Harry Truman, who had been Vice President for all of 82 days on the 12th of April 1945, had just adjourned the day and was sharing a drink in the office of the House Speaker when he got an urgent call to immediately go to the White House. Once there Eleanor Roosevelt informed him that her husband had died. Shocked and humbled, Truman asked if there was anything he could do for the family. In reply Eleanor asked if there was anything they could do for him as he was now the one “in trouble!”
President Truman was sworn in as the 33rd President of the United States of America that evening.
FDR died from a cerebral haemorrhage while he was at his retreat at Warm Springs, Georgia. Americans were heartbroken at the passing of their beloved President who many consider their own personal adviser and confidant for the past thirteen years through one of the most tumultuous periods of their short history as a nation.
FDR’s final words, prepared just a few hours before his death and intended to be delivered by radio the following evening in commemoration of the birthday of Thomas Jefferson, founder of the Democratic Party and author of the Declaration of Independence, summed up what was in his heart until his end:
“Today we are faced with the preeminent fact that, if civilization is to survive, we must cultivate the science of human relationships—the ability of all peoples, of all kinds, to live together and work together, in the same world, at peace.
Let me assure you that my hand is the steadier for the work that is to be done, that I move more firmly into the task, knowing that you—millions and millions of you—are joined with me in the resolve to make this work endure.
The work, my friends, is peace. More than an end of this war—an end to the beginnings of all wars. Yes, an end, forever, to this impractical, unrealistic settlement of the differences between governments by the mass killing of peoples.
Today, as we move against the terrible scourge of war—as we go forward toward the greatest contribution that any generation of human beings can make in this world—the contribution of lasting peace, I ask you to keep up your faith. I measure the sound, solid achievement that can be made at this time by the straight-edge of your own confidence and your resolve.”
The day that FDR died the US Ambassador in Moscow met with Stalin to inform him in person. In the official Embassy communique Ambassador Harriman said that Stalin was deeply distressed, holding his hand for 80 seconds before sitting and asking for details on how the President had passed. Molotov, the Soviet Commisar for Foreign Affairs, who had been present for most of the important conferences, pointed out that Truman was largely unknown to them, in part because he had not given many speeches from which his viewpoints could be ascertained. Harriman assured Stalin and Molotov that Truman was aligned with FDR’s program and “heartily supported all his views”.
FDR was laid to rest at his family’s estate at Hyde Park on the 15th of April. The previous day a military procession with over 500,000 people lining the streets brought his body to lie in repose at the White House before a private service. His wishes were to not lie in State and again proceedings were intentionally less ‘stately’ given the nation remained at war. Elliott and Anna were photographed at Eleanor’s side as FDR was interned in his mother’s rose garden according to his wishes.
Historian William Leuchtenburg described the scenes of the train carrying FDR’s body from Warm Springs until his burial:
“Hundreds of thousands of people, many with tears in their eyes, lined the train route carrying his body from Georgia to Washington, D.C., and then on to Hyde Park, to pay their final respects.”
Just over two weeks later, on the 30th of April, Adolf Hitler committed suicide alongside his wife Eva Braun in a bunker in Berlin as the Red Army rapidly closed in on them, and the German Third Reich unconditionally surrendered a week later.
To say that Truman had to make a steep learning curve is an understatement of monstrous proportions and normalises it, unwisely, with situations many other human beings have confronted, for the situation he confronted was orders of magnitude more complex and fraught than that which almost any other human being has had to contend.
Truman was unaware of the American Army’s Manhattan project to develop a nuclear bomb even though it was ultimately he who made the decision to unleash its catastrophic power on the peoples of Japan to end the war. On 6th August 1945 the first atomic bomb detonation on a human population was carried out by Americans on the city of Hiroshima. To underline the reproducibility of the technology, as some elements of the Japanese military remained resistant to surrender, another nuclear detonation was planned for 9th of August for the Japanese city of Kokura, but poor visibility – due to weather conditions and smoke from conventional bombing – meant that the alternative city, Nagasaki, would forever be remembered in history as the target for the second atomic bomb detonation on human beings.
Stalin, true to his commitments at Teheran and Yalta, had declared the Soviets at war with Japan on 7th of August liberating Manchuria and North Korea, along with South Sakhalin and the Kuril islands which became Russian territory (as agreed to in Yalta even if this could not be made public then as it would effectively be a declaration of war).
The US strategic bombing survey conducted in 1946 concluded that by the end of 1945 Japan would have surrendered in any case even without the US detonation of nuclear bombs or Soviet involvement.
Several weeks earlier in July President Truman met with the Allied leaders in Potsdam in Germany to finalise organisation of the postwar period in Europe. The result of the British election become known during the conference leading to Churchill being replaced by Prime Minister Attlee. It proved to be the only time Truman met Stalin in person, and his initial thoughts were that he could work with Stalin, saying “he is honest – but smart as hell!”
Some argue that FDR was naïve to Stalin’s objectives, or at the very least overestimated his own ability to influence Stalin. Others suggest that FDR, himself, had realised Stalin’s ‘evil’ intent immediately prior to his passing, but this view incorporates a stark cold war perspective that FDR could not have had at the time. Moreover, even if his concerns about Stalin’s agenda might have grown immediately prior to his death, so too had concerns grown about the actions in Greece of the British who he felt had undue influence in American intelligence and foreign affairs organisations leaving FDR not fully trusting in the intentions behind some advice he received.
The one thing that seems certain, however, is that there was a very real connection between the American President and the Soviet Marshall as WWII was approaching a conclusion.
The affect that authentic human connection has on actions and decisions reached is challenging to predict even for brilliant game theorists.
Having been privy to the inner workings of Government and his father’s deliberations and intentions, holding no immediate ambitions of his own for higher office, and concerned to see the world be reminded of what his father was leading Americans and indeed the whole of humanity towards by fighting the ‘survival war’, as FDR had come to refer to it, before the end of 1946 Elliott had published “As He Saw It” – his account of the many discussions he had with his Dad through the war period including at the three conferences he attended as FDR’s aide and personal confidant.
In summation, Elliott wrote:
“I believe that there is one fact which, once grasped and understood leads to clarity and appreciation of all postwar political facts. This one fact is that when Franklin Roosevelt died, the force for progress in the modern world lost its most influential and most persuasive advocate. With his death, the most articulate voice for integrity among the nations of the peoples of the world was stilled. More than that, for people everywhere in the world, he had been the symbol of America, and of freedom, on whom they had pinned their hope of liberation and a now world of peace and plenty; when he died, some of their hope died with him, and their faith.”
It is hardly surprising that some who may have been described by his Dad as “pin-striped pants boys at the State Department” disagreed with some of Elliott’s recollections, finding that the tenor of the book favoured the Soviets over the British. That will always be the nature of recorded history relying on perceptions of what was said and intended, especially when decisions reached during the period were so very consequential.
The leadership vacuum to which Elliott referred was inevitable after the passing of the American President who guided the nation for so long through such troubled times, replaced by a leader who was not only inexperienced, but to whom much of the organisation and operation of the war was unknown, including the Manhattan project.
More than that, with two leaders of the Big Three changing at such a critical moment in history, the potential for misstep or mistake was obvious even if all acted in good faith with the best of intentions.
The foremost physicist of the era, Albert Einstein, who had written to FDR in 1939 recommending that America develop an atomic bomb after becoming aware that the Nazis had already commenced a project with that aim, though who never contributed to the Manhattan project as he was considered by US Army Intelligence a security risk, and who had retired by the end of WWII, was amongst those who recognised the need for others to step up into leadership roles.
Einstein openly admitted his regret for recommending the US develop nuclear technology with the hindsight that the Nazis failed, and he continually warned against an arms race with the Soviets. Moreover, he argued strongly for a world government, telling the New York Times Magazine:
“Today the atomic bomb has altered profoundly the nature of the world as we know it, and the human race consequently finds itself in a new habitat to which it must adapt its thinking. In the light of new knowledge, a world authority and an eventual world state are not just desirable in the name of brotherhood, they are necessary for survival… Today we must abandon competition and secure cooperation. This must be the central fact in all our considerations of international affairs; otherwise we face certain disaster. Past thinking and methods did not prevent world wars. Future thinking must prevent wars.”
Stalin had long been suspicious of the postwar motivations of his Allied partners and believed the anglophone nations would collaborate against Soviet interests. Churchill’s strong continual desire to wage war against the Axis not from the west, nearest Britain, but up through the Balkans had confirmed the British agenda for Stalin (and for FDR). The anglophone nations permitting entry of fascist Argentina into the United Nations heightened Soviet suspicions and in early 1946 Stalin gave a speech in which he suggested that capitalism and communism were incompatible which the hawkes in British and US foreign policy interpreted as hostile.
The next month ex-Prime Minister Churchill gave a speech to students where he suggested “an ‘iron curtain’ has decended on Europe”, and a few days later President Truman demanded Russia pull out of Iran. In many ways, the west’s paranoia at an iron curtain in Europe became self-fulfilling as the cohesion of the Big Three imploded. That was symbolised by the building of a wall through and around isolated west Berlin, a part of the Federal Republic of Germany commonly known as West Germany, from communist East Germany as a part of the United Soviet States of Russia (USSR).
America continued to develop and test nuclear technology and built up an arsenal of nuclear weapons. Within four years of the end of WWII the Soviets also had nuclear technology, in part aided by information supplied by ‘insiders’ which heightened American paranoia. The momentum towards paranoia and divisiveness escalated and found little resistance from progressive political leaders.
The conservative right-wing of the Republican party had long been suspicious of progressive Democrats since the New Deal era under FDR. The 1946 midterms brought in Republican majorities in both the house and the senate which ignited red-baiting – discrediting a political opponent by accusing them of being an anarchist, communist, Marxist, socialist, etc. – which grew in virulence especially in America where it became known as McCarthyism and culminated in investigations by the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) into ‘leftist activity’ in the movie industry and a similar investigation of the Army by Senator McCarthy’s parliamentary subcommittee.
‘The Red scare’, used especially effectively for political gain by future President Richard Nixon, lasted a decade into the late 50’s and was responsible for extreme paranoia and division in American society with a catch phrase of “Reds under the bed” insinuating that a high proportion of public figures and the general public were communist agents and/or sympathisers plotting or waiting to overthrow American democracy.
The economist John Maynard Keynes reshaped economic thought more than any other in the first half of the 20th century, and his policy prescriptions were critical to remobilising Depression-stricken economies and to post-WWI negotiations and renogotiating onerous reparations on Germany. Even when his prescriptions were not adopted by political decision-makers, more often than not over the course of time his ideas were considered correct or at least preferable.
Even though in very poor health due to his enormous work drive to contribute, Keynes was heavily involved in negotiating the new economic order for post-WWII. The 1944 Bretton Woods Conference, in the main, was a contest between the ideas of Keynes and those of Harry Dexter White, the most senior American official. The geopolitical ascendency of America allowed most of White’s ideas to carry the day and Keynes remained concerned that the power imbalance in the economic system overly favoured America, and he argued that insufficient attention had been paid to the economic development of poor nations which was critical to global stability and prosperity.
Keynes’ brilliance was widely appreciated, but most also found him arrogant. Although warmly welcomed at the opening of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank, travelling to America against medical advice, he remained deeply concerned and disappointed with the outcomes from the Bretton Woods Conference, and is rumoured to have been working on a paper recommending the British not ratify it when he passed away on the 20th of April, 1946.
The American economist Dexter White went on to be the first US Executive Director of the IMF but in just over a year resigned abruptly and was implicated in Russian espionage including evidence of passing to a Russian spy network highly sensitive information from the State Department written in his own hand.
Hjalmar Schacht, the German economist and central banker who was influential in setting economic policy early in the Nazi period, had been arrested by the Nazis as a suspected co-conspirator in an elaborate attempt to assassinate Hitler in an explosion to stage a coup d’état on the 20th of July 1944. The conspirators aimed to negotiate a cease fire with the Allies, apparently at terms highly favourable to Germany inconsistent with their deteriorating position in the war. Although Schacht earlier enjoyed a good relationship with Hitler, who understood Schacht’s value to war preparations, his arrogant and forthright manner at expressing counter opinions to the way the economy was run for and through war had estranged him from the most extreme Nazis and Hitler had sidelined him in 1943 stripping him of any real authority. He had escaped execution by the Nazis by the end of the war, but within days of German surrender Schacht was arrested to stand trial in the Nuremberg denazification tribunal. He was one of only three to be cleared of charges and released, after cumulatively 4 years of incarceration, but was left broke and his association with Nazism left him diminished as a historical figure then in his 70s. He lived into his 90s in Munich with his much younger wife, Manci, with whom he had two daughters.
Leaving politics after his failed run for the 1940 Democratic nomination, FDR’s former right-hand man, James Farley, led Coca-Cola International for 30 years as Chairman of the board. Through political suasion, no doubt, in WWII Coke was included along with food and ammunition as a “war priority item” shipped to boost morale and energy of fighting men, and after the war the US government paid for Coca-Cola factories to be built and installed throughout Europe as a part of ‘rebuilding’.
While the Soviet Union’s iron curtain finally fell in Europe in 1989 as the economic and societal deficiencies of authoritarian communism became impossible to deny or repress, the capitalist democracies had not resisted the use of war to impose ideology within spheres of influence. Rightwing idealogues always suggested that USSR’s aggressive coercion had to be met with equal opposing force and so that besides the cold war involving nuclear standoff directly with the USSR, including some notable and terrifying close calls, the west was involved in almost continuous actual war against communism since the end of WWII including in Greece, Korea, a 30 year civil war in Vietnam (fought initially by the French and then American and other anglophone nations, and also involving Cambodia and Laos), as well as shorter conflicts in Cuba and Grenada.
A mindset of being in a continuous state of war, apparently the American ‘wholesome’ way of life under siege, resulted in a population that was either desensitised to the atrocities of war, or believed that it will always be necessary to defend the greatest lifestyle that humanity has ever devised, ignorant to the reality that if it were so virtuous and successful it would be sustainable without the bloodshed.
The enduring peace that was fought for in WWII seemed entirely forgotten. The only counter voices were the younger generations, and while they succeeded for a time in bringing an end to the forced conscription of young men from western countries to fight these wars, soon after leaving university they became mesmerised by the riches on offer to the fortunate in the capitalist system and in many ways became the most disappointing of all generations.
While it is true that nobody can ever know the counter factual of fighting against communist forces at that moment in time, predominantly in Asia, whether it resisted a momentum that might have spread like Nazism and imperialist Japan, logic and balance to policy was in short supply. Allies of the powerful American nation offered little in the way of objective counterbalance in their relationship. Instead, a cabal of mostly anglophone nations formed seeking to win favour and economic rewards from supporting America in whatever military conquest its leaders decided was necessary. These nations might even be described as opportunistic appeasers, and certainly the antipodeans have since British colonisaton felt insecure within the Asia Pacific and preferred to believe that they have had a security guarantee from the most powerful anglophone nation of the era – first Britain, then America – even though the guarantee by America has never been made explicit because, ironically, of latent American isolationism.
By the late 80’s the mindset of the anglophone populations of the world considered the song “Born in the USA” an anthem for Americans, heartily joining in and singing loudly and proudly – especially – the line “sent me off to a foreign land to go and kill a yellow man”, in reference to the American Vietnam war, rather than understanding that it is ballad of regret at the cost of war, and wasted lives and political capital which could instead have been used to do good in the world which ultimately impacted the war veterans in terms of limited economic opportunity.
Moreover, emphasising this contradiction, while the performer, Bruce Springsteen, had the social conscience to write the lyrics, his business acumen and the wealth that flowed from the song limited his desire to underline their real meaning and moral underpinnings to his largely ignorant audiences.
Elliott Roosevelt is a largely forgotten figure in American history, as are essentially all of the descendants of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt. In many ways, Eleanor is as widely acclaimed for her contributions to American social culture through her contributions to civil and gender rights as FDR, and to broader humanity in being the first chairperson of the UN Commission on human rights and leading the drafting of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. When Eleanor died in 1962, however, the influence associated with the Roosevelt name fell precipitously.
Coincidentally, Elliott’s final day in the military was V-J day. After the war he bounced around through jobs, marriages, and cities.
A postwar Senate committee investigated Elliott for his actions and involvement in a procurement contract for reconnaissance aircraft in mid-1943. It was alleged that an official of Hughes Aircraft had corrupted the process by excessively lavishing Elliott and his then girlfriend, Faye Emerson, with entertainment and gifts, even paying for their wedding at the Grand Canyon in December 1944, 18 months after the $39 Million contract had been awarded to Hughes Aircraft. In the two weeks ahead of the final procurement decision Elliott met extensively with FDR and Chief of the Army Airforces, General Arnold, and the latter was said to disagree with the choice.
Elliott represented himself at the 1947 committee investigation and presented evidence that he was on duty overseas on some of the dates when parties that he was alleged to attend took place. Denying the underlying premise of the allegations, Elliott told the committee that “If it is true that for the price of entertainment I made recommendations which would have in any way endangered the lives of the men under me…that fact should be made known to the public.”
Elliott was ultimately exonerated. It was not to be the final time, however, that Elliott’s character would be called into question in political hearings.
Always the favourite child of Eleanor, Elliott was assisted by her financially which may or may not have played a part in the family tensions that grew in latter years with siblings offering alternate views on family relationships to those which Elliott wrote about in books he wrote in the ‘70s.
For a brief period in the late ‘60s Elliott was mayor of Miami. He was linked with organised crime in his business activities and in 1973, after having moved to Portugal, in a Senate subcommittee investigation into corruption was accused by a mob hitman-turned-informant, Louis Mastriana, of attempting to contract him to murder the Bahamian Prime Minister Lynden Pindling in 1968. Mastriana alleged that Elliott, through a “mobster front man”, had paid him a $10,000 downpayment for the contract in retaliation for Pindling not granting a gambling license to an associate. Mastriana had a cheque signed by Elliott which he alleged constituted part-payment. Mastriana did not go ahead with the assassination plot because he believed he would not be able to get off the island without being apprehended. Mastriana also said that in 1970 the US Postal Service had wired him with recording equipment when he discussed with Elliott details of securities transactions.
Again, Elliott appeared in person and denied all allegations. No official actions were taken against him. Living in Portugal where he was breeding Arabian horses, he moved to England when civil war broke out in 1974, before moving back to America.
Elliott married 5 times and had 5 children with three wives, and adopted the three children of Patricia Peabody Whitehead whom he married last in 1980. They were living in Scottsdale, Arizona, in October 1990 as his health failed him. He had said, riley, that his final wish was to outlive his brother James. Elliott Roosevelt was 80 and had heart and liver failure.
Chapter 4 – A Future Of Our Own Making (Next)
Chapter 2 – Rementar (Previous)
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