alternatehistory.com

There was not a universal acceptance in the US government or military of bringing former Nazi scientists to the United States, whitewashing them, and using them as part of Cold War era programs. It was a deal with the devil. Many of these people were complicit in war crimes, and some were absolutely evil humans beings who got to watch 'I Love Lucy' in middle class bliss instead of perishing in a prison cell. It was after WW2, and many people felt they should be punished. The United States had to actively engaged in keeping them from prosecution. One of the influences on Operation Paperclip going forward was Henry A. Wallace

http://historynewsnetwork.org/article/155194

Wallace as Secretary of Commerce was incredibly gung-ho about getting Americans back to work. He had this book called, Sixty Million Jobs, and he intended to help America reach that milestone, the post-war prosperity that everyone in the nation was hoping for. Wallace saw science as a means to do that. Without knowledge of who these Nazi scientists were and what their pasts were Wallace endorsed this program, to such a degree that he wrote a letter to President Truman himself, saying you need to get on board with this program. That had a huge impact on Operation Paperclip which at that very moment in time, this is just a few months after the end of the war, the Joint Chiefs were struggling with the idea of Paperclip because the perception was that it was a deal with the devil. When Wallace stepped in, and said this is brilliant for commerce, it was exactly what the Joint Chiefs had been looking for.

What if the United States did not go forward with Operation Paperclip?
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