Anthony Eden Quotes

After a reception given by Lady Astor, Channon wrote in his diary that the “Cliveden Set” {598323} would be criticized because it was in favor of the policy of appeasement. The name came from the seat of Lord and Lady Astor, who were both supporters of the policy. To some the policy was seen as pro-Hitler, but Channon saw it as reasonable and in concert with Neville Chamberlain’s views. Even so, Chamberlain’s policy of appeasement was very controversial. This very policy prevented early Allied involvement in World War II and therefore gave Hitler time to buildup the German military while invading much of Eastern Europe.

In this case, the Speaker of the House attacked the President of his own party for being willing to conduct disarmament discussions with the Russians. He implied that the outcome could be the appeasement of the Russians just as British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain appeased Hitler in 1938 in Munich, giving the German Fuhrer the “green light” to take over Europe. The Conservative Caucus went even further and explicitly called it “appeasement”. Reagan however always talked about military strength and power, and provided plenty of money for the military and weapons a few of which were boondoggles but he was a very cautious American president in authorizing military force. And he not only was willing to discuss arms control and reductions and enter into treaties for disarmament, much to the distress of the hawks of his own party. Few American Presidents have so well balanced the use of diplomacy with the threat of military force as well as Reagan.

The “fool” was Neville Chamberlain, 1869-1940, the British Prime Minister who refused to stand up to Hitler and instead negotiated a peace pact, returned home declaring that he had preserved peace. (See {585941}.) Then Hitler invaded more of Europe and WWII was begun. Ford was a Hitler admirer and pro-German (Hitler supported him for the American Presidency--{586988}—and awarded him a medal) but he thought that England had bungled the negotiations by sending someone who was very weak. In this sense his views were the same as most who were anti-Hitler.

In 1938 Germany had rearmed and resumed its aggressive designs of expansion. Hitler wanted the Sudetenland part of Czechoslovakia and threatened an invasion of that country. England had France had a treaty obligation to militarily support Czechoslovakia if it were attacked. British Prime minister Neville Chamberlain and the French were desperately trying to avoid war, not realizing that with Hitler, that position was the very thing that would bring on war. So they agreed to Hitler’s demand and allowed Czechoslovakia to be partitioned and the Sudetenland was annexed to Germany. This craven appeasement emboldened Hitler who then decided to conquer all of Europe as he had no serious opposition from France and England—the two powers that might have stopped him. (At the time, the French had a larger army than the Germans.)

Hopkins was a social worker with no military of political experience. But the President trusted him implicitly. Most American military officers and Ambassador to England Joseph P. Kennedy, a Nazi sympathizer & father of JFK, believed that England could not stand up to Hitler. Any military aid we gave England would fall into the hands of the Germans. Everyone was shocked when Roosevelt sent Hopkins to England to make a military recommendation. To impress Hopkins with something he thought Hopkins would be interested in, Churchill led a tour of workers cottages built by the government. Hopkins surprised Churchill and his aids who would never forget this statement & then asked to see the military facilities. Hopkins distressed the American military by recommending that Britain could hold out against invasion if they received military aid. Despite the contrary military advice, FDR accepted Hopkins’ recommendations, and the rest is history. He had been right and much of the military wrong.

This was the week after he returned from his meeting with Hitler in Munich where he appeased the German Dictator. See {585941} for his famous naive statement.

Sir Alexander Cadogan

Theodore Roosevelt was the Presidential nominee. Johnson was a leader of some members of Congress some of whom were extreme isolationists and some of whom were Nazi sympathizers and Hitler admirers. When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor later that year, Germany, fulfilling its treaty with Japan, declared war on America, Johnson’s group no longer mattered. Before WWII most Republicans were opposed to Defense Spending and accused the Democrats of being war hawks. After WWII, they flip flopped and became more hawkish than the Democrats who they accused of being soft on defense for years thereafter. See {631380} for President Roosevelt’s different view.

The Nazis occupied the cities, but the partisans survived in the mountains. The resistance was ferocious and very effective. From a German Soldier’s point of view, the Yugoslav front was the most dangerous assignment where his odds of being killed was even greater than the Russian front.