Author Topic: Freedom Betrayed  (Read 2226 times)

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charlesoakwood

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Freedom Betrayed
« on: December 07, 2011, 12:41:18 AM »

The Blunders of Statesmen (From the Editor’s Introduction)



Freedom Betrayed


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Excerpt from: Freedom Betrayed: Herbert Hoover’s Secret History of the Second World War and Its Aftermath, Edited with an Introduction by George H. Nash (Hoover Institution Press, 2011)

The Blunders of Statesmen (From the Editor’s Introduction)

In November 1951, a public relations executive named John W. Hill met Herbert Hoover at a dinner in New York City. It was an unhappy time in the United States, especially for conservative Republicans. Abroad, the Korean War had turned into a bloody stalemate that President Harry Truman’s administration seemed unable to end. Earlier in the year, the president had abruptly dismissed General Douglas MacArthur, a conservative hero, from America’s Far Eastern military command, to the consternation of Hoover and millions of others. At home, Truman’s liberal Democratic administration was under furious assault from conservative critics of its policies toward communist regimes overseas and communist subversion within our borders.

How quickly the world had changed since the close of the Second World War a few years earlier. Then the future had seemed bright with promise. Nazi Germany and imperial Japan had been crushed; fascism as an ideology had been discredited; the birth of the United Nations had appeared to presage an era of global peace. Now, a mere six years later, in Asia and along the Iron Curtain in Europe, a third world war—this time against communist Russia and China—seemed a distinct possibility.

“Mr. Hoover,” said Hill that November evening, “the world is in one hell of a mess, isn’t it?”

“It certainly is,” Hoover replied.

“It has always occurred to me,” Hill continued, “that we are in this mess because of the mistakes of statesmen. Somebody ought to write a book [on the subject] like [E. S. Creasy’s] ‘Fifteen Decisive Battles of the World’; I think it would be a classic.”

“You are absolutely right,” Hoover responded. “That should be done, and I am going to tell you what should be the first chapter.”

“What is that?” asked Hill.

“When Roosevelt put America in to help Russia as Hitler invaded Russia in June, 1941. We should have let those two bastards annihilate themselves.”

Hill was delighted. “That would be a great book. Why don’t you write it, Mr. Hoover?”

“I haven’t the time,” Hoover countered. “Why don’t you write it?”

What Hill did not know—and what Hoover, that evening, did not tell him—was that for several years Hoover had been at work on a book with a similar theme: a comprehensive, critical history of American diplomacy between the late 1930s and 1945, with emphasis on the misguided policies of President Roosevelt. It was a volume in which the Roosevelt administration’s wartime alliance with the Soviet Union would be subject to withering scrutiny.

Twenty years later, in 1971, in a conversation with an interviewer, Hill lamented that no one had ever written the book he had once proposed to Hoover on “The Fifteen Decisive Blunders of Statesmen.” “I have always wished somebody would do it,” he added. “It would be controversial because every one of the decisions the author stated would cause trouble, would cause somebody to come up and defend it, and the book would sell like hotcakes.”

What Hill did not realize was that nearly eight years earlier Hoover had completed his own book of diplomatic blunders. Unlike the scattershot collection of essays that Hill had envisaged, Hoover’s tome was tightly focused. Originally conceived as the section of his memoirs that would cover his life during World War II, the “War Book” (as he called it) had morphed into something far more ambitious: an unabashed, revisionist reexamination of the entire war—and a sweeping indictment of the “lost statesmanship” of Franklin Roosevelt.

Hoover ultimately entitled his manuscript Freedom Betrayed. More informally, and with a touch of humor, he and his staff came to refer to it as the Magnum Opus. The label was apt. For nearly two decades, beginning in 1944, the former president labored over his massive manuscript, producing draft after draft, “edition” after “edition.” He finished the final version (save for some minor editing and additional fact-checking) in September 1963 and prepared in the ensuing months for the book’s publication. Death came first, on October 20, 1964. A little over two months earlier, he had turned ninety years old.

After Hoover’s passing, his heirs decided not to publish his Magnum Opus. Since then, for nearly half a century, it has remained in storage, unavailable for examination.

This volume, Freedom Betrayed—in its final, author-approved edition of 1963–64—is the book that is now in your hands. It is published here—and its contents thereby made available to scholars—for the first time.


From the
Introduction
By
Herbert Hoover
(circa 1963
)


Freedom Betrayed:
Herbert Hoover’s Secret History of the Second World War and Its Aftermath
Freedom Betrayed: Herbert Hoover’s Secret History of the Second World War and Its Aftermath, Edited with an Introduction by George H. Nash (Hoover Institution Press, 2011)


http://www.hooverpress.org/productdetails.cfm?PC=1470


http://www.scribd.com/doc/71965183/Freedom-Betrayed-Herbert-Hoover-s-Secret-History-of-the-Second-World-War-and-Its-Aftermath-Edited-with-an-Introduction-by-George-H-Nash


http://www.amazon.com/Freedom-Betrayed-Herbert-Aftermath-PUBLICATION/dp/0817912347



Offline Libertas

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Re: Freedom Betrayed
« Reply #1 on: December 07, 2011, 06:39:58 AM »
“When Roosevelt put America in to help Russia as Hitler invaded Russia in June, 1941. We should have let those two bastards annihilate themselves.”

 ::thumbsup::

Pretty much everything he says about FDR is true, I'd have to delve more into it to know for sure, but many things resonate with with me as being along the lines I've always thought.  And to follow up on the quote above, Patton pretty much wanted to take care of the latter and was roundly criticised as insane...time has proved both were correct IMO!
We are now where The Founders were when they faced despotism.

Offline IronDioPriest

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Re: Freedom Betrayed
« Reply #2 on: December 07, 2011, 06:58:50 AM »
Every time FDR is mentioned, I feel compelled to reiterate how distorted my public school education apparently was in regards to him. We were taught that the man was a universally beloved hero - one of America's greatest presidents - revered along with George Washington, and Abraham Lincoln.
"A strict observance of the written laws is doubtless one of the high duties of a good citizen, but it is not the highest. The laws of necessity, of self-preservation, of saving our country when in danger, are of higher obligation. To lose our country by a scrupulous adherence to written law, would be to lose the law itself, with life, liberty, property and all those who are enjoying them with us; thus absurdly sacrificing the end to the means."

- Thomas Jefferson

Offline Libertas

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Re: Freedom Betrayed
« Reply #3 on: December 07, 2011, 07:06:04 AM »
My grandfather hated his guts...it wasn't until I got older and educated myself that I learned how right my grandfather was!
We are now where The Founders were when they faced despotism.

Offline Damn_Lucky

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Re: Freedom Betrayed
« Reply #4 on: December 07, 2011, 05:18:48 PM »
Well history is written by the victors and now the Progressives.
May the truth win out!
A nation of sheep will beget a government of wolves - Edward R. Murrow

Offline AmericanPatriot

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Re: Freedom Betrayed
« Reply #5 on: December 07, 2011, 06:49:11 PM »
the day after the election in 1932, my grandfather refused to get out of bed

charlesoakwood

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Re: Freedom Betrayed
« Reply #6 on: December 07, 2011, 10:19:03 PM »

[blockquote]

Today, few Americans remember J.O. Richardson, but he was a key player in the Pearl Harbor saga, a voice of military reason that was completely ignored. A 1902 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, Richardson was considered the service's leading expert on the Japanese fleet, its strategy and tactics. After rising steadily through the ranks, Admiral Richardson was hand-picked for the CINCPAC job by FDR in late 1939, as Europe plunged into World War II.
...
"Pointing out the lack of advanced bases, the the slow pace of updating the fleet's offensive and defensive characteristics, the fact there were fatal shortages in ammunition replacements and backup stocks of fuel, spare parts and essential supplies and the tenders and logistical ships needed to support an advanced-positioned fleet--he was saying, in plain and understandable language, that the Navy wasn't ready for war. Step by step, he dismantled my confident belief that the U.S. Navy could win a quick decision. Instead, proceeding from our deficiencies, he foresaw the United States hanging on for a couple of years while the country and the service built the strength necessary for an offensive campaign, then a hard fight of a year or two before victory could be won."

Admiral Richardson offered this dire prediction while members of Roosevelt's inner circle (including Navy Secretary Frank Knox) were asserting that the U.S. fleet could finish off the Japanese in only three months.
...
Along with his written warnings, Richardson also made two trips to Washington for meetings with President Roosevelt. During those sessions, Admiral Richardson repeated his grim assessment for the Commander-in-Chief. But FDR quickly became irritated and decided to make a command change. In October of 1940, an administration source told The Kiplinger Letter that Richardson would be replaced
...
 [/blockquote]

Offline Libertas

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Re: Freedom Betrayed
« Reply #7 on: December 08, 2011, 07:37:45 AM »
Great post CO!

 ::thumbsup::

I think any objective review of the evidence leading up to Pearl Harbor would agree that three key elements that I've always believed in were in play here -
 
First, Richardson was dead right about fleet readiness, and much of this can be laid directly at Roosevelt's feet!  While the Washington Naval Treaty basically ended the construction of new battleships, it created an opening for carriers to exploit.  The Japanese jumped on this and then discard any pretense to adhering to treaty stipulations altogether.  Roosevelt surrounded himself with mostly yes-men and relied too much on Harry Hopkins, especially in foreign affairs.  Not all were dummies though, Richardson & Marshall were more than capable, but the latter was more tactful than the former.  I think Roosevelt felt the Navy had enough ships, planes, equipment, facilities, supplies and manpower to get the job done, and despite warnings to the contrary stuck to that naive view.  Whether or not that view was simple naivete or a covert desire to have Japan make the first warlike move against the US is open for debate.  I subscribe to the latter, but it is open for debate.

Second, By not spending more on readiness it killed two birds with one stone - the President had more in the budget to allocate toward advancing his social programs and it gave the wrongheaded isolationist Republicans the impression FDR was not ginning up America for a war...which ironically he was, starting with Lend-Lease and his embargoes of Japan.

Third, Washington intentionally kept the overseas commanders in the dark as to the intentions of the Japanese.  We were reading their diplomatic transmissions (Magic intercepts) before the Japanese were, and if anything was passed along to Short or Kimmel it was filtered by Washington.  In hindsight it appears easy to look back and say "So what, Short & Kimmel should have known better, and acted accordingly!"  True, the intent of the Japanese could not have been that surprising to anyone.  The militarist rise of Japan, it's terrorizing of Manchuria, it's interest in our naval movements, its anger at our cutting off of its oil and rubber supplies, the chatter of going after Pearl that Ambassador Grew overheard and failed to pass along...if commanders would have been informed of all intercepts and given explicit instructions to defend themselves history might have been different and the number of lives lost by us could have been less.  Instead, Washington was vague with Short & Kimmel and basically left them to fend for themselves.  People quite naturally draw into themselves and look to protect their assets from the nearest threat, so Short worried over sabotage due to Oahu's large Asian population and Kimmel kept his battleships moored in the harbor and sent the carriers out on scouting missions.

As it stood the result was predictable.  And Short & Kimmel were scapegoated, Richardson forgotten (who wants to be reminded they were warned and failed to act?) and the rest is history.  In hindsight, of the two commanders, I think Kimmel got the shortest straw, his actions at least made sense given the information he had.  But if he had not been sacked, we wouldn't have had Admiral Nimitz, and both he and MacArthur were key in routing the Japanese.

History works the right way sometimes.  But just because the end result was right doesn't mean the way we got there was the best way or that we should forget who really got us into this mess to begin with!
We are now where The Founders were when they faced despotism.