An Interview with John Maynard Keynes
“Mr. Dahl, I assure you that these fairy tales in the American newspapers are entirely impossible,” said John Maynard Keynes, sitting in his living room chair with a glass of champagne. Keynes was in poor health and was housebound- he would die a few months after Dahl and Fleming had paid him this visit. Despite his tiredness Keynes remained cogent and engaged. “One would have to be an utter and complete ignoramus- of which we are not in short supply- to believe that Harry Dexter White is a Communist. Perhaps he is too trusting of the Soviet Union- I certainly have no sympathies for the Reds myself- but the proper nature of foreign relations is a separate issue from that of economics. I have read his work in depth. His ideological predispositions and proposals are entirely within the tradition of reformist capitalism. The trajectory of his thought is incompatible with the base and unsophisticated doctrine of Marxism.”
A scowling Roald Dahl started to interject before his colleague Fleming interjected, cutting off Dahl’s first syllablle. “Consider the bigger picture, my lord. Intelligence agencies in Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States have confirmed there has been a repeated and sustained effort by the Communists to infiltrate the western governments. You surely already know of Harry Pollitt’s schemes to use his position in Parliament to gain access to military plans. The Communist network in this country- and in the United States is likely quite extensive. We are operating partly on theory and conjecture- but that is unavoidable when one is dealing with espionage. But it is clear that this espionage ring does exist, it is just a question of who is involved. White has surrounded himself with men suspected of Communist sympathies. Perhaps he is acting under duress or is being manipulated without being a Communist per se. If you could think of any stray comment he may have made to you- some indicator of his real intent, or even any strange mannerisms you may have noticed.”
Keynes shook his head. “I’m afraid I can’t help you. I am familiar with him professionally but I am not close to him personally. We spent time together at Bretton Woods for a few weeks but there were many other delegates. He says he is an internationalist, which I do not doubt, but he is not a supporter of world federalism. His conception of world affairs is typical of the American Democrats- I do not think his internationalism is especially ambitious or unusual. He disagreed with my plan for an international currency and he was not eager to offer any concessions of the United States’ economic interests in the name of global unity. His policy towards the Soviet Union is in part a continuation of Roosevelt’s- and he was no Communist either.”
“You understand our concern, of course?” said Dahl. “The Communists have expanded rapidly since the end of the war. Stalin has outmaneuvered the leadership of the capitalist countries. If the Communists have some hold over the American government, we must break that hold immediately to prevent total Communist world domination.”
“ Harry Dexter White is a man of reason. Political obligations- I am thinking of the situation in France in particular- prevent him from openly denouncing Communism. But if the Soviet Union were to become openly hostile, I am sure he would respond appropriately and cooperate with Britain in containing any hostile acts by the Communists against the West.”
“We will see. We appreciate your help, my lord.” Dahl and Fleming shook hands with Keynes and walked out of the parlor. “What a useless meeting,” Dahl muttered to Fleming as soon the renowned economist was out of earshot. “We learned nothing useful.”
“Perhaps we should take another trip to America? Or just read the American newspapers.”
“I am certain the spy rings in Britain and America are directly connected, if they are not closely collaborating. We just need to know the right places to look.”
International Reaction to the White Scandal
Interest in the allegations against President White was not limited to the United States. The Soviet Union, naturally, was made to comment on the matter. Foreign Minister Molotov, at a press conference in Paris, denied that White had spied for the Communists and visibly laughed at the “silliness of the idea.” “Oh what imaginations these capitalist newspapers have! If only we were as powerful as they think! Then the whole world would have gone Communist years ago. Perhaps King George is a Communist as well! Perhaps every person in the world is a spy on our payroll.” A picture of Molotov laughing at the press conference was taken by an American photographer, which was subsequently published in the Hearst press, with the publishers implying that the Foreign Minister was laughing at American weakness. Ambassador Gromyko also spoke to reporters in Washington D.C, where he flatly denied the story, calling a plot by fascist revanchists to sow discord and bring about another war. “There is nothing Communist about the New Deal or the Democratic Party. President White is a capitalist. Only a lunatic would think otherwise.” Stalin himself did not publicly comment on the theory, and there was initially no mention of the affair in Eastern Bloc media intended for internal consumption. Oblique references to “treasonous plots against President White” were published in Pravda, without explicitly stating the nature of such plots. Hearst, Hoover, and the Republican Party were frequently denounced as capitalist warmongers. A reader of Soviet newspapers would know there was some sort of movement in the United States calling for some sort of hostilities against the U.S.S.R, but they would not know why.
Left-wing parties across Europe quickly took up the talking point that the conspiracy theory about the alleged Communist infiltration of the American government was nothing more than a fascist smear campaign. President Leon Blum commented that the hysteria in the American press was similar to that of the Dreyfus Affair- which he remembered from personal experience, and warned that a reactionary terror threatened the United States. Maurice Thorez said there was an international plot to destroy democracy, and claimed that France’s independence was at stake if the proponents of the White conspiracy theory emerged victorious- something resembling the Nazi occupation of France could be repeated. Foreign Minister Ernest Bevin declared there would be no change in relations with the United States, as there was not sufficient evidence to confirm the charges. Italian Prime Minister De Gasperi, of a more moderate bent than the French Communists, declined to comment about White when asked by a reporter, saying he would not entertain such a hypothetical. No head of state or government declared they believed in the theory, for fear of rupturing relations with the United States. President White thus faced little governmental opposition abroad to his foreign policy.
There were, of course, rumblings among the conservative political parties of the world, a renewed paranoia. In fascist Spain, Franco warned of “communist annihilation” and declared he was closing the nations’ borders. Winston Churchill denounced the threat of Communist infiltration before the House of Commons without specifically stating which infiltrators he was warning of. Upon questioning, Churchill claimed “I was merely referring to Harry Pollitt and the like,” but few believed him. Pollitt himself was the most vocal denouncer of J. Edgar Hoover in Parliament. The ambassadors of the various nations of the world in Washington assured Laurence Duggan that whatever domestic squabbling was going on in the United States, America’s relations with their respective countries would remain as strong as ever. The ambassadors from Central and South America were particularly eager to reassure Duggan. Among the military dictatorships of South America, however, there was quiet yet intense furor brewing. The military coups which had brought various dictators to power in recent years were partially motivated by the fear of Communist revolution. And now the most powerful nation in the hemisphere was under the control of an alleged Communist spy. If even the anchor of global capitalism, the premier center of world power- the White House!- could fall to the Communist threat, then no nation was safe. Rumors swirled of secret plots by Harry White and Laurence Duggan to install Communist governments in Latin America. There were going to be strike actions, riots and assassinations, whispered the generals and the colonels. Eventually, these rumors spread to the newspapers, although the stories were light on details.
Brazil in particular was subject to a particularly intense red scare. It was the Ambassador of the United States to Brazil, Adolf Berle, who had confirmed the existence of allegations against the President. Ambassador Berle was swiftly recalled to the United States in October of 1946, and it was immediately clear why. President White did not hold Brazil responsible for the press campaign being waged against him. Nevertheless, the effects of the political trouble in the United States were immediately visible to everyone in Rio de Janeiro. There were fears that President White would retaliate against Brazil for their welcoming of William Randolph Hearst during the summer of 1946. President White’s attention would be focused elsewhere, but this did not put a stop to rumors that President White was supporting the Brazilian Communist Party- perhaps even intervene in Brazil’s elections. Would Brazil befall the same fate as France and Italy? President Eurico Dutra, who had deposed the military dictator Getulio Vargas, had promised a restoration of civilian rule, a new constitution, and free elections. Under pressure from the Brazilian Army, Dutra announced he was delaying the implementation of the proposed new constitution and that there would be no elections in the immediate future until nebulous “threats against the state” were eliminated. Dutra announced a crackdown on the Brazilian Communist Party, which had only just been legalized. Luis Carlos Prestes returned to prison. Minister of War Góis Monteiro ordered the arrest of hundreds of leading Communists to be carried out in December of 1946, with arrests escalating throughout 1947. Olimpio Mourao Filho was placed in charge of the Army’s anti-Communist task force. The purge extended to include labor leaders who could potentially oppose President Dutra. Dutra insisted that these measures were merely temporary- that Brazil would return to constitutional rule upon the end of the crisis. Jorge Luis Borges, commenting on the hysteria which swept Brazil and Argentina during this period, wrote an alternate history in which he imagined a world in which William Randolph Hearst had never visited Brazil, and the course of history was altered.
Chiang Kai-Shek, having been alerted by his friend Henry Luce of Red Spies in the White House shortly before its’ publication, found himself in a difficult position. Chiang was not personally familiar enough with President White to get a feel for his personality, and the charges against him were so serious he did not know what to believe. But he trusted Luce, and thus he felt it wise to distrust White. Chiang could not openly accuse President White of being a spy for fear of rupturing relations with the United States- and he would weaken his own political position if the allegations against White were ultimately disproved. The United States remained a supplier of weapons, money, and intelligence to the Kuomintang government. Chiang thus avoided making any public pronouncements about policy or acknowledgement of the charges against President White. He nevertheless quietly ordered the severance of intelligence contacts with the United States and began taking new security precautions. Ambassador John Leighton Stuart was dismayed at the Chiang government’s newfound suspicion of the United States. While President Chiang remained formally polite and friendly to the Ambassador, Stuart was treated with hostility with lower-ranking Kuomintang officials. Stuart himself was not under suspicion of being a spy, but his efforts to negotiate an accord between the Kuomintang and the Communists came under increased criticism. An editorial published in the Central Daily News, the party organ of the Kuomintang, claimed that efforts by the United States to broker a peace between the two factions were evidence of Communist sympathies within the American government, and that Stuart was a useful patsy for his Communist superiors. Stuart ruefully reported to Laurence Duggan that the Chinese were increasingly suspicious of the United States, and that his influence within this country had thus diminished.
Socialism Comes to Japan
Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Yoshida’s government, which took power in September of 1946, found itself immediately beset by crisis. While explicit support for Kokutai had been banned by the American occupation authorities, there were still several conservative members of the Liberal Party in the Diet who harbored sympathy for the Emperor and were opposed to the American occupation. Yoshida had promised to General Eichelberger his government would not interfere in the Tokyo War Crimes Trials, which the Americans had demanded as a precondition for forming a civilian government. Explosive evidence presented in these trials, publicized to the Japanese public by the Americans, undermined Yoshida’s coalition government. Colonel Thomas Morrow, an American military prosecutor, charged that the Japanese government had illegally deployed chemical weapons in China, in violation of the Geneva Protocol. Officers of Unit 731 were placed under indictment by Morrow. Military prosecutors searched the Japanese Imperial Archive and conducted interviews to find evidence that Hirohito was aware of or had authorized numerous war crimes, specifically highlighting how the Japanese government had instigated the Nanking Incident and used it as a pretext to declare war on China under false pretenses. Documents showed that Hirohito had willingly gone along with this plot.
Evidence of the war crimes of Unit 731 unveiled during the Tokyo War Crimes Trial provoked a divided reaction from the Japanese public. Many ordinary civilians were horrified at the scale of the crimes and developed more negative attitudes towards the Emperor and the Japanese Army. The occupiers encouraged this attitude as a means of increasing public support for their dismantlement of the Japanese ruling elite. However, others greeted these revelations with cynicism and anger against the American occupiers. What right did the Americans have to be angry over the deployment of chemical weapons when they had dropped two atomic bombs on Japan? Had the Americans not carried out constant fire-bombings of Japanese cities, killing hundreds of thousands of innocents, including children? The hypocrisy of the Americans was obscene, even blasphemous. They had accused a living God of the crimes they themselves committed! As more and more damning evidence was presented against the Emperor, the more the attitudes of a devoted minority of the Emperor’s supporters hardened. The Emperor himself privately encouraged this attitude, ditching his earlier conciliatory approach towards the American occupiers in a desperate attempt to avoid conviction. Pressure from the White Administration had caused Eichelberger to speed up the court proceedings, which caused Hirohito’s supporters to denounce the treatment of the Emperor as a hasty show trial. Joseph Keenan, the lead prosecutor for the Allies, convinced an eleven judge panel in charge of the International Military Tribunal to convict the Emperor and sentence him to death in October of 1946, along with Hideki Tojo and other Japanese military officials. Hirohito was treated by Keenan as the chief war criminal. Prime Minister Yoshida, having just assumed office, did not comment on Hirohito’s conviction. Yoshida’s complicity in Hirohito’s death enraged certain members of the Diet, who demanded he step down. Liberal Party members informed Yoshida they would block discussion of a new constitution for Japan unless he prevented the execution of Hirohito. The whip for the Liberal Party quickly determined that Yoshida would not even have the votes to authorize an independent constitutional committee. Furthermore, the Diet would oppose a Constitution imposed upon Japan by the Americans without any Japanese participation.
In the midst of this parliamentary infighting, supporters of Hirohito gathered in Tokyo to protest the Emperor’s conviction. The angry crowd swelled into the thousands. While the protestors were not sufficiently foolish to directly attack the heavily armed American occupiers or the Dai Ichi Building, they were angry and agitated enough to decide to attack the Japanese Diet. Yoshida had declined offers by the U.S Army to station a military presence outside the National Diet Building, believing that American soldiers visibly stationed there would give credence to the widespread belief that he was nothing more than an American puppet, and that his government should be perceived as independent of the United States in order to gain legitimacy as a popularly elected body representing the Japanese people. This meant there was little security to prevent the protesters from breaching the Diet in what would be called the Hirohito Riot. The protesters breached the grounds of the building while the Diet was in session, attacking the building staff. As the building was hastily evacuated, two members of the Diet approached Yoshida and repeatedly stabbed him. The assailants were separated from Yoshida and were detained, but Yoshida has suffered major wounds. General Eichelberger, upon being informed of the situation, rapidly deployed American troops to rescue the Diet. The rioters were dispersed by the U.S Military Police- sixteen were killed, dozens were wounded, and hundreds were arrested. A fire which had been lit in the building was put out. An investigation into the riot revealed that right-wing agitators, mainly former Japanese Army officers, had organized the mob and even arranged for their supporters outside of Tokyo to travel to the city. Anti-American propagandists in Japan still spread the notion that the Hirohito Riot was the spontaneous and authentic response of the Japanese people to a terrible injustice.
Yoshida, who remained trapped in his hospital bed recovering from his wounds, was unable to mobilize backlash to the Hirohito Riot to his advantage. Instead, the public perception solidified that he was weak and powerless. Had he been in better health he could have mounted a stronger response. But he could do little while injured, and the divisions within the Liberal Party meant he could not easily anoint a successor. Kotaro Tanaka assumed Yoshida’s administrative duties while Yoshida remained in the hospital. But Tanaka was not equipped to appease the hardliners within the Liberal Party, or lay out a path for ratifying a new constitution. Incredibly, while Yoshida was still undergoing medical care, he fell victim to another assassination attempt. A mob consisting of Koreans living in Japan angry over the mistreatment of their people attacked the hospital where Yoshida was staying. The Koreans breached the hospital, and one member of the mob was able to shoot and kill the Prime Minister.
In the aftermath of the assassination, Kotaro Tanaka declared himself Acting Prime Minister. However, he was unable to win a majority of votes in the Diet to complete Yoshida’s term. Opponents of a Republican Constitution refused to vote for Tanaka, while the Socialists, sensing weakness, protested they had only joined the Coalition to support Yoshida, and not just any Liberal Party Prime Minister. Tanaka, after consulting with Robert Eichelberger, decided to dissolve the Diet and call for new elections while remaining Acting Prime Minister. Eichelberger announced a complete ban on all public gatherings and increased the public presence of the U.S military in Tokyo, with heavily armed troops frequently parading down the streets of the city. Mass arrests of suspected troublemakers were carried out, and military prisons were expanded in order to hold dissidents.
Held in January 1947 under heavy military surveillance, the elections for a new Diet resulted in an outright majority for the Japanese Socialist Party. The Liberal Party shed support due to its inability to take an official position on Hirohito, pleasing nobody, and was reduced to a small minority status. The Liberal Party was further hamstrung by the White administration’s restrictions on candidates suspected of Imperial sympathies- the Allied Supreme Command disqualified many Liberal Party candidates from even appearing on the ballot. The Communist Party increased their number of seats in the Diet slightly, giving the left-wing parties the vast majority of seats. Conservative supporters of the Emperor boycotted the elections, believing the Japanese Republic to be illegitimate. The left-wing parties were enthusiastic supporters of a Republican Constitution, and thus benefited from the failure of conservatives to turn out. Jiichiro Matsumoto, the leader of the Socialist Party, was elected the new Prime Minister. Matsumoto was accused by his conservative opponents of being an opportunist- he had publicly backed the Japanese war effort, but after the occupation started, he loudly denounced Japan’s participation in the war. Matsumoto openly disparaged the Emperor, and vocally defended the abolition of the monarchy and the prosecution of Hirohito. Matsumoto closely collaborated with the Americans, currying favor with the White Administration in a belief that the occupation represented an opportunity to radically reshape Japan. But even Matsumoto’s mere elevation to the premiership was in itself a radical change. Matsumoto was a member of the Burakumin caste- the traditionally lowest rung of Japanese society with the least desirable jobs, roughly comparable to the Indian untouchables. Not only had the Americans abolished thousands of years of monarchy, but they held elections in which a Buraku was elected to replace him- something not only unheard of, but previously unimaginable. Nor did Matsumoto make much effort to downplay his identity- he declared a major priority of his government would be to end discrimination against the Burakumin.
The first order for the new Socialist government was to resolve Japan’s ongoing constitutional limbo. The Diet passed a Constitution which formally established Japan as a parliamentary republic. The Parliament elected Japan’s first President- Ikuo Oyama, a left-wing academic who had spent the war collaborating with the United States. While President Oyama’s powers were largely symbolic, his succession of the Emperor as head of state was an effort to further appease the Americans. The new Japanese Constitution instituted universal suffrage, a bill of rights, and abolished the Kazoku, Japan’s hereditary nobility. Members of Kazoku families were further banned from holding public office. The Japanese Constitution contained provisions banning Japan from establishing a military. The Matsumoto government passed legislation allowing for the nationalization of the Zaibatsu, the expropriation of wealth from the business class, the promotion of trade unions, and the beginnings of a welfare state. The White administration’s communism scandal did not affect the formation of the Japanese Republic- James Forrestal ordered any mention of the matter be censored in Japanese newspapers to prevent any rumors about President White from undermining the occupation. American soldiers stationed in Japan, through exposure to American news sources and written correspondence to the United States, learned of the White affair, and thus many Japanese eventually heard of it through word of mouth.
White and Man at Yale
“It’s a war on Christianity Bill, that’s what it's been about all this time. Marxism, the New Deal- the Jewish menace is behind both, the ideologies are just the mask they wear. But the Jews are too clever to wage war openly, to declare themselves openly. That’s why they promote this talk of equality, of civil rights, of class conflict. They are trying to erode the foundations of Christian civilization without anyone noticing until it is too late. They overreached recently, and now there’s a sliver of a chance of defeating them. But Weissnovitz was only installed in the Presidency because the Jews were confident about the extent of their victory. Leftist, atheistic ideologies now dominate the Earth, and will soon envelop every country in a shroud of darkness. The final assault on Christianity by the Jews has begun, and America has willingly handed this nation over to the forces of Hell!”
While Leo Brent Bozell Jr. had only slightly raised his voice throughout this declaration, he still was attracting nervous glances from the other students at Yale. Bozell was standing outside the Sterling Memorial Library, and he was a strange sight. The gangly, pale redhead was empathetic, his face filled with passion, his body expressions jerky and irritated. His fellow Yalies strolling by did not catch the full context of the conversation, and most gave him a wide berth, but a few heard enough to know that Bozell was ranting about Jews to his friend William Buckley.
“Brent, I don’t deny the Weissnovitz scandal reveals we have a serious Jewish dilemma in the United States. But your histrionic postulation induces in me a state of apprehension. This is starting to sound like Nazi talk.”
“ Now, I’m not a Nazi! I’ll be the first to admit the Nazis made a lot of mistakes. But it’s clear that the Soviet Union is far more dangerous than the Nazis ever were, threatening the foundations of Christendom in a way the Nazis never did. The world would be a lot safer if we had gone after Stalin first, then worried about Hitler.”
“You say that with the benefit of hindsight, but things looked rather different in 1941. Must we really relitigate this?”
“You’re the one who brought up the subject of Germany. That nation is destroyed utterly, there’s no point in worrying about the Nazis any longer. Nation after nation has fallen rapidly to the enemy- Germany, France, Iran, Korea, even America. We have a communist problem we must urgently address, and that means addressing the Jewish problem. It’s time for me to join the fight. Bill, I’ve decided it’s time to make some decisions about my life. You know this hasn’t been an easy year for me- with the death of my old man, and the public revelation of a Jewish-Communist conspiracy to destroy the United States. But we are at a turning point- in my life and in the history of man. First- your spiritual counsel has been very helpful to me. I am going to arrange for my baptism into the Catholic Church.”
“Brent, that’s marvelous!”
“But that is only the start of my journey. I will be leaving Yale University to go abroad, at least until the Weissnovitz situation is resolved. I cannot abide living in a nation under Communist dominion. I will seek the company of men who live by the commands of Christ, and not those who follow the false gospels of egalitarianism. General Franco is the one leader remaining who is worth defending. When I am spiritually cleansed, I will take up arms against the Communists, to defend the last bastion of Christendom against the encroaching red horde which dares intrude upon its northern borders. I’m escaping to the one place that hasn’t been corrupted by communism- Spain!”*
*With credit to Tim Curry
