Saturation Point

Mrstrategy

Banned
German coup

Any plans for a sucesful german coup with the new german goverment surrendering to the western allies with the soviets getting the Baltic half of Poland and perhaps Romania
 
Any plans for a sucesful german coup with the new german goverment surrendering to the western allies with the soviets getting the Baltic half of Poland and perhaps Romania

I'm afraid not. After what happened to Paris, the Allies will only redouble their push for unconditional surrender.
 
Well when Forrestal becomes the actual President, who might he try to pick as Vice President? What are the chances of him being confirmed? With all the enemies that Forrestal has made and people pissed off at him, will be successful or hamstrung?
 
I really can see a Forrestal/Truman ticket. They seem more similar than one would think, plus Forrestal gets a southerner to balance the ticket, not that'll much calm down the southern Democrats.
 
Well when Forrestal becomes the actual President, who might he try to pick as Vice President? What are the chances of him being confirmed? With all the enemies that Forrestal has made and people pissed off at him, will be successful or hamstrung?

Well, I'd give it a very low likelihood of his getting confirmed if only because that mechanism doesn't currently exist ITTL. It might come about, sure, but it isn't very likely. The Secretary of State just got a lot more important.
 
Excellent! Go Forrestal!

If the Northern Democrats and Dixiecrats both discover the irrelevance of the Solid South to a national election, this could have many interesting trails to follow. In OTL, it was a Republican, Ike, who go the ball rolling on Civil Rights. In this one, with the (historically racist) Democratic Party leading the way, I could see a really big campaign using the discoveries at the Nazi death camps.
Voiceover to scenes of the camps, the barb wire, the gas chambers, the ovens... "Here is the end result of hate and racism. The segregationists claim they would never go this far. But how do we know they wouldn't? We have fought a war to end this evil nonsense, now let's finish the job at home" -- but with no TV, this sort of thing would never be shown at a theatre in the South.

Quite possibly. Now that Wallace has forced his hand Forrestal is going to have to be very aggressive in fighting segregation and Jim Crow if he doesn't want the Dixiecrats to get complacent.

Forrestal is maiking a lot of enemies. Could come back to bite him down the road.

Possibly. Depends on how he conducts himself in the presidency.

I feel like you Shiism have had some of the Southern electors cast their votes for Bankhead or someone else to show the amount of disapproval.

The electors haven't actually cast their ballots yet (that happens in December), but there'll be a section in the next chapter detailing what the Dixiecrats are up to.

So I imagine FDR will be declared unfit for the Presidency at noon on January 20th, 1945?

Yep. If he survives to see the new year.

That was a chilling scene with him having suffered so much, but speaking of suffering, I've been wondering what kind of mass psychological effect the destruction of Paris is going to have not just on the French but on Western Civilization as a whole. I don't think it's much of a stretch to see Albert Camus's work go much farther for the French ITTL than it did IOTL.

I'm afraid that the French are going to have a pretty rough go of it ITTL. They may end up being stereotyped as gloomy (yet oddly emotional) nihilists by the time alt-2016 rolls around.

Any plans for a sucesful german coup with the new german goverment surrendering to the western allies with the soviets getting the Baltic half of Poland and perhaps Romania

I'm afraid not. After what happened to Paris, the Allies will only redouble their push for unconditional surrender.

Yep. There was never any real doubt that the Allies were going to push for an unconditional surrender. Especially once the Soviets start finding concentration camps in eastern Poland and Ukraine.

Not to mention this is ABOTL here... :)p)

Indeed.

Well when Forrestal becomes the actual President, who might he try to pick as Vice President? What are the chances of him being confirmed? With all the enemies that Forrestal has made and people pissed off at him, will be successful or hamstrung?

I really can see a Forrestal/Truman ticket. They seem more similar than one would think, plus Forrestal gets a southerner to balance the ticket, not that'll much calm down the southern Democrats.

Well, I'd give it a very low likelihood of his getting confirmed if only because that mechanism doesn't currently exist ITTL. It might come about, sure, but it isn't very likely. The Secretary of State just got a lot more important.

*Edward Stettinius blushes*

But yes, what Statesman said. Forrestal will govern without a veep until 1948 (if he decides to go for reelection) much like Truman did IOTL.

Possible candidates for Forrestal to pick as his veep include:

- Harry Truman
- Alben Barkley (maybe, if Barkley isn't too pissed at Forrestal for blowing him off and causing what may be a semi-permanent party split)
- George Marshall (they were bros, but Marshall seemed more happy away from politics so he'd probably say no)
- Eleanor Roosevelt (she was considered by Truman IOTL so Forrestal may get similar suggestions from his advisors)
 
11. Bullishness

The Roosevelt/Forrestal ticket won the 1944 presidential election with nearly four hundred electoral votes and a fifty two percent share of the popular vote. On the surface it was everything that a resounding victory should have been, a thirty one state sweep with a three million ballot difference in the popular vote.

Yet, it had come very close to being a nail-biter. The states of New York, Pennsylvania, Minnesota and California had all gone Democrat by less than two percent. Had they swung the other way, giving Dewey all of their one hundred eighteen electoral votes, then the Republicans would have won the election outright.

It was a startling revelation of vulnerability, even as the Democratic party got ready to settle in for a fourth consecutive term.

Congressional elections were rosier, with the Democratic party losing only a single seat in the Senate (that of the isolationist Guy Gillette from Iowa) and gaining a further twenty one seats in the House. This success was largely due to sympathy for Roosevelt and a desire amongst the American public to avenge the atrocities in Paris by electing legislators belonging to a party that was broadly trusted to prosecute war efforts.

Behind the scenes, as the election slowly faded into the background, came the inevitable questions surrounding just what was going to happen with Roosevelt and Forrestal. The President was still not showing any signs of cognitive improvement (and, as Eleanor had noted, was in fact deteriorating) and Wallace seemed to be growing restless and agitated, constrained by his role as Acting President (and of course the Sword of Damocles that Forrestal was dangling over his head).

Wallace mulled over what he could possibly do that wouldn’t provoke Forrestal destroying his political career and eventually came to the unwelcome conclusion that the Vice President-Elect had him cornered.

The only thing that gave him the slightest bit of vindictive pleasure was that Forrestal in turn was being savaged by the southern Democrats. There was talk that certain electors from the deep south were willing to throw their support behind a segregationist splinter candidate in protest of Forrestal’s anti-segregation views. The south wasn’t electorally significant enough to deny Roosevelt and Forrestal a victory (nor did they want to, the prospect of a President Dewey wasn’t much more palatable to the Dixiecrats than that of a President Forrestal) but the loss of the deep south would sting.

Forrestal wasn’t terribly concerned about this. His mind was far to the east, where worrying developments were brewing.

_______

It was at a cabinet meeting that the news was first brought up by SecState Stettinius.

“Chiang Kai-Shek has rejected our proposal to place Lieutenant General Stilwell in command of Chinese forces…” Wallace didn’t look too bothered by the news, but Forrestal, Stimson, Morgenthau and others all shifted uncomfortably in their seats.

“What’s his proposal?” Wallace asked. The Generalissimo usually sent a counter-proposal back each time he disagreed with an American plan.

“That Stilwell is dismissed as Chief of Staff and replaced with General Chennault.” Stimson bristled, Wallace held up a hand to cut off any further talk.

“What do you gentlemen think?” He asked, “I…really have no formal education on the Chinese matter.” That wasn’t expressly true, Wallace did have his sympathies for the communist guerrillas in the countryside, but that was hardly surprising.

“In my opinion sir,” Stettinius began, “it would be greatly beneficial if Stilwell were kept on as the Generalissimo’s Chief of Staff. Chennault is a capable soldier, but also an airman. He’s overestimated the ability of airpower to battle infantry, the results of which we can see in the offensive the Japanese launched this summer.” The offensive that the SecState was referring to, Ichi-go, had resulted in several of Chennault’s air bases being overrun by Japanese troops. Forrestal nodded.

“I agree with Ed. And more than that, we ought to figure out how we can get Kai-Shek to agree to our proposal. If we can get the army of the Kuomintang under American tactical control then I do believe that we’d have a better shot at pushing the Japanese off of the mainland.” There were some nods at this. As it was the Kuomintang was somewhat scattered and still reeling from the Ichi-go offensive of the summer and fall.

“That being said,” Forrestal continued, “it would be irresponsible to force Stilwell upon the Chinese. The last thing we need is to engender ill will amongst our allies.”

“Stilwell is a bastard,” Stimson said with a small grimace, “that’s perhaps his biggest drawback.” Morgenthau glanced around at his fellow cabinet officers.

“He’s certainly done a wonderful job at alienating the British in Burma…” Forrestal nodded patiently at the words of his fellow officers.

“We’d need to give Kai-shek something. And promise to keep Stilwell in check.” Wallace gave Forrestal a wary look.

“Give him something…?” He asked. Forrestal nodded.

“Something very important. A seat at the table perhaps.” A brief wave of confusion passed around the table, then Wallace’s eyes narrowed.

“No.” He said, “Chiang Kai-Shek is not going to be part of the delegation deciding the fate of the world next year.” His tone was sharp, almost panicked. Like he didn’t know if he would be able to maintain the veracity of his words. Forrestal regarded the Acting President evenly.

“He’s the Generalissimo of China, one of the largest nations in the world. He’s been instrumental to the war effort in Asia thus far and an invitation to next year’s conference would be an invaluable bargaining chip.” Wallace looked aggrieved, the cabinet sat back, visibly uncomfortable.

“Next year’s conference is about the end of the war in Europe,” Wallace protested, “China has nothing to do with our European theater of operations.” Forrestal didn’t back down.

“It needn’t be so narrowly focused,” he said, “a conference encompassing the end of the war in general would be much grander than a simple regional agreement, don’t you think?” Wallace simmered.

“It’s not happening.” He growled, and turned the topic sharply to the possibility of mandatory national service for young Americans. Forrestal watched the Acting President carefully.

This wasn’t over.

_______

In order to comprehensively defeat and destroy Wallace’s ability to make unwelcome changes to American foreign policy, Forrestal knew that he had to consistently keep the Acting President on the defensive. Which made actions like the one he was about to carry out absolutely necessary.

“Sir,” he said, taking a seat before Wallace’s desk, the Acting President remaining standing, “we need to talk.” Wallace glowered at him.

“You’ve won the election,” he said sourly, “and cost me my chance to change the world for the better. What else do you want?” Forrestal crossed his legs, resting his hands on one knee.

“I want Kai-Shek to be present at next year’s conference. I want General Stilwell to be the de facto commander of Kuomintang forces in China. And I still want our boys to be marching into Germany by the end of the year.” Wallace stared.

“You’re overstepping your bounds James…”

“Hardly,” Forrestal countered, “I’m effectively the President-Elect…you’ve seen the condition that Franklin is in…I am claiming the authority that I won, nothing more.” Wallace seemed to be gritting his teeth.

“Nothing more?” He asked incredulously, “you’re demanding radical changes in our foreign policy. Changes that I, as the President of the United States, am firmly against.”

“Acting President,” Forrestal corrected, tone darkening, “Acting. You are not the President and you never will be. Now, please take out the letter that General Marshall wrote you concerning Stilwell and his positioning within the Kuomintang military.” Wallace didn’t move for a moment, but then slowly obeyed.

“This is insane…you really think that this is going to work? That Kai-Shek would let you manhandle him like this?” Wallace asked, gripping the letter tightly, wrinkling the paper. Forrestal nodded.

“If it’s his foreign aid on the line, then yes, I do. Especially if I were to add a carrot to that deal by offering him a seat with Churchill, Stalin and I next year.” Wallace dropped the letter.

“I refuse,” he said, folding his arms, “you cannot do this to me James. I refuse to cater to your whims for even a moment longer.” Forrestal stood, still calm faced.

“Alright,” he said, “I’ll have those papers I showed you sent over to the Chicago Tribune. I’m sure they’ll get a kick out of them.” He was halfway to the door of the Acting President’s office when Wallace broke.

“Wait!” Wallace cried. Forrestal glanced back.

“Are you ready to work with me Henry?” He asked. Wallace hesitated, then reluctantly nodded his head.

An hour or so later Forrestal had sent Marshall’s revised missive off to Chiang Kai-Shek…with Wallace’s signature at the bottom.
 
So Hoover gave Forrestal the Roerich letters or what?

Amongst other things...

Mostly it's a bunch of transcripts of Wallace saying pinko type stuff, evidence that he's looking to even the playing field with the Soviets by giving them military tech and whatnot...stuff like that. It would be really bad if that were to leak out while Wallace were in office. After all, look at how much damage even the Roerich letters did by themselves, and Wallace was only running for office at the time.

Strangely enough, by keeping him in line through blackmail and other nefarious means, Forrestal has probably saved Henry Wallace's presidential reputation from utter ruin.

How's the story going?

Lots of writer's block. But it's over with now, I've written a new chapter after a mere two months of nothingness.

I like where this is going

Wonderful. Have some more :)
 
12. The Electoral College (or how I learned to stop worrying and love indirect democracy)


On a snowy day in mid-December, five hundred thirty one people from all forty eight states in the union gathered in their respective capitols to begin the process of tallying up their state’s electoral votes.

For the most part they obeyed the rules, the states that were won by Dewey voted for Dewey and the states that were won by Roosevelt voted for Roosevelt. But as the southern electors convened, rebellion was fresh in the minds of many. Forrestal was going to succeed the ailing Roosevelt as President, anyone could see that. And that scared many southerners, who were frightened that the Navy Secretary would dismantle segregation and finish what Reconstruction had started nearly eighty years earlier.

There was no way they’d be able to throw the election into the House, the conspirators realized, they were simply not electorally powerful enough to overcome Democratic wins in the north, so instead they resolved to make a statement.

The only real question was who that statement would be centered around. The obvious choices were people like Burnet Maybank and John Bankhead, but only one person could be chosen. Otherwise the segregationist protest would splinter and Forrestal would be all the stronger for it.

Of the two segregationists, Bankhead was far more well known and ended up being selected as a figurehead almost immediately, with Maybank as a faux running mate in order to attract the more moderate segregationist electors.

The news of this protest ticket spread quickly and the states of Mississippi, Alabama, South Carolina and Louisiana were quick to give Bankhead/Maybank every single electoral vote they possessed. Bankhead also acquired two electors from Georgia, one from North Carolina, three from Tennessee and one from Arkansas.

By the time the electoral votes had all been tallied, Roosevelt and Forrest had lost a grand total of forty five electoral votes.

The Democratic Party’s victory at a presidential level was secure, but at great cost.


_______


Elsewhere, Chiang Kai-shek, Generalissimo of China, was mulling over the latest American proposal.

Washington, he noted with some unease, had added steel to their demands.

They wanted Lieutenant General Stilwell, an uncouth barbarian if Kai-shek had ever seen one, placed firmly in charge of Kuomintang forces on the mainland (in an advisory capacity sure, but he’d still have quite a bit of operational leeway when it came to deciding what Nationalist Chinese forces were doing) and General Chennault advanced to Stilwell’s old position as Chief of Staff.

In exchange the Americans were promising China a seat at the table when it came to discussing the end of the war.

Kai-shek, who had so often been kept at arm’s length by the western powers, was intrigued by this offer. If Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin allowed him to sit down and decide what the end of the war looked like…that was huge. A watershed moment for the Republic of China. A signal that they were truly a world power, removed entirely from the horrors of the warlord era.

The Americans had offered him one hell of a carrot, Kai-shek could hardly dispute this, but the depth of their planned intrusion into his military was still deeply concerning.

Kai-shek considered the proposal for a very long time.

Paid special attention to the single line near the end that seemed to imply that the Americans would put some thought into ‘adjusting’ his military aid if he saw fit to decline Washington’s proposal.

As it was the Kuomintang was just barely keeping itself adequately supplied in the aftermath of Ichi-Go. If Allied planes stopped flying over the Himalayas and American convoys stopped passing through the jungles of Burma…then the consequences for the war effort could be disastrous.

Not that they’d actually do it, Kai-shek reminded himself, the Americans would have to be stupid to throw away months and years of hard earned progress over some silly diplomatic tiff. There was no way that they’d actually cut him off if he turned their proposal down.

So he told himself.

Going to bed that night Kai-shek found himself thinking of the political situation in the United States. President Roosevelt was ill and his Vice President was currently in charge. From what Kai-shek knew of Vice President Wallace, Wallace seemed idealistic and weak.

Which…concerningly, did not match the tone of the proposal at all.

The proposal was tough, just one short step removed from ruthless.

That worried Kai-shek. For if Wallace had not sent the proposal, had not authorized it, then who exactly had been behind it?

Something told Kai-shek that the idealistic Iowan sitting behind the Resolute Desk wasn’t really in control. And that spooked him.

The next day, after careful deliberation, Kai-shek dashed off a response. The proposal was mostly agreeable, he said, but he did not want Lieutenant General Stilwell placed in charge of Kuomintang forces on the mainland.

He proposed a possible list of alternatives. Chief amongst them were Major General Claire Chennault (he of the airpower) and Lieutenant General Albert Wedemeyer (currently Lord Louis Mountbatten’s Chief of Staff).

He waited.

And wondered quietly who exactly was pulling the strings in Washington.


_______


“So the Generalissimo still wants to dismiss Stilwell…” Stettinius said, sounding vaguely disappointed.

Wallace had gathered the cabinet together once again to discuss the Chinese response to the proposal. The Acting President looked supremely dispirited and seemed to be looking to the surface of the table, like he would find some way out of his predicament there in the polished wood.

Forrestal and Stettinius had taken control of the meeting and were quite happily running it, paying Wallace no mind whatsoever. This seemed to worry some of the other cabinet officers, but none of them voiced their concerns.

“Yes,” Forrestal said, “he wants Stilwell gone, but Kai-shek is actually open to giving us access to Kuomintang forces now. We’ve accomplished the hard part…now it’s time to look at his list of alternatives.”

The list had been weeded down to exactly two names: Chennault and Wedemeyer. The others had either been deemed too important for reassignment, too inexperienced or just generally unacceptable for such an important assignment.

“Of those two names,” Attorney General Biddle said, “I…and keep in mind that I have no military experience whatsoever, I would side with selecting Wedemeyer. He’s an infantry commander.”

Forrestal nodded enthusiastically. The Navy Secretary was in excellent spirits and almost seemed to be smiling, which was practically unheard of.

“Wedemeyer would be my choice as well. Chennault can step up to Chief of Staff, we’ll throw the Generalissimo a bone there.”

A general murmur of assent at that. Chennault definitely had his supporters, but for the most part it was recognized that the two main players in the room (Stettinius and Forrestal) had decided to support Wedemeyer.

“Mr. Acting President,” Stettinius said with a small smile, “I believe that we have just accomplished something great with the Chinese.”

Wallace said nothing.

Just got up and walked unhappily away.

Forrestal decided to type up the final proposal himself. Wallace needed no cajoling to sign this one.

Kai-shek agreed to it before too long, and Forrestal spent the rest of the day feeling fairly optimistic about American policy in Asia.

In the Oval Office Wallace stewed and contemplated revenge before recognizing that he had no real leverage over Forrestal besides accusing the Vice President-Elect of blackmail…which would probably be frowned upon.

Forrestal, as a result of the Acting President’s integration gaffe, had gained a certain sort of popularity amongst progressives…and despite himself Wallace didn’t really want to damage that.

Even if Forrestal was generally horrible, at very least he had the right idea when it came to fighting segregation. At least he supported the New Deal and unions and other liberal goodies.

Wallace wasn’t sure if he was telling himself this out of pragmatism or cowardice. Either way, he supposed, it meant that he wasn’t standing up to Forrestal. And that…

Well. He wasn’t sure what to think about that.

He’d be out of the Oval Office in another month.

Then, freed of the political shackles he’d found himself in, he could set to work making sure that Forrestal stayed honest. The Vice President-Elect probably wouldn’t find it so fun when the shoe was on the other foot.
 
Thanks for the update. Things are still uncertain for Forrestal's first days when he becomes President.
 
Nice to see this updated.

Thanks :)

Thanks for the update. Things are still uncertain for Forrestal's first days when he becomes President.

Indeed they are. There's going to be a fairly delicate political balancing act at first, what with Roosevelt still being around and all.

great story! gueswing hoover will get a free hand to hunt communist spies?

Definitely. He'll expect Forrestal to pay him back for the help he gave him sidelining Wallace.
 
13. Ripples on the surface of a still lake


Forrestal, out of all of the Roosevelt cabinet officers, probably traveled the most. He spent relatively little time in Washington outside of budgetary deliberations and instead spent his time touring the country, flying overseas and generally overseeing the war effort.

The campaign had represented a continuance of that lifestyle, with Forrestal zipping across the country at such an accelerated pace that the infrastructure of the Roosevelt campaign could hardly keep up with him. But since then he had been stuck in Washington blackmailing Wallace…and now was beginning to chafe just a little bit at the inactivity.

Sure he had managed to get plenty of things done in that time, but he had also been forced to communicate with many of his friends and contacts via telephone and telegram rather than in person.

But now, with the future of the war on mainland China more or less secured and Wallace appropriately cowed into submission, Forrestal was contemplating going back on the road again.

He hadn’t been to England in a while. And the campaign had delayed a planned tour through the Pacific that he wanted to carry out. The world was a very big place and the U.S. Navy had spread out to encompass most of it over the past few years…it needed his attention.

But for the remainder of the time that he was stuck in Washington Forrestal parlayed with the British. He spoke with Lord Louis Mountbatten, Supreme Allied Commander of South East Asian Command (or SEAC for short), and learned that while most of the officer corps deployed within the SEAC approved heavily of what Forrestal had done, there were rumblings of discontent from Churchill and the others.

Forrestal contacted Churchill on December 23rd, with snow fluttering down past the frost edged windows of his office, the glow of Washington’s lights turning the night sky into a purplish grey dapple of interlocking clouds.

Churchill responded almost immediately.

“Mr. Secretary,” the Prime Minister said warmly, “it’s been some time. How’s Franklin faring? How are you?”

“The President is doing as well as can be expected Mr. Prime Minister,” Forrestal said, “as am I. And you?” He chafed at the formalities, wanted to dive straight into pertinent matters, but seeing as how he was effectively President-Elect…well…certain decorums needed to be preserved.

“Fine. Fine. But enough about us James, can I…?” The question was a mere formality, Churchill would call him whatever he pleased, and Forrestal would grin and accept it with grace and tolerance.

“Of course.”

“James,” Churchill’s tone dropped slightly, threads of grim disapproval entering stage right, “this recent deal that you made with the Chinese, you and Ed Stettinius…it’s dangerous.”

“I suppose it is,” Forrestal said with a little sigh, “and I do regret that I didn’t include British opinion when formulating it, but it had to be done quickly. Before Henry Wallace lost his nerve.”

“I don’t so much mind that there are now Americans commanding the Kuomintang,” Churchill said, “in fact I dare say that that’s an improvement. You cant trust the Chinese to lead modernized western forces by themselves…” Forrestal winced slightly at the implicit racism but said nothing, he knew better than to try to educate Churchill on some of the truly impressive things that the Chinese had done with their military since the beginning of the war, “what concerns me is that you’ve given the Generalissimo a seat at the table…without seeking my approval. Or Stalin’s.”

“Yes,” Forrestal said, “I did that. But it wont affect anything. Not seriously. It’s just to send a signal to the world that Nationalist China is a great power now…and under the protection of the Allies. So that Russia doesn’t get any funny ideas about Manchuria, and the communist rebels in the countryside are discredited.”

“I understand that James,” Churchill said, voice sharper now, like he suspected that Forrestal was patronizing him, “I understand that you, Stalin and I will not let the Chinese drag any concessions away from the table. What concerns me is that you did this unilaterally, without seeking the approval of your national allies. Say Stalin takes offense to this and decides not to hold talks? Then what?”

“He won’t,” Forrestal said firmly, “he has too much to lose if he storms out of talks. Occupation zones, the guarantee that he might be able to hold onto the Baltic states after the war…countless other things like that. The stakes are too high for him to take his ball and go home.”

Churchill was silent for a long, long time. Despite himself Forrestal felt a prickle of apprehension. Then the Prime Minister sighed, sounding unhappy.

“I want a guarantee from you that this wont ever happen again.” Flat. Absolute. Forrestal knew that there was no way he’d be able to worm out of them. He tried anyway.

“I’ll be sure to seek the advice and approval of my allies before undertaking action like this in the future.” He said.

“You’re coming to London next week, yes?” Churchill asked.

“I am.”

“We’ll talk in depth there.” The Prime Minister said, and ended the call.


_______


The party was winding down, the last few drinkers tottering from place to place, slurred Russian drifting after them. Servers circulated deftly through them, eyes kept to the ground, faces blank, collecting the detritus.

In the middle of this, sipping a glass of mulled wine, sat Josef Stalin.

Stalin, of all the government officials gathered in the room, was the only sober one. The only thinking one. Where his cabinet’s eyes had been dulled by drink, his were still clear and sharp. Where their voices were slurry and indistinct, his was still commanding and authoritative.

This was not an accident.

Stalin held these sort of parties on occasion, inviting the best and brightest from the Kremlin, the Politburo, the political echelons of the Red Army. The invitees drank vodka. Stalin drank wine. The invitees got abysmally drunk. Stalin remained lucid and sober.

He listened carefully to their conversations. Listened for things that he didn’t like. And most of the time he did not hear them. Even the drunk knew when to keep their mouth’s shut in Stalin’s Russia. But every now and then…

But the dictator’s mind wasn’t on the men before him. It was wandering across the Atlantic, to where something alarming was happening in America.

There had been a change of power. Roosevelt had fallen ill and stepped aside in favor of his Vice President, the leftist minded Henry Wallace. Yet…somehow Wallace was not proving to be even half as warm and welcome to Soviet interests as Stalin had hoped.

He had been positively giddy at the thought of Wallace getting a few months in the White House to do his thing, yet the man remained stiff and unhappy and guarded.

There was some other faction involved in keeping him well away from his Russian comrades, Stalin knew that. He also had a pretty good idea of who that faction was.

James Forrestal.

The Navy Secretary.

How on earth such a minor cabinet officer had jumped into effective control of the U.S. government within only a few months baffled Stalin. But he made no effort to deny the obvious: Forrestal was yanking Wallace’s strings. And that was bad.

Even worse was the fact that the man was starting to make decisions abroad as well. He had tied the Kuomintang closer to the American military, he had effectively handed kai-Shek a seat at the most important table in the world without consulting anyone…and he wasn’t even President yet.

Stalin fumed as he considered this.

The talks couldn’t be cancelled, he knew this. There was simply too much that the Soviet Union stood to lose if it blew off the Western Allies and their Chinese lackeys. But he could certainly make things difficult for them.

And that was exactly what Stalin decided to do.
 
Nice update and Stalin is going to looking for blood in London. Just what mischief will he strike with?
 
Top