During a business trip to New York in June 1940, Elliott stopped over in Washington to stay with his parents in the White House. Over breakfast Elliott pressed his Dad about business taxes, but for both men their minds were really on other business.
The American press had speculated all through Spring on whether FDR would run again for the Presidency. Already knowing his father’s intentions to continue to lead America through the turbulent war period, Elliott had been taken by how rapidly events had unfolded in Europe.
September 1939 Germany invaded Poland, prompting Great Britain and France to declare war on Germany. Two weeks later, countering the advance of Germany, the Soviet Union invaded eastern Poland, and Poland was divided when it surrendered. December 1939 the Soviet Union invaded Finland and in March 1940 Finland ceded territory for armistice. Spring 1940 Germany invaded and annexed Denmark and Norway followed by Western Europe and by June controlled Luxembourg, the Netherlands and the northern half of France including the Atlantic coastline.
Elliott discussed with FDR what other young men in America had increasingly wondered that Spring of 1940 – whether he should enlist in the armed forces. He wanted to know whether his father had any thoughts on it in relation to he and his brothers. Giving little away, and in his usual liberal-minded style of parenting and mentorship, his Dad left it entirely a matter for Elliott’s own conscience. Through a Texas summer the gravity of the situation in Europe broke through Elliott’s dissonance, along with that of many other observant Americans, and by August Elliott was at the War Department in Washington discussing with Army Airforce contacts how he could serve. He kept his commission as a Captain in the procurement division, having failed the medical for a pilot, quiet from his family – and especially father – until September when it became official.
Between appointments with Cabinet members Elliott slipped into the office and placed the notification before his Dad. With eyes welling with tears, and a heart swelling with pride, FDR looked upon the first of his sons to volunteer, cleared his choaked throat enough for the five words to audibly clear his lips – “I’m very proud of you.” No mention was made of how previous Roosevelts had served in the Navy.
That night when Elliott came to his Dad’s bedroom to say goodnight he lingered while they discussed how Elliott felt about his commission, and they talked plainly – as plainly as a President could to only those he most trusted from his lonely position, his flesh and blood – of his hopes for the future. They talked broadly about geopolitics, and specifically why the US was still supplying Japan with scrap iron knowing that it equated to Chinese casualties in Manchuria – FDR was concerned that Japan might consider withdrawal of supply a provocation and he accepted that it was essentially an act of appeasement (a vulgar word and concept in those fraught times).
Father and son parted that evening closer than ever before; a deep family bond that FDR would count on, along with his other children, at critical times over the remaining years of his life which were more impactful than almost any other human to walk the Earth in modern times.
Concerned about Germany’s rapid advance westward, and even though he had told his closest political confidant James Farley that he will not contest thereby leaving the field open for Farley’s own political ambitions, aided by political party bosses fearful that no other Democrat could beat the charismatic Republican candidate Wendell Willkie, FDR easily carries the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. Eleanor Roosevelt vouching for his new VP, Wallace from Iowa, after his previous VP Garner ran against him on the basis of FDR’s liberal economic and social policies, was a pivotal moment in the convention.
The Republican nominee Willkie supported intervention in the European crisis, and the rapidly evolving events there in late Spring ahead of the Republican National Convention was a clear catalyst for him defeating highly favoured isolationist candidates by coming from obscurity and claiming the nomination with rapidly growing, widespread public support. So unexpected was the result to Willkie, himself, that he had not decided on a running mate, and allowed that decision to be made by the convention chairman.
The 1940 election was a highly charged affair. Though extremely popular in some circles, in other circles Willkie was seen as a symbol of ‘big business’ which had caused the Great Depression and was often the target of hurled rotten fruit and vegetables when campaigning in working class regions. Willkie at first argued that FDR had left the nation unprepared for war, but then swung 180 degrees suggesting that FDR was secretly planning to take the nation to war after some details of war preparations were publicly released.
In the days ahead of the 1940 US Presidential election, FDR declared on a national radio broadcast that he would “not send any American boys to a foreign war” even though Britain had been engaged in influencing the election for an FDR win as they knew he was sympathetic.
FDR won the 1940 election resoundingly and remains the only US president to serve more than 2 terms.
Elliott was based in Newfoundland in March of 1941 conducting aerial reconnaissance against Nazi submarine operations which aimed to disrupt American supplies to Britain via the North Atlantic as a part of ‘lend-lease agreements”, and he participated in an operation to locate suitable staging points for the delivery of American war materiel to Britain. He had his first experience of war when he spent a few weeks in London towards the end of the Nazi aerial blitz.
In August 1941 Elliott was ordered to fly the general commanding American forces to Argentia. When the bay came into view, they observed it to be full to the brim with warships. FDR and his military chiefs were there to meet the British PM Churchill and military counterparts to negotiate the Atlantic Charter which made explicit America’s support for Britain in the war and laid out the principles by which America and Britain would seek to influence world affairs, critically promoting free global trade and economic co-operation for the advancement of all peoples along with disarmament of all nations once peace had been secured. FDR held all the cards, even though statesman Churchill played his hand to the fullest, conceding that although America was insistent that Britain move beyond its much-advantaged colonialist position in the postwar period, he knew that “without America, the Empire won’t stand”.
Elliott’s brother, James, was also present, and both were on hand for much of the sparring between Churchill and FDR over Britain’s colonial prestige, as well as for private chats with their father, which the official proceedings and outcomes showed clearly favoured FDR’s position which aimed to improve the living conditions for broad humanity.
Talks concluded, Elliott stood by FDR’s side on the ‘Augusta’, his Dad’s arm on his, as the ‘Prince of Wales’ set out to sea for an uncertain, war-wearied Britain. Father and son quickly said their goodbyes and parted, not knowing when or under what circumstances they may next meet.
Back State-side in the Fall of ’41, Elliott found the prevailing mood disconnected as friends cajoled him to lay down his uniform and avail himself of some of the many sweet business opportunities present in a rebounding US economy. That dissonance was disrupted December 7th as Japan attacked the U.S. Naval Base at Pearl Harbour. Summoned back to base, before word of the attack had spread, and following two hours of anxious attempts, Elliott was put through to his Dad by the White House switchboard operator. FDR was buzzing with the focused energy of a high voltage transmission line. He asked his son first how he was and then what had he heard. After Elliott had listed the many rumours he had heard in those few hours, FDR asked that he keep him informed of any developments as he placed down the phone, leaving Elliott puzzled by the hectic and unidirectional flow of information in their chat.
The next day FDR addressed Congress which voted to declare war on Japan and Germany, thereby America entering World War II. Only one person in Congress voted against, Jeanette Rankin who said “As a woman I can’t go to war and I refuse to send anyone else”. Rankin was the first woman to hold office in the US and was a pacifist. After the vote she needed a police escort.
January ’42 and Elliott was summoned by highly secretive orders to First Mapping Group at Bolling Field in Washington. He was to join operation ‘Rusty Project’, conducting aerial intelligence and mapping over northern Africa. Even the code name bellied its inconsequential nature to Elliott. A departing conversation with his Dad, one of their regular (when circumstances permitted) ‘post breakfast, pre work chats’, set Elliott straight on the critical importance of the operation being to secure the Mediterranean supply route. Even then, however, his location in northern Africa was likely more than opportune.
Around this time, unknown to most, FDR authorised the go ahead for the Manhattan project to develop an atomic bomb, responding in handwriting directly on a report from American scientists and asking they keep the only copy on site. America had been conducting background research since the famous physicist Albert Einstein wrote to Roosevelt in 1939 warning that the Nazis were working on developing an atomic bomb.
A year later, and two months into Allied operations in Africa, Elliott was again required to undertake highly secretive orders – this time he had an inkling of the nature of these orders, however, as his mother had mentioned as much when they spent a night together in London a few months earlier. Elliott arrived at the Casablanca Conference in January 1943, a few days ahead of his father’s arrival, and was again to act as an aide in his father’s meeting with Churchill, and, it was hoped, with Stalin.
FDR arrived by Douglas C-54 Skymaster. As they waited together for “the sacred cow” to land, the nickname later given to the Presidential flying monstrosity, Elliott mentioned to Mike Reilly, head of the Secret Service agents in charge of securing the President’s safety, that it was actually the first time his Dad had flown in a plane in over 10 years. Reilly’s body language as he responded revealed the true depths of his anxious deliberations.
“It’s a lot more firsts than that. It’s the first time any President has ever used a plane to travel outside the States. In fact, it’s the first time a President has ever used a plane, inside or outside the country, on official or unofficial business.”
His spirits still aloft by what he had just experienced and seen, for the entire ride in an old French limousine that had been requisitioned to carry them to their compound FDR spoke enthusiastically about the importance of experiencing prevailing flying conditions for himself for the first time since his Naval days. As they continued to reconnect later that evening when Elliott bid his Dad good night in his bedroom, after a small evening gathering with Churchill and his most trusted aides, merging his thoughts from his travel, and especially his observations and learnings on the ground and from the air over Africa, with the saliency of the conference, FDR was concerned for the conditions of colonialised people. It was clear that this element of great contention would continue to feature in the personal and professional exchanges between these great Allied leaders.
In a charged atmosphere where the British had continually argued to relocate to perceived safer ground in Marakesh, and as the two leaders communicated with Stalin via telegram as being a serving military commander he felt unable to be further than a day’s flight from Moscow, Britain and America hashed out a winning strategy for the Allied forces, always with a clear view to the following peace. As he saw it, Elliott gathered that FDR was especially alert to Churchill seeking to influence strategy in a way to maximise British prestige and power in the postwar period, and it was through this lens the FDR considered Churchill’s argument to focus Allied forces through the Balkans to ameliorate Russia’s postwar influence over eastern Europe, over the American preference for northern France.
That disagreement of strategy would play out between the Americans and British for several years, all the while American war production cranked on to provide the Allies an overwhelming advantage. Similarly, the British objected to the proportion of American war goods being allocated to Russia as opposed to Britain in the Allied lend-lease agreements; of course Britain argued for a greater share, but with only one eye on protecting Britain from attacks by the enemy Axis.
Agreeing to a prior movement of Allied forces northward through Sicily prior to the cross-channel invasion, and to increasing actions in the Pacific theatre, the conference concluded but with underlying tension remaining on strategy with a view to postwar power struggles.
With the conference proceedings finalised, once more father and son bid their goodbyes, but there was just enough time for FDR to underline what was truly on his mind that day in northern Africa:
“I’ve tried to make it clear to Winston – and the others – that while we’re their allies, and in it to victory by their side, they must never get the idea that we’re in it just to help them hang on to the archaic, medieval Empire ideas. I hope they realise they’re not senior partner; that we’re not going to sit by, after we’ve won, and watch their system stultify the growth of every country in Asia and half the countries in Europe to boot… Great Britain signed the Atlantic Charter. I hope they realise the United States government means to make them live up to it.”
A knock at the door notified the President of his appointment with the Commander-in-Chief of the French North African fleet, and again they parted not knowing when they would again meet, but not before Elliott asked his Dad to give a kiss to his Mum and to look after himself, likely in part a recognition that Elliott had become increasingly perceptive of the strain of leadership through a harrowing decade on his father.
After leading the photographic reconnaissance for operation Huskey, the Allied invasion of Sicily, and with Allied troops in firm control now in Sicily, Elliott was summoned back for a role in the Pentagon in July 1943. Back home in America was too distant from the action for Elliott, but it meant that he was able to spend valuable time with his parents, especially his Dad who had aged even more obviously over the intervening 6 months.
In between, however, FDR had met with Churchill in Quebec, Canada, where the Allies finally agreed on the cross-channel invasion, even though Churchill insisted it be an agreement ‘in principle’ for continued ‘wiggle-room’.
FDR was calm and confident about military operations, and Elliott frequently dropped in to talk with his Dad, usually after his breakfast at around 9 am, or just before turning in at around 11pm. In one of those evening chats FDR dared to draw an optimistic timeline for the conclusion of hostilities; with the Russian Red army “plowing through the centre” he felt the European theatre could be won by the end of 1944, and the Japanese defeated in the Pacific by late 1945 or early 1946 at the latest. FDR also mentioned that he was hopeful of soon meeting up with Churchill and Stalin both.
Then, around a week later when father and son met again in FDR’s study on the second floor of the White House nearing midnight, his Dad furnished Elliott another insight into the depths of his deliberations which were increasingly concerned with maintaining the postwar peace:
“War is too political a thing. Depending on how desperate are a country’s straits, she is likely to wage war only in such a way as will benefit her politically in the long run, rather than fighting to end the war as swiftly as possible… The United States will have to lead… and use good offices always to conciliate, help to solve differences which will arise between the others – between Russia and England, in Europe; between the British Empire and China and between China and Russia, in the Far East. We will be able to do that because we’re big, and we’re strong, and we’re self-sufficient. Britain is on the decline, China – still in the eighteenth century. Russia – still suspicious of us, and making us suspicious of her. America is the only great power that can make peace in the world stick.”
Having already been given the tipoff by his Dad that he would likely be seeing him again soon, saying goodbye to family was all the easier this time when in September Elliott was ordered to return to his outfit as they moved headquarters from La Marsa in Tunisia up to San Severo just south of the Molise-Puglia border in southern Italy.
Sure enough, mid-September ’43 and Elliott flew to Oran in Algeria, but this was again a slightly larger family reunion with his brother Franklin Jr also given leave to attend his father. FDR arrived on the new battleship “Iowa” appearing in slightly better health than Elliott had feared he might perceive. After a day or two in Tunisia, including FDR’s inspection of Elliott’s units in La Marsa, Franklin Jr bid his farewell to his father and brother and returned to his destroyer, to his father’s displeasure, while FDR flew on to Cairo, a day earlier than Elliott who flew in General Eisenhower’s C-54 along with other staff officers including Elliott’s brother-in-law John Boettiger.
The agenda for discussions to be spread between Cairo and Teheran, involving the four most important strategic Allied nations in America, Britain, Russia and China, was almost entirely centred upon planning for the end of the war and organising for enduring postwar peace.
Arriving at Ambassador Kirk’s villa in Cairo, Elliott immediately went to check on his father who still, at 10.30am, was in bed enjoying a breakfast. FDR shared with his son his first impressions of Generalissimo and his wife Madam Chiang whom he had dined with that previous evening, unearthing more relevant information than in four hours of meetings of the Combined Chiefs. Chiang’s troops were not fighting against the Japanese; instead “thousands and thousands of his best men [were] up in the northwest – up on the borders of Red China.”
Then his Dad said something even more surprising. “Believe it or not, Elliott, the British are raising questions and doubts again about the western front… Winston keeps making his doubts clear to everybody… It’s still the idea of an attack through the Balkans, a common front with the Russians”.
Later that morning Elliott was enjoying the sun on the roof of the villa, looking over the pyramids, when Admiral McIntire – his Dad’s physician – interrupted his reflections on time and eternity to voice his concerns over the potential health consequences of FDR flying at high altitude to get to Teheran for the second leg of meetings, this time with Uncle Joe (Stalin). He wanted Elliott’s support in encouraging the President to undertake that part of the journey by train.
That afternoon, while greeting the many attending brief protocol visits with the President, Elliott managed a few quick words with his father’s political right hand man, Harry Hopkins, foreign policy advisor and liaison to Allied leaders, which was always good for a different perspective. He assured Elliott that his father was still the dominant voice, but highlighted the subtleties around the meeting taking place on British Empire soil in Egypt and in immediate proximity to the oil rich Middle East on which American foreign policy greatly lagged the British.
Assuredly Harry said, “He’s taking his time, a little bit. He’s still keeping his ears and his pores open. He’s learning. But he’s still boss.”
The next day was Thanksgiving and a banquet was held in the villa with the Chiangs in attendance along with Churchill and his daughter Sarah, and a swag of military brass. The mood was warm as FDR had been discussing development of China and furthering internal unity, while Allied negotiations progressed towards agreement on the western attack while the Soviet States “swept all before them”.
Over a late night cigarette with his Dad in his bedroom, Elliott learned that the British were also against the American plan to island hope to defeat Japan in the Pacific. The British favoured landings on the Malaysian Peninsula and a drive northward to push Japan out of China. The Americans were well aware that Chinese communist guerillas were actively engaging the Japanese along the coast of China but were withholding air-maps from the British at the request of the Chinese who were concerned that Britain would use the information gathered for commercial purposes postwar.
“Matter of fact, I was talking to Chiang about that at dinner, a few days ago. You see, he wants very badly to get our support against British moving into Hong Kong and Shanghai and Canton with the same old extra-territorial rights they enjoyed before the war… I’d told him that [China] was hardly the modern democracy it should be.”
FDR continued, “I was especially happy to hear the Generalissimo agree to invite the Communists in as part of the national Government prior to elections. Actually, as far as he’s concerned, the only earnest of our good faith that he expects is that when Japan is on her knees we make sure that no British warships come into Chinese ports. Only American warships. And I’ve given him my personal promise that that’s what will happen.”
When Elliott suggested that Churchill might have other ideas, his Dad responded forthrightly:
“There can’t be much argument, inasmuch as it’s ninety-nine percent American materiel and American men bringing about the defeat of Japan. American foreign policy after the war must be along the lines of bringing about a realisation on the part of the British and the French and the Dutch that the way we have run the Philippines is the only way they can run their colonies”.
The next day involved the sum up and finalization of the official communique, and FDR retired early for his flight on to Teheran as Mike Reilly and Major Otis Bryan had flown reconnaissance and found that the pass could be made in a smaller plane without going above 7,000 feet thereby assuring Admiral McIntire.
Elliott arrived with two other US military officials in the capital of Iran a few days later, a little later than had been expected due to an itinerary change decided by General Eisenhower, prompting fatherly concern when they greeted each other.
“Haven’t you got enough on your mind, Pop, what with meeting Stalin and all, without worrying about whether my plane is late or not?”.
FDR was on the point of sending out search planes, and had been having dreadful thoughts of Elliott’s plane being forced down amongst the “rough and tough” nomads of Saudi Arabia.
“I’m sorry, Pop. If [only] we’d been able to radio you…” said Elliott as they reconnected in the sitting room of his suite, in the main building of the Russian Embassy which Stalin had vacated to accommodate the American President, chosen as the site of discussion due to security concerns of travelling between the distant American Embassy. On the other hand, the British Embassy was on the other side of the street from the Russian.
His Dad was brimming with confidence having met ‘Uncle Joe’ for the first time in person and eager to fill his son in on his impressions.
“When I came over here yesterday he came up to say hello. Yesterday afternoon, it was… Right on this couch, Elliott. The Marshal [another nickname for Stalin] sat right where you’re sitting… Just me and Uncle Joe, and his interpreter, of course, Pavlov.”
FDR and Stalin just had a pleasant and polite introductory chat – no business – just to establish a personal report, and to put the discussions, at least between America and Russia, on a “non protocol basis of friendship and warm alliance”.
Elliott could see that his Dad had been impressed by Stalin, and was tickled by Churchill’s switching of civilian clothes (as he had warn in all previous conferences and discussions, pin-stripe suites or summer whites) for his high-ranking RAF officer uniforms to ‘face-off’ with the Marshal’s uniform for a dinner FDR had hosted the previous evening. Stalin was the only currently serving military officer of the three leaders and the location of Tehran was chosen on the basis that it was within a day flight of Moscow given his active service.
After lunch Elliott joined his father in a meeting with Stalin and his interpreter for a meeting where Stalin greeted the US President’s son warmly, and both leaders were at ease in each other’s company. Even though he knew Stalin was short, Elliott was surprised by his stature in person, and was impressed by his dynamic yet soft spoken, intellectually determined manner. Most of the 45mins was devoted to personal relationship development, but they briefly discussed Chinese concerns that the Chiangs had broached in Cairo, and he seemed to agree with the direction of those talks as well as agreeing to respect China’s sovereignty especially at the Manchurian frontier.
From this meeting the four men went directly into the boardroom where Prime Minister Churchill and his party had arranged a small ceremony to award Stalin on behalf of the people of Stalingrad with a British-made sword commissioned by King George VI.
It was a ceremony of deep conviction as all of the men present were deeply aware of its significance. Stalin expressed his deep appreciation to the King and walked around the table to show the sword of honour to FDR who murmured, “Truly they had hearts of steel”. It was a moment of peak unity as the leaders then went to the portico to pose for official photographs to be taken.
Elliott was asleep in his father’s suite when discussions finally broke and FDR came in tired and of want of a rest, himself. That was not possible, however, since that evening Stalin hosted a dinner for Allied leaders and their highest officials present.
Lying on his bed for a brief rest, chatting about the days negotiations while Elliott fixed him an ‘old-fashioned’ cocktail – weak since they had been advised that Russian dinners involved much drinking – FDR revealed that still Churchill was pushing for an operation up through the Balkans in addition to the western invasion. General George Marshall had led the arguments for the past several years pushing back against the British plan which everyone knew, including Stalin, risked prolonging the war in favour of diminishing Russian influence in eastern Europe and promoting British influence there. FDR expressed that Americans owed Marshall a great gratitude for doggedly countering arguing for a single western invasion which would bring WWII to the most rapid conclusion possible and thus save countless American and Allied lives, not to mention provide greatest immediate security to Britain.
“Whenever the P.M. [Churchill] argued for invasion through the Balkans, it was quite obvious to everyone in the room what he really meant. That he was above all else anxious to knife up into central Europe, in order to keep the Red Army out of Austria and Rumania, even Hungary, if possible. Stalin knew it, I knew it, everybody knew it…” FDR explained.
When Elliott questioned whether Churchill might actually have a point, his Dad responded:
“Elliott, our chiefs of staff are convinced of one thing. The way to kill the most Germans, with the least loss of American soldiers, is to mount one great big invasion and then slam ‘em with everything we’ve got… It’s the quickest way to win the war. That’s all. Trouble is, the P.M. is thinking too much of the postwar, and where England will be. He’s scared of letting the Russians get too strong. Maybe the Russians will get strong in Europe. Whether that’s bad depends on a whole lot of factors. The one thing I’m sure of is this: if the way to save American lives, the way to win as short a war as possible, is from the west and from the west alone, without wasting landing-craft and men and materiel in the Balkans mountains, and our chiefs are convinced it is, then that’s that!”
The stirring unity from the afternoon’s ceremony was threatened that very evening, however, fueled by much too much alcohol as was the custom of Russian-hosted dinners. Elliott was not originally invited but Stalin personally brought him to the table when he realised the oversight. The tradition followed was that even to make idle conversation the speaker would stand and propose a toast to which everyone would drink, each man supplied with unlimited of his favoured drink – Churchill had his brandy, FDR was taken with the ‘Champagne’ from Stalin’s home region of Georgia, and Stalin himself drank his own special Vodka which he offered to Elliott who attested it to being 100 proof or near to it!
As the dinner progressed it became a test of who could hold their liquor as the toasts became increasingly prickly, especially between the Soviets and British. Unsurprisingly, the consumption of copious amounts of alcohol amongst a group of men bonded by circumstance but with broad cultural and experiential histories was bound to be fraught – it would be at any social gathering of much less significance, let alone the leaders that humanity was dependent on to erase Nazism.
With all a little light-headed, one Russian cried “I wish to propose a toast to your future deliveries of Lend-Lease material which I am sure will arrive on time in the future, and will not be arriving late, as have shipments to date!”. Everyone rose and emptied their glasses, the American contingent taking it as a friendly poke in the spirit of the evening.
After many more toasts a diplomatic incidence was only narrowly averted between the British and Russians, however, when Stalin proposed a salute to the swiftest possible justice for all Germany’s war criminals – justice before a firing squad, and to drink to the unity of the Allies in dispatching all of them as fast as they are caught, all 50,000 of them!
Churchill rose to his feet immediately, face and neck red, earlier from the liquor, then from coursing blood pressure, affirming that such an attitude was contrary to the British sense of justice and that the British people would never stand for mass murder.
This did highlight a definite difference of attitude between the dictator and the British, which was to become increasingly apparent later, but on this evening ‘Uncle Joe’ Stalin was delighting in a certain level of teasing, even if it was ordinarily uncouth in sobre company. Always the arbiter, but much too far to Stalin’s favour for Churchill’s comfort, FDR suggested the number be limited to 49,500 which encouraged ‘Uncle Joe’ to go around the table asking for each attendee’s own number; the British circumspect, the Americans more obliging of their guests, until it was Elliott’s turn.
Rising to his feet, to an extent following his father’s earlier lead, Elliott was positive about the prospects of rapid advancement by Allied troops from the west, and by the Soviets from the east, and suggested that perhaps many more hundreds of thousands of Nazis would be taken as well and together the Russian, American and British soldiers would (ambiguously) “take care of them”.
Stalin beamed with his response, but before Elliott’s trousers had touched his seat Churchill was back on his feet waving his finger in his direction insinuating an intention to damage Allied relations, and then arguing with Stalin over the top of Elliott’s head while he sat in stunned fear of what he may have set off.
With the final course finished, smarter heads realised the counterproductivity inherent in staying together in such a state of insobriety and the party soon dispersed, Elliott sheepishly following his father into his bedroom. His Dad found the whole thing hilarious and told him not to worry, that “Winston will have forgotten the whole thing when he wakes ups.”
The next morning FDR met with the Shah of Persia, Mohammed Reza Pahlevi and his Prime Minister and two other ministers. FDR always interested in learning of plans leaders had to allow their nations, and thus peoples, to develop and listened intently to concerns about the grip Britain had on Iran’s natural resources endowment, especially its oil. That he was impressed by what he had heard is evidenced by the fact that immediately on their departure FDR said:
“I want you to do something for me, Elliott. Go find Pat Hurley and tell him to get to work drawing up a draft memorandum guaranteeing Iran’s independence and self-determination of her economic interests”. This memorandum was agreed and signed by the three Allied leaders the following day.
Discussions the following day progressed well, and that evening FDR was pleased to confide in his son the major achievement of the conference.
“For the fourth time”, as his Dad described it to Elliott in his bedroom during a brief respite before a large function to celebrate Churchill’s birthday the next evening, the western invasion was agreed. Even the invasion date was agreed. All that was left to agree was the command, but Churchill and FDR were to hash that out when they returned to Cairo.
“We agreed, too, that there should be a thrust up from the Mediterranean.” FDR informed Elliott.
“Through the Balkans after all?”, Elliott noticing the incredulity in his response.
“No. Through southern France. Everything will be timed simultaneously – from the west, from the south, and the Russians from the east. I still say the end of the 1944 will see the end of the war in Europe. Nobody can see how – with a really concerted drive from all sides – the Nazis can hold out much over nine months after we hit ‘em”.
That evening around 30 political and military leaders of the Allies gathered to celebrate the great British war Prime Minister’s birthday. The importance of family was underlined by the fact that Churchill was joined by two of his five children, his son Randolph and daughter Sarah. FDR of course had Elliott with him and his son-in-law Peter Boettiger.
The social format for the evening followed the Russian precedent and again Elliott lost count of the number of toasts, thus the number of drinks he consumed, through the evening. The evening passed without major incident, though a British General suggesting, rather insensitively and imprudently, that their people had suffered more than any other during the war, Stalin was drawn to follow shortly with a comment undoubtedly intended to be pesky to the British:
“I want to tell you, from the Soviet point of view, what the President and the United States have done to win the war. The most important things in this war are machines. The United States has proven that it can turn out from eight to ten thousand airplanes a month. England turns out three thousand a month, principally heavy bombers. The United States, therefore, is a country of machines. Without the use of those machines, through Lend-Lease, we would lose this war.”
FDR well understood the extreme sacrifices the Soviets were making to win the war.
Elliott left that next day – to close down their rear headquarters in La Marsa in their shift northward to Italy – ahead of the allied leaders holding 10 exhaustive hours of discussion from noon so that FDR’s departure could be brought forward due to forecasts for inclement weather in Cairo a few days ahead.
As Elliott again said his goodbyes he was concerned about his Dad’s health through the intense schedule – already FDR had been overseas for 21 days.
“I don’t know exactly when I’ll be able to see you in Cairo, Pop, or even if I will”
“Try to get there, if only for a day or so”, his Dad implored of Elliott.
Entering the Kirk villa again in Cairo a few days later, Elliott was pleased to find his Dad in bed engaging in a little of one of his favourite distractions – reading detective ‘whodunit’ books. He was resting ahead of another evening engagement. The previous night FDR had hosted the Turkish President Ionu who had travelled there in an American plane with John Boettiger, after FDR’s son-in-law managed to beat the British emissary to the job. Nobody other than FDR and Churchill seemed to understand the import of that diplomatic contest.
The British and Americans had been disagreeing over the wisdom of accepting Turkey’s offer to enter the war – dependent on receiving significant sums of war materiel – but, again, it was related to the argument for a thrust upward through the Balkans and Churchill’s eye on postwar European politics. Over these days it was definitively decided that Turkey would not enter the war and a communique was carefully crafted to allow them to save face.
FDR had Elliott read the official communique from the Teheran conference and was especially keen to point out to his son that most of the wording was his. Elliott enquired why they chose to say that war would be banished for “many generations” rather than “forever”.
It was important to not be seen to overpromise to a global population that has heard it all before, his Dad asserted.
“We agreed at Teheran that our three countries, the three strongest countries in the world, could be intelligent enough about future disagreements, could so unify our foreign policies as to ensure that there would be no war ‘for many generations.’ That’s what we talked about, from noon until ten o’clock – how to unify our policies, how to mesh our individual nations’ interests in the interests of a general security for the whole world.”
Stalin’s agreement for the Soviets to declare war on Japan and fight in the Far East had also been secured, in part to settle the western invasion strategy for a final time, which was set down for 1st of May, within 6 months of Hitler’s final defeat which would allow sufficient time for logistics to be completed.
‘Uncle Joe’ and the US President also took the opportunity to chat alone, just the two of them, especially about China after the war without Churchill nearby. Stalin agreed, again, to leave Manchuria to the Chinese and to support Chiang, as well as support the American agreement with the Chinese in relation to British non-involvement in China. The always dependable Pat Hurley went to Moscow to continue those talks.
His glowing views on Hurley led FDR to rehash his contrasting view of the many ‘striped-pants boys’ in the State Department which disturbed him fully from his rest:
“You know, any number of times the men in the State Department have tried to conceal messages to me, delay them, hold them up somehow, just because some of these career diplomats aren’t in accord with what they know I think. They should be working for Winston. As a matter of fact, a lot of the time, they are. Stop to think of ‘em: any number of ‘em are convinced that the way for America to conduct foreign policy is to find out what the British are doing, and then copy that.”
Blaming his son for disturbing his rest, with jovial sarcasm, FDR began to dress for the evening which Elliott informed his Dad he would not attend as he had not slept the previous evening.
Hopefully, “But you’ll be around tomorrow?”, and Elliott was able to assure his Dad that he did not need to leave until the late afternoon.
In the morning father and son picked up where they last left off. Elliott mentioned how well his Dad had gotten on with Stalin.
The prescience of FDR’s response was patent:
“The biggest thing was in making clear to Stalin that the United States and Great Britain were not allied in one common bloc against the Soviet Union. I think we’ve got rid of that idea, once and for all. I hope so. The Thing that could upset the apple-cart, after the war, is if the world is divided again, Russia against England and us. That’s our big job now, and it’ll be our big job tomorrow, too: making sure that we continue to act as a referee, as intermediary between Russia and England.”
In that moment it was clear to Elliott, as it must have been for some time to his Dad, that America had assumed leadership of the world – of and for humanity – and Elliott was sure that his “father was convinced it would work out smoothly for all parties concerned, not the least of which were the small nations of the world”.
The next day, as he said a quick goodbye before flying on to Tunis ahead of his Dad, when Elliott mentioned that he would be seeing Ike Eisenhower later that day, FDR mentioned that Churchill had gotten his way and Ike would lead operation Overlord, the western invasion. Churchill’s way was not so much a positive in support of Eisenhower but a negative against General George Marshall who had done his job so well in refuting the British demands for an upward thrust through the Balkans that Churchill’s pettiness precluded him from agreeing to the brilliant Marshall leading Overlord. Elliott acknowledged to his Dad that he must not share this news with Ike as it was not yet 100% definite, but by the time they met later in the day in Tunis it had been properly agreed if not yet announced to either man.
Elliott was concerned for his Dad’s health which was showing, to him at least, the impact of being away for a month undertaking challenging negotiations to hold together a coalition of allies with starkly varying viewpoints especially on the postwar period. The next day FDR flew to Malta and then Sicily and back to Tunis where Elliott again greeted him along with senior military.
Though tired, his Dad was in a reflective mood showing his immense satisfaction with all that had been achieved when they debriefed before FDR slept:
“The United Nations… People at home, congressmen, editorial writers, talk about the United Nations as something which exists only on account of war. The tendency is to snipe at it by saying that only because we are forced into unity by war are we unified. But war isn’t the real force to unity. Peace is the real force. After the war – then is when I’m going to be able to make sure the United Nations are really the United Nations!”
The next morning FDR flew to Dakar to board the Iowa to return home while Elliott flow north to San Severo for a “cold and muddy” Christmas.
Early January 1944 Elliott was in England reorganising American reconnaissance air forces in preparation for the western invasion. Churchill attempted one final time to subvert that plan of two years in the making by personally insisting on launching a beachhead in Anzio on the 22nd of January, with the stated intention of liberating Rome, but its prime significance to Churchill was to force the invasion of Europe via the south rather than the west. Fighting against German forces bogged down with little Allied advancement, and the D-Day invasion forces landed in Normandy on the 6th of May 1944.
As Winter gave way to Spring Elliott’s outfit worked alongside the British RAF developing reconnaissance data from the air that he felt was extremely productive and was in part responsible for the low level of losses ultimately experienced in the D Day landings. He also had the opportunity to spend time in Moscow organizing ‘shuttle-bombing’ with Russian counterparts. Through Summer and Autumn Elliott had become exhausted with continual aerial reconnaissance work over France and Germany in support of the advancing Allied troops and was relieved to be called back to America for an assignment in the Pentagon, close to family.
Between everything else, FDR campaigned for his re-election through the Summer and Fall of 1944, doing so vigorously to dispel rumours of ill-health. In the circumstances, the fact that it would be his fourth term was an insignificant consideration and he easily won the election to claim an unprecedented fourth term as US President.
Even though he had been forewarned by his sister Anna, and it had been the subject of much press speculation, Elliott was shocked to see just how fatigued and thin his Dad appeared when they met for the first time in a year. They discussed the possibility to get away to Warm Springs for some rejuvenation and were looking forward to Christmas at Hyde Park.
FDR set aside his schedule for that evening to catch up with his returning son, suggesting that Elliott catch up beforehand by reading the newspapers. That evening Elliott did not remind his Dad of his prediction of a 1944 conclusion to the European war.
“I see what you mean, Pop. They’re all talking about Europe, after the war. Talking about how there’s not enough Big Three (America, Britain and Soviet) unity.”
“I guess it’s a question of their wanting something to be critical about. And unfortunately (sarcasm) the war is being won,” was how his Dad responded.
FDR said that there was another meeting of the Big Three in the planning, with Stalin insisting it be in Russia, and given the advances the Red Army was making, the other two allies felt they needed to oblige.
But mostly it was Elliott required to do the talking that evening, father keeping son in his bedroom until the late hours firing one question after another. Likely the caring son was happy to do the cognitive work of formulating detailed responses rather than expecting reciprocity from a weary Dad who had been living a remarkable life.
“Before and after” photographs of American Presidents – the ones who truly commit themselves to working towards the greater good – are always dramatic in the degree to which they age prematurely from the rigors of the role. FDR was President through some of the most challenging times in US and modern global history, serving for over 3 terms (when no other had or has ever been President for more than 2), and on top of all that he lived much of his adult life in pain and discomfort after his battle with infantile paralysis (polio virus) left him unable to walk, making his achievements all the more astonishing and emphasising his truly remarkable humanity.
A few days later Elliott headed to the White House early to catch up with his Dad before he started his official schedule and managed to catch him still in bed but reading the morning papers. He was contemptuous at what he had been reading:
“Greece. British troops. Fighting against guerillas who fought the Nazis for the last 4 years… How the British can dare such a thing! The lengths to which they will go to hang on to the past!”
Recognising the futility in his anger, he moved onto a subject somewhat related but more positive in prospect telling Elliott of Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands’ visit to the White House some months earlier, and how she had promised that after the war their Government would grant the people of the Dutch East Indies first dominion status meaning the right of self-rule and equality.
“Just as we are granting it in the Philippines,” his Dad said. “The point is we are going to be able to bring pressure on the British to fall in line with our thinking, in relation to the whole colonial question. It’s all tied up in the one package: the Dutch East Indies, French Indo-China, India, British extraterritorial rights in China… We’re going to be able to make this the twentieth century after all, you watch and see!”
A few days later Elliott left Washing bound for Arizona, and on the 3rd of December 1944 Elliott married for the third time, to actress Faye Emerson.
Although he expected to be called back to duty in Europe, Elliott was instead granted furlough and was able to spend Christmas with family which was to be his last with his Dad, and described it as a “time of great peace and contentment, [where] the world was for a brief moment shut out, and we were once more one family together, the more closely knit – as Father had pointed out, a year ago in Cairo, at Thanksgiving – because we are a big family.”
Elliott gave an insight into that family scene and the warm reverence with which his Dad was held central by them all:
“On Christmas Eve Father took his accustomed rocker, to one side of the fireplace, and opened the familiar book, while we all found places around him. My place was prone on the floor, by the gate. The fire crackled pleasingly; Father’s voice, going over the well-remembered ‘Christmas Carol’, rose and fell rhythmically; my thoughts wandered, aimless, and presently ceased altogether. Then, Jab!, in my ribs came Faye’s elbow, and her fierce whisper in my ear [telling me that I had been snoring]”
After further disruptions from grandchildren FDR closed the book laughing and saying “there’s too much competition in this family for reading aloud”.
Faye then said that by next year it will be a peacetime Christmas, to which Elliott’s Mum, Eleanor, responded:
“Next year we’ll all be home again”.
As they cleaned up the wrapping paper, FDR went to his stamp album to carefully store a much-treasured gift, and Elliott admiringly joked about one day his Dad being able place in there a United Nations stamp.
“Don’t think I won’t, Elliott. And sooner than you think, too.”
And FDR suggested, half-jokingly, that he should have it placed on the agenda for the next meeting of the Big Three scheduled for next month, to which Elliott asked if he might be able to join his Dad again as his aide.
“Depends on your Commanders, Elliott. I hope it will work out.”
“So do I”.
“But even if it shouldn’t, I’ll be seeing you soon again, anyway. I’m seriously thinking of a trip to England, in the late spring or early summer. I think that might well be the best way to sell the British people and the British Parliament on the need for Britain to put its hopes for the future in the United Nations – all the United Nations – and not just in the British Empire and the British ability to get other countries to combine in some sort of bloc against the Soviet Union.”
When Elliott asked whether he seriously thought that was a danger, FDR continued:
“It’s what we’ve got to expect. It’s what we’ve got to plan now to contend against”, and with that Eleanor broke up the much too serious for Christmas discussion between father and son with:
“We agreed, no talk of business today”.
Elliott never did see his Dad again.
FDR’s 4th Inauguration was intentionally a subdued affair reflecting the tenor of the times. Even FDR’s speech was short, likely a deliberate ploy to emphasise the powerful richness and sincerity that lifted from each sentence, as exemplified by this passage:
“We have learned that we cannot live alone, at peace; that our own well-being is dependent on the well-being of other nations far away. We have learned that we must live as men, not as ostriches, nor as dogs in the manger. We have learned to be citizens of the world, members of the human community.”
Elliott was promoted to Brigadier General in early 1945, at the recommendation of his senior officers and approved by Generals Spaatz and Eisenhower, but FDR had the power of veto and the political situation – especially the suggestions of nepotism from political combatants and right-wing press that naturally come with a family that had occupied the seat of power for such a prolonged period – meant that his Dad deliberated longer than usual, ultimately signing because he was convinced that his son was deserving.
The consequence, however, was that FDR felt that he would be pushing it too far by having Elliott join him again as his aide for the final wartime meeting of the Big Three held at Yalta on the Crimean peninsula in Soviet territory in February 1945. However, Elliott’s sister Anna attended in that capacity, and through discussions with her and with senior US military officials prior and after the conference, he was able to form an opinion that FDR continued to carry sway as the dominant figure in the alliance, made all the more critical given his increasing need to act as mediator and arbiter between the British and Soviets.
The Yalta conference focused almost entirely on the structure of the peace, the organisation of the United Nations, and the need to ameliorate in Europe and Asia the potential for a political vacuum in the immediate postwar period.
The previous Fall the Dumbarton Oaks Conference was held in Washington to develop the framework for a general international organisation led by the “Four Policemen”, a council proposed by FDR as guarantor of world piece and including America, Britain, USSR and China, which would soon become the United Nations. The month before that the Bretton Woods conference was held with 730 delegates from all 44 Allied nations to decide the order of international economic affairs which was critical since so much of the social upheaval and tension that allowed for the rise of Nazism in Europe, as well as disadvantage throughout the world during the Great Depression, was caused by ‘beggar thy neighbour’ international financial decisions.
Prior to leaving to meet FDR, Harry Hopkins met with Elliott over dinner and Elliott learned that, of course, Churchill could not help but devise another plan to justify sending British-controlled troops into the Balkans to join with the Soviets, the weakness to the plan being that it would require diversion of landing-craft that were desperately required in the Pacific, so it never had a chance of getting past the American Joint Chiefs. Harry also stressed that his Dad was insistent that self-interested parties not be allowed to control postwar Germany with an aim to building up Germany’s cartels again.
Given the breadth and finality of decisions being made, more advisers were present in Yalta than in any other of the previous conferences. At the preliminary military staff conferences held in Malta in the days immediately prior, the only real point of contention was to what degree allied resourcing should swing from the European theatre to the Pacific, and that was more between the arms of military (Navy and Army). Over that week in Yalta, as British and American military leaders speculated that Germany might collapse at any moment in the face, especially, of the rapidly advancing Red Army on the east, the leaders of the Big Three agreed on the postwar arrangements including: occupation and control of Germany (FDR argued for integrated not zonal control to create more active collaboration at all levels between the Allies, but Britain and the Soviets disagreed and their position was adopted), reparations by Germany, and they reaffirmed the principles of the Atlantic Charter and agreed on the holding of a United Nations Conference to be held in two months at San Francisco completing the groundwork done at Dumbarton Oaks (after agreeing on the structure of voting and veto powers).
More than ever the American President was at the centre of leadership but with strong personal connections with both Churchill and Stalin. No doubt FDR was looking forward to working closely with Allied leaders and believed that more meetings of the Big Three would be required. However, of the two other leaders he knew it was only Stalin that he was certain to be meeting with through the remainder of his 4th term since he had long before mentioned to Elliott his, ultimately correct, view that Churchill was unlikely to retain his station in the peace (and a British general election was to occur within two months of the conclusion of the war).
There were enduring tensions, to be sure, between and even within delegations – FDR not entirely trusting of all of his advisers, for example – but the unity of the Big Three had been fortified through a war that was aimed at yielding an enduring peace.
All three leaders were acutely aware of the importance of dialogue and co-operation in the postwar period to maintaining that peace, and before the Yalta conference ended Stalin repeated his assurance to FDR that the Soviets would declare war against Japan following V-E day, only revising his timeframe down to 3 months from 6 months in a show of strengthening support.
As the American contingent left Yalta they were gifted generously by the Soviets with Russian Vodka and wines, including the Georgian ‘Champagne’ which FDR had been especially impressed by, as well as caviar and fruit in spontaneous act of connection and warmth prior to the long trip back for most to the States.
After travelling to Egypt to board the US heavy cruiser ‘Quincy’, FDR met several important African and Middle East leaders. Most significantly he met with the King Ibn Saud of Saudi Arabia to discuss the possibility of a settlement in Palestine of homeless European Jews, and by all accounts found the King to be uncompromising. Then after the ‘Quincy’ passed through the Suez Canal, during a short stop at Algiers, FDR was informed that de Gaulle considered the timing and location for meeting inconvenient, he shrugged his shoulders and they departed for America.
Although optimistic and proud of the outcomes achieved, FDR was exhausted and gaunt as he left the Mediterranean behind, and the strain of the period was both underscored and exacerbated by the death of Pa Watson on that return trip, one of FDR’s oldest and closest friends.
On the evening of the 12th of April 1945, the mood in England lifting as victory drew nearer and nearer, Elliott attended a dinner party hosted by Lady Sylvia Ashley, future wife of Clark Gable, at a London restaurant. Soon after he arrived at 8.30pm Lady Ashley leant down to whisper to Elliott that a military officer and car were waiting in the carpark to rush him back to his base at Mount Farm.
The military officer said that his father had experienced a health episode, and that there was an urgent cablegram from his Mum waiting for him back at the base. Elliott knew that his Dad had been having heart issues for around a year and was consulting a cardiologist, Dr. Howard Bruenn, so he felt numb and disconnected as the London lights whizzed by and his gaze became hypnotically disengaged as he stared at the headrest of the front seat ….
Sooner than expected Elliott arrives at his base. The cablegram from his Mum, Eleanor, informs him that his father was at Warm Springs when he experienced discomfort in his chest and was rushed to hospital. She undertakes to call him by midnight London time with an update.
Elliott’s ruminating 3 hour wait, while ordering the memories of the many close times he had shared with his Dad through the war period, comes to a relieving end when he hears his Mum’s calm voice telling him that his father is doing well, that it had been just a minor health scare, with the election campaign and many war conferences having taken a toll on him. With genuine bedrest of not less than a week, Dr. Bruenn believes he will be able to resume his full and unrelenting work schedule.
The relief felt by Elliott was one of a son who knew that he had more work to do, more things to be cleared up and things said, to have a clear conscience. Before the war he had fought often with his Dad about political beliefs, often supporting Republicans’ viewpoints, and though his Dad had risked political capital for Elliott’s most recent promotion to Brigadier General, his Dad knew there were rumours of Elliott’s indiscretions in an airplane procurement contract and was displeased by his son’s womanising.
It is an odd but oft repeated feature of human psychology how the traits that parents pass on to their children are the greatest points of friction, as if the reflection of those flaws from their offspring are too blindingly stark to bare even though – indeed perhaps, because – they were innately acquired, genetically and/or learned, from themselves.
FDR is back on the job only a matter of weeks ahead of V-E day when Germany unconditionally surrenders on 8 May. On the 29th of April Mussolini and his mistress, Clara Petacci, are killed by Italian partisans and strung up by their heels for a while before being left in the gutter. The next day, as Russian troops close in on his compound, Hitler commits suicide after marrying his longtime partner, Eva Braun, who commits suicide beside him.
FDR then has the agonising decision no decent person, of faith in God, spirituality, or their fellow mankind, would wish to have to make – the decision to kill and maim millions of fellow human beings in an instant with the detonation of a weapon of mass destruction in the hope that it will save even more people from loss. What was developed as a tool for deterrence – knowing the tyrannical enemy was already working at its development – had the opportunity to bring the world to peace most rapidly, but only after a huge number of innocents were killed and families lost or torn apart forever.
True to Stalin’s commitments, he declares war against Japan on the 7th of August and over a million Soviet soldiers engage the Japanese occupiers in Manchuria.
Atomic bombs are dropped on Hiroshima and then Kokura on the 6th and 9th of August, 1945, respectively, and Emperor Hirohito announces Japan’s surrender on the 15th of August and signs an unconditional surrender on the 2nd of September 1945. In officially bringing WWII to an end, FDR knows that the most important – the most fraught – piece of the puzzle that he had been assiduously shaping lies ahead, succeeding in the peace, but without Churchill who loses the postwar election in July.
The American public is jubilant and united behind FDR in a postwar glow and rewards him in the 1946 mid-term elections by electing a democratic legislature to enact his full postwar plans after he assures the electorate that he will not contest the next Presidential election, a commitment he honours. Americans understand the privileged position they hold as the most powerful nation in the world, as enunciated in FDR’s 1945 inauguration, and collectively understand that with great privilege comes great responsibility.
Frictions between Britain and the Soviets simmer in the immediate postwar period, but FDR maintains the moral authority as mediator and arbiter. He especially understands and respects the contribution that Russia made to winning the war, a price paid especially in lives lost – more Soviet soldiers were killed than all of the other nations who fought in WWII combined, almost double the number of German soldiers killed! Including civilian deaths, the Soviets lost around 24 million lives in WWII whereas Britain and America each lost less than half a million lives.
After the use of the atomic bomb on Japanese people, knowing that it was only a matter of time before all other major nations would soon have the capability of producing weapons of mass destruction thus assuring mutual destruction, and fully appreciating the need to maintain trust especially amongst the Big Three, FDR shares atomic technology with Stalin and the Soviets as well as the British. This draws the hawks amongst Republicans – many former vehement isolationists – and within the State Department out into open and intense debate, but that serves to underline the strength of American democracy and FDR’s moral and intellectual standing in American and global society.
From the ashes of WWII a new global order for humanity is created. The United Nations, which meets for the first time in late Spring 1945 in San Francisco, is at the forefront along with the other institutions arising from the long negotiations between the Allies at Argentia, Casablanca, Quebec, Cairo, Teheran, Yalta and, immediately prior to V-J day, at Potsdam.
Suffering relevance deprivation, Churchill gives a provocative speech suggesting that Europe is at risk of an iron curtain descending on the eastern boundary of the buffer region that Soviets are working on, from “Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic”.
The following week, at another meeting of the Big Three plus Generalissimo from China and de Gaulle from France, in Moscow, FDR provides additional assurances that satisfy Stalin, and Prime Minister Attlee walks back the comments of the ex-Prime Minister, so that Stalin resists the impulse of responding publicly to Churchill’s provocations.
FDR understands that the only way to prove the virtue of capitalism to humanity is to do so in the way capitalists live in peace rather than fight from fear, and for the remainder of his fourth term he chooses his arguments with Stalin and Attlee carefully, never losing sight of what was sacrificed and fought for, and what is the danger inherent in ceasing to listen and communicate.
In the 1946 State of Union Address, FDR speaks to the American people in plain and direct language with a level of honesty and sincerity that no other American President would, or perhaps even could, do again.
“To do right by all Americans, as your President I must always hold in my heart as much love and optimism for all of humanity, irrespective of what region they happen to be born or reside in, which deity – if any – they chose to believe in, and whether they be rich or poor. Making the best decision for all of humanity – in light of the best information available – must take precedence over what is best for subgroupings of people or the special interests of some. This is the only way to enduringly lead in the peace.
Leading in the global peace is the awesome responsibility and privilege now held by the American people. We must be in no doubt that the durability and quality of that peace will be recorded in history as achieved under our American stewardship and we should all be determined that in the account of that record we as peoples within broader humanity are proud of our deliberations and actions.
If I or a future President of the United States of America were ever to abuse the privilege of this global leadership to advance national interests at the expense of other nations, more specifically, to the detriment of the human beings living in other geographies of the world, then that would be an act of great hypocrisy, it would undermine our privileged authority, and worst of all, it would lessen the honor of the immense sacrifices made by the families and peoples of the Allied nations in freeing the world from tyranny.”
The repercussions of FDR’s speech are widespread and immediate. Democrats are successful in the midterm elections and no less than two amendments are made to the US Constitution: the 22nd to formerly limit to two the number of terms a person may be elected President; and the 23rd being formal recognition that in the execution of leadership and administration of the nation by the President and all elected and Government officials that not only are human beings ‘created’ equal, everywhere and at all times they remain equal, so that in their decision-making and administration the concerns of all human beings throughout humanity must be considered equal.
Eleanor is instrumental in lobbying to secure the success of both amendments, understanding the practicality of and strong desirability amongst Republicans for the two-term limit, ensuring that the acceptance of one amendment be conditional upon the acceptance of the other.
The non-gender specific language and the obvious implications for civil rights of the 23rd amendment have a profound impact in America and around the world, and it leads to an enduring culture of minimising the influence of special interests in political decision-making including strict regulation and policing of political donations.
Essentially it says that, not only are all human beings (‘created’) equal, they’re to be treated equal no matter where they choose to live their lives or how they live their lives.
The British and commonwealth of nations, along with central European nations, follow the American lead and incorporate similar clauses within their constitutions and/or their formal systems of governing. It is commonly referred to as the ‘Roosevelt clause’.
The most influential economist of the time, John Maynard Keynes, whose plans for the organisation of the postwar global economy were largely usurped by the Americans at the Bretton Woods conference, increases his lobbying for alterations of the agreement before Britain will ratify. His concerns centre around the privileged position that America will have within the system, especially with the dollar being the reserve currency. Keynes also has concerns about equity in the ability of poorer nations to develop, and the instability that will cause. With an exceedingly rare level of brilliance, but with failing health from an obsessive work ethic, Keynes meets directly with FDR in early 1946 after the first meeting of the United Nations General Assembly in London and convinces the US President to intervene so that modifications are made to the agreement in line with some of his original recommendations including the creation of a new reserve currency named the ‘Bancor’ and additional safeguards and measures to ensure equitable opportunity for global development. Those changes are implemented just ahead of Keynes’ passing later that year.
Tensions remain in pockets within the world, especially in Asia where Chinese people suffer a protracted civil war between the Generalissimo’s Nationalists and Mao Tse-tung’s communists which sporadically and periodically spills over in Asia. Similarly South America remains unstable as some nations, especially Argentina which was not permitted initial entry to the United Nations due to its postwar flirtation with fascism, experience civil unrest which tends to be worse in nations with important energy resources as corrupt self-interest proves difficult to contain. The nation state of Israel is created to provide a permanent home to Jews and tensions, often along religious lines, in the Middle East especially, flare occasionally.
In the history of humanity, there has always been at least one megalomaniac able to manipulate those around him, especially when education and information has been found wanting, and so it likely will always be.
Former colonialist nations of central and western Europe, however, remain united in their determination to be constructive and aid the establishment of peace in their former colonies through negotiation, and are disciplined in not becoming involved in wars or of showing partisan support for factions within other geographies, even if sometimes they and the Soviets are suspicious of the others’ actions.
With the good intentions of the global many, backed by modern international legal processes, recalcitrants rarely manage to hold out for long against the will and desires of their populations and broader humanity. Particularly sensitive to any nuclear weapon proliferation, the United Nations acts swiftly and decisively with sanctions and other peaceful forms of economic coercion to ameliorate the actions of potential bad actors.
During FDR’s fourth term rebuilding of war-torn Europe and Asia, including of the Axis nations, is carried out with vigor and optimism. However, the global disparity is immediately apparent and the machinery of government in the developed nations less directly impacted by war, including in North America, together with international bureaucracy that emanated out of WWII especially from the Atlantic Charter – including the United Nations, International Monetary Fund and World Bank – place as much vigor into developing nations previously undeveloped and improving the living standards of the greatest majority of human beings on Earth, including throughout Africa, eastern and southern Asia, Central and South America.
In effect, America’s ‘New Deal’ goes global!
The harnessing of human drive and ingenuity in a co-operative fashion, incorporating the freedom of movement of capital within democratic capitalism, combined with safeguards to prevent monopolies and unfair use of privilege of wealth or position, has a profound effect on the global economy which is mirrored in the freedoms enjoyed by the majority of humans who are engaged in the first truly global society in human history. The freedom of movement of goods and resources, of ideas, and most importantly, of people, creates a globalisation that is deeply embedded in broader society not just within the corporate or intellectual elite of humanity.
Stalin and FDR remain in contact until the latter’s death, coincidentally the 12th of April 1950, 5 years after the health scare that sent Elliott racing back through the streets of London to his British military base to read his Mum’s cablegram. Each Christmas Stalin sends FDR several cases of the Georgian ‘Champagne’ he was so charmed by at the Yalta conference, FDR still jokingly encouraging him to engage in some ‘good old-fashioned capitalism’ selling it to the American people to outcompete Champagne and “stick it to the Frenchies”. Stalin attends FDR’s funeral and is visibly moved, hugging Eleanor in a long and warm embrace, and shaking hands graciously with Elliott and most of the extended Roosevelt family.
Stalin passes two years later and is remembered with mixed emotions inside and outside of Russia. On the one hand the world is unlikely to have been freed from the tyranny of Nazism if it were not for the extreme sacrifices of the Soviets under Stalin. He was, however, undoubtedly a harsh and cruel leader largely due to his inflexible political beliefs and leadership, though it is commonly believed that his connection with FDR moderated this somewhat in his latter years.
Stalin remains Chairman until his passing and does not nominate a successor. However, the Soviets institute a collective leadership which initiates reforms and is more open in views and outlook which leads to the ultimate dissolution of the Soviet bloc.
By the early 90’s the cohesive human community values above all else individual freedoms within the solid framework of open information and expression, logic and science. Pressing domestic and global issues are addressed as they are detected by scientists and other observant members of societies. More even economic development from equitable opportunity irrespective of geography, nationality, race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, etc. has allowed the average standard of living to increase significantly.
The post-WWII baby boom causes a spike in births but the global population peaks at around 4 billion in the 1980s, due to declining birthrates as more of humanity feel secure having smaller families. The average high standard of living, however, means that observations of increased levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere are detected around that same time the global population peaks and thorough research convinces all members of the United Nations that the consequent warming of the planet – without rapid action – will lead to general sea level rise and more frequent and worse severe weather events, affecting the precious natural world on which we all depend, and impacting and worsening the quality of life for human beings.
Emergency meetings of the United Nations are held, and subcommittees undertake and fund extensive research into the climate changes. It is determined that alternative sources of energy, other than from fossil fuels, will need to be rapidly developed to reduce the emissions of carbon dioxide into the environment. Embracing the challenge as was done during WWII, developing new technologies for harnessing energy from renewable sources such as the sun and wind, within a decade the latest data and modelling within the scientific community has assured humanity that catastrophic outcomes that were projected within a century have been averted.
Integral to humanity’s response to the observed climate change, and in fact, to social cohesion within global society, is a great respect for First Nations peoples’ knowledge of environment and culture.
Elliott Roosevelt promptly leaves the Army and grows somewhat distant from his Dad after WWII. Republicans and the right-wing press seek to discredit the Roosevelt legacy, attempting to ensure an end of their political family dynasty, and they see Elliott as a convenient target. Minor indiscretions in Elliot’s personal and business lives, most often revealed by those who were on the losing side of business deals, are a constant distraction for his Dad in his final years. This creates tensions so that father and son never manage to clear the air and Elliott lives with great deal of regret, sadness, and repressed shame.
After multiple failed marriages and businesses, and estranged from his children and extended family, in the 70’s Elliot trades on the family name as a political lobbyist but finds that his ability to extract gain from it is waning. He becomes increasingly compromised working with shadier and shadier operators, ultimately trading in favours and blackmail of political and business targets on behalf of organised crime.
Living a destructive life of substance abuse and boozing, prostitutes and gambling, Elliott has gotten sloppy and his tangled web of compromise and lies is unravelling and threatens to bring down high profile political and crime figures with him. Elliott is considering turning informant and meets with FBI investigators that have been surveilling him. A corrupt politician becomes aware of this and together with the Mafia they attempt to frame Elliott for approaching and paying a Mafia hitman for a contract on a foreign diplomat.
Elliott denies the allegations and uses the final remnants of family connection to bury the story and allegations.
Considering Elliott a lose end that needs to be dealt with, neither the politician or Mafia can risk him squealing. A wasted Elliott, walking in an alley with a prostitute under each arm, celebrating yet another close escape, is confronted by Mafia muscle as the girls scatter. With a henchman holding each arm, the top goon cocks his pistol upright in his right hand as he walks behind Elliott and whispers in his ear, “The Boss wants to see you”. Elliott instantly cringes and tilts his head forward expecting the crunch on the back of his head…
Elliott’s head was jolted forward as his eyes refocused on the headrest of the front seat of Humber military staff car as the military officer rushed him to Mount Farm to read that cablegram from his Mum.
“Sorry for that Brigadier General – fox on the road!”
They had left the lights of London behind, and Elliott recognized the sharp bend in the road which signified they were 5 minutes from his base. He walked briskly and was greeted at the threshold by his Commanding Officer who handed Elliott the cable gram from his mother.
Eleanor’s final words on the telegram informing her beloved son of the death of his Father were, ”HE DID HIS JOB TO THE END AS HE WOULD WANT YOU TO DO”.
Chapter 3 – Reset (next)
Chapter 1 – Rücksetzen (previous)
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