he toyed with churchill and roosevelt at the end of the war
roosevelt realized it days before he died. it took churchill longer.
shareroosevelt realized it days before he died. it took churchill longer.
shareWhat? You're right about Roosevelt, but Churchill was never taken in by him. Churchill was snubbed by FDR at Yalta, when FDR met with Stalin without him. Roosevelt was trying (unsuccessfully) to ingratiate himself with Stalin, and he knew Churchill never trusted the Soviets, so he was trying to put a little distance between himself and the British at the end of the war. The U.S. state department was thick with people who were, if not out and out pro-Soviet, at least soft on the Soviets. U.S. secretary of state Edward Stettinius was replaced shortly after Truman took office because Truman realized he was too naive where Stalin and the Bolsheviks were concerned. FDR was of like mind, and only seems to have come to an understanding of how ruthless, cold-blooded, and untrustworthy Stalin was in the last week or two before his death.
But Churchill never saw the Russians as anything more than allies of necessity. Don't forget, it was Churchill (though out of power at the time) who gave the famous Iron Curtain speech, which was lambasted by intellectuals throughout the West as unnecessarily provocative, but was in fact merely soberly realistic about Soviet intentions. Of course Churchill and Roosevelt, both famously charismatic men with superb ability to charm people they dealt with, each tried to use their charisma and charm on Stalin, and both got nowhere. The difference was I think Churchill, who wasn't naive about the sort of man the Soviet dictator was, understood he got nowhere, but FDR, who was naive about Stalin, seems only to have realized during the very last days of his life that he hadn't succeeded either.
Agreed! Roosevelt was a dying man at that point so he probably should have resigned sooner BUT people usually cling to power. Roosevelt died two months later at age 63 and that was back when average life expectancy was in the sixties. Truman would have seen through Stalin's charade. Churchill knew that Stalin was a monster while FDR was a liberal who saw the good in every person.
shareread the history on poland.
shareRoosevelt was his stooge.
share