Blog Mirror: Jonah Goldberg: History alone should have made more reporters skeptical about Biden’s health

 

Jonah Goldberg: History alone should have made more reporters skeptical about Biden’s health

Tuesday, April 17, 1945. Flak Bait.

 

The B-26 Marauder Flak Bait, which completed 200 missions on this day.

Winston Churchill eulogized the late Franklin Roosevelt in Parliament.

I beg to move:

"That an humble Address be presented to His Majesty to convey to His Majesty the deep sorrow with which this House has learned of the death of the President of the United States of America and to pray His Majesty that in communicating his own sentiments of grief to the United States Government, he will also be graciously pleased to express on the part of this House their sense of the loss which the British Commonwealth and Empire and the cause of the Allied Nations have sustained, and their profound sympathy with Mrs. Roosevelt and the late President's family and with the Government and people of the United States of America."

My friendship with the great man to whose work and fame we pay our tribute to-day began and ripened during this war. I had met him, but only for a few minutes, after the close of the last war and as soon as I went to the Admiralty in September, 1939, he telegraphed, inviting me to correspond with him direct on naval or other matters if at any time I felt inclined. Having obtained the permission of the Prime Minister, I did so. Knowing President Roosevelt's keen interest in sea warfare, I furnished him with a stream of information about our naval affairs and about the various actions, including especially the action of the Plate River, which lighted the first gloomy winter of the war.

When I became Prime Minister, and the war broke out in all its hideous fury, when our own life and survival hung in the balance, I was already in a position to telegraph to the President on terms of an association which had become most intimate and, to me, most agreeable. This continued through all the ups and downs of the world struggle until Thursday last, when I received my last messages from him. These messages showed no falling off in his accustomed clear vision and vigour upon perplexing and complicated matters. I may mention that this correspondence which, of course, was greatly increased after the United States entry into the war, comprises, to and fro between us, over 1,700 messages. Many of these were lengthy messages and the majority dealt with those more difficult points which come to be discussed upon the level of heads of Governments only after official solutions had not been reached at other stages. To this correspondence there must be added our nine meetings at Argentia, three in Washington, at Casablanca, at Teheran, two at Quebec and, last of all, at Yalta, comprising in all about 120 days of close personal contact, during a great part of which I stayed with him at the White House or at his home at Hyde Park or in his retreat in the Blue Mountains, which he called Shangri-La.

I conceived an admiration for him as a statesman, a man of affairs, and a war leader. I felt the utmost confidence in his upright, inspiring character and outlook and a personal regard-affection I must say-for him beyond my power to express to-day. His love of his own country, his respect for its constitution, his power of gauging the tides and currents of its mobile public opinion, were always evident, but, added to these, were the beatings of that generous heart which was always stirred to anger and to action by spectacles of aggression and oppression by the strong against the weak. It is, indeed, a loss, a bitter loss to humanity that those heart-beats are stilled for ever. President Roosevelt's physical affliction lay heavily upon him. It was a marvel that he bore up against it through all the many years of tumult-and storm. Not one man in ten millions, stricken and crippled as he was, would have attempted to plunge into a life of physical and mental exertion and of hard, ceaseless political controversy. Not one in ten millions would have tried, not one in a generation would have succeeded, not only in entering this sphere, not only in acting vehemently in it, but in becoming indisputable master of the scene. In this extraordinary effort of the spirit over the flesh, the will-power over physical infirmity, he was inspired and sustained by that noble woman his devoted wife, whose high ideals marched with his own, and to whom the deep and respectful sympathy of the House of Commons flows out to-day in all fullness. There is no doubt that the President foresaw the great dangers closing in upon the pre-war world with far more prescience than most well-informed people on either side of the Atlantic, and that he urged forward with all his power such precautionary military preparations as peace-time opinion in the United States could be brought to accept. There never was a moment's doubt, as the quarrel opened, upon which side his sympathies lay.

The fall of France, and what seemed to most people outside this Island, the impending destruction of Great Britain, were to him an agony, although he never lost faith in us. They were an agony to him not only on account of Europe, but because of the serious perils to which the United States herself would have been exposed had we been overwhelmed or the survivors cast down under the German yoke. The bearing of the British nation at that time of stress, when we were all alone, filled him and vast numbers of his countrymen with the warmest sentiments towards our people. He and they felt the blitz of the stern winter of 1940~1, when Hitler set himself to rub out the cities of our country, as much as any of us did, and perhaps more indeed, for imagination is often more torturing than reality. There is no doubt that the bearing of the British and, above all, of the Londoners kindled fires in American bosoms far harder to quench than the conflagrations from which we were suffering. There was also at that time, in spite of General Wavell's victories-all the more, indeed, because of the reinforcements which were sent from this country to him-the apprehension widespread in the United States that we should be invaded by Germany after the fullest preparation in the spring of 1941. It was in February that the President sent to England the late Mr. Wendell Willkie, who, although a political rival and an opposing candidate, felt, as he did on many important points. Mr. Willkie brought a letter from Mr. Roosevelt, which the President had written in his own hand, and this letter contained the famous lines of Longfellow:

". . . Sail on, O ship of State!

Sail on O Union, strong and great!

Humanity with all its fears,

With all the hopes of future years,

Is hanging breathless on thy fate!"

At about that same time he devised the extraordinary measure of assistance called Lend-Lease, which will stand forth as the most unselfish and unsordid financial act of any country in all history. The effect of this was greatly to increase British fighting power and for all the purposes of the war effort to make us, as it were, a much more numerous community. In that autumn I met the President for the first time during the war at Argentia in Newfoundland and together we drew up the Declaration which has since been called the Atlantic Charter and which will, I trust, long remain a guide for both our peoples and for other peoples of the world.

All this time, in deep and dark and deadly secrecy, the Japanese were preparing their act of treachery and greed. When next we met in Washington Japan, Germany and Italy had declared war upon the United States and both our countries were in arms, shoulder to shoulder. Since then we have advanced over the land and over the sea through many difficulties and disappointments, but always with a broadening measure of success. I need not dwell upon the series of great operations which have taken place in the Western Hemisphere, to say nothing of that other immense war proceeding at the other side of the world. Nor need I speak of the plans which we made with our great Ally, Russia, at Teheran, for these have now been carried out for all the world to see.

But at Yalta I noticed that the President was ailing. His captivating smile, his gay and charming manner, had not deserted him but his face had a transparency, an air of purification, and often there was a faraway look in his eyes. When I took my leave of him in Alexandria harbour I must confess that I had an indefinable sense of fear that his health and his strength were on the ebb. But nothing altered his inflexible sense of duty. To the end he faced his innumerable tasks unflinching. One of the tasks of the President is to sign maybe a hundred or two hundred State papers with his own hand every day, commissions and so forth. All this he continued to carry out with the utmost strictness. When death came suddenly upon him "he had finished his mail." That portion of his day's work was done. As the saying goes, he died in harness and we may well say in battle harness, like his soldiers, sailors and airmen, who side by side with ours, are carrying on their task to the end all over the world. What an enviable death was his. He had brought his country through the worst of its perils and the heaviest of its toils. Victory had cast its sure and steady beam upon him. He had broadened and stabilised in the days of peace the foundations of American life and union.

In war he had raised the strength, might and glory of the great Republic to a height never attained by any nation in history. With her left hand she was leading the advance of the conquering Allied Armies into the heart of Germany and with her right, on the other side of the globe, she was irresistibly and swiftly breaking up the power of Japan. And all the time ships, munitions, supplies, and food of every kind were aiding on a gigantic scale her Allies, great and small, in the course of the long struggle.

But all this was no more than worldly power and grandeur, had it not been that the causes of human freedom and of social justice to which so much of his life had been given, added a lustre to all this power and pomp and warlike might, a lustre which will long be discernible among men. He has left behind him a band of resolute and able men handling the numerous interrelated parts of the vast American war machine. He has left a successor who comes forward with firm step and sure conviction to carry on the task to its appointed end. For us. it remains only to say that in Franklin Roosevelt there died the greatest American friend we have ever known and the greatest champion of freedom who has ever brought help and comfort from the new world to the old.

Question put, and agreed to, nemine contradicente.

Resolved:

"That an humble Address be presented to His Majesty to convey to His Majesty the deep sorrow with which this House has learned of the death of the President of the United States of America and to pray His Majesty that in communicating his own sentiments of grief to the United States Government, he will also be graciously pleased to express on the part of this House their sense of the loss which the British Commonwealth and Empire and the cause of the Allied Nations have sustained, and their profound sympathy with Mrs. Roosevelt and the late President's family and with the Government and people of the United States of America."

German troops flooded the Wieringermeerpolder to aid in their retreat.  However, on the same day, German units in the Ruhr began mass surrenders.

US troops landed in the Moro Gulf at Cotabatu.

The Battle of the Hongorai River began in New Guinea.

Historian Tran Trong Kim was appointed the Prime Minister of the Empire of Vietnam, the short lived Japanese supported Vietnamese monarchy.

One armed baseball Peter Gray made his major league debut.

Berlin: Sprint To The Finish Line – Dawn Of The Truman Era – April 17, 1945

Last edition:

Monday, April 16, 1945. The final battle in the West.

Labels: 1940s, 1945, Adolf Hitler, Battle of Berlin, Battle of the Oder–Neisse, Battle of the Seelow Heights, Harry S. Truman, Okinawa, Philippines, the spoken word, The written word, World War Two

Saturday, April 14, 1945. Operation Teardrop.

The US Fifth Army launched a major offensive in the Po Valley, joining an ongoing British offensive.

US troops advance past a wall with Nazi propaganda on it.

The US 3rd Army captured Bayreuth.

Admiral Karl Dönitz grouped six U-boats into Wolfpack Seewolf and ordered them to the Atlantic to tie down Allied forces in the region, which seems rather naive under the circumstances.

Anticipating future weapons development, the Allies thought that the U-boats would position themselves to launch V-1 or V-2 rockets on the Eastern US coast, and launched Operation Teardrop to sink them.

Himmler ordered that all of the prisoners at DAchau were to be murdered.

A memorial for Franklin Roosevelt was held in the East Room of the White House.

Last edition:

Friday, April 13, 1945. Bitter end.

Labels: 1940s, 1945, Austria (Vienna), German Luftwaffe, German SS, Germany, Italy, New Zealand Army, Philippines, Red Army, The Holocaust, Vienna Offensive, World War Two

Thursday, April 12, 1945. The death of Franklin Roosevelt

Franklin Roosevelt on April 11, 1945.

Franklin Roosevelt died on this day in 1945.

His death was a surprise to nobody close to him but came as a shock to the nation.  He'd been fading steadily for months.  His final moments came while sitting for a portrait in Warm Springs, Georgia.  His last words were "I have a terrific headache", reflecting that he died of a massive intracerebral hemorrhage.

He was 63 years of age.

Harry S. Truman was inaugurated President.  Immediately thereafter, Secretary of War Harry Stimson and James F. Byrnes informed him of the nature of the Manhattan Project.  He'd been kept in the dark about it previously, in spite of trying to learn of its nature while in Congress.  At noon he met reporters and said “last night the whole weight of the moon and stars fell on me. If you fellows ever pray, please pray for me.”

Much about Truman's approach to things would be different than Roosevelt's, and FRD's death and Truman's inauguration cannot be regarded as a seamless transition.  Roosevelt was politely hostile to European colonialism and did not desire to see European powers return to their former colonial domains where they had been pushed out of them. Truman was rapidly approached by France and the UK and became sympathetic to their positions.  Roosevelt was naive in some ways to the dangers of Communism and while Truman was not really enlightened to them at first, he'd become so after the war, while also being saddled with an administration that had seen significant left wing penetration.  Truman was, also, blunt.

Roosevelt is arguably the last great President of the United States.  The country has certainly had some good ones since then, but none who were great.

Hitler was ecstatic about Roosevelt's death, maintaining it was a sign that German fortunes in the war were turning.

The US 3rd Army took Erfurt. The French took Baden Baden.

The USS Lindsey, Mannert L. Abele and Zellars were severely damaged off of Okinawa by kamikazes.

The Srmian Front was broken by the Red Army.

The Battle of Authion ended in Allied victory.

The Battle of Buchhof and Stein am Kocher ended after one week.

The Royal Navy sank the U-486 and U-1024.

The Berlin Philharmonic gave one of its last Third Reich performances at the Philharmonic Hall in Berlin, with various members of the military and political elite in attendance.  Robert Heger conducted Brünnhilde's last aria (the Immolation Scene) and the finale from Richard Wagner's Götterdammerung, Beethoven's Violin Concerto, and Anton Bruckner's Romantic Symphony.  Members of the Hitler Youth offered cyanide capsules to the audience as they left the building, many of those in attendance being military and political elites.

How is it that the same far right conspiracy nuts who . . .

have wondered if FDR somehow allowed the Japanese to attack Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, think it's A Okay if the administration tips off a reporter about an impending attack before it happens?

March 1, 1945. Iran declares war on Japan.

 

9th Armored Division, 1 March 1945, Germany

Signal Corps Photo.  This appears to be a M26 with its turret pointing to the rear for travel.  The M26 was just coming into service at this time.

Iran declared war on Japan.

Franklin Roosevelt reported on the Yalta Conference.  He was unable to stand.

The Wehrmacht launched an offensive around Lauban.

The Ninth Army took Mönchengladbach.

"Infantrymen of the U.S. Third Army move through war-torn city of Prum, Germany, of which little is left but blasted buildings and debris-littered streets. 1 March, 1945. 22nd Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Division."

"After the town of Disternich, Germany, fell to units of the 9th Armored Division, civilians are gathered to be interrogated by military authorities. 1 March, 1945. Company A, 27th Armored Infantry Battalion, 9th Armored Division."  This is an interesting photograph for a variety of reasons, one of which simply is to note what's occurring, the interrogation of  civilians in the Westphalian town of Disternich.    Note the peasant like appearance of the German civilians.  Peasantry is probably exactly what they are. Note also the medic.  This was for an interrogation, but there must have been a concern that the civilians would be sick or injured. The soldier on the right with the M1 Garand provides us with a really good example of Maine Hunting Shoes in use by the U.S. Army.  Note also his armored division shoulder patch.

 

"Children of parents left destitute in wake of German retreat from Manheim, Germany, receive milk after civilians were able to round up food for themselves. Scene in sector held by 3rd Armored Division of 1st U.S. Army. 1 March, 1945. Photographer: W. B. Allen, 165th Signal Photo Co."  Note that the boy in the foreground is wearing a classic German mutze with some sort of cap device.

Michael Strank, one of the Marines photographed raising the flag on Iwo Jima, lost his life in the battle.

He was born in Czechoslovakia to a Rusyn family, and had immigrated to the US as a child with his family.

Last edition:

Wednesday, February 28, 1945. Saudi Arabia declares war.

Labels: 1940s, 1945, Army, Axis Powers, Heroes, Iwo Jima, Philippines, Prisoners of War, Red Army, Saudi Arabia, U.S. Navy, United States Marine Corps, World War Two

Wednesday, February 14, 1945. A great President and a great king, meet.

President Roosevelt met with King Ibn Saud on the USS Quincy.

Memorandum of Conversation Between the King of Saudi Arabia (Abdul Aziz Al Saud) and President Roosevelt, February 14, 1945, Aboard the U.S.S. “Quincy” 

February 14, 1945

I

The President asked His Majesty for his advice regarding the problem of Jewish refugees driven from their homes in Europe.6 His Majesty replied that in his opinion the Jews should return to live in the lands from which they were driven. The Jews whose homes were completely destroyed and who have no chance of livelihood in their homelands should be given living space in the Axis countries which oppressed them. The President remarked that Poland might be considered a case in point. The Germans appear to have killed three million Polish Jews, by which count there should be space in Poland for the resettlement of many homeless Jews.

His “Majesty then expounded the case of the Arabs and their legitimate rights in their lands and stated that the Arabs and the Jews could never cooperate, neither in Palestine,7 nor in any other country. His Majesty called attention to the increasing threat to the existence of the Arabs and the crisis which has resulted from continued Jewish immigration and the purchase of land by the Jews. His Majesty further stated that the Arabs would choose to die rather than yield their lands to the Jews.

His Majesty stated that the hope of the Arabs is based upon the word of honor of the Allies and upon the well-known love of justice of the United States, and upon the expectation that the United States will support them.

The President replied that he wished to assure His Majesty that he would do nothing to assist the Jews against the Arabs and would make no move hostile to the Arab people. He reminded His Majesty [Page 3]that it is impossible to prevent speeches and resolutions in Congress or in the press which may be made on any subject. His reassurance concerned his own future policy as Chief Executive of the United States Government.

His Majesty thanked the President for his statement and mentioned the proposal to send an Arab mission to America and England to expound the case of the Arabs and Palestine. The President stated that he thought this was a very good idea because he thought many people in America and England are misinformed. His Majesty said that such a mission to inform the people was useful, but more important to him was what the President had just told him concerning his own policy toward the Arab people.

II

His Majesty stated that the problem of Syria and the Lebanon8 was of deep concern to him and he asked the President what would be the attitude of the United States Government in the event that France should continue to press intolerable demands upon Syria and the Lebanon. The President replied that the French Government had given him in writing their guarantee of the independence of Syria and the Lebanon and that he could at any time write to the French Government to insist that they honor their word. In the event that the French should thwart the independence of Syria and the Lebanon, the United States Government would give to Syria and the Lebanon all possible support short of the use of force.

III

The President spoke of his great interest in farming, stating that he himself was a farmer. He emphasized the need for developing water resources, to increase the land under cultivation as well as to turn the wheels which do the country’s work. He expressed special interest in irrigation, tree planting and water power which he hoped would be developed after the war in many countries, including the Arab lands. Stating that he liked Arabs, he reminded His Majesty that to increase land under cultivation would decrease the desert and provide living for a larger population of Arabs. His Majesty thanked the President for promoting agriculture so vigorously, but said that he himself could not engage with any enthusiasm in the development of his country’s agriculture and public works if this prosperity would be inherited by the Jews.

The raid on Dresden concluded with a nighttime raid by the RAF.

The USAAF bombed Prague.  The raid killed 701 people, destroyed houses and historical sites, in a country that was a victim of Nazi oppression. This was attributed to a navigational error.

The Red Army liberated the Gross-Rosen concentration camp.

The U-989 was sunk by the Royal Navy.

Last edition:

Tuesday, February 13, 1945. Dresden.

Labels: 1940s, 1945, Allied Air Campaigns, Battle of Manila, Manila Philippines, Nazi Germany, Philippines, Royal Air Force, Siege of Budapest, The bombing of Dresden, U.S. Air Force, U.S. Navy, War Crimes, Weapons

Thursday, January 30, 1945. The sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff

The Wilhelm Gustloff was sunk by the S-13 while evacuating civilians and military personnel from Gdynia.  9,400 people died.

Its the largest single loss of life from a single maritime disaster in history.

Hitler delivered his last public speech.  He stated:

GERMAN COMPATRIOTS! NATIONAL SOCIALISTS!

Twelve years ago, when, as the leader of the strongest party, I was entrusted by the deceased Reich President, von Hindenburg, with the office of Chancellor, Germany found herself faced with the same situation internally as the one that today faces it externally. The forces of economic destruction and annihilation of the Versailles dictate led to a situation that had gradually become a permanent one-namely, the existence of almost 7,000,000 unemployed, 7,000,000 part-time workers, a destroyed farmers' class, a ruined industry and a commerce that had become correspondingly prostrate.

The German ports were nothing but ship cemeteries. The financial situation of the country threatened at any moment to lead to a collapse not only of the state but also of the provinces and of the communities. The decisive thing, however, was this: Behind this methodical destruction of Germany's economy, there stood the specter of Asiatic bolshevism. It was there then, just as much as it is there today.

In the years before our assumption of power the bourgeois world was incapable of opposing this development effectively on a small scale, just as it is incapable of doing so today on a large scale. Even after the collapse of 1918 this bourgeois world had failed to realize that an old world was vanishing and a new one being born and that there is no use in supporting and thus artificially maintaining what has been found to be decayed and rotten, but that something healthy must be substituted for it. A social structure that had become obsolete had cracked and every attempt to maintain it was bound to fail.

It was no different from today on a large scale, when the bourgeois states are doomed and when only clearly defined and ideologically consolidated national communities can survive the most difficult crisis Europe has seen in many centuries.

We were granted only six years of peace after Jan. 30, 1933. During these six years tremendous feats were achieved, and even greater ones were planned, so many and such huge ones that they caused envy among our democratic, impotent neighbors.

But this was decisive: That we succeeded during these six years, with superhuman exertions, to restore the German nation militarily-that is, to imbue it with the spirit of resistance and self-assertion rather than to equip it with a material war potential.

The horrid fate that is now taking shape in the east and that exterminates hundreds of thousands in the villages and market places, in the country and in the cities will be warded off in the end and mastered by us, with the utmost exertion and despite all setbacks and hard trials.

But if this is possible at all, it is only because a change has taken place in the German people since 1933. If Germany today were the Germany envisaged by the Versailles Treaty, Europe would long since have been swept away by the hurricane from Central Asia. It is hardly necessary to argue with those eternal blockheads who maintain that an unarmed Germany would, owing to its impotence, not have become the victim of this Jewish international world plot. Such reasoning would amount to a reversal of all laws of nature.

When was a helpless goose ever not eaten by the fox because she was constitutionally incapable of harboring aggressive designs? And when has a wolf ever reformed and become a pacifist because sheep do not wear armor? If there are still bourgeois states who earnestly believe this, that only proves how necessary it was to do away with an era that by its educational system managed to cultivate and maintain such notions, nay, even granted them political influence.

The fight against this Jewish Asiatic bolshevism had been raging long before National Socialism came into power. The only reason why it had not already overrun Europe during the years 1919-20 was that it was then itself too weak and too poorly armed.

Its attempt to eliminate Poland was not abandoned because of its compassion for the Poland of that time but only because of the lost battle before Warsaw. Its intention to annihilate Hungary was not discarded because they changed their minds, but because Bolshevist power could not be maintained militarily. Nor was the attempt to smash Germany given up because this achievement was not desired but because it proved impossible to overcome the natural resistance stamina of our people.

Thereupon Judaism began systematically to undermine our nation from within, and it found its best ally in those narrow-minded bourgeoisie who would not recognize that the era of a bourgeois world is ended and will never again return, that the epoch of unbridled economic liberalism has outlived itself and can only lead to its self-destruction and, above all, that the great tasks of our time can be mastered only under an authoritarian coordination of natural strength, based on the law of same rights for all and, thence, of same duties. On the other hand, the fulfillment of the same duties must necessarily entail an equality of rights.

Thus National Socialism, in the midst of gigantic economic, social and cultural reconstruction work, has also educationally given to the German people that armor without which no military values can be created.

The power of resistance of our nation has increased so tremendously since Jan. 30, 1933, that it cannot be compared any more with that of former times But the maintaining of this inner power of resistance is by the same token the safest guarantor of final victory. If Europe today finds itself stricken with a severe illness, the stricken countries will either overcome this illness by exerting their full and utmost power of resistance or they will succumb.

Yet the convalescent and survivor overcomes the climax of such an illness only in a crisis, a crisis that utterly weakens him, but in spite of all, it is all the more our immutable will not to shrink from anything in this battle for the salvation of our people from the most dreadful fate of all times and unflinchingly and faithfully to obey the law of the preservation of our nation.

God the Almighty has made our nation. By defending its existence we are defending His work. The fact that this defense is fraught with incalculable misery, suffering and hardships makes us even more attached to this nation But it also gives us that hard will needed to fulfill our duty even in the most critical struggle; that is, not only to fulfill our duty toward the decent, noble Germans, but also our duty toward those few infamous ones who turn their backs on their people.

In this fateful battle there is therefore for us but one command: He who fights honorably can thus save his own life and the lives of his loved ones. But he who, because of cowardice or lack of character, turns his back on the nation shall inexorably die an ignominious death.

That National Socialism succeeded in awakening and strengthening this spirit in our German people is a great achievement. Only when this mighty world drama will have died away and the bells of peace are ringing will realization come of what the German people owes to this spiritual renaissance: No less than its existence in this world.

Only a few months and weeks ago Allied statesmen openly outlined the German fate. Thereupon they were warned by some newspapers to be more intelligent and rather to promise something, even though nobody intended to keep this promise later.

As an inexorable National Socialist and a fighter for my people, I now wish to assure these statesmen once and for all that every attempt at influencing National Socialist Germany through slogans, lies and distortions presupposes a simple-mindedness unknown to the Germany of today. The fact that political activities and lies are inextricably linked in a democracy is of no consequence. Decisive is that every promise given by these statesmen to a people is today quite meaningless, because they are not in a position ever to fulfill any such promise. This is as if one sheep promised another sheep to protect it against a tiger.

I herewith repeat my prophecy: England will not only not be in a position to control bolshevism but her development will unavoidably evolve more and more toward the symptoms of this destructive disease.

The democracies are unable to rid themselves now of the forces they summoned from the steppes of Asia.

All the small European nations ,who capitulated, confident of Allied assurances, are facing complete annihilation. It is entirely uninteresting whether this fate will befall them a little earlier or later; what counts is its implacability. The Kremlin Jews are motivated only by tactical considerations; whether in one case they act with immediate brutality or, in another case, with some reticence, the result will always be the same.

Germany, however, shall never suffer this fate. The guarantor thereof is the victory achieved twelve years ago within our country. Whatever our enemies may plot, whatever sufferings they may inflict on our German cities, on German landscapes and, above all, on our people, all that cannot bear any comparison with the irreparable misery, the tragedy that would befall us if the plutocratic-Bolshevistic conspiracy were victorious.

Therefore, it is all the more necessary on this twelfth anniversary of the rise to power to strengthen the heart more than ever before and to steel ourselves in the holy determination to wield the sword, no-matter where and under what circumstances, until final victory crowns our efforts.

On this day I do not want to leave any doubt about something else. Against an entire hostile world I once chose my road, according to my inner call, and strode it, as an unknown and nameless man, to final success; often they reported I was dead and always they wished I were, but in the end I remained victor in spite of all. My life today is with an equal exclusiveness determined by the duties incumbent on me.

Combined, they are but one: To work for my people and to fight for it. Only He can relieve me of this duty Who called me to it. It was in the hand of Providence to snuff me out by the bomb that exploded only one and a half meters from me on July 20, and thus to terminate my life's work. That the Almighty protected me on that day I consider a renewed affirmation of the task entrusted to me.

In the years to come I shall continue on this road, uncompromisingly safeguarding my people's interests, oblivious to all misery and danger, and filled with the holy conviction that God the Almighty will not abandon him who, during all his life, had no desire but to save his people from a fate it had never deserved, neither by virtue of its number nor by way of its importance.

Therefore I now appeal to the entire German people and, above all, to my old fellow-fighters and to all the soldiers to gird themselves with a yet greater, harder spirit of resistance, until we can again-as we did before-put on the graves of the dead of this enormous struggle a wreath inscribed with the words: "And yet you were victorious."

Therefore I expect every German to do his duty to the last and that he be willing to take upon himself every sacrifice he will be asked to make; I expect every able-bodied German to fight with the complete disregard for his personal safety; I expect the sick and the weak or those otherwise unavailable for military duty to work with their last strength; I expect city dwellers to forge the weapons for this struggle and I expect the farmer to supply the bread for the soldiers and workers of this struggle by imposing restrictions upon himself; I expect all women and girls to continue supporting this struggle with utmost fanaticism.

In this appeal I particularly address myself to German youth. In vowing ourselves to one another, we are entitled to stand before the Almighty and ask Him for His grace and His blessing. No people can do more than that everybody who can fight, fights, and that everybody who can work, works, and that they all sacrifice in common, filled with but one thought: to safeguard freedom and national honor and thus the future of life.

However grave the crisis may be at the moment, it will, despite everything, finally be mastered by our unalterable will, by our readiness for sacrifice and by our abilities. We shall overcome this calamity, too, and this fight, too, will not be won by central Asia but by Europe; and at its head will be the nation that has represented Europe against the East for 1,500 years and shall represent it for all times: our Greater German Reich, the German nation.

It was carried on German radio.  The Red Army was only 90 miles from Berlin. 

The German movie industry released Kolberg, premiering the film in Berlin.  It was about the city holding out against the French during the Napoleonic Wars, perhaps missing the point that the French defeated the German  principalities by and large and used Germans as troops in their war in Russia. . . which should have taught certain lessons.

Released POWs.

The U.S. Army conducted the Raid at Cabanatuan which freed more than 552 prisoners of war.  The raid was conducted, as mentioned here recently, by US Army Rangers, as well as Philippine Alamo Scouts, supported by Philippine guerillas.

Italian women were granted the full franchise.

Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill met at Malta, in preparation for the Yalta Conference which was to occur the following week.

Churchill had hoped that he and Roosevelt could develop a united front against Stalin in the upcoming Yalta Conference, but it did not occur.  Roosevelt was naive about the Soviet Union and Communism and in fact the Roosevelt Administration had been infiltrated at relatively high levels by Soviet sympathizers if not outright agents such that they were capable of some influence on the executive.

Last edition:

Monday, January 29, 1945. Königsberg taken.

Labels: 1940s, 1945, actors and actresses, Adolf Hitler, Army, boats and ships, Detroit Michigan, Eastern Front, Lithuania, Red Army, Russia, Von Manstein, World War Two

Saturday, January 20, 1945. FDR Reinaugurated.

The fourth, and modest, inauguration of Franklin D. Roosevelt took place on the South Portico of the White House.

His address. 

Mr. Chief Justice, Mr. Vice President, my friends: 

You will understand and, I believe, agree with my wish that the form of this inauguration be simple and its words brief. 

We Americans of today, together with our allies, are passing through a period of supreme test. It is a test of our courage—of our resolve—of our wisdom—of our essential democracy. 

If we meet that test—successfully and honorably—we shall perform a service of historic importance which men and women and children will honor throughout all time. 

As I stand here today, having taken the solemn oath of office in the presence of my fellow countrymen—in the presence of our God—I know that it is America's purpose that we shall not fail. 

In the days and the years that are to come, we shall work for ajust and honorable peace, a durable peace, as today we work and fight for total victory in war. 

We can and we will achieve such a peace. 

We shall strive for perfection. We shall not achieve it immediately—but we still shall strive. We may make mistakes—but they must never be mistakes which result from faintness of heart or abandonment of moral principle. 

I remember that my old schoolmaster, Dr. Peabody, said in days that seemed to us then to be secure and untroubled, "Things in life will not always run smoothly. Sometimes we will be rising toward the heights—then all will seem to reverse itself and start downward. The great fact to remember is that the trend of civilization itself is forever upward; that a line drawn through the middle of the peaks and the valleys of the centuries always has an upward trend." 

Our Constitution of 1787 was not a perfect instrument; it is not perfect yet. But it provided a firm base upon which all manner of men, of all races and colors and creeds, could build our solid structure of democracy. 

Today, in this year of war, 1945, we have learned lessons—at a fearful cost—and we shall profit by them. 

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 and not as ostriches, nor as dogs in the manger. 

We have learned to be citizens of the world, members of the human community. 

We have learned the simple truth, as Emerson said, that, "The only way to have a friend is to be one." 

We can gain no lasting peace if we approach it with suspicion and mistrust or with fear. We can gain it only if we proceed with the understanding and the confidence and the courage which flow from conviction. 

The Almighty God has blessed our land in many ways. He has given our people stout hearts and strong arms with which to strike mighty blows for freedom and truth. He has given to our country a faith which has become the hope of all peoples in an anguished world.

So we pray to Him now for the vision to see our way clearly to see the way that leads to a better life for ourselves and for all our fellow men—and to the achievement of His will to peace on earth.

Roosevelt would be the only US President to be elected to more than two terms, and after him jealous Republicans caused the Constitution to be amended to prevent that reoccurring, which we can now all be grateful for as it will theoretically prevent Donald Trump from trying for a their term, should old age or dementia not remove him from politics before the end of his claimed current term.  While still hated by some conservatives, FDR is the last American President who might be regarded as "great", although that status can be debated.  He certainly was one of the best Presidents in the nation's history, and his long administration fundamentally altered the country and shaped the post war United States up until, it would seem, today.

Outgoing Vice President Wallace administered the oath to his successor Harry S. Truman, which had been the long standing tradition.  It was the last time it would be observed.  Wallace was dumped as insiders, including FDR, knew that FDR was on death's door and that the incoming Vice President would become President.  Wallace was feared by many because of his very far left views.

The Germans started evacuating East Prussia.

The evacuation of East Prussia would be a major human tragedy, although one that receives very little attention as the Germans brought it upon themselves.  The mass migration into the Reich would end centuries of German presence in what is now once again part of Poland.

The Red Army took Prešov, Slovakia.

The Hungarian Provisional Government entered into an armistice with the Allies.

The Allies progressed in the Ardennes and the French 1st Army commenced an offensive in the Vosges region.

The Nationalist Chinese took Muse, Burma.

Last edition:

Friday, January 19, 1945. Martin Bormann and Hitler's mistress Eva Braun arrived at the Führerbunker.

Labels: 1940s, 1945, Adolf Hitler, Eastern Front, French Army, French Resistance Movements, Poland, Red Army, Siege of Budapest, War Crimes, World War Two

A tragic day.

Donald Trump will be sworn in as President of the United States today.

It can be argued, although it will not be, and in fact this is mostly just a mental exercise, that the action will be null, void, and of no effect and that for the first time in its history, by the end of the day, the United States will not have President.

This is why:

No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.

Section 3 of the 14th Amendment.

Oh, I know, you're thinking, if you read this late in the day; "I saw Chief Justice John Roberts swear Donald J. Trump in as President".  If you are reading it early, and are inclined to watch, you will see that occur.

Yes, he did, or will.

But, by the same token, John Roberts could have gone down to Hooters with the guys from the court, and rather than leave a tip, have sworn in a waitress as President of the United States.

Here's the thing.  Anyone can take the oath, the Constitution doesn't allow an insurrectionist to be President, unless 2/3s of Congress lifts the disability, and Trump is an insurrectionist.  He can't be President, and therefore, the oath will have no effect.  It will be null and void, ab initio.  

By the same token, the Hooters waitress might be 18 years old and a Ukrainian immigrant.  Swearing her in, won't make her the chief executive.

Trump is the President Elect going into this morning.  He did win the electoral vote and the popular vote.  Nonetheless, he might still be President Elect tomorrow morning, if this reading of the 14th Amendment is correct. Biden isn't President either. His term of office ended.

And J. D. Vance won't be President, he hasn't take the oath.

Now, I know that you may be thinking "but no court had declared him to be an insurrectionist". 

And indeed, while the Special Prosecutor apparently considered charging him with an insurrection related offense, he didn't.

But one court did. A court in Colorado did just that.  The larger fact of the matter is that the Constitution is drafted so that it just doesn't matter.  The 14th Amendment is drafted with the presumption that people know who is, or isn't, an insurrectionist.  After the Civil War, the US didn't put all the Southern traitors on trial. It did lift the ban on quite a few of them, however.

Having said that, in spite of their horrific act in rebelling against the Untied States in order to preserve racist human bondage, almost all of those who served the Southern cause had enough integrity to admit it and, if they chose to resume public life, to come forward and take an oath of loyalty.

This provision, accordingly, works differently than most other such matters.  Like setting the age to be President, it just sets that insurrectionist can't be President.  If there's any doubt that might be had, it would really be up to the supposed insurrectionist to seek a declaratory judgment that they weren't one.

Just as it would be if Justice Roberts, right before administering the oath, announced "I'd like to introduce you to Bubbles, whom I will now swear in as President".

Maybe.

In other words, Trump would have to go back into Court and seek a declaration that he isn't an insurrectionist, although it might be too late as he could be judicially estopped on that point by the ruling in Colorado.

As a result, again if this is correct, he will be just a private citizen, and it could be that everything he does in the next four years, in the unlikely event he is seen to be serving out four years, is null and void as well.

Or perhaps not.  If later challenged, the Supreme Court might say that as it wasn't raised, the validity of his actions will be allowed to stand.  There's some precedent for that.

But, we really don't know.

What we do know, under the 14th Amendment, "President Trump" refers to the past, not the present and the office is vacant.

Or not.

Maybe this is just all wrong, post Civil War history notwithstanding.  As it happened, the country was pretty forgiving following the Civil War and for the most part it just forgave the perpetrators of rebellion.

That's actually part of our current problem.  After the war, the Radical Reconstructionist wanted to treat the traitors harshly.  They were right.

It would have provided an enduring lesson on the cost of treason.  It would also have advanced civil rights in the American South, and the country at large, by a century.  

Likewise, Nixon should have been tried by a court, the failure to do so now resulting in the tragedy we are currently enduring.

And we are enduring one, and its about to get much, much, worse.

It's also remarkable how Synchronicity is rearing its head to give us a metaphysical dope slap today.

Today is Martin Luther King Day, or if you are in Wyoming and prefer, it's Wyoming Equality Day.

King was a great man.  He had his personal failings, as we all do, but it was his greatness, not his failings, that defined him.  He gave his life willingly for the cause of civil rights at a time in this country when resistance to the full civil rights for African Americans remained strong.

It's also the 80th anniversary of the final inauguration of Franklin Roosevelt, as we mark in a different thread.  Roosevelt also had his personal failings, but like his cousin Theodore, he was a "traitor to his class" in that he was a wealthy New Yorker who worked to save the the common American.  At the time of his last inauguration, he knew that he was dying and his running had essentially been a sacrifice of his final months for the nation.

In contrast we're inaugurating today a wealthy New Yorker whose used the common man to return himself to the oval office, but whose personal failings really define him.

That individual campaigned, twice, on the theme of "Make America Great Again".  That the nation has declined from greatness cannot be doubted.  Trump was part of that decline, and a symptom of it.  He's not responsible for much of it, and indeed if prior post war politicians, Republican and Democrat, had not ignored the growing pain of the Middle Class over the past fifty years, we wouldn't be here now.

But Trump isn't going to make American great again.  Indeed, his election may have broken the jar of greatness beyond all repair.  That will soon be very apparent, but will the population be willing to accept the blame?