Posted on 08/30/2004 5:39:36 PM PDT by Fedora
Acheson's defenders have promoted that view of Acheson since the Alger Hiss trial--most recently in Douglas Brinkely's Acheson biography. It doesn't fit the complete record on Acheson's actions. As I indicated in Part 1 (please refer to the footnotes), Acheson was not anti-Soviet in 1945, but continued to promote sharing nuclear technology with the Soviets into 1946, and was named as a Soviet agent in an FBI file of that year. He reluctantly became anti-Stalinist towards the end of 1946, but was never ideologically committed to anti-Communism (he was opposed to Stalin rather than Communism); rather, he pushed for a US-Chicom alliance at that time (at the same time Soviet agents were promoting the same position), and opposed John Foster Dulles' aggressive anti-Communist policies in the 1950s--most likely for partisan reasons (Dulles felt that Acheson opposed whatever he suggested simply for the sake of being contrarian). Also Acheson went to lengths to cover up his pre-1946 Communist activity by defending Alger Hiss and others, and he continued to advise Felix Frankfurter on a daily basis during the Truman administration. His post-1946 behavior was paradoxical. My interpretation is that he probably wasn't a Soviet agent after 1946 but he often continued to advance Soviet ends through his contrarian partisanship and his lax security policies. I'm not sure what was going through his mind during the Cuban Missile Crisis, but I tend to think that was more a reflection of his personality than his ideological views. Acheson enjoyed being confrontational.
Also on this:
"Most everybody was pro-Soviet (or at least pro-Red Army) in the 40s (aka WWII)."
No, they weren't. Most of the Russian specialists in the State Department who'd had experience with the Soviets since the 1920s-1930s were anti-Soviet. But they were squeezed out of power by a pro-Soviet faction over the course of the Roosevelt administration and the early years of the Truman administration. Soviet ambassador Maxim Litinov exerted pressure on Sumner Welles towards this end in spring 1943, and Anatoly Gorsky and Henry Wallace made a renewed push in this direction after Roosevelt's death in 1945.
Interesting observations. What I noticed on the signatures was:
The letters "E", "R", and "Z" on Rood's are spaced out. The letter's on p. 32 flow together. I suppose there could be plausible explanations for why someone might compress their writing (I do that when I'm writing in a narrow-ruled notebook), but still, it is a difference.
In Rood's Zumwalt's name breaks after the "m". On p. 32 it doesn't.
On p. 32 Zumwalt's last name is followed by an "S"-looking character (an uncrossed loop of a "t"?) which is absent from Rood's.
I also observe a similarity: in neither signature is there a distinct "l" or "t". If either of these are Zumwalt's signature, he had sloppy handwriting, LOL!
You've got me there! I guess I'm another victim of received history, particularly about Acheson. However, the "everybody" I had in mind was the general Homefront population, 1942-45, not the State experts. We went to see "North Star," listened to Norman Corwin's pro-Stalin radio dramas, watched the erstwhile anti-communist Don Cossacks perform the partisan dance, and cheered on the Red Army as it smashed those Nazis. As a 10-year-old, I wasn't aware of the Hitler-Stalin Pact, the Winter War, the rape of the Baltic nations, Katyn, etc.
BTW, aside from the arcana about K's medals, is it possible he actually did toss his medals over the fence? Later, he decided some medals might be politically useful for a Senator, so, he leaned on the Navy to get replacements. And got the citation fluffed up, minus the awkward business of offing a VC. Of course, this would just be another "historical footnote."
It's possible Kerry may have tossed his medals and then got a replacement, which might explain some of the citation discrepancies. Unfortunately the video footage seems inconclusive. There's a link here if you want to watch it:
Lets watch the film of John Kerry and VVAW throwing combat medals over the fence!
EEEUUUUWWWWW.....God, "Weekend at Alan and Johnny's"??????? They look EMBALMED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
You know youcan send a freepmail to the mods and ask them to correct thelink boo boo here.
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