Yalta is History
Written by Mike on February 12th, 2005That great crime against humanity, the sit down at Yalta between the communist Stalin, the socialist FDR and the only true hero in attendance Churchill, has defined geo-political relationships ever since. It is the treaty of Westphalia for our time and its effect has not been as positive as the history books will tell you. As a conservative I have always instinctively known this, but Arthur Herman, writing at NRO crystallizes the argument so well I would be remiss if I didn’t share it with y’all.
Bush is redefining the world order that has been in place since the end of WWII. I personally believe that Bush himself doesn’t realize how profound some of his actions are or how great their impact will be on the way future presidents structure their diplomacy. When viewed from the perspective of a rabid nationalist like myself, this is a step in the right direction, but we have much work to do if we intend to stop the Founding Fathers from the spinning in their graves they began some time ago.
Churchill left Yalta in a state of despair, and Roosevelt and advisers such as Harry Hopkins in a state of euphoria. Hopkins, Churchill’s doctor concluded, “is firmly convinced that a new Utopia has dawned.” Today, 60 years later, we know who was right and who was wrong.
I would like to think that this statement would put the nail in the coffin on whatever begrudging respect conservatives show FDR. Any man who left Yalta elated that he had folded to Stalin like a wet noodle, isn’t much of a man.
12
PM
Great post. I wrote a paper on Yalta earlier this year, and there’s air-tight evidence that he did not, in his poor health, get “bullied” by Stalin. His policy was mapped out throughout the beginning of the War and was set on dividing Germany intentionally. As my professor said “FDR knew who started the last two wars in Europe.” Anyway, here’s the conclusion tot the paper I wrote.
“It is clear that the strategy pursued by FDR was not one molded at the last minute by mental incompetence or feebleness in the face of Stalin. If an ailment clouded his mind from formulating the best plan at Yalta, it was the “Red Flu” that crept into his administration years before the Big Three met. FDR biographer Conrad Black highlights that FDR was guilty to some degree of wishful thinking, believing that “ostensible Communist supporters were really social democrats and that democracy would make inroads in Communist regimes as the Western democracies.” There is still cause, however, to believe that FDR’s strategy succeeded to a degree in creating the bipolar structure he desired in the world. Like Congressman Hamilton Fish, one can dispute the ethics of not aggressively opposing the brutal Soviet regime at Yalta, but the recent scourge of Islamic terrorism has made many realists long or the days of the Cold War, in which they faced a rational and somewhat predictable enemy. When one reflects on the range of post WWII possibilities, perhaps the best defense of FDR at Yalta came from FDR himself: ‘I didn’t say the result was good. I said it was the best I could do.’”
12
AM
I like the way you set up that your info is the homepage, nicely done. Thanks!
24
AM
I like the way you set up that your info is the homepage, nicely done. Thanks!