There are many reasons to learn about how the Soviets infiltrated all levels of the Roosevelt government, as it can happen again. People believe in many things in this nation, so willingly working with governments that are not after the US or their own best interests seems to be a common theme in world history. Stalin was a monster among monsters, with his killing of millions seemed to not be a bad thing to his past and current supporters. It worked so well in Russia because they were undereducated and used to tyranny via the previous style of government.
Cold Hard Facts
Recently, there was a supporter of Ukraine who claimed that the US, British, and others of the more democratic allies could have beaten Germany. Considering what the Germans had already done to the British, French, and every other European nation, it would have taken far longer and was not a guarantee. During the war, there were 400 Soviet rifle divisions, 129 Soviet Guards divisions, and more than 50 tank divisions. The Germans had 99 to combat them on the Eastern Front. The US, who fielded the largest Democratic military, had 91 total for the Army, which were divided on two fronts. The rest were barely a drop in the bucket compared to that. So, the Soviets were necessary and vital to beating the Germans in World War 2.
The United States and Great Britain gladly handed over Poland and the soldiers who fought beside them after the war ended. This was even after they learned of the Katyen massacre, in which the Soviets massacred those Polish leaders and intellectuals who opposed them. There were some military leaders, like Eisenhower that found ways to keep some of the brave men who fought as pilots for the British and ground troops in their divisions. He had the political power to protect himself from the outrage by those who believed we should capitulate to the Soviets. Another aspect of the Soviets was that they would imprison pilots of other allies that crash landed in Soviet territory instead of sending them home, though the US and UK sent them millions of dollars in supplies.
The Open Supporters
One of the biggest supporters, if not a sycophant, of the Soviets was FDR advisor Harry Hopkins. This man was so loved by the Soviets that they let him tour a cleaned up gulag. He was well known to hand over documents to that government of highly classified matériel. Some have stated that he may have just been naive, but his naïveté and assent from Roosevelt allowed Stalin to have his way throughout the war. Stalin rarely, if ever, helped past how they helped the war, yet Hopkins was the primary cheerleader of his government.
Harry Dexter White was an Assistant Secretary of the Treasury and either a spy or trusted friend of the Soviets. He was known to hand over papers, get communists hired into the Treasury Department, and pushed for policies that helped the Soviets. He wasn't as productive as other assets, but his complicity was proven since. One of the worst things he did was to hand over US currency printing plates to the Soviets, which allowed them to print our money.
There are many other people proven to have been spying for the Soviets, which led to the House Un-American Committee. While what was done by the committee was questionable on several levels, it did uncover and publicize many things done by the Soviets. Some of the accusations did not have sufficient proof at the time, but that proof would come in many ways over the next half a century. Helping an ally is one thing, but allowing them to have open access to this nation was not healthy for the world.
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