To Make the World Safe for Democracy: A USA AAR

[pkdickian]

hello ladies and gentlemen.

i have been gone from these forums for some time, but some of you may remember my incomplete (but readable and well-received) AARS from the past. if not check out my signature.

i am currently playing HOI 2 and find it to be much more fun, even in the vanilla version. i have a game going as the USA that is currently up to 1944 and has taken some very interesting turns. i will try to tell you that story here... i hope you like it

To Make the World Safe for Democracy: A USA AAR

Before the War: Part I

President Franklin Delano Roosevelt was reelected in 1936 by an overwhelming majority of American voters. His opponent, Alf Landon had run a lackluster, middle-of-the-road campaign, but America was in a mood for sweeping solutions and big gestures. Roosevelt was ready to supply just that.

Roosevelt’s first administration had focused on lifting the American economy from the depths of the Great Depression. His second inaugural, in January 1937, saw the country firmly on its feet. Roosevelt had adopted a policy of “pork-barrel” development offering federal contracts for infrastructure improvement and industry-expansion. Even with a large majority of Democrats in Congress, the President still had a hard time funding all of the projects he proposed. Every state of the 48 received a government contract, and many states received more than one. Many of the contracts went begging for lack of funding, their start dates put off, month by month, but slowly Americans went back to work.

Priorities shifted during the second administration. The Democrats had gained seats in both houses of Congress, firming up the majority. Most of the new members of Congress were firm New Deal supporters and believed that deficit spending was necessary; their votes eased some of the problems with funding the “pork-barrel” contracts. Roosevelt’s first move was to protect his flank from attack by the elderly and very conservative Supreme Court.

Roosevelt’s “Modern Courts” bill, introduced in February, 1937, became priority number one on Capitol Hill. The March 29 decision of the Supreme Court to strike down a state minimum-wage law as unconstitutional raised such a fury among the New Deal Democrats in the House of Representatives that they overwhelming passed Roosevelt’s “Court Packing” bill on April 1. The Senate followed suit three days later. Now the President had the power to appoint a new Supreme Court Justice for every current justice who had served more than ten years and did not retire within six months of reaching the age of 70.

Roosevelt immediately named 3 nominees to the Supreme Court and announced plans to nominate 2 more, as there were currently 5 justices over 70 who had served more than 10 years. Willis Van Devanter, the second oldest justice, and Louis Brandeis, the oldest, announced their resignations, before the President could name two more new Justices. By summer, 1937 Hugo Black, Stanley Reed and Felix Frankfurter had been confirmed to the highest court and the number of Justices had increased from nine to twelve.

The new court became embroiled in bitter political arguments and the rancor and stress of these times were considered to be the chief cause of the death of Justice Pierce Butler, who passed away suddenly in September, 1937. This eased the tension some as the court now had an odd number of justices, but by early 1939 Justice George Sutherland and Justice James McReynolds had resigned and the court was back to 9 members.

The result of the turmoil in the Supreme Court was that the President’s New Deal policies were protected. After the passage of the Court Reform Bill of 1937, no New Deal legislation was ever overturned by the Supreme Court. The President’s policy of deficit-funded recovery was safe, and the American economy steadily improved.

Having secured his domestic flank, Roosevelt now turned to foreign policy. The world was a dangerous place in the last half of the 1930s. Roosevelt saw the writing on the wall. He was convinced that Democracy and Dictatorship would come to a show-down. He believed that America had to be ready to not only defend itself, but defend other democracies from aggression. The main problem he faced was the isolationist attitude of the American people.

[tiger2004]

Let America bring demcracy to the opressed world!

[pkdickian]

Before the War: Part 2

International politics in the 1930s was characterized by Fascist aggression against “democratic” states. Roosevelt was strongly anti-Fascist at this time so any state attacked by Fascists could be characterized as “democratic”, although states like Ethiopia, annexed by Italy in 1936, and Nationalist and Communist China and their war-lord allies in the United Front against Japan and Manchukuo stretched the definition of the word democratic.

Il Duce, Benito Mussolini, stomped and stormed his way to a New Roman Empire by annexing Ethiopia and Albania. Der Fuehrer, Adolf Hitler stomped and stormed his way into the Rhineland and Austria and then into the Sudetenland of Czechoslovakia. The democracies of Europe, abhorred the antics of the dictators, but did little, other than prepare for the war they hoped they would be able to avoid.

Roosevelt knew that the war could not be averted forever. He believed that history demand a show-down between the Dictatorships (both Communist and Fascist) and the Democracies. FDR took every opportunity to educate Americans on the dangers that Democracy faced all over the world. In his Fireside Chats he made Americans understand the vital issues that the world faced and the role of what he called the “chosen generation”. He convinced many that the current generation of Americans had been chosen to defend and secure the liberty of Democracy against the global onslaught of the Fascist and Communist dictators. Slowly the isolationist attitudes of Americans gave way to a feeling of destiny and a willingness to fight for what they believed in.

Isolationist leaders, such as William Borah and Charles Lindbergh, continued their campaign to put America’s head in the sand, but more and more they were identified with the dictators of Europe. Hitler and Mussolini, constantly ridiculed in the popular media, lost their popularity among Americans and so did the isolationists.

Meanwhile, Roosevelt worked diligently to improve the equipment, training and readiness of the armed services. The “pork-barrel” industrial development projects began more and more to take a military focus. Technological development focused on improving land units, new models of Fighters and Tactical Bombers and the production of Aircraft Carriers. Early in 1936 meetings involving FDR, Albert Einstein and Robert Oppenheimer resulted in the beginning of a project code-named Manhattan, which would someday result in an Atomic Bomb. Ford Motor Company was given several contracts for the development of modern tanks and frontline repair services. Major General George Patton was given command of the First US Army Armored Corps and was promoted to Lt. General.

Fascist aggression rolled on around the world. A general’s revolt in Spain during the summer of 1936 evolved into an insurrection, then a Civil War and with planes supplied by the Nazis, Generalissimo Franco soon turned the Spanish Republic into not much more than a series of mass graves.

The Japanese took advantage of the Marco Polo Bridge Incident to attack China. Chiang Kai-shek and Mao Tse-tong formed the United Front and all of the warlords joined in to fight the invading Japanese. A long and bloody struggle began that summer of 1937 that would rage for years.

Roosevelt maintained a different attitude about Japan than he kept about the dictatorships of Europe. At times he would rail against the aggressive Japanese and declare a boycott of trade with that country. On the other hand he occasionally supported trade deals with the Japanese. As their military situation in China worsened, Roosevelt’s attacks against the Japanese softened and the USA maintained a wary, but tentatively friendly relationship with the Empire of the Rising Sun.

The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics also presented a unique case for Roosevelt. FDR had no doubt that Josef Stalin was as much a dictator as Hitler or Mussolini and he made it clear that the Communist dictator was as much a threat to Democracy as any other dictator. Yet he recognized the government of the USSR and sent America’s first ambassador to Moscow. Roosevelt went along with the British plan of playing Hitler against Stalin, so the US policy toward the USSR changed with the direction of the political winds.

[pkdickian]

Before the War: Part 3

CBS Morning News August 29, 1939

The news of Europe as it occurs. The world is now awaiting the arrival in Berlin of Sir Neville Henderson, British Ambassador to Germany who took off from England’s Heston Aerodrome nearly three hours ago flying to Berlin with the British cabinet’s answer to German chancellor Adolf Hitler. Now during this broadcast period we shall hear the latest word direct from the two key cities of London and Berlin as CBS representatives speak to us across the ocean by shortwave radio.

First, in London, waiting to speak to us now is the chief of Columbia’s European staff, Mr. Edward R. Murrow. And to hear Mr. Murrow we switch you now to London.

Edward R. Murrow: This is London. Europe is all paradox now. For example one of the few places in Europe where the railway traffic is undisturbed is the Polish Corridor. Germany’s transit arrangements continue to function without a hitch. Trains continue to cross the Corridor and Germany is said to have sent military units across the line.

In London today the Chinese and Japanese ambassadors visited Downing Street, and what’s more they did it together. That’s something the British haven’t seen in many years. At home the British government has issued blackout orders for cities along the British coast and have banned the use of shortwave radios on ocean-going vessels in the British area. I would not be surprised to see over the next 24 hours that steps are taken to impose voluntary censorship over other means of communication.

The first Defense Order or Decree was issued today and increased the government’s emergency powers. For example the decree authorizes compulsory evacuation of people and animals. In other words if the government says you have to go, you have to go whether you like it or not. Compulsory billeting is also provided for, in other words, if you have a house in the country or even an extra room the government might billet two or three people there. Traffic on the roads may be regulated. The carrying of cameras will be prohibited in certain areas. And there’s another provision which states that no-one shall have under his control, nor liberate any homing or racing pigeon. There are more than one hundred items on the list and there may be more to follow.

All in all, this is the most serious war scare we have seen in London since the dramatic events of March, which started with the Massacre in Nanjing quickly followed by the annexation of Czechoslovakia and Albania and Germany’s seizure of Memel from Lithuania. It was this series of events which led to the British alliance with Poland that contributes to the current crisis.

Well, those surprising Russians are still handing out surprises. Voroshilov, the War Minister says there is no reason why the Russians should not supply the Poles with arms and materials, just as the Americans, and incidentally the British, have been supplying them to Japan for the last two years. The feeling is growing here that the agreement with Russia may, at the end of the day, do Germany more harm than good. We will probably have more information on that point after the speeches in Moscow tonight.

As you know, the House of Commons meets tomorrow at 2:45 London time. And I can tell you that the Prime Minister is being urged very strongly not only to outline the recent exchange between Hitler and the British Government, which so far remains secret, but he has today been urged by certain opposition leaders to tell the whole story of the breakdown of negotiations with the Soviet Union. If he does tell that story we shall be in for further surprises. Of course what he says will depend on whether or not he has Hitler’s reply to the message he sent today with Mr. Neville Henderson by air to Berlin.

The possibility of avoiding war has not increased during the day. Government offices are in fact, exceedingly pessimistic. But there is a growing feeling that the strategic position has improved. That Hitler is hesitating. That the Russians might betray the Germans. You are already aware of the reaction in Tokyo and Madrid to Hitler’s “retreat to Moscow.” We are not yet aware of its full effect in Rome. Italy still only has a quarter of its army under arms. And if it stands with Germany in war she will suffer more terrible havoc than will Germany.

As far as I can learn the Poles have not been subjected to any pressure by Britain. No-one could truthfully say that the alliance with Poland has ever aroused any popular enthusiasm in Britain. Britishers know very little about Poland. The necessary historic and sentimental ties are missing. But the matter is not now so much one of Poland as it is of Britain’s pledged word and the determination to move one way or the other out of this twilight of peace. It is difficult to see how there could be any solution along the lines of Hitler’s demands, that is to say any solution that would supply any but temporary relief.

I must say that there are some here that greet the current crisis with a sense of relief. They feel that it is a time for grit and determination and that war is the only solution. They feel that the resulting world order will be better than the one we have fumbled with for the past twenty years. I don’t know, but the decision must be made. The folks here think it will be made in the next thirty-six hours. I return you now to America.

[hurricanehunter]

So, are you going to go to war earlier than IRL?

[pkdickian]

hurricanehunter hmmm. maybe i will.

[pkdickian]

The European War: Part 1

At dawn on August 30, 1939 German military units crossed the border into Poland. German armored divisions overwhelmed Polish border guards and rolled into Danzig less than 24 hours later. The age of the Blitzkrieg was born as the new German military doctrine was unleashed on the antiquated Polish Army. Prime Minister Winston Churchill, still in the process of forming a government after winning election, took immediate action, asking Parliament for a declaration of war. France and the Commonwealth allies were slower, but by September 3rd, they had declared war as well.

In Washington, President Roosevelt’s first response was to enter the war immediately. However after top level meetings with military and Congressional leaders the president was frustrated to find not only were US forces unprepared to enter the war, but a majority of Congress would not support a war declaration against Germany. Using the one fact against the other, FDR managed to bring together enough support in Congress to institute the first peacetime draft in U.S history. Immediate plans went into effect to create six new infantry divisions, six marine divisions and five anti-tank brigades.

Secretly Roosevelt sent observers and advisors to Britain and France to prepare the way for U.S. intervention. By executive order he armed the Merchant Marine fleet in the Atlantic and concluded trade deals for vital materials with Britain and France. Roosevelt’s policy of Armed Neutrality pushed the U.S. as close to war as he was legally able.

Germany’s Blitzkrieg against Poland was swift and deadly. By October 5th Germany had annexed Poland and the secret clauses of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Treaty came to light as Soviet forces rolled into eastern Poland. The Soviet Union attacked Finland a few weeks later and for a while the world feared the Communist and Fascist dictators would join together in conquering the world. Roosevelt’s fireside chat on Thanksgiving taught the American people the definition of Totalitarianism and explained the dire necessity to defend the ideals of Democracy.

Within the U.S. Army, planning continued at a feverish pace. Two Major Generals recently assigned to the General Staff in the newly built Pentagon, Omar Bradley and Dwight Eisenhower took major roles in the preparation of war plans. Bradley established a logistical and training plan to rapidly expand ground forces, so that the size of U.S. forces could be tripled by the fall of 1943. Eisenhower put together the plan for what later was known as Operation Knockout Blow.

The fall of Poland ushered in the phase of the war known as the Sitzkrieg. As German forces redeployed from the eastern front to the western and French troops built their strength within the heavily fortified Maginot Line, the war was fought on the sea and in the air. British and German strategic bombers alternated blows across the English Channel as German fighters battled for control of the skies over France. German submarines wrecked havoc on allied shipping in the North Atlantic while the Royal Navy enforced a tight blockade on the North Sea and the entrance to the Baltic.

[pkdickian]

not just yet, though

[pkdickian]

Presidential Election of 1940: Part 1


The Democratic Party faced a crisis in leadership going into the election for President in 1940. Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the incumbent President, held the reins of power and the majority of support in the party, but having served two terms in the White House tradition said he couldn’t run again. Below Roosevelt the Democratic Party had no-one under which they could unite.

The electoral and government successes of the Democratic Party over the previous decade had swelled the party’s membership. Roosevelt’s broad appeal brought in New Democrats from all parts of the political spectrum, but the party over which he ruled had serious divisions and cracks. Early in the year Roosevelt and other important Democrats had come to the conclusion that only Roosevelt could keep the party together and win the White House in 1940. Roosevelt agreed to a third term, but insisted that he could only be successful if he was drafted by the party membership.

Early in 1940 Secretary of State Cordell Hull and Secretary of Agriculture Henry Wallace announced their candidacy for the Democratic Nomination. Both men kept their cabinet positions and though they campaigned vigorously, many saw them as stalking horses for FDR. The president kept careful neutrality in public; privately he remained friendly with both men, adding fuel to the rumor mill.

Foreign policy dominated the issues of the election campaign, and dictated the fate of the Republican candidates. Building up to the campaign, scheduled for June in Philadelphia, the leading candidates were:

Senator Robert Taft of Ohio: Taft was the insiders candidate, the most successful at fund-raising and sewing up support from the Washington establishment. Taft was a long-time isolationist, firmly against any U.S. involvement in war and firmly against military spending. He also was strongly opposed to Roosevelt’s New Deal. By the first week in March Taft seemed to be the front runner.

District Attorney Thomas Dewey of New York City: Dewey was a young and charismatic figure. He was seen by many as the future of the Republican Party. Leaning toward isolationism, but “with his eyes open to the danger the United States faces” Dewey was seen as the moderate voice on the war.

Things started to change on March 7, 1940 when Adolf Hitler declared war on neutral nations Denmark and Norway. Suddenly the Sitzkrieg was over in the west and Nazi panzers were rolling again. On March 13 Copenhagen surrendered and Denmark became a part of the German Reich. In a controversial decision a rebellious Danish Ambassador gave control of Greenland and Iceland to the United States.



Iceland was the forward base that FDR had been dreaming of and he immediately dispatched George Patton’s new Armored Corps to garrison the island. Patton began planning and training for an allied invasion of Norway. Officially the United States remained neutral.

Events in Europe had their first effect on the Republican candidates for president. Senator Arthur Vandenberg of Michigan announced his candidacy in a strong speech urging U.S. entry in the war in Europe.

His fiery rhetoric struck a chord with worried Republicans and led to a strong backlash against the isolationism of Taft. At a Republican Party meeting in Pittsburg, PA, Taft’s speech on the European situation and the reason the U.S. must stay out, was met with hostility from the crowd. In fact Taft cut his speech short after being pelted with eggs.

A few days later a little-known businessman from Indiana, Wendell Wilkie, gained national attention for a speech on the European war. Wilkie’s thinking on the war was similar to Roosevelt’s. His approach was less fiery than that of Vandenberg and Wilkie was seen as a cooler head. Wilkie for President Clubs began to spring up around the country. Within a week there was a Wilkie club in every state and Wilkie was a serious contender for the nomination.

[pkdickian]

European War: Part 2

CBS Radio
May 6, 1940

Announcer: Eight Fifty five p.m. and time for Elmer Davis and the news, brought to you tonight by the Gillette Safety Razorblade Company. Just time to tell you that today’s improved Gillette Blue blade, made of steel hard enough to cut glass, has the sharpest edges ever produced. That’s why it gives you the quickest, easiest shaves ever. Ask your dealer for Gillette Blue Blade.

Elmer Davis: The first day of the German Blitzkrieg against the Low Countries seems to have met with only moderate success. Both Dutch and Belgians are resisting fiercely and the Belgians have already been reinforced by strong mechanized columns of British and French troops from the Western Front, responding to the call for help sent out by both small nations after they were invaded.

The Dutch and Belgian High Commands flatly say that the invasion has failed. German advance has been greatest were Holland and Belgium meet. They took the Dutch city of Maastricht, swarmed across the projecting tip of Dutch territory and say they have taken some bridges on the Albert canal in Belgium. Farther south they claim to have occupied the town of Malmadie, lost to Belgium by the treaty of Versailles. Attacks on Belgium and France through Luxembourg have been stopped so far at the frontier.

The invasion of the Netherlands seems to have been held at the Eisel River where the town of Arnheim has resisted German attacks. Many, if not most, of the parachute troops dropped all over Holland before dawn this morning have been mopped up by squads of Dutch machine gunners traveling in fast automobiles. The German claim this morning that the Dutch capital, The Hague, had been captured by troops landed on the beach was not correct. Dutch troops and warships repulsed them.

Parachute troops dropped a few miles from Queen Wilhelmina’s palace, with the apparent intent of seizing the Dutch sovereign, were stopped, our Correspondent Edward Harbin reported in an earlier broadcast, by Dutch soldiers who fought them off in the tulip fields. Around Amsterdam, too, the parachuters seem to have been beaten off. There is still fierce fighting going on in Rotterdam, the chief Dutch port.

Italy is still quiet and a broadcast on the Rome radio this evening says it was the blockade more than anything else which prompted Germany to carry the war into new regions where lttle resistance was expected. This is in flat contradiction of the reasons given by the Nazi leaders for the invasion. Ribbentrop’s claim that occupation of the Low Countries anticipated by only a day an allied attack on Germany with Dutch and Belgian consent and Goebbel’s arguments that the Dutch and Belgian governments had plotted a revolution in Germany.

And that’s the news to this moment.

[Doc Grant]

Great AAR with a excellent writing style. It will be interesting to see if you let Wilkie win the nomination. Personally though, my money's on Vandenberg getting the nod. No matter what happens though, I'll keep reading. Keep up the good work.

[pkdickian]

thanks for reading, doc.

[pkdickian]

Presidential Election of 1940: Part 2

Republican National Convention

June 24-28, 1940

The omens were not good as the Republicans gathered in Philadelphia to choose their candidate for President. Lizzie the Elephant, the star attraction at the Philadelphia Zoo, died the day the convention opened. Some feared that the events of the next few days might see the death of the Republican Party. If it was to be death, it would be well documented.

This would be the first national convention to be televised. Of course nearly no Americans owned television sets in 1940. In fact the majority of the television sets in the United States were located across the street from the Convention Hall in the overflow gallery. Spectators who couldn’t squeeze their way into the main Hall could at least watch the proceedings on TV.

The Convention was open, none of the candidates came with a majority. Dewey had the largest number of delegates, nearly 200, and was seen as the front runner. He would need to gain 301 delegates to get the nomination though. Taft’s campaign had faltered badly and he limped into the convention in fifth place, behind Frank Gannet, the newspaper publisher from Rochester, NY. Gannet had never been a serious candidate for the nomination, but did enliven the proceedings by bringing three elephants in his entourage and donating them to the Philadelphia Zoo.

Behind Dewey came Arthur Vandenberg, who controlled the Michigan delegation and had pledges of support from several state delegations. Vandenberg also brought with him a strong politcal organization that was ready to work the delegates and deliver the vote. He loomed as a strong contender for Dewey.

In third place was Wendell Willkie, the relatively unknown businessman from Indiana. Willkie had risen to prominence the previous year by his vocal opposition to Roosevelt’s Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) Rural Electrification Project. This “Pork-Barrel Prosperity” program provided jobs for and brought electricity to the rural Tennessee River Valley, greatly improving the lives of millions of Americans. Willkie, a utility company executive, argued that the government had no business in the utility industry.

Willkie ran an energetic, but unsuccessful campaign against the TVA. His strong oratory style, and shy good looks endeared him to many voters. His progressive Republicanism appealed to the young generation of Republicans, as well as their grandparents who remembered the progressive days of Teddy Roosevelt. Willkie was a Dark Horse candidate; he had no party delegates when the convention opened, his third place standing was based on Gallup polls, that were being published daily. He was not even a registered Republican, having voted Democrat up until 1936.

Willkie had a “secret weapon” as well. He had strong support among a group of newspaper editors who opposed Roosevelt. He was getting lots of good press all over the country every day, boosting his Gallup Poll numbers. The National Willkie for President Club had organized carefully among the spectators and delegates. The spectator galleries were jam-packed with rabid Willkie supports, many of them young girls. These “Wilkettes” burst into huge emotional demonstrations, sometimes holding up Convention business for 10-15 minutes, every time Willkie’s name was mentioned. Pandemonium reigned for over 90 minutes when he was nominated.

In Europe the Nazi forces were building in the Low Countries and pushing toward Paris. Soviet forces were moving into the Baltic States, which Stalin annexed one by one. The USSR announced the annexation of Latvia on June 25, the second day of the convention. Lithuania followed on July 2 and Estonia on July 5.

Harold Stassen, Governor of Minnesota, gave a tepid keynote address which failed to mention the war in Europe, much less the war in Asia. As if by common agreement none of the speakers mentioned the world situation or foreign policy at all. The speeches consisted mainly of attacks against Roosevelt in general and specific New Deal programs in detail.

Dewey did well on the first ballot, especially after Taft bowed out in his favor. He didn’t quite make it to the magic number 501, and the balloting went on. Dewey lost his chance on that first ballot, his numbers dwindled steadily on the succeeding ballots as Vandenberg and Willkie gained. On the fourth ballot Willkie took the lead, but he was still a bit shy of the magic 501.

"Not since the turbulent 1920 convention which finally led to the nomination of the ill-fated Harding had the Republicans staged such a fierce fight," wrote a [Philadelphia] Record reporter. "Both candidates (Vandenberg and Willkie) went into the sixth round fighting furiously. The convention floor was the scene of hectic activity as the rival managers dashed back and forth fighting desperately for votes."

Finally at 1 a.m. on Friday the sixth roll call was completed. Wendell Willkie was the Republican candidate for President. Senator Charles McNary, of Oregon, was nominated as Vice President. When reporters asked McNary about Willkie, he said, “I’ve never met the man, myself, but I consider him to be an excellent candidate.”

[pkdickian]

Vandenberg didn't quite make it

[Doc Grant]

Shoot. Well, it will still be interesting to see who wins and when they will decide to enter WW2.

[pkdickian]

Presidential Election of 1940: Part 3
Democratic National Convention
July 15-19, 1940

Franklin Delano Roosevelt did not attend the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. Officially he was not even a candidate, but he was the dominant figure at the convention from the moment it opened.

Officially the President was on duty at the White House keeping an eye on the deteriorating military position of France as the Germans sped toward Paris. Unofficially he kept very close tabs on what was happening in Chicago and pulling the strings that would win him nomination to a third term.

Cordell Hull, Roosevelt’s Secretary of State, and Henry Wallace, Secretary of Agriculture, were the official candidates for the Democratic nomination. They had been campaigning for months, each appealing to a different part of the Democratic Party. Hull appealed to the conservative wing, and the Southern Democrats. Wallace appealed to Labor and the so-called “New Deal Democrats” new voters who had joined the party in response to Roosevelt and the New Deal. The two campaigns served to bring the divisions in the Democratic Party into stark relief. The more Wallace and Hull campaigned, the clearer it became that the Democrats needed Roosevelt.

The convention opened on July 15 with the usual welcoming speeches and nominating speeches for Wallace and Hull. On the morning of July 16, Senator Alben W. Barkley of Kentucky addressed the crowd with a rousing speech in support of the New Deal. At the end of his speech Barkley read the following statement from the President.

I and other close friends of the President have long known that he has no wish to be a candidate again. We know, too, that in no way whatsoever has he exerted any influence in the selection of delegates or upon the opinions of delegates.

Tonight, at the specific request and authorization of the President, I am making this simple fact clear to the Convention.

The President has never had, and has not today, any desire or purpose to continue in the office of President, to be a candidate for that office, or to be nominated by the Convention for that office.

He wishes in all earnestness and sincerity to make it clear that all the delegates to this Convention are free to vote for any candidate.

That is the message I bear to you from the President of the United States.


Later that day a roll call vote was announced for the first ballot. One by one the state delegations cast their votes for FDR. A few token delegates went to Hull and Wallace, but an overwhelming majority went for Roosevelt and he was elected the Democratic nominee on the first ballot.

The choice of Vice President became contentious, however. The conservative wing opposed Roosevelt’s choice, Henry Wallace. They rallied around Senator Key Pittman of Nevada as candidate for Vice President.

July 18 began with a fight brewing on the issue of the running-mate. Quietly organizers made their way through the delegation spreading the word that Roosevelt would not accept the nomination without Wallace. That afternoon Eleanor Roosevelt addressed the convention on her husband’s behalf. She spoke of the dire world situation and the need for everyone to do their duty for the nation. She spoke of the need to have the right man in the right position. She did not accept the nomination for her husband, but she made it clear that if the delegates did their duty FDR would be their candidate.

It took two ballots but by the end of the day Henry Wallace was the Democratic nominee for Vice President. The next day FDR addressed the convention by radio, saying:

In times like these--in times of great tension, of great crisis-the compass of the world narrows to a single fact. The fact which dominates our world is the fact of armed aggression, the fact of successful armed aggression, aimed at the form of Government, the kind of society that we in the United States have chosen and established for ourselves. It is a fact which no one longer doubts -which no one is longer able to ignore.

It is not an ordinary war. It is a revolution imposed by force of arms, which threatens all men everywhere. It is a revolution which proposes not to set men free but to reduce them to slavery--to reduce them to slavery in the interest of a dictatorship which has already shown the nature and the extent of the advantage which it hopes to obtain.

That is the fact which dominates our world and which dominates the lives of all of us, each and every one of us. In the face of the danger which confronts our time, no individual retains or can hope to retain, the right of personal choice which free men enjoy in times of peace. He has a first obligation to serve in the defense of our institutions of freedom--a first obligation to serve his country in whatever capacity his country finds him useful.

Like most men of my age, I had made plans for myself, plans for a private life of my own choice and for my own satisfaction, a life of that kind to begin in January, 1941. These plans, like so many other plans, had been made in a world which now seems as distant as another planet. Today all private plans, all private lives, have been in a sense repealed by an overriding public danger. In the face of that public danger all those who can be of service to the Republic have no choice but to offer themselves for service in those capacities for which they may be fitted.

Those, my friends, are the reasons why I have had to admit to myself, and now to state to you, that my conscience will not let me turn my back upon a call to service.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Henry A Wallace
Democratic Nominees of 1940.

[pkdickian]

European War: Part 3

CBS -NBC Joint Broadcast
August 15, 1940

William L. Shirer: Here, a few feet from where we’re standing, in the very same old railroad coach where the Armistice was signed on that chilly morning of November 11, 1918, negotiations for another Armistice, to end the present war between France and Germany began at 3:30pm German Summer Time this afternoon. What a turning back of the clock, what a reversing of history we’ve been watching here in this beautiful Compiegne forest this afternoon. What a contrast to that day nearly 22 years ago, yes even the weather. For we’ve had one of those lovely warm midsummer days which you get in this part of France close to Paris about this time of year.

As we stood here watching Adolf Hitler and Field Marshall Goering and the other German leaders laying down the terms of Armistice to the French plenipotentiaries here this afternoon, it was difficult to comprehend that in this rustic little clearing in the midst of a forest in Compiegne, from where we are talking to you now, an Armistice was signed here on a cold gray morning at 5:00am on November 11, 1918.

The railroad coach, it was Marshall Foche’s private car, stands a few feet away from us here, in exactly that same spot where it stood on that gray morning nearly 22 years ago. Only, and what an “only” it is, Adolf Hitler sat in the seat that was occupied that day by Marshall Foche. Hitler at that time was only an unknown corporal in the German Army. And in that quaint old wagon-lit car another Armistice is being drawn up as I speak to you now.

An Armistice that was designed, like the other, to bring armed hostilities to a halt between those ancient enemies Germany and France. Only everything, everything that we have been seeing here this afternoon in the Compiegne forest has been so reversed. The last time the representatives of France sat in that car dictating the terms of the armistice. This afternoon we peered through the windows of the car and saw Adolf Hitler laying down the terms. Thus does history reverse itself, but seldom has it done so, as today, on the very same spot.

The German leader, in the preamble to the conditions, which were read to the French delegates by Colonel General von Keitel, chief of the German Supreme Command, told the French that he had not chosen this spot outside of Compiegne out of revenge, but merely to right an old wrong.

The Armistice negotiations here on the same spot where the last Armistice was signed in 1918 began at 3:15pm our time. A warm August sun beat down on the great elm and pine trees and cast pleasant shadows on the wooded avenues, as Herr Hitler, with the German plenipotentiaries at his side, appeared. He alighted from his car in front of the French monument to Alsace-Lorraine, which stands at the end of the avenue about 200 yards from the clearing here in front of us where the Armistice car stands. That famous Alsace-Lorraine statue was covered with German war flags, so that you can not see its sculpture work nor read its inscription.

I’ve seen it many times in the post-war years, as doubtless many of you have seen it. It is a large sword, representing the sword of the Allies with its point sticking into a large, limp eagle representing the old empire of the Kaiser. And the inscription underneath in French, saying, “To the heroic soldiers of France, defenders of the country and of right. Glorious liberators of Alsace-Lorraine.

Through our glasses, we saw the Fuehrer stop, glance at the statue, observe the Reich’s war flags, with their big swastikas in the center, and then he turned slowly toward us. Toward the little clearing where the famous Armistice car stood. I thought he looked very solemn. His face was grave, but there was a certain spring to his step as he walked for the first time towards the spot where Germany’s fate was sealed on that November day of 1918. A fate, which by reason of his owns deeds, is now being radically changed here on this spot.

[pkdickian]

Alliance: Part 1

The Secret Conference

October 3, 1940

Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Winston Churchill met for approximately five hours aboard a U.S. Warship off the coast of Canada on October 3, 1940. The meeting was kept secret, because both men felt it could be dangerous to Roosevelt’s re-election if it came out. At the meeting Roosevelt offered to enter the war against Germany immediately. German U-boot activity in the North Atlantic had already claimed a number of U.S. merchant ships and FDR felt he had enough support in the nation and in Congress for a war declaration.

Churchill urged caution. He felt that Roosevelt’s re-election was too important to the war effort and nothing should be done to jeopardize it. He also pointed out that U.S. forces available for operations in Europe were not exactly impressive, although they were growing quickly. At current strength, they could provide nothing more than nuisance value against the Nazis. Churchill also felt that the Royal Air Force and Navy were able to hold off an invasion of Britain for the foreseeable future. In Africa the British had the Italians on the run, expecting soon to have mopped up both Ethiopia and Libya.

The two men agreed that the U.S. would provide supplies, equipment and raw materials to Britain, while building their military power and keeping a masquerade of neutrality. They also agreed to meet again the following March in Rekjavik, Iceland. It was hoped at that time that Roosevelt would be safely re-elected and the two men could come to some agreement on war aims and strategy to end the threat of Nazi Germany once and for all.

[pkdickian]

European War: Part 4

War Among Fascists: The Hungary-Romania Fiasco

September 5, 1940 – November 4, 1940

One of the least remembered episodes of World War Two was the brief war fought in Eastern Europe shortly after the fall of France. After his triumphant appearance at Compiegne, dictating peace to the French, Adolf Hitler was at the height of his power. With an empire extending from the Bay of Biscay to the Vistula, from a puppet government in the south of France to the edge of the Arctic Circle in northern Norway Hitler was all-powerful. His non-aggression pact with Russia was holding and his main enemy, Great Britain was under air attack and cowering on their little island.

At the height of his power Hitler was called on as mediator of border disputes in the New Europe. The first case to come before Der Fuehrer was brought by Hungary, junior member of the Axis, along with Italy and the puppet-state Slovakia. Gyula Gombos, head of the Hungarian Fascist Party and de-facto ruler of Hungary claimed that Hungary had an ancient historic claim to Transylvania. In addition the minority Hungarian population of Transylvania was being systematically oppressed by the Romanian government.

On September 5, 1940 Hitler issued a decree, which became known as the Vienna Diktat. In it Hitler recognized Hungary’s right to political control of Transylvania. Horia Sima, head of the Romanian Iron Circle Party and de-facto ruler of Romania, had been flirting with Hitler for months over Romania’s joining the Axis. Sima resisted, preferring not to be a junior partner to Hitler, who Sima personally despised. Sima saw Hitler’s decree as a personal slap and decided it was time to teach the upstart Germans a lesson.

Romania declared war on Hungary and General Antonescu captured the Hungarian city of Debrecen without firing a shot. The Hungarian Army was poorly trained and quite badly equipped. Romania had a solid corps of senior officers and well-equipped troops, but a fairly small army. Sima envisioned a blitzkrieg that would capture Budapest and then present Hitler with a fait accompli, reversing the Vienna Diktat.

Hitler had other plans. Hungary did not have an army capable of defending itself from an aggressive foe, but they did have a strong alliance. German forces, fresh from fighting in France poured into Hungary and Sima’s blitzkrieg was reversed. German troops soon captured Bucharest and Sima was shot by a firing squad. A new decree, the Budapest Diktat, issued November 4, 1940 gave Hungary control over all formerly Romanian territory.

Patton's view from Iceland November, 1940.

[stabsoffizier]

aar is quite nice so far. why didn't you already take military action against germany?