Where does one begin? First, the praise. “American Betrayal” is a stunning, provocative tour-de-force of historical writing. The book is meticulously researched and foot-noted, yet reads like a pot-boiler. Ms. West writes with an informal, almost conversational style which belies her scholarship but only illuminates her theses (remember, I am still in “praise” mode here); this makes her book eminently readable.
As to scholarship, the revelations are stunning. I know more than most about her subject (Communist infiltration of the U.S. government, and the Second World War), yet I found myself putting the book down to research (or re-research) her assertions about people and events. Ms. West does not add much new, but she summarizes and highlights developments since the Venona revelations and the opening of the Soviet files. This is scholarship of the first rank; it is enough to say that her factual asseverations are impeccable, fully supported by the objective historical record.
Ms. West’s thesis at bottom is that much of America’s foreign policy and strategic thinking from 1940 on, including our conduct of WWII, was driven by the Soviet Empire, through its agents at the highest levels of our government. Franklin Roosevelt after 1942 was a doddering tool; Harry “Harry the Hop” Hopkins (the Soviets’ “Agent 19") figures most prominently as Stalin’s man in the White House (literally; he lived there), and Hopkins (assisted by Alger Hiss) was calling the shots at the Casablanca and Teheran (spelled thus in 1943) conferences. Ms. West intimates that it was Hopkins (separate from his other treason) who coordinated the subjugation of Eastern Europe by Stalin at the close of the war in Europe. The rogues gallery also focuses on Harry Dexter White, Alger Hiss, communists embedded at the top of the OSS etc. etc. ad nauseam. It is a scary and depressing story. And it is all true.
I never lost my admiration for Ms. West’s work, but I differ from some of her deductions from the core thesis, which arguments she presents near the end of the book. One conclusion I dispute is that there were meaningful, realistic opportunities for the Allies to negotiate a peace with Nazi Germany, in particular with a cabal led by Admiral Wilhelm Canaris (in 1943), and that these openings were frustrated or foreclosed solely by Roosevelt’s and Hopkins’ subservience to Stalin. The second and related quibble is Author West’s criticism of the ”unconditional surrender” posture adopted by Roosevelt/Hopkins as early as Casablanca. (A third quibble (minor) is that the Normandy D-Day invasion, in lieu of an invasion into Occupied France from Italy by Allied forces already victorious in Italy, was driven by Stalin’s insistence on an invasion in “Northern France” and avoidance of Western forces in Eastern Europe. For a younger author with no obvious military experience, Ms. West’s analysis is balanced and first-rate.)
Any student of the era could write a thesis on any of my disagreements with some of the conclusions in “American Betrayal.” I address first the “unconditional surrender” point. The First World War was started by Germany. The bulk of the destruction, however, fell upon the French, the Belgians, and other Europeans. At the end of four years of war in 1918, no German civilian had ever heard a gun go off, or had an artillery shell land in her farm, or had poison gas spread in his village. Perversely, the unscathed Germans believed themselves to be the victims of the Great War, due to betrayals by their leaders etc. The subsequent economic upheavals in Germany were all laid to the feet of others. This led to the fall of the Republic and the rise of Hitler, with another war inevitable.
Starting in the 1930s, senior American Army officers understood intuitively that the next war with Germany would have to be taken to the German people; that the benign cessation of hostilities like the “armistice” of 1918 was not a “time-out,” an invitation to re-arm and start all over, but that War had consequences and the Germans needed to absorb that principle the hard way. By 1940 or so, American military thinking was that our next war with Germans would our last one with them, that America would pound Germany into total submission, then we would occupy the country until the German people were brought to heel. No peace treaty, no negotiations, no terms or conditions; we had tried that, and it did not work. The much-maligned firebombing of Dresden, for example, had the wholly strategic purpose of emphasizing to the Germans that all of them were accountable for the atrocities of Nazi Germany, and that all of them would pay a price. That the Soviets advocated the complete destruction of Germany, for their own purposes, is beside the point. America was committed to crushing Nazi Germany and freeing Europe, with or without Russia. It is as simple as that.
As to the possibility of a negotiated peace in 1943 with Canaris, von Stauffenberg and other furtive opponents of Hitler, this was an interesting but irrelevant historical footnote, and I respectfully submit that Ms. West makes too much of the incident’s link to Stalin’s interests. Our decision to reject peace overtures from the Canaris conspiracy was not driven by Stalin or his agents. This initiative was not pursued because it was beyond fanciful, and had no chance of success. Nazi Germany in 1943 Europe was an omnipresent monolith, rabidly supported by most of its citizens. Hitler’s secret police was rivaled in efficiency and ruthlessness only by Stalin’s, and any such plot like Canaris’ would have been ferreted out and the plotters executed, as indeed they were. Finally, the offer by Canaris was strictly conditional; his object was to conclude a peace treaty with the West only, so as to enable Greater Nazi Germany to conquer and subdue Russia without the Allies hammering on Germany’s Western Front. Canaris and his cabal realized by 1943 that Germany could not win a two-front war. Obviously this proposal would have been anathema to Stalin’s supporters in America, but it likely would have been rejected by most Americans, including Americans who despised Roosevelt and his Red buddies. Remember that Germany was a real threat to world civilization in 1943, and was America’s enemy. Soviet Russia was a real threat as well, but for better or worst the Evil Empire was our ally. We could not have defeated Germany without Russia, and the Soviets could not have defeated Germany without us. America would confront Mother Russia after we defeated Germany and Japan. That is what happened.
I could go on, but I am not getting paid for this. Read this book. If you grew up in the Cold War, it will bring you up to date. (If you think Senator McCarthy was a loyal American who was/is wrongly vilified by America’s Left, you will be ecstatic at these revelations.) And If you are younger, “American Betrayal” is a primer on what can happen when the adoring American masses elevate a politician (in this case Roosevelt) to a throne above scrutiny or criticism. Diana West’s book should help ensure that that never happens again.
S.J. Britt
LtCol USMCR(ret.)
Plymouth Meeting PA
sjbritt@comcast.net
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Not-So-Hidden History
In "American Betrayal," Diana West highlights the painful truth about Stalinist infiltration of our government institutions during the 1930s and 40s (and beyond), with substantiated details about the contemporary Deep State smear campaigns waged against those courageous enough to shed light on this infiltration decades ago. She also illuminates the extensive, bizarre and arguably anti-Constitutional influence exercised by Harry Hopkins, the unelected "Shadow President" and ostensible Stalinist during FDR's administration, who personally ensured the murderous USSR's ascension to superpower status via the American taxpayer-funded Lend-Lease program. Ms. West's facts are not original, but instead carefully curated from voluminous research of others' work and the undeniable historical record. Sadly, as a result of her careful research and articulate encapsulation of Stalinist influence spanning decades, she now finds herself the newest subject of this oldest Deep State smear campaign. Again, the evidence she describes in "American Betrayal" is not her own, but her crime of bringing it to public light opened old wounds among the entrenched "historians" whose suspicious lockstep denial of history was not to be challenged. This is an important book for every American who believes in Liberty and needs to learn the manner in which statists seek to infiltrate our institutions and undermine our Republic.
Top reviews from other countries
Noëlle
very useful reminder of the recent history
Reviewed in France on July 17, 2019
TheJollyGreenMan
Do you have no shame and sense of decency?
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 7, 2014Lesen ist Lernen
... sed magis amica veritas
Reviewed in Germany on December 7, 2013
