Chapter 05: Roosevelt’s Indulgence of Stalin’s Communist Expansion, 1942–1945 (Part I)

During Hoover’s presidency, the United States was struck by the Great Depression of 1929. Hoover attempted to stimulate the economy and save the nation through large-scale projects such as the Hoover Dam and highway construction to expand employment. Unfortunately, he failed. In 1934, Franklin D. Roosevelt replaced him. During World War II, Roosevelt committed grave strategic errors that enabled Stalin’s Soviet Union to grow powerful and become a major postwar calamity for the world.

In 1939, the Soviet Union and Germany publicly signed the Molotov–Ribbentrop Non-Aggression Pact. In secret, however, Stalin and Hitler concluded covert agreements to jointly launch war and divide Europe. In September 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union invaded Poland, opening the curtain on World War II. Poland was successively invaded, occupied, and partitioned by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. On November 30, 1939, the Soviet Union launched an attack on Finland. By March 6, 1940, Soviet forces had fully occupied mainland Finland and its islands. Britain, France, and the United States expressed sympathy for Finland and condemned the Soviet Union’s bandit-like aggression, and the League of Nations expelled the Soviet Union from membership. The Winter War between the Soviet Union and Finland was the prelude to World War II.

Hitler and Stalin jointly launched World War II; both were principal culprits of the conflict. By 1941, Hitler’s ambitions had grown ever larger. He even sought to swallow the Soviet Union itself and dominate all of Europe, thus opening the Eastern Front.

At that time, Roosevelt faced two enemies: Hitler and Stalin. Soviet communist despotism was, in fact, the more brutal adversary. Roosevelt focused solely on Hitler as Britain’s enemy, fixing his attention on Hitler and seeking to save Britain. Consequently, he chose Germany as the primary enemy. In order to strike what he considered “America’s foremost enemy,” Roosevelt decided to ally with Stalin. Through the Lend-Lease Act, he provided the Soviet Union with massive military and material assistance. American aid enabled the Soviet Union to avoid annihilation under Germany’s powerful offensive.

In leading the fight against Nazi Germany during World War II, President Roosevelt made a monumental mistake. He allied with the world’s most dangerous enemy, Stalin, in order to oppose another European enemy, Hitler. Former President Hoover quickly and publicly spoke out against this alliance, condemning it as tantamount to collusion—likening it to adultery with Stalin—and warning that even if victory were achieved, the result would be the tragedy of communist expansion. Unfortunately, Roosevelt persisted in his course, and the outcome of World War II fully proved Hoover’s warning correct.

In 1943, Roosevelt invited Stalin to attend talks in Cairo. Stalin refused to go to Cairo or Baghdad, fearing the risks of air travel. Roosevelt, despite his physical disability, undertook exhausting intercontinental flights. Eventually, Stalin agreed to attend the Tehran Conference, where the Soviet embassy could guarantee his security. In November 1943, Stalin traveled to Tehran by a specially armored train to attend the meeting of the three leaders—Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin. Roosevelt promised to supply the Soviet Union with large quantities of weapons, vehicles, food, and other materials via Arctic sea routes and overland through Iran, and also pledged to open a second front. Stalin, shrewd and seasoned, won Roosevelt’s trust and secured American financial and military assistance.

In Tehran, Stalin eavesdropped on conversations between Roosevelt and Churchill, played political games, and applied pressure and manipulation against both men. At the Tehran Conference, Roosevelt and Stalin developed mutual admiration and interacted cordially. Both Stalin and Roosevelt hoped to see the British Empire disintegrate. Roosevelt regarded Stalin as crude but reliable, and he took pride in believing he knew how to deal with him. Stalin, in order to achieve his goals, behaved amiably, while Roosevelt knew little of Stalin’s true intentions. Stalin exploited his friendly relationship with Roosevelt to drive a wedge between Roosevelt and Churchill, undermining Churchill’s efforts to establish a strong defensive line in Eastern Europe against the Soviet Union.

Stalin induced Churchill to redraw the map of Europe. In October 1944, Churchill flew to Moscow. On a sheet of paper, he and Stalin divided spheres of influence using percentages: Romania—90 percent Soviet influence; Greece—10 percent Soviet; Yugoslavia—50 percent Soviet; Hungary—50 percent Soviet; Bulgaria—75 percent Soviet.

Stalin demanded 80 percent influence in Bulgaria and Hungary, and Churchill later agreed. Roosevelt, eager to maintain a sweet relationship with Stalin, welcomed this partition without objection. In reality, Roosevelt sold out Eastern Europe. The fall of Eastern Europe into the sphere of totalitarianism cannot absolve Roosevelt of responsibility.

In February 1945, Roosevelt and Churchill traveled to Yalta on the Black Sea to meet Stalin in a former tsarist palace. Stalin promised that after defeating Germany, the Soviet Union would enter the war against Japan, in return demanding $20 billion in German reparations. He further sought free rein to handle affairs in Eastern and Central Europe. Roosevelt spoke with him amicably and even met Stalin privately, bypassing Churchill. To reward Stalin for agreeing to fight Japan, Roosevelt agreed to cede Mongolia and the four northern Japanese islands to the Soviet Union.

At the Yalta Conference, Stalin proposed executing 50,000 German officers. Aware of Stalin’s bloody record, Churchill angrily declared that he would rather commit suicide than participate in such an act. Roosevelt astonishingly tried to smooth things over by joking that executing 49,000 German officers would suffice. Churchill detested such remarks and stormed toward the door, whereupon Stalin and Molotov pulled him back and hastily apologized.

Stalin gained advantage after advantage, and his appetite only grew. He pressed forward, seeking to conquer the eastern half of Europe. Roosevelt’s partnership with Stalin strengthened Stalin’s confidence in occupying Eastern Europe.

During World War II, the Soviet Union brutally persecuted the Polish people, matching Nazi Germany in cruelty. On March 5, 1940, Stalin personally orchestrated the Katyn Forest massacre, in which 22,000 Polish officers were executed. During the Warsaw Uprising in 1944, the Soviet Red Army—despite earlier promises of coordinated action—halted outside the city. Polish resistance forces, caught unprepared, fought desperately against the Nazis and were nearly annihilated; 200,000 civilians were killed.

Roosevelt stood by silently as Stalin coldly watched the Polish people’s uprising being crushed. He feared displeasing Stalin and did not intervene. Given Roosevelt’s authority at the time, he was fully capable of exerting pressure on Stalin to halt Soviet atrocities against Poland.