Instead of the hushed tones and hagiography of the FDR-sycophants, a study of those closest to Roosevelt, and closest to the communists, poses important questions about Franklin Roosevelt, and his intentions.
1. For whatever reason, FDR wasted no time in welcoming the sociopath of the community of nations, the USSR, with open arms.
He assumed office in March of 1933, and on
November 16th, 1933, signed a worthless agreement with Litvinov,
recognizing the USSR.
Four previous Presidents and six Secretaries of State had refused to do same. What did they know that FDR didn't know.....or did he know?
2. Ironic....normalizing relations with the least normal of nations.
The major thesis of Diana West's block-buster, "American Betrayal: The Secret Assault on Our Nation's Character, " is that
the acts of FDR in this endeavor, led to the moral breakdown of our nation. Once the horrors of the Holocaust became known, Progressives, who had earlier loudly proclaimed
kinship with both Hitler and Mussolini, scattered like roaches when the lights are switched on.
Yet...they clung...and cling....to the Soviet murderers and cutthroats to this day.
It is worth considering.
a. If one need an explanation for the postmodernism, the moral relativism that pervades our society....Don't miss West's exposition.
3. But, to move on to a brighter light in the historic firmament, there was
FDR close friend, on equally a Sovietophile, William Christian Bullitt, Jr.
Also an extreme Liberal, a radical, he had worked for Woodrow Wilson, and, of course, was a fervent believer in internationalism.
"Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed Bullitt
the first US ambassador to the Soviet Union, a post that he filled from 1933 to 1936."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Christian_Bullitt,_Jr.
4. An aside here...William Bullitt, Jr., was not, it seems, the brightest light in his own family. At the same time that the press was trumpeting his role in the Roosevelt/Litvinov Agreement, "Soviet Pact Held Bullitt Triumph,"
his uncle, Archdeacon James F. Bullitt, was making headlines of his own: "Bullitt's Uncle Says Soviet Deal Disgraces The United States." 'Russia will keep no promises with us."
"For the President Personal & Secret: Correspondence Between Franklin D. Roosevelt and William C. Bullitt," Orville H. Bullitt, p. 82
5. Ambassador
Bullitt soon recognized the truth. Every 'pledge,' 'promise,' and 'assurance," that
the Soviets had tricked Roosevelt into believing- if 'believing' is the accurate explanation- on war debt, on the treatment of American nationals and property in the USSR, on religious freedom, on subversion in the United States, and, of course, on fomenting revolution in the United States, was worthless. As dense a Liberal as Bullitt was, he saw Stalin convene the world's Communist parties, including the American Communist Party (CPUSA), in the Seventh World Congress of the Communist International, 1935. CPUSA leaders Earl Browder and William Foster took leading roles. So much for the pledges.
West, "American Betrayal," p. 197.
a. "This not only proved that [the Soviets] still pursued the goal of world revolution, but it also proved that they were breaking their promise in the letters exchanged between Roosevelt and Litvinov in November 1933 which stipulated that Moscow would have nothing to do with the American Communist Party."
Dunn, "Caught Between Roosevelt and Stalin," p. 49.
6. Bullitt suggested that Roosevelt would feel obliged to break relations. He was wrong. "If we should not [break relations] the Soviet Government would be convinced that it could break its pledges with impunity and would feel free to direct actively the American communist movement."
Bullitt, Op. Cit., p. 130-131.
See what I mean about FDR pushing America down the path to moral relativism?
Future ambassador William H. Standley gave similar advice to FDR.....which he also ignored.
a. "... he later became an outspoken anticommunist..... Though Bullitt arrived in the Soviet Union with high hopes for Soviet-American relations, his view of the Soviet leadership soured on closer inspection. By the end of his tenure he was openly hostile to the Soviet government. He remained an outspoken anticommunist for the rest of his life."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Christian_Bullitt,_Jr.
Ambassador Bullitt was sent to Moscow by FDR and was a witness, a primary source, sending the cables to FDR.
He learned first hand the horrors of communism.
But not FDR.
FDR, Bullitt...and the fork in the road.
Still think we took the right...er, left one, as the correct course?
