The Mantle of Command (FDR at War, 1941-1942) By; Nigel Hamilton

Over my lifetime I have read countless books on the WWII years, biographies, action on the seas, in the air and on the ground. Many books have been written about FDR and Churchill. This one puts it all in perspective for me. You need to know that I have worshiped FDR as a young boy and still today. No one will ever be able to change my mind that he was one of our greatest Presidents. The author’s purpose was his attempt to retell the story of the military direction of the Second World War from a different perspective: that of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, in his role as U.S. Commander in Chief. This book starts with the meeting of FDR and Churchill at a place called Placentia Bay which was one of the bases ceded to us by England in exchange for Lend Lease. It was manned by Americans. This was part of his strategy. He didn’t want to meet on British soil. The date was August 8 to 10, 1941. Churchill, of course, hoped that America would declare war with Germany. He was disappointed to learn that FDR’s goal was to make a statement that amounted to freedom for all the peoples on earth. It was called the Atlantic Charter. Its objective was to provide four freedoms (of speech and worship, from want and fear). Churchill was determined to keep his colonies intact after the war and signed on reluctantly so as not to create a problem between our two countries. He knew then that without America, they had little chance to defeat Germany. Before Pearl Harbor the British were defeated overwhelmingly by the Japanese. Hong Kong, Singapore, Burma were all surrendered to much smaller Japanese forces. Two Battleships were sunk and many other cruisers, destroyers, etc. The Japanese fought with high energy. India would have been next if America had not entered the war. Contrast that to MacArthur’s American and Philippine forces on Bataan and Corregidor. They held out until May 6, 1942 Various episodes are covered. It was FDR that pressured his military to find a way to hit back at Japan. Out of that came the Doolittle raid on Tokyo by B-25’s taking off from an aircraft carrier on April 18, 2041. That was followed by the sinking of four Japanese carriers in the battle of Midway on June 4th which stopped the expansion of Japan and put them somewhat on defense. Those of you too young to remember America was overwhelmingly Isolationist. There was no enthusiasm to enter the conflict in Europe. FDR believed that sooner or later it would happen and he took what steps he could to increase military production and training of soldiers, sailors and airmen. Most of the book is about the ideas of how we could best attack Germany. Early on it was agreed that it had to be Germany first and Japan second. The American military including General Marshall and Secretary of War Stimson pushed for a second front into France from England. FDR was convinced that it would be a blood bath which we would lose to the hardened soldiers of Germany. This was proven when the Dieppe raid was conducted by Canadian soldiers on August 19, 2042. It was completely routed with heavy loss of life and prisoners. He had the idea as early as December 1941 that the best way to initiate war in Europe would be through the French colonies in Western Africa and that it would be 100 % American since there was great hatred for the British after their raid on French warships. The ending chapter is the report that the landings in November 1942 were successful and that the French had capitulated and were in agreement to fight with us to defeat Germany. The author’s next book covered 1943. I wrote a book report on that one. After reading these two books I shudder to think what our world might be like if Japan and Germany had won. With our isolationist feelings, we could not have declared war on either country. They had to initiate it. Hitler’s mistake was breaking the pact with Russia. Japans mistake was attacking Pearl Harbor. Looking at a world map, if you start at the Western coast of France go East through Russia to Japan and go South from there through China all the way to Burma. All of that could have been theirs. It is doubtful that we would have interfered with Japan if they by-passed the Philippines and only attacked the British, Dutch and French colonies. Once that was accomplished our Hemisphere would be all alone. Very doubtful we could have prevailed. A scary thought that I added just to give you something to consider. Jack B. Walters July 5, 2016

How Pathetic

In today’s Star is a front page article that absolves Hillary Clinton on her lack of action for the Americans at the Benghazi Embassy who were attacked by a planned group of Muslim activists on 9/1/2012. The Congress spent $7 million and two years investigating. I call this pathetic because any thinking caring person who was alive at that time understood that when Hillary, Obama, Rice and Petraeus went public stating it was a response to a video that they were attempting to mollify the Arab Muslim world. I took the time to watch that video. It was amateurish in the extreme. The dumbest thing I’ve ever watched. One week later Obama apologized in a United Nations speech for the video. Our government spent thousands in Arab newspapers apologizing. All of the above were blatant lies to support Obama’s claim that he had defeated el Qaida several months before the election that continued him in office. The attack continued for 13 hours. No attempt by our military was initiated. Of course no one could predict how long it would be. My position was so what, make an attempt whether successful or not. To abandon these Americans was disgraceful. Clinton and Obama have weakened our military in many ways, in my opinion deliberately. You might ask why. My answer is because neither of them believes that America should be the leader we once were and may never be again. How tragic that for the most parts this is not understood by Americans. If they did they would not be supporting Clinton to be our next President. Jack B. Walters June 29, 2016

Commander in Chief

FDR’s Battle with Churchill, 1943 By; Nigel Hamilton Once again I was pleased to read a book complimentary to FDR’s leadership. I continue to hold him in my highest esteem as one of the greatest of our Presidents. Not only did he do his utmost to bring Americans out of the Great Depression but he took on the mantle of wartime leadership with great skill and success. This follows another book written by the author of his leadership in 1941 and 1942. The title is; The Mantle of Command. You can be sure I will read this book as eagerly as I did this one. The author faithfully records the events from the landing in North Africa by American troops through the destruction of all enemy forces in Tunisia, the next phase in Sicily and onto the mainland of Italy which results in the surrender of Italy. While there can be no disagreement that Churchill was a great wartime leader and his total respect for FDR, the theme of this book was Churchill’s reluctance to a landing in France from England. He feared for the consequences and did his utmost to keep the Allies in the Mediterranean theatre and enter the mainland of Europe from the South. FDR was convinced that only by assembling overwhelming forces in England and invading from there could the war be brought to an earlier end. Finally Churchill conceded but only reluctantly. He had no choice because by this time America was the predominant partner with over eight million men in uniform and the Arsenal of Democracy in full force not only providing for our people but keeping Russia supplied without which they would have been defeated by Germany. I readily admit that the forties was the decade that formed my personality and influenced me in my work years and beyond. We were all patriots then and of a singular mind to work and fight together as one for the common good of all humanity. I don’t apologize for this, merely state it as fact. This is a book worth your time to read. I found it at the Public Library. Jack B. Walters June 22, 2016

Orlando Tragedy-June 12, 2016

I waited until I heard President Obama speak this morning before putting thoughts to paper. Once again he failed the American people by not clearly identifying the shooter Omar Mateen as an ardent Muslim who just before shooting called 911 and declare his support for ISIS. Starting with Fort Hood which Obama referred to as workplace violence, he has never been able to add Muslim or Islam to the many tragedies occurring in our country and around the world on a continuing basis. By doing so, in my opinion, he encourages other disciples of the Muslim faith to carry out their own initiatives. By the way Hillary could not and would not use those words either in her debates. If you are satisfied with this level of leadership then by all means vote for her. Another eight years of denial and it will be all over for us as the nation we once were and still could be. Jack B. Walters

The Confessions of Congressman X by; Robert Atkinson

I ordered this book before it was even printed. It came in the mail today. It is 5x8x1/4. I received a discounted cost of $8.96. The print is large on 65 pages. It took me 20 minutes to read. I believe the whole thing is a scam to suck small change from those of us who still care about our country and desperately want government reformed to provide the leadership so obviously missing today. I found nothing new except that it was stated as fact, where people like me so far removed from the process can only assume, based on the reality of the lack of progress we hope to see. We hear fine words like “Reform the Income Tax” while there is never any action taken in that regard. I can accept and believe that these were the words of a Congressman. We all know, or at least, should know that what is described is how Congress functions today and has for many years now becoming more and more disconnected with reality and what could and should be done to get us going again. The ease of buying Congress was only exaggerated by the Supreme Court ruling on Citizens United when any restrictions on the use of money were lifted. He estimates that the 2016 elections for President and Congress will exceed $10 Billion dollars. He is a Democrat but could just as easily have been a Republican. On a 60 Minute program a month ago Congress was exposed on fund raising. There are actually two buildings located near the Capitol dedicated to the raising of funds to support the candidates and their party. It was reported that they were duty bound to spend four hours each day calling and asking for money. I wonder if the tax payers paid for the construction of these buildings. The essence of the book was how easy it is to dupe the Public. Most have little knowledge of government. It is my belief that Civics, as we were taught in my day, is no longer considered important to teach the youth of today. I will claim the same for American history. Instead of holding those great men in high esteem, the children are told they were slave holders and therefore not worthy of respect. Is it any wonder therefore that they have little respect for how this great country evolved over the Centuries? That is why it was so easy to remove President Andrew Jackson from our currency and replace with a female (any female). Thirteen years ago when my son installed a computer for me to use, I started writing. First was my biography closely followed by what I refer to as my “Angry Man” books. I researched the best I could, read numerous serious books and wrote what I felt would be received as information that could be used if multiplied by those reading and sharing. There is no question I am a complete failure. The only way I could reach anyone was to give the books away to as many as I thought might be interested. Books sold are less than your finger digits. I am not even convinced that most who were given even read other than skimming. The nut of it is that I am not going to report on the content of this book as it would be of no use. Buy it and read for yourself if interested. You will not find anything that you should not know yourself if you are in the least interested in your country and its future. Jack B. Walters June 3, 2016

Ty Cobb-A Terrible Beauty by; Charles Leerhsen

I found this book courtesy of Hillsdale College. They published a talk given by Mr. Leershsen and published it in their March 2016 Imprimis Publication. I was intrigued by the thought that this author felt that Mr. Cobb’s reputation had been tarnished by other authors and he wanted to clear the record. I immediately purchased a copy from Amazon and have just finished it. Since most of Mr. Cobb’s great achievements were before my time I have taken the position that this latest effort was done with a noble purpose and therefore I accept his writing as factual. I read this, not as a fan of baseball, but because of the author’s attempt to right the record of Ty Cobb. There can be no question that to this day his records stand as recognition of his great ability, strength and persistence. Right up until his last days as a ball player he gave it all he had. It was the stigma that he was a dirty player and would deliberately spike players as he slid into bases that tarnished his image. For me the author cleared the air. Mr. Cobb’s family should be relieved that his honor has been restored. He played in the Majors from 1905 to 1928 (the year I was born). He played in 3034 games with the following statistics; 11,434 at bats, 2246 runs, 4189 hits, 1938 RBI’s 897 bases stolen and a life time batting average of .366. The book chronicles his life as a child, through his years as a ball player and his later years. He was fearless and always strove to win. Fans either loved him or hated him, but for sure he was not ignored. Whether baseball is a sport you care about or not, this is a well written biography of a legend whose achievements will never be equaled. Jack B. Walters May 22, 2016

The World Crisis by Winston S. Churchill (1911-1918)

This book contains 840 small print pages. It, of course, is well written as only Churchill could do. Trying to absorb the contents and avoiding eye strain, it took over one month to finish reading. It was recommended reading by Marc Johnson, one of my favorite lecturers in my OLLI classes. It covers the years leading up to the First World War and the war years until it ended at the 11th hour of the11th day of the 11th month of 1918. The difference between this conflict and the Second World War is that in the 1940’s significant advances had been achieved in the weaponry which was not available. Airplanes were mostly of the observation type and tanks were not introduced until the war was in its final stages. This was a brute force, savage waste of manpower, with one side or the other sending thousands across desolate landscape and being killed my machine guns, artillery and poison gas. All told over 20,000,000 casualties, either on the ground or in the sea. An incredible wastage of an entire generation of all countries involved. In the years leading to the war Churchill was First Lord of the Admiralty. His responsibility was to assure the British fleet was superior to that of Germany. In that he was eminently successful. The last years he became the Minister of Munitions with responsibility for supplying all necessary to support the military. It is not my intent to record the events of these years, only a serious reading can accomplish that. This is not the first time I have read about this war but it was the most thorough. As one battle blends into another the sickening waste of lives is all pervasive. The Germans, until the end, had a favorable advantage in casualties of two to one. One short sentence by a German soldier says it all. He kept his machine gun sweeping the field cutting down scores of men. Wasting the lives so frivolously is a violation of the word civilization. Jack B. Walters May 14, 2016