John Foster Dulles

John Foster Dulles - 34th President of the United States
The first president in American history never to be elected, John Foster Dulles' short term in office (12 July 1944 - 20 January 1946) is considered perhaps the most controversial in the annals of the United States.

Biography
Born in Washington, D.C., he was the son of a Presbyterian minister and attended public schools in Watertown, New York. After attending Princeton University and The George Washington University Law School he joined the New York City law firm of Sullivan & Cromwell, where he specialized in international law. He tried to join the United States Army during World War I but was rejected because of poor eyesight. Instead, Dulles received an Army commission as a Major on the War Industries Board.

Both his grandfather John W. Foster and his uncle Robert Lansing served as Secretary of State.

Political career
In 1918, Woodrow Wilson appointed Dulles as legal counsel to the United States delegation to the Versailles Peace Conference where he served under his uncle, Robert Lansing, then Secretary of State. Dulles made an early impression as a junior diplomat by clearly and forcefully arguing against imposing crushing reparations on Germany. Afterwards, he served as a member of the War Reparations Committee at the request of President Wilson. Dulles, a deeply religious man, attended numerous international conferences of churchmen during the 1920s and 1930s. In 1924, he was the defense counsel in the church trial of Rev. Harry Emerson Fosdick, who had been charged with heresy by opponents in the denomination, a case settled when Fosdick, a liberal Baptist, resigned his pulpit in the Presbyterian Church, which he had never joined. Dulles also became a partner at Sullivan & Cromwell, an international law firm. According to Karlheinz Deschner's book The Moloch, Dulles gave assets of $1 billion to the Nazi party in 1932 after Hitler's election, and according to Stephen Kinzer's 2006 book Overthrow, the firm benefited from doing business with the Nazi regime, and from 1933-1934, Dulles was a public supporter of Hitler. However, the junior partners, led by his brother Allen, were appalled by Nazi activities and threatened to revolt if Dulles did not end the firm's association with the regime. In 1935, Dulles closed Sullivan & Cromwell's Berlin office; later he would cite the closing date as 1934, no doubt in an effort to clear his reputation by shortening his involvement with Nazi Germany.

Dulles was a close associate of Thomas E. Dewey, who became the presidential candidate of the United States Republican Party in the 1940 election. During the election, Dulles served as Dewey's foreign policy adviser. Upon Dewey's election to the presidency, Dulles was appointed Secretary of State. It was Dulles who encouraged Dewey's policy of confrontation with Japan which disastrously brought German invasion.

Secretary of State
As Secretary of State, Dulles was one of the pioneers of brinkmanship. In an article written for Life Magazine in early 1941 to describe America's new aggressive approach towards Japan, Dulles defined his policy of brinkmanship: "The ability to get to the verge without getting into the war is the necessary art."

In a foreshadowing of his confrontational style of politics, Dulles received a standing ovation from Congress when, on February 9, 1941, he argued in one speech that "neutrality has increasingly become an obsolete and, except under very exceptional circumstances, it is an immoral and shortsighted conception."

In his drive to isolate Japan and unify a front against further Imperial expansion, Dulles provided some consternation and amusement to the British, Canadian, Australian, and New Zealand ambassadors by his repeated attempts to tell substantially different versions of events to them. Apparently, unbeknownst to Dulles, the men had all attended Cambridge together and followed up meetings with Dulles by comparing notes and reporting the discrepancies to their home countries.

When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, Dulles was not altogether surprised, stating that, "They would drive the Japs back into their caves." However, when Hitler declared war on America, many say they saw the Secretary of State at a loss for words for the first time in his life.

Presidency
Dulles' ascension to the presidency was an unexpected one. Vice-President Charles McNary died February 1944 from complications involving a brain tumor. No new vice-president was named due to Congress' inability to meet in total following repeated attacks on the capital and the war making travel nearly impossible. President Dewey would die in a plane crash, shot down by the Luftwaffe as he attempted to flee Washington D.C. shortly before it fell July 4, 1944. In the confusion following the fall of the American capital, many were unsure exactly who was next in line for presidential succession as no one was sure who was still alive. It would take a week to establish Dulles in office.

Dulles found himself confronted with a difficult situation. American forces had been largely destroyed east of the Mississippi with valuable reserves of manpower now located in German occupied territory along with the bulk of American industry. Army Group South under Colonel General Heinrich von Vietinghoff was tearing through the Dixie states with a ferocity not seen since Sherman while Guderian was consolidating the Wermacht's hold on the east coast as Rommel turned west with his sights set on Chicago.

Dulles was informed by Eisenhower, who had miraculously escaped Washington, that their hold on states east of the Mississippi were untenable and that the best course of action was to gradually withdraw via a scorched earth policy while building a defensive line from Louisiana to Minnesota. This would require the demolition of all known factories, the burning of all crops, and the destruction of bridges and railroad tracks in their retreat in order to leave nothing of value for the enemy. To the surprise of his staff, Dulles said no and instead ordered that a line of communication for possible peace talks be opened through the British.

There have been numerous debates on the exact reason for Dulles' refusal to continue the war. One point is that the plan devised by Eisenhower and the General Staff was not only barbaric (casually outlining the hundreds of thousands of casualties it would accrue while encouraging further destruction to the nation) but would prove wholly inadequate in the long run. The bulk of the American population was in German hands. The ability to raise future armies was unlikely and the industry to arm it was rapidly being lost. There was also the (perceived) threat of an attack from the west by Japan.

A second point made is that Dulles felt overwhelming guilt for having caused the war in the first place. It was his style of diplomacy which forced Japan into an aggressive posture and then drew Hitler's attention. Dulles' game of brinksmanship had killed his friend, Dewey, and nearly destroyed the country. This, coupled with the nadir of American morale, was known to have affected the president deeply. He was seen weeping when told of civilians in Georgia using private weapons trying to hold off Wermacht forces being gunned down. Other atrocities reached his ears but there was nothing he could do to stop it. Ever the religious man, he had to repent this sin of pride and end the war despite what it would do to him. He would become the martyr to save America's future. He had nearly destroyed his country. It was time to sacrifice himself that no one else need die in a war they could not win.

A third point, and the most controversial, is that Dulles had a pro-German attitude which is supported by his past. His attempts to lessen Allied punishments under the Treaty of Versailles, his dealings with Hitler and various German functionaries shortly after the Nazi rise to power, and even donations made to German politicians and businessmen raise questions as to the relationship Dulles had with Hitler and the Nazis; especially after the war when he renewed business contacts with Germany.

1 August 1944, Dulles agreed to an armistice with Germany. On October 31, a peace treaty was signed between the Third Reich and the United States whose main points recognized the following:
The United States had been the aggressor in their conflict
All territory occupied by Germany north of the Ohio River and east of the Mississippi was to remain occupied at American expense (Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, and West Virginia)
The American military was to be limited to a 100,000 man standing army (with no more than 10,000 allowed east of the Mississippi River), light tanks were the only armor allowed in the American forces, a navy set at the limits of the Washington Naval Treaty, and their air force was not to employ bombers
Reparations were to be paid
German inspectors were to be allowed into American territory to ensure that the treaty was being followed
The United States was to drop all trade barriers with Germany
Recognized Germany hegemony over Canada

Dulles would later sign an armistice with Japan in early 1945 which recognized Imperial hegemony over Asia and the Pacific (including Hawaii), and returned Attu, Kiska, and Dutch Harbor to the United States thus ending the Pacific War.

The twin wars effectively over, Dulles authorized the first American elections since 1942 (national elections being hard to outright impossible in the east). Dulles quickly found himself rejected by the Republican Party for its presidential nominee. He would retire from politics branded a traitor, returning to New York to take up international law.

Legacy
Dulles' term in office draws divided opinions. There are those who say he didn't do enough, failing to exhaust every opportunity available before surrendering and stabbed America in the back. Others claim he did too much, pushing America into a war it wasn't ready for and then folding when it came time to take responsibility for it. In the Confederate States, there are many who defend Dulles. They state that Dulles saved them when Eisenhower wanted to render their lands barren and sacrifice them for their own survival.

Dulles' name opens many old wounds, the deepest being America's first loss to a foreign power.

SOURCE: Garfield, Richard American Presidents at a Glance

April 1944 - June 1944

Hitler's order to secure the industrial core of America recommenced in the spring of 1944 when Rommel drove into Ohio reaching Youngstown April 10. American forces, largely National Guard units, offered little resistance as he struck northwest towards Cleveland, taking the city on April 17, before then striking south for Akron.

Guderian's drive into Indiana was just as rapid, Elkhart falling April 13, followed by Ft. Wayne on April 19. The first signs of organized American forces appeared as he approached Muncie, April 25. The VI Corps, under Major General Ernest J. Dawley, had moved east from Illinois in late March, taking up position north of Indianapolis on April 17. When news came of Guderian's march south, Dawley prepared his forces to meet him. It was patrols of the 45th Division which first encountered Wermacht troops outside Muncie on April 25. Brief gunfire was exchanged before American forces withdrew to report German troop movements.

German and American forces would skirmish over the next three days in and around Delaware County with Guderian forcing Dawley gradually southwestward. The fourth day of fighting transpired near the White River, five miles from Yorktown. The river to his rear, Dawley found himself trapped. With a lack of decent armor, only VI Corps' artillery served to deter German charges meant to drive them into the river. This was quickly solved by Guderian's panzers which sliced through the VI's infantry and overran Dawley's main guns. Suffering heavy casualties, many American soldiers dove into the White River swimming across to the southern shore while being shot at by Wermacht rifles and panzer cannons. Scores of bodies would foul the water for weeks to come, some washing up as far as ten miles downriver.

Rommel, meanwhile, had picked up his breathtaking pace reaching Marietta, OH on April 28. There he met parts of the reconstituted II Corps, now commanded by Major General Geoffrey Keyes.

Patton, the former commander of II Corps, had been "promoted" to an inactive front, commander of III Corps at the Presidio in Monterey, CA, due to his controversial dealings with his superiors and subordinates. The press had printed some of Patton's abusive correspondence with Washington greatly angering President Dewey who wouldn't bear his authority being undermined. Dewey was sure Patton had leaked the correspondence as a way to guilt him into action on a list of complaints the general had earlier sent him. To make matters worse was Patton's slapping of a soldier suffering from shell shock following the Battle of Pittsburgh. Patton's abrasive personality drove Eisenhower to move the man as far away as possible for his own good.

Major General Keyes proved an able leader though not as skilled as Rommel who rapidly punctured the American line and rolled up part of II Corps by April 30. Only Keyes deft maneuvering kept the entire II Corps from being enveloped. Part of the reason for this defeat was attributed to II Corps' armor which stood at 65%, manned largely with inexperienced tank crews that had been rushed to the front. Among these tanks was the M5 which saw its first frontline action, performing well under fire but still inadequate against German Panthers.

The Battle of Marietta would end American support for light tanks and lead to the development of medium and heavy tanks. Rommel would complete the annihilation of II Corps over the next four days leaving only 80,000 American troops between him and Washington to the east, but the German commander turned west to link up with Guderian as ordered despite a desire to gamble for the American capital.

In Indiana, Indianapolis was encircled by Guderian April 28 and taken two days later severing a vital transportation hub in a largely bloodless offensive. Guderian would then turn southeast cutting a swath through disorganized American forces, put together piecemeal from whatever was available, on his way to the Ohio border.

Rommel and Guderian would meet in Cincinnati on May 14. Though this served as a major blow to the United States, it was only the beginning of a larger offensive.

Hitler had decided to open a second front in September 1943 following the beating Rommel had taken in Pennsylvania to relieve the pressure on German forces in New England and to put renewed pressure on the American capital. The Fuhrer looked towards a landing somewhere along the Carolina coast. Goering and Raeder would aid Hitler in his planning. What the pair offered up most were doubts.

Goering informed the Fuhrer that landings anywhere south of Virginia would be unsupported by Luftwaffe aircraft, the distance being too great from their airfields in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Raeder further warned Hitler that should the Carolina landings be successful, there was the possibility that the United States could blockade the coast using parts of the Atlantic and Pacific fleets cutting off the landing force from resupply. Up to this point, the United States had been willing to not call on the Pacific Fleet to augment their Atlantic naval forces, but the German offensive in the south could be viewed as a large enough threat to redeploy parts of the Pacific Fleet to the Atlantic, especially due to the lull that had settled over the west coast. Then there was the problem of landing and amphibious craft which were in short supply. There would need to be designs drawn up, raw materials allocated, workers found, etc. This didn't include the training necessary to prepare troops for the operation. The entire venture was not likely to happen in less than two years at best and even then it was still fraught with a myriad of threats of failure.

But Hitler would not be swayed. The very audacity of the plan, coupled with the fact that it would be the largest amphibious assault in history, mesmerized the German leader. When Raeder and Goering realized the futility of halting preparations, they tried to convince the Fuhrer to move the landing point further north to allow for air support. Hitler would not hear of it. First, the threat of American air forces would be minimal in the Carolinas. Naval reconnaissance had found only four to five squadrons scattered across the area, mostly used for training and coastal patrols. The Fuhrer was quick to point out to Raeder the fact that recent modifications to five merchant ships would provide the Kriegsmarine with additional escort carriers whose fighter complement added up to 30 Bf 109s. Added to the Graf Zeppelin's aircraft, that numbered 40 fighters placing the American to German fighter ratio at roughly around 2:1. German aircraft had proven its supremacy time and again and American air forces would be disorganized coming from several air fields and could, likely, be intercepted before they became a problem. Second, landing anywhere in Virginia was ridiculous with the American troop presence so close to Washington. The invasion force would quickly find itself bogged down by soldiers already on alert and then pushed back into the sea. An attack further south would face minimal opposition allowing for an easier push inland and would also serve to draw off forces opening Washington to the joint forces of Rommel and Guderian leading to the fall of the capital and the end of the United States as a coherent entity.

"American forces are broken," Hitler stated. "All it will take is one more bold stroke to shatter their resolve. Our forces will walk over them to everlasting victory!"

As to the problems of landing craft, Hitler ordered German forces to begin confiscating all merchant and commerical craft in the occupied areas of Canada and New England. They had until summer 1944. Speed and surprise was essential.

The initial phase of the operation, the combined Luftwaffe/Kriegsmarine assault on Newport News in November 1943, served to drive the Atlantic Fleet south. It would be followed by numerous sorties to keep the Atlantic Fleet away from the proposed landing zones and to allow for aerial reconnaissance of the region. With naval success on the American east coast, Hitler ordered plans for an amphibious landing at Charleston to be sped up. He would travel to Philadelphia to set up his American HQ to oversee the Atlantic Theater, coordinating with Rommel, Guderian, Manstein, Goering, and Raeder. Training for the landing was conducted throughout late winter/early spring.

30 May 1944, Raeder initiated the invasion heading south from New Jersey. American forces would be ill-equipped to counter the coming attack, lacking in men and materiel. The American General Staff had become used to Raeder's roaming up and down the east coast over the past year in what was perceived as a useless blockade. Any threat the German Admiral offered, such as shelling of coastal ports, had been kept at bay by coastal aircraft which had markedly increased in northern Virginia. Also, after having overreacted to the joint Luftwaffe and Kriegsmarine attack on Newport News, and with Rommel and Guderian to their west, American commanders were not willing to divert troops to the Carolina shores. In fact, they had diverted troops north to defend against a renewed drive by the Wermacht on Washington. The American Midwest and Washington took priority. Thus, South Carolina was not prepared for the German forces that stormed her shores, having been stripped of a vast amount of divisional strength and mostly used as a training area.

The Battle of Charleston began at 0300, June 6, with a naval barrage accompanied by bombing runs by the Graf Zeppelin's Ju-87s which would render the air strips at Myrtle Beach and Charleston Army Air Fields useless, grounding their squadrons and stripping air supremacy from American forces.
121,000 Wermacht troops ran ashore over the next five hours starting at 0630 in a motley collection of cruise ships, steamers, and other craft overwhelming limited American resistance in what quickly became a debacle for the American High Command. By the time USAAF air support could be called from nearby air fields in Florence and Charlotte, German troops had secured their beachheads and were driving inland. When USAAF forces arrived on the scene, what they found was mass panic. Numerous civilians clogged the roads trying to escape the German drive. What they did not know was that aircraft from the Graf Zeppelin and her escort carriers had been strafing and bombing American civilians in their exodus causing mass panic.

The German invasion of Charleston was only part of the Operation. Following the success of their spring campaign, Rommel and Guderian used the bulk of their forces to stab into West Virginia in a drive aimed at Washington itself meant to divert troops and attention away from South Carolina prior to the amphibious landings. This drive commenced in mid-May and reached as far as Moorefield, WV by June 6. Surprised by the ease of their eastward assault, Rommel and Guderian decided to press further than planned. The first line of defenses surrounding Washington would be shattered three days later.

Washington was in a panic. They had no immediate forces to counter the invasion in South Carolina, Rommel was less than thirty miles away, and the threat of losing the entire east coast was fast becoming a reality. Many voiced the opinion that Washington should be abandoned so that American forces could then focus on crushing the German forces at Charleston while maintaining a coherent defense against German forces from the north. President Dewey refused to abandon the capital citing its symbolic nature. Instead, he ordered that all forces in Virginia be focused on defending the capital while the fleet was to solve the problem in Carolina. Parts of the Pacific Fleet would be diverted east in the weeks to come while the bulk of the Atlantic Fleet was told to move north and engage the Kriegsmarine.

Admiral King issued the command for the Atlantic Fleet to remove the Kriegsmarine from the Carolina coast that the Wermacht in Charleston could be cut off and captured by I Corps. The decisive battle of the Atlantic unfolded June 12 between the Atlantic Fleet and the Kriegsmarine. Raeder was ordered by Hitler himself to hold his position at all costs. Raeder's naval aviators held the sky against American aircraft. The majority of the USAAF pilots were still trainees and quickly overwhelmed by the German aces who tore them apart. The two navies pounded one another across the sea taking numerous casualties. While Ju 87s and Fi 167s rained fire from above, Uboats attacked from the depths. Le Malin class destroyers glided through the churning waters blasting holes in American naval craft with elegant efficiency. Fiery pyres littered the ocean blazing brightly along the horizon.
American naval forces fought on despite their losses, realizing that South Carolina was likely lost if they retreated. Their determination was heroic and shocking to the German sailors who witnessed it. One remarkable event was the ramming of an American cruiser into one of the German escort carriers. Despite their efforts, they were overcome by the Kriegsmarine. Raeder pressed in for the kill virtually decimating the remains of the Atlantic Fleet as it finally turned to retreat south. The Grand Admiral would send his Uboats after them as he took up position off the coast.

SOURCE: Wilder, George Hitler's Great Gamble: The Amphibious Invasion of Charleston

Labour Wins!

24 March 1944 - Clement Atlee's Labour Party has won the general election with a landslide victory and a controlling 145 seats. This was not an unexpected defeat for the Conservatives. With the economic downturn, the loss of India, and two military defeats, their time in office was numbered.

Lord Halifax knew as much, facing a vote of no confidence following the armistice signed with Japan. Rather than endure the humiliation, Halifax set elections and then declared his retirement from politics. Reviled by some, pitied by others, Lord Halifax knew he was hampering his party and bowed out as gracefully as he could.

The Labour Party ran on promises to create full employment, a tax funded universal National Health Service, and a cradle-to-grave welfare state, with the sensational campaign message of 'let us face the future.'

This was the first election in which Labour gained a majority of seats, and also the first time it won a plurality of votes. If it had won another 68,767 or 0.3% of votes it would have had over 50% of all those cast: the closest any party has come a majority of all votes since 1931.

SOURCE: The Herald

United States - 1944

Fall 1943 - Spring 1944

Following Rommel's pause to regroup in late October, America quickly set to work gathering forces for a counterattack. It was not soon coming. Armor and air were largely wrecked and rapidly being rebuilt while reserves of trained men were practically exhausted whether through injury, death, or capture following the failed campaigns against Rommel and Guderian, or were tied up elsewhere in garrison positions. The lack of troops was due to Garner's refusal to fund more than 8 divisions during his term. Dewey had fought to ramp up training in the early days of his administration but had only managed roughly 50 divisions by 1943.

This limitation of trained soldiers created problems. First there was the necessity of training, these men needed for cadres to prepare the next crop for battle. Second was the issue of keeping parts of the nation secure which led into the third, and most problematic, issue. Many regions, especially the West Coast, were against diverting troops from their borders. Legislators and Governors from California to Washington State lobbied to keep a sizable troop presence following numerous attacks by the Japanese on military installations, such as Ft. Stevens in Oregon, civilian facilities like those at Goleta, CA, or the largely undefended forests of the Pacific Northwest. Only luck had prevented a catastrophe thus far and many feared, should American forces be withdrawn, the Japs would pour across their shores much like they had at Hawaii, a traumatic event still recent in the minds of Americans. Hysteria gripped California worst of all with many believing an invasion was at most only weeks away. Their efforts served to hamper military operations in the country. In the end, Dewey was forced to draw troops from the relatively secure south.

Another problem which was becoming increasingly apparent was a drop in industrial output. The Germans had managed to knock out roughly one third of America's shipyards, one half of steel production, and were close to seizing the manufacturing core of heavy machinery in the country in its entirety. Manpower issues also arose as nearly every white male was pressed into uniform. Women and blacks were becoming the norm in factories and working hours were being extended, sometimes to the point that accidents became a regular occurrence. In the south, there was considerable anger that black men should work in close proximity to white women leading to strained tensions. This was not helped by the perception of southern troops that they were being singled out and shipped north as fodder.

As troops were being moved north for an offensive against Rommel, American plans were largely disrupted by Raeder and Goering's joint air/naval effort in mid-November on the coast of Virginia. Dewey's commanders feared it was the beginning of an amphibious landing meant to open a second front and quickly rerouted troops to the Atlantic shore. Despite this military presence, the Luftwaffe and Kriegsmarine left the naval yards at Newport News in ruins. The Kriegsmarine would remain a constant presence on America's East Coast, sometimes venturing as far south as the Carolinas disrupting American shipping and shelling cities. American commanders would wait until early January before once more planning for an offensive north.

Meanwhile, Goering turned his attention to Washington itself. Aerial bombings became the norm as American leaders debated whether or not to remain in the capital. Some believed the President should withdraw either south or west to safer territory to conduct the war. Dewey would not be swayed. If American citizens were to see him retreat, it would be disastrous for morale. American soldiers were used to ring the city against the expected German approach. They spent months digging fortifications.

To the north, German forces were becoming irritated with guerilla activity in their rear. American and Canadian partisans continually threatened their thinly stretched supply lines throughout the autumn and winter of 1943. What these partisans had not counted on were the brutal methods Heydrich would use to silence them. In one of the darker moments of the Atlantic War, Heydrich had the entire town of Malone, NY executed for aiding and housing partisans responsible for the murder of an SS man. Shock traveled throughout the state. Though many vowed vengeance, partisan activity noticeably dropped in the short term. This was followed by an intense search and seizure of all weapons from civilians in the occupied areas with threats of draconian punishment if any weapons were not registered and turned over to SS authorities. Heydrich also took to starving non-cooperative regions. This was not simply done to punish the locals but also because food stocks were not adequate for the occupied areas. German needs came first, the rest rationed amongst the populace. Many starved to death in the bleak winter of 43.

One shocking development that began in New England was American citizens of German heritage, both born and naturalized, stepping forward to join SS forces as valuable liasion officers. Of course, many of these men had been interned at the beginning of the war as security threats only to be later freed by Wermacht forces. Urged on by Kuhn, the appointed American leader of occupied America, they willingly joined the movement though their numbers were mostly in the hundreds. This "treasonous activity", as well as collaboration among the populace with their German occupiers, served to divide communities as no one knew who to trust.

A major blow for the American effort was also received in early 1944 when the United Kingdom formerly signed an armistice with the Japanese Empire. With their base in India lost, economic setbacks at home, and pressure on the domestic front over losses both territorial and human, PM Wood was forced to sue for terms. Australia would condemn Wood as a traitor for abandoning the war effort. With Britain out of the war and their lifeline to America cut off, many Aussies feared an invasion by Japan was soon to come.

What the Australians did not know was that, for all intents and purposes, Japan was through with the war. With peace achieved following the collapse of Chiang Kai-Shek's forces, Vlassov's truce, and Halifax's armistice, Japan's entire western border was safe. They held hegemony over a large swath of Siberia, China proper, Southwest Asia, and the Pacific as well as had an ally in India. Australia did not have the strength to force them back from New Guinea, and the United States was embroiled in a continental war with Germany. Also, Japan had found its shipping stretched to the limit and its troops too thinly distributed to even think of yet another invasion. There was a large enough problem holding what they now had. There were the aerial and naval attacks on Australia and the United States but these were to put pressure on both governments to sue for peace.

By April 1944, Rommel and Guderian were ready to resume their offenses aimed at meeting in Cincinnati.

SOURCE: Thackeray, Raymond The Eye of the Storm: The Lull in the American Campaign

Fritz Kuhn - Leader of America

14 December 1943 - Alongside Quisling and Petain, one may also add Fritz Kuhn. A naturalized citizen, the leader of the American Bund of National Socialism has been annointed leader of occupied America. Winner of the Iron Cross in the Great War and one of the most feared men in the United States, this figure has risen to challenge President Dewey's role as leader of our nation. Already he has declared his intent to inter all Jews, Blacks, and other "subhumans" for use as slave labor to ensure the victory of Hitler in America and to strengthen future generations. He has also given his consent to the Nazis seizure of factories to produce war materiel.

President Dewey and Congress have declared Kuhn a traitor and vow to capture and execute the collaborationist.

SOURCE: Miami Herald

Japanese to be Interned

14 December 1943 - Following the treasonous turn of the Nissei in Hawaii, President Dewey has authorized the internment of all Japanese within American borders. Congress lauded his decision, saying it would make America safer.

In the past, President Dewey had refused to sign such a bill stating that it "only served to divide rather than unite the nation in these dire times." The president did concede to legislation requiring the registration of all Japanese citizens with local law enforcement as a precautionary measure back in 1942. Congress had repeatedly stated that this was not enough.

With the Imperial Navy so close to our shores, there has been increased fear of Japanese invasion on the west coast. Anonymous reports of strange aircraft in California have only heightened the hysteria.

A large majority of America has come to doubt the patriotism of Japanese citizens, seeing potential spies in their midst. One has only to look to those collaborating with Imperial troops in Hawaii to understand this mistrust.

Ten camps have been planned for the relocation effort. 110,000 Japanese are expected to be transported in the coming months.

SOURCE: Courier-Journal