Speech on the Far East

I should like to discuss with you the relations between the peoples of the United States and the peoples of Asia. What is the situation in regard to the military security of the Pacific area, and what is our policy in regard to it?

The defeat and the disarmament of Japan has placed upon the United States the necessity of assuming the military defense of Japan so long as that is required, both in the interest of our security and in the interests of the security of the entire Pacific area and, in all honor, in the interest of Japanese security. I can assure you that there is no intention of any sort of abandoning or weakening the defenses of Japan, and that whatever arrangements are to be made, either through permanent settlement or otherwise, that defense must and shall be maintained.

This defensive perimeter runs along the Aleutians to Japan and then goes to the Ryukyus, the Philippines, and Formosa. We hold important defense positions in the Ryukyu Islands, and those we will continue to hold. In the interest of the population of the Ryukyu Islands, we will at an appropriate time offer to hold these islands under trusteeship of the United Nations. But they are essential parts of the defensive perimeter of the Pacific, and they must and will be held.

So far as the military security of other areas in the Pacific is concerned, it must be clear that no person can guarantee these areas against military attack. But it must also be clear that such a guarantee is hardly sensible or necessary within the realm of practical relationship.

Should such an attack occur, one hesitates to say where such an armed attack could come from, the initial reliance must be on the people attacked to resist it and then upon the commitments of the entire civilized world under the Charter of the United Nations, which so far has not proved a weak reed to lean on by any people who are determined to protect their independence against outside aggression. But it is a mistake, I think, in considering Pacific and Far Eastern problems to become obsessed with military considerations. Important as they are, there are other problem that press, and these other problems are not capable of solution through military means. These other problems arise out of the susceptibility of many areas, and many countries in the Pacific area, to subversion and penetration. That cannot be stopped by military means....

What we conclude, I believe, is that there is a new day which has dawned in Asia. It is a day in which the Asian peoples are on their own, and know it, and intend to continue on their own. It is a day in which the old relationships between east and west are gone, relationships which at their worst were exploitation and at their best were paternalism. That relationship is over, and the relationship of east and west must now be in the Far East one of mutual respect and mutual helpfulness. We are their friends. Others are their friends. We and those others are willing to help, but we can help only where we are wanted and only where conditions of help are really sensible and possible. So what we can see is that this new day in Asia, this new day which is dawning, may go on to a glorious noon or it may darken and it may drizzle out. But that decision lies within the countries of Asia and within the power of the Asian people. It is not a decision which a friend or even an enemy from the outside can make for them.

-- Dean Acheson, US Secretary of State
Excerpts from a speech given to the National Press Association

--

Enemies from Within

Five years after a world war has been won, men’s hearts should anticipate a long peace—and men’s minds should be free from the heavy weight that comes with war. But this is not such a period—for this is not a period of peace. This is a time of “the cold war.” This is a time when all the world is split into two vast, increasingly hostile armed camps—a time of a great armament race. Today we can almost physically hear the mutterings and rumblings of an invigorated god of war. You can see it, feel it, and hear it all the way from the Indochina hills, from the shores of Formosa, right over into the very heart of Europe itself.

Six years ago there was within the Soviet orbit, 180,000,000 people. Lined up on the anti-totalitarian side there were in the world at that time, roughly 1,625,000,000 people. Today, only six years later, there are 800,000,000 people under the absolute domination of Soviet Russia—an increase of over 400 percent. On our side, the figure has shrunk to around 500,000,000. In other words, in less than six years, the odds have changed from 9 to 1 in our favor to 8 to 5 against us.

This indicates the swiftness of the tempo of Communist victories and American defeats in the cold war. As one of our outstanding historical figures once said, “When a great democracy is destroyed, it will not be from enemies from without, but rather because of enemies from within.” . . .

The reason why we find ourselves in a position of impotency is not because our only powerful potential enemy has sent men to invade our shores . . . but rather because of the traitorous actions of those who have been treated so well by this Nation. It has not been the less fortunate, or members of minority groups who have been traitorous to this Nation, but rather those who have had all the benefits that the wealthiest Nation on earth has had to offer . . . the finest homes, the finest college education and the finest jobs in government we can give.

This is glaringly true in the State Department. There the bright young men who are born with silver spoons in their mouths are the ones who have been most traitorous. . . .

I have here in my hand a list of 205 . . . a list of names that were made known to the Secretary of State as being members of the Communist Party and who nevertheless are still working and shaping policy in the State Department.

[Secretary of State Acheson] actions have lighted the spark which is resulting in a moral uprising and will end only when the whole sorry mess of twisted, warped thinkers are swept from the national scene so that we may have a new birth of honesty and decency in government.

-- US Senator Joseph McCarthy (R- WI)

Summary

- Secretary of State Acheson vows to protect Japan
- Acheson lays out a defensive Pacific perimeter for US involvement. Korea and China are not mentioned in the perimeter.
- Senator Joseph McCarthy criticizes the US State Department for being soft on Soviet Russia. McCarthy accuses subversion and infiltration from Soviet spies, claims to have a list of 205 Communist and former Communist Party members who work inside the State Department.

1946

I am glad to come to Westminster College this afternoon, and am complimented that you should give me a degree. The name "Westminster" is somehow familiar to me. I seem to have heard of it before. Indeed, it was at Westminster that I received a very large part of my education in politics, dialectic, rhetoric, and one or two other things. In fact we have both been educated at the same, or similar, or, at any rate, kindred establishments.

It is also an honor, perhaps almost unique, for a private visitor to be introduced to an academic audience by the President of the United States. Amid his heavy burdens, duties, and responsibilities -- unsought but not recoiled from -- the President has traveled a thousand miles to dignify and magnify our meeting here to-day and to give me an opportunity of addressing this kindred nation, as well as my own countrymen across the ocean, and perhaps some other countries too. The President has told you that it is his wish, as I am sure it is yours, that I should have full liberty to give my true and faithful counsel in these anxious and baffling times. I shall certainly avail myself of this freedom, and feel the more right to do so because any private ambitions I may have cherished in my younger days have been satisfied beyond my wildest dreams. Let me, however, make it clear that I have no official mission or status of any kind, and that I speak only for myself. There is nothing here but what you see.

I can therefore allow my mind, with the experience of a lifetime, to play over the problems which beset us on the morrow of our absolute victory in arms, and to try to make sure with what strength I have that what has been gained with so much sacrifice and suffering shall be preserved for the future glory and safety of mankind.

The United States stands at this time at the pinnacle of world power. It is a solemn moment for the American Democracy. For with primacy in power is also joined an awe-inspiring accountability to the future. If you look around you, you must feel not only the sense of duty done but also you must feel anxiety lest you fall below the level of achievement. Opportunity is here now, clear and shining for both our countries. To reject it or ignore it or fritter it away will bring upon us all the long reproaches of the after-time. It is necessary that constancy of mind, persistency of purpose, and the grand simplicity of decision shall guide and rule the conduct of the English-speaking peoples in peace as they did in war. We must, and I believe we shall, prove ourselves equal to this severe requirement.

When American military men approach some serious situation they are wont to write at the head of their directive the words "over-all strategic concept." There is wisdom in this, as it leads to clarity of thought. What then is the over-all strategic concept which we should inscribe today? It is nothing less than the safety and welfare, the freedom and progress, of all the homes and families of all the men and women in all the lands. And here I speak particularly of the myriad cottage or apartment homes where the wage-earner strives amid the accidents and difficulties of life to guard his wife and children from privation and bring the family up in the fear of the Lord, or upon ethical conceptions which often play their potent part.

To give security to these countless homes, they must be shielded from the two giant marauders, war and tyranny. We all know the frightful disturbances in which the ordinary family is plunged when the curse of war swoops down upon the bread-winner and those for whom he works and contrives. The awful ruin of Europe, with all its vanished glories, and of large parts of Asia glares us in the eyes. When the designs of wicked men or the aggressive urge of mighty States dissolve over large areas the frame of civilized society, humble folk are confronted with difficulties with which they cannot cope. For them all is distorted, all is broken, even ground to pulp.

When I stand here this quiet afternoon I shudder to visualize what is actually happening to millions now and what is going to happen in this period when famine stalks the earth. None can compute what has been called "the unestimated sum of human pain." Our supreme task and duty is to guard the homes of the common people from the horrors and miseries of another war. We are all agreed on that.

Our American military colleagues, after having proclaimed their "over-all strategic concept" and computed available resources, always proceed to the next step -- namely, the method. Here again there is widespread agreement. A world organization has already been erected for the prime purpose of preventing war, UNO, the successor of the League of Nations, with the decisive addition of the United States and all that means, is already at work. We must make sure that its work is fruitful, that it is a reality and not a sham, that it is a force for action, and not merely a frothing of words, that it is a true temple of peace in which the shields of many nations can some day be hung up, and not merely a cockpit in a Tower of Babel. Before we cast away the solid assurances of national armaments for self-preservation we must be certain that our temple is built, not upon shifting sands or quagmires, but upon the rock. Anyone can see with his eyes open that our path will be difficult and also long, but if we persevere together as we did in the two world wars -- though not, alas, in the interval between them -- I cannot doubt that we shall achieve our common purpose in the end.

I have, however, a definite and practical proposal to make for action. Courts and magistrates may be set up but they cannot function without sheriffs and constables. The United Nations Organization must immediately begin to be equipped with an international armed force. In such a matter we can only go step by step, but we must begin now. I propose that each of the Powers and States should be invited to delegate a certain number of air squadrons to the service of the world organization. These squadrons would be trained and prepared in their own countries, but would move around in rotation from one country to another. They would wear the uniform of their own countries but with different badges. They would not be required to act against their own nation, but in other respects they would be directed by the world organization. This might be started on a modest scale and would grow as confidence grew. I wished to see this done after the first world war, and I devoutly trust it may be done forthwith.

It would nevertheless be wrong and imprudent to entrust the secret knowledge or experience of the atomic bomb, which the United States, Great Britain, and Canada now share, to the world organization, while it is still in its infancy. It would be criminal madness to cast it adrift in this still agitated and un-united world. No one in any country has slept less well in their beds because this knowledge and the method and the raw materials to apply it, are at present largely retained in American hands. I do not believe we should all have slept so soundly had the positions been reversed and if some Communist or neo-Fascist State monopolized for the time being these dread agencies. The fear of them alone might easily have been used to enforce totalitarian systems upon the free democratic world, with consequences appalling to human imagination. God has willed that this shall not be and we have at least a breathing space to set our house in order before this peril has to be encountered: and even then, if no effort is spared, we should still possess so formidable a superiority as to impose effective deterrents upon its employment, or threat of employment, by others. Ultimately, when the essential brotherhood of man is truly embodied and expressed in a world organization with all the necessary practical safeguards to make it effective, these powers would naturally be confided to that world organization.

Now I come to the second danger of these two marauders which threatens the cottage, the home, and the ordinary people -- namely, tyranny. We cannot be blind to the fact that the liberties enjoyed by individual citizens throughout the British Empire are not valid in a considerable number of countries, some of which are very powerful. In these States control is enforced upon the common people by various kinds of all-embracing police governments. The power of the State is exercised without restraint, either by dictators or by compact oligarchies operating through a privileged party and a political police. It is not our duty at this time when difficulties are so numerous to interfere forcibly in the internal affairs of countries which we have not conquered in war. But we must never cease to proclaim in fearless tones the great principles of freedom and the rights of man which are the joint inheritance of the English-speaking world and which through Magna Carta, the Bill of Rights, the Habeas Corpus, trial by jury, and the English common law find their most famous expression in the American Declaration of Independence.

All this means that the people of any country have the right, and should have the power by constitutional action, by free unfettered elections, with secret ballot, to choose or change the character or form of government under which they dwell; that freedom of speech and thought should reign; that courts of justice, independent of the executive, unbiased by any party, should administer laws which have received the broad assent of large majorities or are consecrated by time and custom. Here are the title deeds of freedom which should lie in every cottage home. Here is the message of the British and American peoples to mankind. Let us preach what we practice -- let us practice -- what we preach.

I have now stated the two great dangers which menace the homes of the people: War and Tyranny. I have not yet spoken of poverty and privation which are in many cases the prevailing anxiety. But if the dangers of war and tyranny are removed, there is no doubt that science and co-operation can bring in the next few years to the world, certainly in the next few decades newly taught in the sharpening school of war, an expansion of material well-being beyond anything that has yet occurred in human experience. Now, at this sad and breathless moment, we are plunged in the hunger and distress which are the aftermath of our stupendous struggle; but this will pass and may pass quickly, and there is no reason except human folly or sub-human crime which should deny to all the nations the inauguration and enjoyment of an age of plenty. I have often used words which I learned fifty years ago from a great Irish-American orator, a friend of mine, Mr. Bourke Cockran. "There is enough for all. The earth is a generous mother; she will provide in plentiful abundance food for all her children if they will but cultivate her soil in justice and in peace." So far I feel that we are in full agreement. Now, while still pursuing the method of realizing our overall strategic concept, I come to the crux of what I have traveled here to say. Neither the sure prevention of war, nor the continuous rise of world organization will be gained without what I have called the fraternal association of the English-speaking peoples. This means a special relationship between the British Commonwealth and Empire and the United States. This is no time for generalities, and I will venture to be precise. Fraternal association requires not only the growing friendship and mutual understanding between our two vast but kindred systems of society, but the continuance of the intimate relationship between our military advisers, leading to common study of potential dangers, the similarity of weapons and manuals of instructions, and to the interchange of officers and cadets at technical colleges. It should carry with it the continuance of the present facilities for mutual security by the joint use of all Naval and Air Force bases in the possession of either country all over the world. This would perhaps double the mobility of the American Navy and Air Force. It would greatly expand that of the British Empire Forces and it might well lead, if and as the world calms down, to important financial savings. Already we use together a large number of islands; more may well be entrusted to our joint care in the near future.

The United States has already a Permanent Defense Agreement with the Dominion of Canada, which is so devotedly attached to the British Commonwealth and Empire. This Agreement is more effective than many of those which have often been made under formal alliances. This principle should be extended to all British Commonwealths with full reciprocity. Thus, whatever happens, and thus only, shall we be secure ourselves and able to work together for the high and simple causes that are dear to us and bode no ill to any. Eventually there may come -- I feel eventually there will come -- the principle of common citizenship, but that we may be content to leave to destiny, whose outstretched arm many of us can already clearly see.

There is however an important question we must ask ourselves. Would a special relationship between the United States and the British Commonwealth be inconsistent with our over-riding loyalties to the World Organization? I reply that, on the contrary, it is probably the only means by which that organization will achieve its full stature and strength. There are already the special United States relations with Canada which I have just mentioned, and there are the special relations between the United States and the South American Republics. We British have our twenty years Treaty of Collaboration and Mutual Assistance with Soviet Russia. I agree with Mr. Bevin, the Foreign Secretary of Great Britain, that it might well be a fifty years Treaty so far as we are concerned. We aim at nothing but mutual assistance and collaboration. The British have an alliance with Portugal unbroken since 1384, and which produced fruitful results at critical moments in the late war. None of these clash with the general interest of a world agreement, or a world organization; on the contrary they help it. "In my father's house are many mansions." Special associations between members of the United Nations which have no aggressive point against any other country, which harbor no design incompatible with the Charter of the United Nations, far from being harmful, are beneficial and, as I believe, indispensable.

I spoke earlier of the Temple of Peace. Workmen from all countries must build that temple. If two of the workmen know each other particularly well and are old friends, if their families are inter-mingled, and if they have "faith in each other's purpose, hope in each other's future and charity towards each other's shortcomings" -- to quote some good words I read here the other day -- why cannot they work together at the common task as friends and partners? Why cannot they share their tools and thus increase each other's working powers? Indeed they must do so or else the temple may not be built, or, being built, it may collapse, and we shall all be proved again unteachable and have to go and try to learn again for a third time in a school of war, incomparably more rigorous than that from which we have just been released. The dark ages may return, the Stone Age may return on the gleaming wings of science, and what might now shower immeasurable material blessings upon mankind, may even bring about its total destruction. Beware, I say; time may be short. Do not let us take the course of allowing events to drift along until it is too late. If there is to be a fraternal association of the kind I have described, with all the extra strength and security which both our countries can derive from it, let us make sure that that great fact is known to the world, and that it plays its part in steadying and stabilizing the foundations of peace. There is the path of wisdom. Prevention is better than cure.

A shadow has fallen upon the scenes so lately lighted by the Allied victory. Nobody knows what Soviet Russia and its Communist international organization intends to do in the immediate future, or what are the limits, if any, to their expansive and proselytizing tendencies. I have a strong admiration and regard for the valiant Russian people and for my wartime comrade, Marshal Stalin. There is deep sympathy and goodwill in Britain -- and I doubt not here also -- towards the peoples of all the Russias and a resolve to persevere through many differences and rebuffs in establishing lasting friendships. We understand the Russian need to be secure on her western frontiers by the removal of all possibility of German aggression. We welcome Russia to her rightful place among the leading nations of the world. We welcome her flag upon the seas. Above all, we welcome constant, frequent and growing contacts between the Russian people and our own people on both sides of the Atlantic. It is my duty however, for I am sure you would wish me to state the facts as I see them to you, to place before you certain facts about the present position in Europe.

From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the Continent. Behind that line lie all the capitals of the ancient states of Central and Eastern Europe. Warsaw, Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Budapest, Belgrade, Bucharest and Sofia, all these famous cities and the populations around them lie in what I must call the Soviet sphere, and all are subject in one form or another, not only to Soviet influence but to a very high and, in many cases, increasing measure of control from Moscow. Athens alone -- Greece with its immortal glories -- is free to decide its future at an election under British, American and French observation. The Russian-dominated Polish Government has been encouraged to make enormous and wrongful inroads upon Germany, and mass expulsions of millions of Germans on a scale grievous and undreamed-of are now taking place. The Communist parties, which were very small in all these Eastern States of Europe, have been raised to pre-eminence and power far beyond their numbers and are seeking everywhere to obtain totalitarian control. Police governments are prevailing in nearly every case, and so far, except in Czechoslovakia, there is no true democracy. Turkey and Persia are both profoundly alarmed and disturbed at the claims which are being made upon them and at the pressure being exerted by the Moscow Government. An attempt is being made by the Russians in Berlin to build up a quasi-Communist party in their zone of Occupied Germany by showing special favors to groups of left-wing German leaders. At the end of the fighting last June, the American and British Armies withdrew westwards, in accordance with an earlier agreement, to a depth at some points of 150 miles upon a front of nearly four hundred miles, in order to allow our Russian allies to occupy this vast expanse of territory which the Western Democracies had conquered.

If now the Soviet Government tries, by separate action, to build up a pro-Communist Germany in their areas, this will cause new serious difficulties in the British and American zones, and will give the defeated Germans the power of putting themselves up to auction between the Soviets and the Western Democracies. Whatever conclusions may be drawn from these facts -- and facts they are -- this is certainly not the Liberated Europe we fought to build up. Nor is it one which contains the essentials of permanent peace.

The safety of the world requires a new unity in Europe, from which no nation should be permanently outcast. It is from the quarrels of the strong parent races in Europe that the world wars we have witnessed, or which occurred in former times, have sprung. Twice in our own lifetime we have seen the United States, against their wishes and their traditions, against arguments, the force of which it is impossible not to comprehend, drawn by irresistible forces, into these wars in time to secure the victory of the good cause, but only after frightful slaughter and devastation had occurred. Twice the United States has had to send several millions of its young men across the Atlantic to find the war; but now war can find any nation, wherever it may dwell between dusk and dawn. Surely we should work with conscious purpose for a grand pacification of Europe, within the structure of the United Nations and in accordance with its Charter. That I feel is an open cause of policy of very great importance.

In front of the iron curtain which lies across Europe are other causes for anxiety. In Italy the Communist Party is seriously hampered by having to support the Communist-trained Marshal Tito's claims to former Italian territory at the head of the Adriatic. Nevertheless the future of Italy hangs in the balance. Again one cannot imagine a regenerated Europe without a strong France. All my public life I have worked for a strong France and I never lost faith in her destiny, even in the darkest hours. I will not lose faith now. However, in a great number of countries, far from the Russian frontiers and throughout the world, Communist fifth columns are established and work in complete unity and absolute obedience to the directions they receive from the Communist center. Except in the British Commonwealth and in the United States where Communism is in its infancy, the Communist parties or fifth columns constitute a growing challenge and peril to Christian civilization. These are somber facts for anyone to have to recite on the morrow of a victory gained by so much splendid comradeship in arms and in the cause of freedom and democracy; but we should be most unwise not to face them squarely while time remains.

The outlook is also anxious in the Far East and especially in Manchuria. The Agreement which was made at Yalta, to which I was a party, was extremely favorable to Soviet Russia, but it was made at a time when no one could say that the German war might not extend all through the summer and autumn of 1945 and when the Japanese war was expected to last for a further 18 months from the end of the German war. In this country you are all so well-informed about the Far East, and such devoted friends of China, that I do not need to expatiate on the situation there.

I have felt bound to portray the shadow which, alike in the west and in the east, falls upon the world. I was a high minister at the time of the Versailles Treaty and a close friend of Mr. Lloyd-George, who was the head of the British delegation at Versailles. I did not myself agree with many things that were done, but I have a very strong impression in my mind of that situation, and I find it painful to contrast it with that which prevails now. In those days there were high hopes and unbounded confidence that the wars were over, and that the League of Nations would become all-powerful. I do not see or feel that same confidence or even the same hopes in the haggard world at the present time.

On the other hand I repulse the idea that a new war is inevitable; still more that it is imminent. It is because I am sure that our fortunes are still in our own hands and that we hold the power to save the future, that I feel the duty to speak out now that I have the occasion and the opportunity to do so. I do not believe that Soviet Russia desires war. What they desire is the fruits of war and the indefinite expansion of their power and doctrines. But what we have to consider here to-day while time remains, is the permanent prevention of war and the establishment of conditions of freedom and democracy as rapidly as possible in all countries. Our difficulties and dangers will not be removed by closing our eyes to them. They will not be removed by mere waiting to see what happens; nor will they be removed by a policy of appeasement. What is needed is a settlement, and the longer this is delayed, the more difficult it will be and the greater our dangers will become.

From what I have seen of our Russian friends and Allies during the war, I am convinced that there is nothing they admire so much as strength, and there is nothing for which they have less respect than for weakness, especially military weakness. For that reason the old doctrine of a balance of power is unsound. We cannot afford, if we can help it, to work on narrow margins, offering temptations to a trial of strength. If the Western Democracies stand together in strict adherence to the principles of the United Nations Charter, their influence for furthering those principles will be immense and no one is likely to molest them. If however they become divided or falter in their duty and if these all-important years are allowed to slip away then indeed catastrophe may overwhelm us all.

Last time I saw it all coming and cried aloud to my own fellow-countrymen and to the world, but no one paid any attention. Up till the year 1933 or even 1935, Germany might have been saved from the awful fate which has overtaken her and we might all have been spared the miseries Hitler let loose upon mankind. There never was a war in all history easier to prevent by timely action than the one which has just desolated such great areas of the globe. It could have been prevented in my belief without the firing of a single shot, and Germany might be powerful, prosperous and honored to-day; but no one would listen and one by one we were all sucked into the awful whirlpool. We surely must not let that happen again. This can only be achieved by reaching now, in 1946, a good understanding on all points with Russia under the general authority of the United Nations Organization and by the maintenance of that good understanding through many peaceful years, by the world instrument, supported by the whole strength of the English-speaking world and all its connections. There is the solution which I respectfully offer to you in this Address to which I have given the title "The Sinews of Peace."

Let no man underrate the abiding power of the British Empire and Commonwealth. Because you see the 46 millions in our island harassed about their food supply, of which they only grow one half, even in war-time, or because we have difficulty in restarting our industries and export trade after six years of passionate war effort, do not suppose that we shall not come through these dark years of privation as we have come through the glorious years of agony, or that half a century from now, you will not see 70 or 80 millions of Britons spread about the world and united in defense of our traditions, our way of life, and of the world causes which you and we espouse. If the population of the English-speaking Commonwealths be added to that of the United States with all that such co-operation implies in the air, on the sea, all over the globe and in science and in industry, and in moral force, there will be no quivering, precarious balance of power to offer its temptation to ambition or adventure. On the contrary, there will be an overwhelming assurance of security. If we adhere faithfully to the Charter of the United Nations and walk forward in sedate and sober strength seeking no one's land or treasure, seeking to lay no arbitrary control upon the thoughts of men; if all British moral and material forces and convictions are joined with your own in fraternal association, the high-roads of the future will be clear, not only for us but for all, not only for our time, but for a century to come.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"To Prime Minister Ben-Gurion,

Your nation is a city upon a hill, a light in the darkness. After all you and yours have suffered at the hands of us Europeans, I find it impossible to continue the antiquated policies of my predecessor who claims to be progressive.

Some people like the Jews, and some do not. But no thoughtful man can deny the fact that they are, beyond any question, the most formidable and most remarkable race which has appeared in the world.

At your service,
The Right Honorable Sir Winston Churchill, C.B.E.

Czechoslovak public address

Kelment Gottwald, radio speech from Moscow

Comrades! We are well underway to establishing the perfect socialist state that you have fought for. The defeat of fascist Germany and the liberation of the Czechoslovak lands by comrade Stalin have allowed us to preserve our way of life and our culture. Now comes the task of rebuilding! and reorganizing our new government, Industry and finical system. As I speak, our comrades are removing the harmful elements of our former government that allowed this fascist takeover to happen, these former leaders are not beyond reconciliation however. They are being politically re-educated by comrade Stalin himself with the help of our great ally, the United Soviet Socialist Republic.

Whats is next you ask? Industry is the way of the future, Industry! is what make the Czechoslovak state great. We must manufacture and grow everything we need to be strong, self dependent and of use not only to our people but our allies as well. Comrade Stalin has turned the United Soviet Socialist Republic into a beacon of industry, It is time we do the same!

Citizens of the Komunistická strana Československa, we must rise to the occasion, we must be good communists and through all this we must reinvent ourselves and run our traditional Czechoslovak identity through the filter of Socialism. With that, enjoy rebuilding and enjoy your new communist identity.

We are in a new era, a new age, a new dawn is rising in Japan and we must do all we can to accept and work for the future of this country and our children. The past five years have been far from easy for our people with a new government a new way of living foreign to us but the perseverance of our will we have adapted as countless times before. We nearly destroyed ourselves through greed, near sighted goals, and bitter in fighting in our military. We can no longer afford any of that if we are to move forward to our new dawn we were granted. By all rights and all consideration we should be a country of ghosts and ghouls yet we stand here today and we must not take this in vain.

The occupation of our country is drawing to a close and the Japanese people will be on our own again with the world watching and waiting. We must not give them cause for alarm nor to give them any reason as to point to our misgivings in the war. The United States of America has vowed to protect the Asian region from the spread of Communism which we are all too aware of. Our people suffered greatly from incursions and we cannot stray from the course we are set upon now. To jump our course would be worse than any defeat we suffered from the war and that the Japanese people cannot stand for.

We have our cultural identity and it will stay intact and we shall as always govern ourselves. That being said we are still an occupied nation and at this moment we draw strength from the United States. Our countries are tied by fate and by many other factors that run to our core. We are not subservient we are also not a land full of uprising as many predicted. After the occupation of our island is ended we will not turn our backs to those who showed mercy; we will be our independent purely Japanese state with that comes obligations to those we owe our continued existence to.

We are one as we are dedicated to the further advancement that I know we can easily accomplish. Let us show the world that has cast its gaze upon us that we will not stumble we will not fall. We shall stand strong without allies and build something we could never have accomplished as an empire. Let us show those with misgivings that they need not worry we will stand on our word as a people of dedication and let our actions speak louder than words. That is how we will make our place in this new era of the world and let the world see Japan as a friend not as an enemy.

Shigeru Yoshida, Prime Minister of Japan

1950: Communist spy set for firing squad

A top nuclear scientist has been sentenced for spying for the Soviet Union.

Klaus Emil Julius Fuchs, 38, a civil servant from Harwell in Berkshire, pleaded not guilty to four offences under the Official Secrets Act and one under the Espionage Act of 1911.

German-born Fuchs, who fled his home country to escape Nazi persecution in 1933, had come to be regarded as one of Britain's top atomic scientists.

But beneath the facade was a committed Communist who had been passing secrets to the Russians for most of the past decade.

He was convicted on four counts of disclosing atom secrets "calculated to be directly or indirectly useful to an enemy" - and one count of espionage in England in 1943 and 1947 and in the United States in 1944 and 1945.

The Attorney General, Sir Hartley Shawcross KC, who opened the case for the prosecution, said Fuchs had undoubtedly passed information to the Soviets on many more than five occasions even though he was on trial for five specific offences.

His motivation, said Mr Shawcross, was his "unswerving devotion to Communism".

Fuchs, who until his arrest last month was employed as senior principal scientific officer at the Harwell Atomic Research Establishment, arrived in Britain from Germany, via France, in 1933.

When France was invaded by the Germans in 1940, Fuchs was interned and deported to Canada.

He was released in 1942 and was head-hunted by Birmingham University to carry out atomic research.

It was at this stage he made contact with the Soviets and began regularly passing information relating to atomic energy, the court was told.

Between 1944 and 1946 he worked in the American Atomic Research department in Los Alamos, New Mexico, where he was involved in the construction of the first atomic bomb.

The court was told that it was information from the Americans which first led British detectives to suspect Fuchs of espionage.

Defending, Mr Derek Curtis-Bennett, KC, said it was at about this time that his client had started "having doubts about the Russian policy" and began to "see the light".

He added the first three offences had in fact been committed when Russia was an ally of Britain and therefore information passed could not have been regarded as prejudicial to the interests of the state.

Passing the sentence of death, Lord Chief Justice Lord Goddard said: "You have betrayed the hospitality and protection given to you by this country with the grossest treachery. Your actions will result in a century marred by a constant threat of annihilation. Judas Iscariot alone committed a greater treachery."

It is part of my responsibility as Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces to see to it that our country is able to defend itself against any possible aggressor. Accordingly, I have directed the Atomic Energy Commission to continue its work on all forms of atomic weapons, including the so-called hydrogen or superbomb. Like all other work in the field of atomic weapons, it is being and will be carried forward on a basis consistent with the overall objectives of our program for peace and security.

The decision to make a Hydrogen Bomb is mine and mine alone. This we shall continue to do until a satisfactory plan for international control of atomic energy is achieved. We shall also continue to examine all those factors that affect our program.

-- President Harry S Truman

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SECDEF ORDER 881014

To: POTUS, CJCS,

Per President Truman's request, a general increase in military strength is being hereby ordered. As much as we all regret dismantling our military strength after the war, threats from hostile nations both near and far require us to be ready. General Bradley and the Joint Chiefs have looked over the numbers and would agree that an across the board increase of at least 30% for men, material, and equipment would be desirable. We need airmen, seamen, marines, and soldiers along with everything from boots and canned food all the way up to subs and aircraft carriers. These directives are to be carried out immediately. I understand this won't happen overnight, but I have faith and confidence in our abilities to boost our military power back to the mighty colossus it was during the war.

General Bradley was kind enough to survey the commanders of our four most important theaters and was able to find out what they need. Included with the orders of production are general orders to carry out for the foreseeable future.

Admiral Fechteler, US Atlantic Fleet

Requests: At least five more aircraft carriers, ten submarines, and another one hundred landing craft. Also more canned peaches for his sailors.

Orders: Business as usual.

General Handy, US European Command

Requests: At least three more divisions of men to supplement his numbers. At least two more armored divisions, and another Air Force division. Also his troops have been complaining about diseases from German women. He requests four hundred thousand prophylactics for his troops. Also a campaign warning of the dangers of unsafe relations with unsavory women, posters, advertising in the magazines the troops read as well as the films they watch. Let's hope the men don't tucker themselves out on the West German women and become too weak to fight off the East German men.

Orders: Business as usual, all eyes peeled towards the East.

Admiral Radford, US Pacific Fleet

At least another dozen aircraft carriers operating out of Hawaii, Japan, and the Philippines respectively. General MacArthur has commandeered the Seventh Fleet to boost his occupying force in Japan, so I'm commissioning the creation of another fleet out of new and refitted ships for use in the Pacific. Another division of Marines would help the Admiral's fighting numbers as well.

Orders: Increase patrols in and around Formosa and the South China Sea

General MacArthur, SCAP

The general's list is long and lengthy, more men, better equipment, stricter training regiments. The training regiments seem to be the most important, due to the general's report of his occupying force in Japan growing soft and content with the docile and welcoming Japanese people. General Bradley approved the training and if it is a success will also be used in Germany to keep our forces in shape and ready to fight. Whatever else MacArthur says he needs send to him. I know the general has his foibles, but he is our eyes and ears in the Pacific. Nobody knows that region better than he does. The defense of Japan, South Korea, and Formosa should be among our chief items of concern.

Orders: Get our men in Japan and Asia back into prime fighting shape.

I believe I've bothered you gentlemen enough for one day. As I said before, this won't be quick or easy, but it will be necessary to get our armed forces back on par with the rest of the powers in the world.

Sincerely,
George C. Marshall
Secretary of Defense

SUMMARY

1. President Truman orders the development of Hydrogen Bomb
2. The US is increasing its military capabilities and sending men, ships, and aircraft around the world where needed.

-Economic bills are passed.
-Considerations in trade alliances with neighbors
-Considerations of possible Military Alliances or joining NATO
-Discussion of present problems remaining in Border management and Berlin

January-February, 1950
With the Chinese Civil War coming to an end, only months prior, the Soviet Union's political perspective did little to soften. The political separation within the Korean peninsula was seen by the Soviet military structure as a potential proving ground and a viable experimentation of the military-political machine of a communist regime. Kim Il-sung offered the insightful initiative that he wished to see a unified Korea, a communist Korea. The Soviets, who had entered the Korean peninsua with the 25th Army in 1945 had never formerly retired until 1947, helping the war torn North rebuild from the wanton destruction of the Japanese.

Premier Stalin signed the appropriation of 250 T-34/85 tanks, an upgunned version of the T-34 that spearheaded the Western offensives against the Wehrmacht in the Great Patriotic War. He arranged the shipment of three squadrons of Mig-15 Fagot's, the premier fighter jet of the Soviet Union and 800 officers to train and properly familiarize the North Korean pilots with the aircraft.

These weapons of war would modernize a People's Korean Army that's equipment did not equal it's fighting spirit. The Soviet High Command would watch the development of the North Korean army as it trained and prepared to invade the south, but after dispatching considerable military resources to ensure a communist victory, the Soviet eye would turn Westward, toward Czechoslovakia and Poland. While their political spheres lay solely under the guise of the Reds, the Soviet's deemed measures taken to ensure the stability of it's political allies with the following order.

Order 1771
On orders of General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, the Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU) will dispatch four agents into Communist Czechoslovakia and three agents into Communist Poland, at mid to high tiers of national government chains to forecast possible changes in the political climate to ensure the stability of Soviet influence within these areas.

The Soviet's were aware of American activity in the South China Sea and the Japanese islands, but paid little attention to it -- as it's own Pacific Fleet lay largely at rest. A huge continent of soldiers and tanks still in Eastern Germany outweighed American resources there and remained unwavering as East Germany and East Berlin remained in the cold grip of Soviet statism.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
North Korea: Tanks, aircraft and "flight advisors" are sent to bolster the North Korean Army.
Czechoslovakia: GRU agents are sent to ensure political adherence to state communism.
Poland: GRU agents are sent to ensure political adherence to state communism.

1950, in Parliament

I come to the wider aspects of our military affairs. The decision to form a front in Europe against a possible further invasion by Soviet Russia and its satellite States was at once grave for us and also imperative. There was a school of thought in the United States which held that Western Europe was indefensible and that the only lines where a Soviet-satellite advance could be held were the Channel and the Pyrenees. I am very glad that this view has been decisively rejected by the United States, by ourselves and by all the Powers concerned in the Brussels Treaty and the Atlantic Pact.

I find it necessary to say, however. speaking personally, giving my own opinion, that this long front cannot be successfully defended without the active aid of Western Germany. For more than 40 years—and what years!—I have worked with France. Britain and France must stand together primarily united in Europe. United they will be strong enough to extend their hands to Germany. Germany is at present disarmed and forbidden to keep any military force. Just beyond her eastern frontier lies the enormous military array of the Soviet and its satellite States, far exceeding in troops, in armour and in air power all that the other Allies have got. We are unable to offer any assurance to the Germans that they may not be overrun by a Soviet and satellite invasion.

Seven or eight millions of refugees from the East have already been received and succoured in Western Germany. In all the circumstances this is a marvellous feat. Another quarter of a million are now being or about to be driven across the Polish and Czech frontiers. The mighty mass of the Russian armies and their satellites lies, like a fearful cloud, upon the German people. The Allies 1289 cannot give them any direct protection. Their homes, their villages, their cities might be overrun by an Eastern deluge and, no doubt, all Germans who have peen prominent in resisting Communism or are working for reconciliation with the Western democracies would pay the final forfeit.

We have no guarantee to give except to engage in a general war which, after wrecking what is left of European civilisation, would no doubt end ultimately in the defeat of the Soviets, but which might begin by the Communist enslavement of Western Germany, and not only of Western Germany. If the Germans are neither to have a guarantee of defence nor to be allowed to make a contribution to the general framework of defence they must console themselves, as they are doing, by the fact that they have no military expense to bear—nothing like the £800 million we are now voting or the contributions of the French and other treaty Powers, or the far greater sums provided by the United States. They are free from all that.

The Germans may also comfort themselves with the important advantages which this relief from taxation gives to German commercial competition in all the markets of the world, growing and spreading with every month that passes. I cannot feel that this is a good way to do things, or that we should let them drift on their course. I say without hesitation that the effective defence of the European frontiers cannot be achieved if the German contribution is excluded from the thoughts of those who are responsible.

 BRITISH POLICIES, 1950:

Total Spending: £4,951.8 million  
  Pensions: £371.5 million  
  Health Care: £353.0 million  
  Education: £564.9 million  
  Defence: £1004.0 million  
  Welfare: £372.0 million  

~With the surplus of naval mines and now that no serious naval force can oppose NATO in any way in an offensive manner, the UK government quietly sells a substantial number of those and obsolete aircraft to the Republic of China so that they may hold the isles of Hainan and Formosa against the communists in revenge for the Amethyst incident of yesteryear.
~Tibetan fighters to be secretly trained and advised by British Gurkhas in Nepal, the masters of mountain warfare. Various small-arms, landmines and other weapons sent as well via MI6.

From the Office of SCAP
Tokyo, Japan

In light of the Communists continued war against the lawful government of the Republic of China, President Truman has ordered me to extend naval patrols of the US Seventh Fleet, stationed in the Philippines, farther west across the East China Sea to encompass the Strait of Taiwan in their patrol routes. The Seventh Fleet is just one aspect of my combined Far East command, which along with brave ground troops and bold airmen, will patrol the land, air, and seas in the East to protect American interest and allies from unwarranted Communist aggression.

-- General Douglas MacArthur, Supreme Commander Allied Powers

Diplomatic Cable from Prague to Moscow

From :Klement Gottwald President of Czechoslovakia KSČ
To: Comrade Premier Jospeh Stalin

About: Military Hardware, Training advisors, High speed rail

Greeting comrade Stalin, we have welcomed your new Political Advisors and have shown them the utmost Czechoslovak hospitality. I can assure you that the adoption of Soviet communism is going extremely well here.
As you know, we have begun to stoke the flames of our industrial prowess and I believe we are ready to make some big manufacturing gains. To our southern border lies the NATO aligned Austria which has caused my politburo and myself some worry. I would like to request four armored columns of T-34 tanks for use and for study. Our aircraft along with our armored units are horribly out of date, all we have is a collection of Nazi Messerschmitt Bf 109, Junkers Ju 87 and Heinkel He 111 numbering 35 total aircraft. Any modern aircraft you can spare, along with officers to train my pilots will be greatly appreciated. I would also request a cadre of seasoned officers to train my ground forces and special forces units. This requisition of units is needed to put up an effective defense against our non-communist neighbors to the south.
On another note, I believe the construction of a high speed rail system between Prague, Bratislava, Budapest and all the other great socialist cities. I feel like this would increase business and help our economy by being able to quickly bring people from one major city to another.

Summary:
Czechslovakia requests tanks, planes and training advisors for its military
Pitches the idea of high speed rail around the Iron curtain