I see that an earlier OP on Lend-Lease stirred up a lot of discussion among history buffs.
So...a closer examination of FDR's brilliant plan might be in order.
The following might prove interesting.
1. There is copious evidence that Russia gained immense amounts of material via Lend-Lease, both during and after the war. This included material for their atomic bomb. The man in charge of Lend-Lease was Harry Hopkins, and there is evidence that Hopkins was an agent of the USSR.
2. How did the idea of Lend-Lease come about?
a. "How Roosevelt arrived at this ingenious idea, which cut through all the stale debates in Washington about loans and gifts, is unclear."
Doris Kearns Goodwin, "No Ordinary Time," p. 193.
b. Goodwin quotes Robert Sherwood, [author, "Roosevelt and Hopkins: An Intimate History"] who describes a conversation with Hopkins in which he, Hopkins, claimed that during a fishing trip with Roosevelt, "he suddenly came out with it (Lend-Lease)- the whole programme."
c. "One can only say that Roosevelt, a creative artist in politics, had put in his time on this cruise evolving the pattern of a masterpiece."
Sherwood, "The White House Papers of Harry L Hopkins Vol 1 Sept. 1939 - January 1942," p. 223.
d. I really like Labor Secretary Frances Perkins' description of Roosevelt's Lend-Lease plan as "a flash of almost clairvoyant knowledge and understanding."
Goodwin, Op. Cit.
Wadda guy! Brilliant!
Maybe FDR is the messiah that many believe him to be....
3. But what if Roosevelt didn't come up with the idea at all. What if someone else did?
Now, who would have benefited most from this idea?
Hmmm.....
a. "The millionaire industrialist, Armand Hammer played a key role in laying the foundations of Lend-Lease. As a dyed-in-the-wool collaborator of Lenin´s and Stalins in procuring Western, especially American, assistance in the industrialization of the USSR..... in November 1940
Armand Hammer met with FDR in the White House. He and the president discussed the idea of developing American military assistance to Britain, the Neutrality Act and Roosevelts campaign promises not to embroil the United States in the European war to the contrary.
Roosevelt thereupon suggested to Hammer that he discuss this plan with Harry Hopkins. Hopkins twice traveled to New York City, Hammer´s base of operations, to discuss this idea with officials and businessmen there. Roosevelt?s Lend-Lease Act: The Arm and Hammer / Hammer and Sickle Connection | Justice for Germans
b. The program was finally authorized by Congress and signed into effect on March 11, 1941. By November, after much heated debate, Congress extended the terms of Lend-Lease to the Soviet Union, even though the USSR had already been the recipient of American military weapons and had been promised $1 billion in financial aid. FDR signs Lend-Lease ? History.com This Day in History ? 3/11/1941
4. From a review of "Dossier: The Secret History of Armand Hammer," by Edward Jay Epstein: The meticulously documented exposé of a celebrated American philanthropist - and traitor - that reads like a classic thriller.
New York Times Book Review Notable Book of the Year
Winner of the Financial Times Book Award
The dossier on Hammer tells another story. With unprecedented access to the files of both American and Soviet intelligence agencies as well as Hammer's own secretly taped conversations, investigative author Edward Jay Epstein lays bare the appalling fraud, unconscionable corruption, international treachery, and personal betrayal that indict beyond doubt this ruthlessly manipulative opportunist who courted American presidents and conspired with every Soviet leader from Lenin to Gorbachev.[ame=http://www.amazon.com/Dossier-Secret-History-Armand-Hammer/dp/B000GG4HG6]Amazon.com: Dossier: The Secret History of Armand Hammer: Edward Jay Epstein: Books[/ame]
5. And this about the man who shared lunches with Roosevelt, and Harry Hopkins: "Hammer sometimes claimed that his father had named him after a character, Armand Duval, in La Dame aux Camélias, a novel by Alexandre Dumas, fils.
In fact, according to multiple biographers, Hammer was named after the "arm and hammer" graphic symbol of the Socialist Labor Party of America(SLP), in which his father, a committed socialist, had a leadership role at one time.[8]
(After the Russian Revolution, a part of the SLP under Julius' leadership split off to become a founding element of the Communist Party USA.) Later in his life, Hammer confirmed that this was the origin of his given name.[2]" Armand Hammer - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Seems that there are a lot of dots that need be connected....
Could it be that the brilliant FDR was not that brilliant.....and, in fact, was a dupe of the USSR?
So...a closer examination of FDR's brilliant plan might be in order.
The following might prove interesting.
1. There is copious evidence that Russia gained immense amounts of material via Lend-Lease, both during and after the war. This included material for their atomic bomb. The man in charge of Lend-Lease was Harry Hopkins, and there is evidence that Hopkins was an agent of the USSR.
2. How did the idea of Lend-Lease come about?
a. "How Roosevelt arrived at this ingenious idea, which cut through all the stale debates in Washington about loans and gifts, is unclear."
Doris Kearns Goodwin, "No Ordinary Time," p. 193.
b. Goodwin quotes Robert Sherwood, [author, "Roosevelt and Hopkins: An Intimate History"] who describes a conversation with Hopkins in which he, Hopkins, claimed that during a fishing trip with Roosevelt, "he suddenly came out with it (Lend-Lease)- the whole programme."
c. "One can only say that Roosevelt, a creative artist in politics, had put in his time on this cruise evolving the pattern of a masterpiece."
Sherwood, "The White House Papers of Harry L Hopkins Vol 1 Sept. 1939 - January 1942," p. 223.
d. I really like Labor Secretary Frances Perkins' description of Roosevelt's Lend-Lease plan as "a flash of almost clairvoyant knowledge and understanding."
Goodwin, Op. Cit.
Wadda guy! Brilliant!
Maybe FDR is the messiah that many believe him to be....
3. But what if Roosevelt didn't come up with the idea at all. What if someone else did?
Now, who would have benefited most from this idea?
Hmmm.....
a. "The millionaire industrialist, Armand Hammer played a key role in laying the foundations of Lend-Lease. As a dyed-in-the-wool collaborator of Lenin´s and Stalins in procuring Western, especially American, assistance in the industrialization of the USSR..... in November 1940
Armand Hammer met with FDR in the White House. He and the president discussed the idea of developing American military assistance to Britain, the Neutrality Act and Roosevelts campaign promises not to embroil the United States in the European war to the contrary.
Roosevelt thereupon suggested to Hammer that he discuss this plan with Harry Hopkins. Hopkins twice traveled to New York City, Hammer´s base of operations, to discuss this idea with officials and businessmen there. Roosevelt?s Lend-Lease Act: The Arm and Hammer / Hammer and Sickle Connection | Justice for Germans
b. The program was finally authorized by Congress and signed into effect on March 11, 1941. By November, after much heated debate, Congress extended the terms of Lend-Lease to the Soviet Union, even though the USSR had already been the recipient of American military weapons and had been promised $1 billion in financial aid. FDR signs Lend-Lease ? History.com This Day in History ? 3/11/1941
4. From a review of "Dossier: The Secret History of Armand Hammer," by Edward Jay Epstein: The meticulously documented exposé of a celebrated American philanthropist - and traitor - that reads like a classic thriller.
New York Times Book Review Notable Book of the Year
Winner of the Financial Times Book Award
The dossier on Hammer tells another story. With unprecedented access to the files of both American and Soviet intelligence agencies as well as Hammer's own secretly taped conversations, investigative author Edward Jay Epstein lays bare the appalling fraud, unconscionable corruption, international treachery, and personal betrayal that indict beyond doubt this ruthlessly manipulative opportunist who courted American presidents and conspired with every Soviet leader from Lenin to Gorbachev.[ame=http://www.amazon.com/Dossier-Secret-History-Armand-Hammer/dp/B000GG4HG6]Amazon.com: Dossier: The Secret History of Armand Hammer: Edward Jay Epstein: Books[/ame]
5. And this about the man who shared lunches with Roosevelt, and Harry Hopkins: "Hammer sometimes claimed that his father had named him after a character, Armand Duval, in La Dame aux Camélias, a novel by Alexandre Dumas, fils.
In fact, according to multiple biographers, Hammer was named after the "arm and hammer" graphic symbol of the Socialist Labor Party of America(SLP), in which his father, a committed socialist, had a leadership role at one time.[8]
(After the Russian Revolution, a part of the SLP under Julius' leadership split off to become a founding element of the Communist Party USA.) Later in his life, Hammer confirmed that this was the origin of his given name.[2]" Armand Hammer - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Seems that there are a lot of dots that need be connected....
Could it be that the brilliant FDR was not that brilliant.....and, in fact, was a dupe of the USSR?
