The Jew Who Defeated Hitler by Peter Moreira

Author:Peter Moreira
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781616149598
Publisher: Prometheus Books
Published: 2014-10-28T04:00:00+00:00

On December 22, 1941, Winston Churchill arrived at the White House for an extended visit to coordinate strategy to win a war that had gone badly thus far. The Japanese had attacked and were gaining ground in Hong Kong, British Malaya, and the Philippines, and they had sunk two important British warships, HMS Repulse and HMS Prince of Wales. Thailand had formally allied itself with Japan. The only bright spot was that the Soviets had stopped the German advances on Moscow and Leningrad.

Morgenthau attended a Christmas dinner at the White House, sitting across the table from Churchill, whom he considered in “the pink of health.” He thought Lord Beaverbrook, also in attendance, “cocky,” though he was touched when Beaverbrook, head of British aircraft production, told him that he and Roosevelt were the only friends Britain had in America.12 Beaverbrook shared with him statistics that showed Britain and the United States produced roughly equivalent amounts of arms in 1941, even though the American population was more than triple that of the island nation. At a Boxing Day cabinet meeting, the president stated repeatedly that the United States had to increase production. Finally Morgenthau said, “Well, Mr. President, if you really want to get production you have to change your setup with the authority divided between OPM, Army and Navy.”13

FDR paused. He knew Morgenthau and Stimson were unhappy that the Office of Production Management was hamstrung by its lack of authority over the military departments. But all he said was, “Well, I think the thing is working much better.”

Morgenthau noticed the president didn't jump on him for the comment, but he also told his diary: “For the amount of time the President spent on it, I gather it is worrying him considerably.” On January 13, Roosevelt established the War Production Board, to be headed by former Treasury executive Donald Nelson, but the new office still did not have authority over the army and navy. Only Roosevelt had such authority.

On the financial side, Morgenthau and congressional leaders agreed in December to raise about $4 billion to $6 billion in additional revenue through a wartime tax. But they did not agree on what form the tax would take. The Ways and Means Committee had previously opposed new taxes because $4 billion had been added in the previous fiscal year though organic economic growth.14 Morgenthau was still looking for more when he sat down on December 30 with Roosevelt and Budget Director Harold Smith to review their options. Morgenthau disliked and distrusted Smith. “He is like a termite undermining the foundation of the Treasury,” he told the president on one occasion. He added: “I have got to raise $19 billion from now until the end of the year, and it is going to take all of my brains, courage and ingenuity, and I don't want a fellow like Harold Smith trying to undermine me.”15 Though Smith believed the United States could produce only $55 billion of war supplies, Morgenthau told Roosevelt he should order manufacturers

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.