Guest columnist – Jack Sauter
Of late, all I’ve been reading is how the country is going down the drain–economically and morally. It appears that there’s no solution. The GOP has enough clout to block any moderate increase in taxes, and no one wants to cut anything. Everyone seems to be overly concerned with the deficit. Gridlock for disaster.
As a student of history and also someone who lived through a similar period of national despair, I recall another time when there appeared to be no solutions to our intractable ills.
I’m referring to the year 1940.
I was only eleven, but strange as it may seem, I was totally involved in the foreign policy debate and very much aware of the domestic battle going on in this country. I had plenty of examples right under my nose. Father unemployed–He would find work later that year after eight years. My mother and sister supported the family. No car, no bank account, no bicycle, hand-me-down everything.
We were slowly coming out of the Great Depression, but had a long way to go. Unemployment stood around 16% –more like 50 -80% among minorities and teens. There was no unemployment insurance. Local programs had long dried up. Social Security had just been passed, but in the early years had little impact. FDR was campaigning for a third term, but there was an even chance he wouldn’t be re-elected. Out west, the Dust Bowl still afflicted large areas of the middle and southwest. Hundreds of thousands of farm families had pulled up stakes and hit the road, mostly heading west, looking for any work. Starvation was common.
Overseas, the situation, if anything looked worse. After a “phony war” that lasted from September 1939 to April 1940, the Germans launched a massive blitzkrieg against France and England. In spite of France having the largest standing army on the continent and equality in tanks and artillery, the Germans broke through the French line, just below the famed Maginot Line and cut the main French First Army and the entire British Expeditionary Force in two. By the end of May the British were evacuating what troops they could across the channel and the French forces were in tatters.
All the British guns, tanks and trucks were left behind. Basically, Britain was left with an outnumbered air force and its fleet for defense. If the Germans could gain a foothold there was little doubt that anything could stop them.
While we were shocked by the lightning fall of France, there was little we could do. The conservatives–mostly Republicans, but also some Democrats from the Middle West, had earlier blocked any attempts at rearmament. Now we were trying playing catch up ball. Our army ranked 18th in the world, somewhere between Bulgaria and Portugal. Our troops were practicing with trucks bearing painted signs marked “tank” and using mostly leftover World War I equipment. Our navy–FDR’s first love, fared better, but soon it would be faced with defending two oceans with ships hardly capable of defending one. To make matters worse, Japan was making aggressive signals in the Far East, threatening our access to oil. tin, rubber and other strategic material.
Looking back, it’s hard to believe that Britain survived (Lend Lease saved the day- but can you imagine today’s GOP supporting that?) But within six months Hitler saved the west’s ass by invading Russia, and the Japanese did us a favor by attacking Pearl Harbor, followed by the bigger favor of Hitler’s declaration of war against us. It’s still a great mystery why he did this. He was under no treaty. Obligation to the AXIS. They were only required to go to war if attacked by another country.
All these sudden events wiped out the Depression, ended isolationism, and in one stroke re-united the country. Everything worked to our advantage, but just imagine if these unlikely events hadn’t take place. What a different world we would have had.
My point behind all of this is America does nothing unless it’s scared to death. Bush and Obama’s massive bailout saved the banking system and perhaps the world’s economy from collapse, but by preventing a worse depression it didn’t frighten enough people into action. There were no Tea Parties in 1940-41, and no one was concerned with the deficit. Government spending on an unprecedented scale pulled us out of the Depression and guaranteed our victory in the war. It gave American industry a leg up in the international market they held for more than a generation. What we need today is more stimulus not less, but the last election finished our chances of getting it. FDR made the same mistake in 1938. He stopped spending money and tried to balance the budget. The result–another smaller depression that lasted until 1940.
Barring government intervention, I think our only hope is another economic breakthrough like the Dot-Com. Perhaps a revolutionary energy policy that capped carbon, utilized wind and the sun could create enough new jobs to pull us out of this mire, but the oil money in our system makes that wishful thinking. The Supreme Court killed that chance with opening the door to unlimited campaign contributions.
What we needed was a catastrophe, but all we got was a scare!
