.  He sent us a telegraph just four days after V-E Day that stated, “An iron curtain is drawn down upon their” meaning the Soviet’s “front.  We do not know what is going on behind.”  To try to dispel these fears H.A. sent Henry Hopkins [key foreign policy advisor - actually lives in the White House  -AS] to Moscow to meet with Stalin and sustain relations.  Our ambassador to the Soviet Union, Averell Harriman, seems to be moving to Churchill's side.  Harriman, who previously was supportive of the Soviet Union, changed his stance and he even opposes the Soviet’s request of a $6 billion loan to help rehabilitate the war-ravaged nation.  H.A. overruled him.  Fortunately, our military, following the accords made at Teheran and Yalta, are cooperating fully and peacefully with the Soviet military on matters of strategy and occupation.  The U.S. military leaders understand that Soviet assistance is needed in the war against Japan.  They see no advantage to alienate the Soviets at the moment of victory in Europe.

H.A. had to reprimand Nelson Rockefeller, the State Department’s top man on Latin American, who wanted Argentina to be admitted into the UN.  H.A. correctly opposed this because Argentina’s government had been supportive of the Axis powers throughout the war.  H.A. believes that elements of the State Department wanted to build a solid anti-Soviet bloc of nations using Latin America and Great Britain and its colonial states at the UN.  H.A. fears that if such a coalition is formed the Soviets would find themselves outvoted again and again in the Assembly, and the Soviet Union would not trust, and then not work with, the world organization to ensure a peaceful future.

With the conflict over in Europe and moving to a successful completion in the Pacific, I fear that the war-mongers will not allow us to give peace a chance.  They have found their new enemy.  Do they want perpetual conflict?  Surely, the profit of war does not trump the potential wealth of peace.

©  2012 Ron Millar

April 1945

The President is Dead!

April 12 is a day I will not soon forget.  White House Secretary Steve Early called and told Wallace to come to the White House immediately.  Wallace didn’t know what was happening, but the urgency in Early’s voice made Wallace uneasy.  We ran through the Capitol and jumped into a waiting car.  At the White House, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt gave H.A. the news, “Henry, the President’s dead.”  Wallace immediately asked, “Is there anything I can do for you?”  Eleanor kindly replied, “Is there anything we can do for you, Henry?  For you are the one in trouble now?”  I love Eleanor.  Through her grief, Eleanor realized the daunting task ahead for H.A. – taking on the responsibility for the war and having to replace the most revered president since Lincoln – and she immediately offered her support to the new president.  Eleanor is an American treasure.

Although I knew FDR was ill, I had hoped he would recover and see our nation through to end of the war and help establish a just peace.  He deserved to see our victory.  H.A. had only met with FDR two or three times since the inaugural and did not realize this health was in such a serious state.  I don’t even think FDR knew, or at least he didn’t want to know, he was that close to death.  If he did know I would hope that he would have taken the time to brief his Vice President for a smooth transition, but as we saw at the convention FDR had his peculiarities. 

I know that I should not be critical of FDR so soon after this death, but he did make some bad decisions and succumb to cruder political influences: the internment of Japanese Americans, turning away the Jewish refugee ship the St. Louis, supporting excluding my people from New Deal programs, and refusing to provide aid to the Spanish Republic.  Even with these harmful and deadly actions, FDR was a great man and the man we needed to lead us out of the economic depression and to end the regimes of the evil axis fascists Mussilini, Hilter, and Tojo.

But FDR is dead and I’m very glad that H.A. is here to lead our nation.  In the early evening, the cabinet, the chief justice, the Speaker of the House, and H.A.’s wife and children were all assembled in the Cabinet Room at the White House.  H.A. received the oath of office from Chief Justice Harlan Stone.  My boss, the odd duck from Iowa, was president.  I can hardly believe it.

Two days later, H.A. met Eleanor Roosevelt at Union Station.  Mrs. Roosevelt had flown to Georgia to accompany the body of her husband back to Washington.  Over 350,000 people lined Pennsylvania Avenue to watch FDR’s flag-draped coffin pass on a caisson drawn by six white horses.  The funeral service was held in the East Room of the White House.  That evening FDR’s body was taken by train to its final resting place in Hyde Park, New York.

Two days after the funeral, H.A. gave his first national speech as President.  He knew he needed to build confidence in his ability to lead and complete FDR’s goals for his fourth term, so he gave a national radio address before a joint session of Congress.  H.A. reassured the nation of his determination to fulfill FDR’s war-time and post war goals including the unconditional surrender of the axis powers and the founding conference for the new United Nation’s organization in San Francisco.  The UN’s goal is to prevent future wars and build peaceful relationships among nations.   The grieving nation welcomed the speech and embraced H.A. as the appropriate successor to FDR.

H.A.’s life has become a continuous series of meetings.  As his aide I’m always there.  The majority of his visitors ignore me as one of the invisible help – don’t forget, Washington is a southern city.  This infuriates me, but I learned to deal with it a long time ago.   I enjoy the fact that being seen as a servant allows many people talk more freely in front of me than they would with other staff members.  I’ll accept the slight to gain the access to information.  

Two meeting stood out for me.  H.A. had the Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov over to the White House to discuss Soviet assistance in the war with Japan, free elections in occupied nations, and the voting structure of the UN Security Council.  The meeting had tense moments, but H.A. is committed to keeping good relations with our Soviet ally.   The other memorable meeting was form Secretary of War Henry Stimson.  Although H.A. had been briefed on the Manhattan Project as Vice President, Stimson gave H.A. a full briefing.  Advances on creating a wonder weapon had advanced dramatically.  I am amazed at the expected power of this thing.  I don’t think our civilization is ready for this much power.  From his presentation, I think Henry Stimson agrees. 


©  2012 Ron Millar

March 1945

The war is going well [Subject describes strategy in the various theatres of war, outcomes of various battles, and praises the bravery of our armed forces and the rebels in the occupied areas.  He mentions a member of the French Resistance, Albert Camus, who edited a newsletter Combat during the Nazi occupation of Paris.  If not already identified, I recommend creating a file on him. -AS].

But the peace is in trouble.  Stalin promised FDR that Poland would have free elections, but Poland is only free to elect a government friendly to the Soviet Union.  FDR and Stalin exchanged testy notes over this issue.  The Chinese are headed to a civil war between the Communists and Chiang Kai-shek’s corrupt and dictatorial Nationalist regime.  FDR and H.A. tried to get the Nationalists to implement reforms and work with the Communists but to no avail.  The Soviet Union is not the only nation bent on expanding their influence.  Our desire to see self-determination in Indochina is being blocked by British and French colonial claims.  They intend to reclaim their empires, and want us to help.  H.A. opposes both old and new colonial claims.  I’m told that Winston Churchill is very unhappy with H.A.’s promotion of self-determination. 

In an attempt to sooth the nerves of some members of the Democratic Party leadership, FDR appointed Harry Truman as Secretary of Commerce.   Truman sees the Soviet Union as a threat to our way of life and following the war, since they are currently our ally in the fight against fascism, to pursue a containment policy.  H.A. fears that treating the Soviet Union as an enemy is foolish and will fuel Russia’s paranoia and make them more aggressive.  He believes that building rather than severing relationships will be more effective at maintaining world peace. 

            

I agree with H.A.  The anti-Soviet efforts will just promote conflict and keep our nation on a high military alert, which is accompanied with a high military price tag.  However, I don’t trust the Communists.  I can’t forgive them for what they did to my friends in Spain.  Some blame Stalin, but Lenin and Trotsky wiped out the anarchists, Mensheviks, and Left Socialist revolutionaries who made the Russian Revolution possible to consolidate power for their own Bolshevik clique. 


©  2012 Ron Millar

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

January 1945

The inaugural was a short affair held on the south portico of the White House.  The day was cold and grey, sadly reflecting F.D.R.’s weakened condition.  I was surprised at how bad he looked.  His body shook as he spoke and from his expressions I could tell he was in pain.  I hope this is temporary and he has a speedy recovery.  We need a healthy F.D.R. to win the war and the peace.

In Spain, I saw the sick and dying, and F.D.R.’s appearance concerned me.   Since I’m already depressed I guess this is a good time to talk about Spain.

Spain.  How to begin?  For generations the landed gentry and the government and Church, which supported them, exploited the people of Spain.  Later the moneyed elite joined in this cruel party.  Then an idea took fire.  Freedom.  In it’s optimal form, freedom through anarchism united the people.  The goal was for the people to remove the power of the elite, the government, and the Church so that the people could control their own lives.  The Confederation Nacional del Trabajo (C.N.T.) gave voice to this goal to eliminate the concept of power:

“…there is no such thing as revolutionary power, for all power is reactionary by nature; power corrupts both those who exercise it and those over whom it is exercised; those who think they can conquer the State in order to destroy it are unaware that the State overcomes all its conquerors; there are no good and bad politicians, only bad ones and worse; the best government is no government at all; the Nation is not the People, nor is the State the same as Society; instead of the government of men; let us have the administration of things; peace to men, and war on institutions; dictatorship of the proletariat is dictatorship without the proletariat and against them; to vote for politicians is to renounce your own personality; your union is yourself.”

This was a different goal, a rejection of the social democrats who saw the people taking over the mechanisms of the state to use it as a force to create a more equitable society and the dictatorship of the proletariat in the Russian experiment to use the state to build a communist society.   Political power was the problem – anarchy removed the problem.              


The anarchists operated outside the state establishing communes in the rural areas and anarchist syndicates in urban areas.  The various autonomous collectives would interact in federations, which culminated in Assemblies to ensure the exchange of information and ideas across the country.  It was amazing.  People taking control of their lives without creating leaders and organizations that would control them.  Pure democracy in action.

Ironically, the anarchist advances became possible because of the Republican, and socialist dominated, government.  Or did the democratic Republic become possible because of the infectious freedom demonstrated by the anarchist movement.  I’ll leave historians to argue this chicken and egg question.   What is important is that in many regions in Spain the land and factories were run by and for the peasants and workers.  For a time, the peasants and workers proved that society self-organized under anarchistic principles was possible.

Then the landed and moneyed elite fought back through the fascist Francisco Franco with the rebellion in July 1936.  Franco and his forces expected quick success, but were only able to take over half the nation.  The popular militias were able to disarm most of the fascist rebels.  

The millions of peasants living on collectives produced food for the free portion of the nation and the anarchist factories retooled to contribute to the war effort.  Distribution based on need was put into action.  Barcelona was the best example of anarchy in Spain.   Nearly all of the public services and factories were taken over and run with tremendous success in this large and complex city.  Anarchy worked!    

However, the during the war, the anarchists with the C.N.T. and the Federation Anarquista Iberica (F.A.I.) broke their fundamental principle and joined the government to defeat Franco.  The slogan was “We sacrifice all except victory!”  Anarchists took positions in the government institutions that they had previously vehemently denounced.   They thought that this compromise would help show the unity of the Spanish Republic to her sister democracies.  The Republic was in desperate need of material support from the world’s other democracies in the fight against fascism, but the other democracies refused to help.  Instead they called for nonintervention by all nations.

The fascist nations of Italy and Germany officially agreed to the nonintervention policy, while shipping tremendous amounts of weapons, military personnel, and other support to Franco.  The democratic nations knew this, but still refused to support the Spanish Republic.  However, the freedom minded people of these nations – much like the Spanish anarchists – took it upon themselves to support the threatened Republic and the International Brigades were born [The International Brigades were under the control the Soviet Union’s Comintern -A.S.].

I left the comfort of my home to volunteer with the International Brigades to save the Spanish Republic.  Even if my country didn’t, I knew it was the right thing to do, and I was excited to be a part of what I thought was going to be a great adventure. 


©  2012 Ron Millar

December 1944

Good news!  Cordell Hull resigned as Secretary of State due to health issues.  I don’t mean that it is good news Mr. Hull is in poor health, I wish him a long and healthy life.  I just don’t want him as head of the Department of State.  Hull and H.A. never saw eye-to-eye on issues.  Hull is a supporter of the status quo with colonialism and is opposed to working with the Soviet Union.    My boss opposes colonialism and imperialism, and he supports continuing our peaceful and productive relationship with the Soviet Union.

Hull’s replacement is Edward Stettinius, Jr., a former chairman of U.S. Steel.

Stettinius is supportive of the idea of a United Nations to help maintain the peace following the end of the war, and he is willing to continue to work with the Soviet Union.  As the war is coming to a close, the former murmurings against the Soviet Union are becoming louder.  Some even suggest that our efforts will not be done in Europe if our troops fail to continue to move through the east to Japan.  A war with the Soviet Union would be insane – surely the American people are tired of war.  


Do not get me wrong, I do not trust the Soviet Union.  From my experience in Spain I know how they operate.  But we cannot treat them like enemies.  The Soviet Union is already paranoid, and perhaps rightfully, that the rest of the world wants to destroy them.  We must stay engaged with the Soviet Union to allay this paranoia.  If we treat them as an enemy, they will act as an enemy.  Without constructive engagement international problems will grow and fester.  Pointless conflicts with the loss of human life and resources will be the result.  


I know the big business war machine fears the end of conflict because they do not want to see their war profits disappear, but we can use those resources to build our society rather than destroy others.  I am proud that H.A. is a leader in this mission.


©  2011 Ron Millar