Sorry for not being expressing myself too clearly - to me it seems that many Americans, i. e. ordinary, good, upstanding and responsible American citizens, were uncomfortable with Stalin as an ally.
At the same time, though, they were aware of the fact that there was no alternative at all to an alliance of the US with the USSR.
Thus, the ordinary Americans‘ „hearts“ were not in the alliance, i. e. they were ambivalent. That’s what I wanted to say 🙂
President Roosevelt, however, gave Stalin a lot of sympathy. I think that was his great mistake, especially as Stalin was obviously aware of this fact, and used it unscrupulously for his own ends 🙁
Yes, and iirc, Churchill tried to warn Roosevelt of Stalin and his evil ways, but tragically, the President would not heed Churchill’s advice 🙁
We can clearly say that FDR had a liking for Stalin, whereas most average Americans did not. Still, they knew that there was no alternative to having him as an ally. An elderly American WW 2 vet, now departed, told me about it several years ago: he fought loyally, of course, but there was a certain heaviness in his heart, whenever he thought about the many lives which Stalin had taken away - for example in the Great Hunger, or considering the fate of the Kazakhs in the 1930s.
The elderly gentleman had a kindly heart🙏🏻 He was a true blessing to all his family and friends.
Menes:
"Sorry for not being expressing myself too clearly - to me it seems that many Americans, i. e. ordinary, good, upstanding and responsible American citizens, were uncomfortable with Stalin as an ally.
At the same time, though, they were aware of the fact that there was no alternative at all to an alliance of the US with the USSR." Agreed, many were as you say.
But not nearly as many, nor were they as uncomfortable with Stalin as they would have been, had the US Democrat media -- i.e., the New York Times -- fully informed Americans about the monstrosity Stalin was and the horrors of his Soviet Gulag Union.
I'm saying most Americans really didn't know how bad Stalin was and had they known, it's hard to guess their reactions.
Of course, Americans also didn't know about Hitler's Holocaust of Jews and other "untermenschen", so the world was chock full of horrors that most didn't comprehend.
What we did all then know was how much we loved and admired the French especially, and the Brits too, and how far we were willing to go to help them, once it finally became clear that WWII was also "our war".
FDR's promise in the 1940 election campaign was that he would not send "American boys" off to fight in a "foreign war".
He repeated that promise often, but only occasionally added: of course, if we are attacked, then it is no longer a "foreign war".
FDR was eager to help our allies, the American people were not so eager.
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