Policy of the USA towards the SU 1941-45

[mack pl]

Policy of the USA towards the Soviet Union 1941-45 and its consequences for Poland

Andrzej Slawinski

It is difficult to deny a number of substantial achievements made by Franklin Delano Roosvelt during his unprecedented three terms of office as President of the United States between March 1933 and April 1945. The introduction of the "New Deal" created the basis of the American welfare state and eventually lifted America out of the depression and made it into perhaps the greatest industrial power in the world. His "Four Freedoms" statement in January 1941 put the aims of the war in moral terms and significantly raised the expectations of all nations for an eventual just peace. This was further confirmed by the signing in August 1941 of the Atlantic Charter by Roosvelt and Churchill. In the initial phase of the Second World War, while the United States still remained neutral, Roosevelt provided aid for Britain in the form of "Lend – Lease" and the creations of so-called "Arsenal for Democracy". Following Pearl Harbour the President was instrumental in rallying the American Nation in the war against Japan and Germany. As the war progressed, the help of the United States to the Allies in the form of supplies, war materials and eventually military manpower, was indispensable and crucial to the successful prosecution of the war and to the eventual victory.

Regards
mack pl

[James]

From my somewhat clouded memory about this subject, Eisenhower was also involved in the decision to allow the Soviets to capture Berlin in 1945. Berlin was inside what had already been decided would be the Soviet zone of occupation, and it was (and is, IMHO) ludicrous to think British and American troops would take tens or even hundreds of thousands of casualties for what had already been decided would be Soviet territory. I think the Soviets lost something like 250,000 soldiers JUST taking Berlin.

It is also important to remember that about 80% of German casualties in WWII were on the Eastern Front. I think FDR was well aware of this, and used his relationship with Stalin to, among other things, keep American casualties far lower than those that the Soviets suffered.

[Kitsune]

An interesting topic.

FDR policy of "New Deal" was not overly sucessful, it reduced unemployment from 12 million to about 10.5 million, that is it. That Roosevelt was intrumental in bringing Germany and Japan down is true, he was anti-german to the bone (he had supported the war against Germany during WWI, he also thought that the Versailles treaty was perfectly fair and just and that Germany should never be allowed to get free from it). Hitler's anti-parlamentarism increased that anti-German tendency of Roosevelt's: he tried to bring the USA into a war against Germany as soon as possible, but was prevented from doing so by the isolationist congress. But from 1938 the USA started various economic punishments of Germany and Roosevelt never failed to support Germanies war enemies economically, as much as the President could achieve this.

While Roosevelts stance against Hitler might seem to be a good thing, he wasn't very peculiar about the behaviour of others. He was enraged over Germanies occupation of Czechia, but did not care when Britain did the same to Egypt. He was disgusted about the mistreatment of Poles during the Reichskristallnacht but failed to complain over the mistreatment of Jews, Ukrainians and Germans in Poland (in the time from 1933 to 1938 about 170.000 Jews fled from Germany, no surprise there, at the same time about 560.000 Jews fled from Poland TO Nazi-Germany...) Also, he personally saw to it that the US policy concerning the immigratiof Jews fleeing from Europe was as restrictive as possible.
Most puzzling was his attitude towards Josef Stalin. Roosevelt respected him, he seemed to have believed that the Soviet Union was on its way to a more fair and just society. The millions of deaths caused by Stalins collectivisation of agriculture in the late twenites, the suffering of the people who were literally worked to death during the enforced industrialization of the early thirties, the mindless purges, the severe degree of oppression, state-control and militarism of Stalins state, its aggressive foreign policy, especially from 1939 onwards...that all failed to impress FDR. His support of Stalin against Hitler was never in question.

FDR's had a role in the start of WWII. He pressured the Poles not to give in to any peaceful solution with Germany and the British and French to support that attitude. Also, when the Ribbentrop-Molotov pact was signed, Roosevelt was the only Western leader who learned of the secret appendix of it (that gave not only the Baltic states but also Eastern Poland to the Soviets, while the Western part fell to the Germans) one day after it was signed. But neither did he warn nor inform the Poles about it nor the British or French fot that matter.

When in July 1944 Roosevelt was informed that Hitler may have been assassinated, he made it clear that this would not change a thing. No peace offer of a new German governement would be accepted by him. Germany was to be crushed utterly this time, be it Nazi ruled or democratic. Only complete conditionless surrender would do...to all sides. Including the Soviets. That this may have meant to sacrifice the lives of countless people, and to open Europe for the Soviets...seemed not to interest FDR. Soon it turned out that Hitler had survived, so all of these thoughts were pointless. Still, after the war members of the German resistant movement complained that whenever they tried to contact the Western Allies for support or negotiations, they were confronted with either silence or a "no". The reasons for this was less Chruchill, who from 1944 started to be concerned about Stalin, but Roosevelt.
When the conference of Yalta started, Roosevelt surprised Stalin and Churchill with the anouncement, that the US-troops would leave Europe within 18 months after Germany had been crushed (and he really meant htis, he seems, no trick or something). A rather positive surprise for Stalin...who in that case could be certain to gain the hegemony of Europe. Churchill was not so pleased, however.


In short: FDR is the most overrated President of the USA. The men was a fool and of dubious morals on top of it (unlike Wilson, who may have been the first, but at least wanted to achieve something good). The policy of the "Soldier of Freedom" (title of the FDR biography of James McGregor Burns) has at least increased the likelihood of WWII coming about, and his mindless support of Uncle Joe until to the end played right into Stalins hands and nearly made this dictator the unchallenged ruler of Europe.

FDR's death prevented the worst however, because he was suceeded by Harry S. Truman, who is possibly the most underrated of all American Presidents. During the administration of this man of completely unassuming appearance, who was ridiculed as "Missourian Tie-Seller" by some of his enemies, some of the wisest and most farsightet decisions of all US forein policy were made:
Truman realized Stalins nature and started to oppose him. US troops stayed in Europe instead of leaving it to the Soviet Union. Attempts of Stalin to expand were rebuffed, with the support of Air support Berlin for example. Western Germany was treated fairly, allowed to be a nearly sovereign state very soon, not punished with reparations, even helped economically with the Marshallplan. The reconciliation of France and Germany was encouraged, and NATO was founded to oppose the Soviets. Even Trumans stopping of McArthur in Korea was wise: the using of a couple of dozen of atomic bombs against China would have costed the USA an enormous amount of face and popularity, which would have played right into the hands of Moscow at the time. Which would have been a high price for a victory in Korea, as tempting as it may have been.
Had Roosevelt ruled longer, the world we live in might be a quite different place.

My 2 cents.

[ViktorNavorski]

In short: FDR is the most overrated President of the USA. The men was a fool and of dubious morals on top of it (unlike Wilson, who may have been the first, but at least wanted to achieve something good)

FYI, Wilson was a racist, complete with the arrogance of intellectual superiority toward almost everyone and if FDR was a fool, Wilson is certainly a much greater one.