February 4-11, 62nd Anniversary of the Yalta Conference and foundation of the United Nations

[rakovsky]

The past 2 weeks have marked 2 anniversaries:
January 30 1882 marks Roosevelt's birthday and February 4-11 marks the 62nd anniversary of the Yalta Conference.

Roosevelt was elected at a time when the American people were outraged at the Republicans' failure to guarantee decent living conditions. The Republicans' policies of pure capitalism led to the great depression. Roosevelt decided to rebuild the economy using the policies of welfare capitalism. Working people achieved reforms like social security, and restricted corporate power.

On the international level, this meant a multilateral approach. Until the Japanese invasion, Roosevelt was dedicated to neutrality; after WWII he was dedicated to the United Nations. The failure of welfare capitalism to replace the country's economic rulers (1% of Americans own 60% of stock) meant that after Roosevelt's death the corporations had the power to rein in the progressive movement.

Roosevelt's presidency shows the potential to pursue a more reasonable approach, one oriented toward world peace and cooperation. Just as Americans wanted social reforms in the 1930's, Americans want reasonable foreign policies today. Even in February 2003 surveys said that it would be a mistake to invade Iraq without the UN's approval.

Bush claims that the Yalta Conference that set up the WWII alliance between Roosevelt and the USSR was a "Munich appeasement Pact."

Roosevelt, Stalin, and Churchill did not completely trust eachother. But at Yalta they were able to put it behind them and defeated the Nazis. They renamed the alliance against Germany "the United Nations." The foundations for world cooperation laid at Yalta were strong enough to withstand the pressures of the Cold War. The United Nations can continue to provide the basis for international discussions and cooperation in the 21st century. I hope we make sure the politicians follow in Roosevelt's footsteps.

"Address to Congress on the Yalta Conference" PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT
http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=16591

"YALTA REMEMBERED: images from The FDR Library and The National Archives"
The Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library & Museum
The Ukrainian Institute of America
http://www.ukrainianinstitute.org/yalta.html

"FDR at Yalta" ARTHUR SCHLESINGER, JR
http://hnn.us/roundup/entries/12219.html
Roosevelt and Stalin met only twice – in Tehran in November 1943 and in Yalta in February 1945. They met each time with the third of the Big Three, Winston Churchill.

"Bush Attempts to Tarnish FDR's Foreign Policy Image" COMMON DREAMS
http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0514-20.htm
(criticism of Bush's words on Yalta from a progressive perspective)
President Bush would attempt to systematically dismantle Franklin D. Roosevelt's prize domestic policy in Social Security, logic would suggest that any criticism of the former president's foreign policy is almost a given.

"Bush, Yalta and the Blur of Hindsight" WASHINGTON POST
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/14/AR2005051400091.html
(criticism of Bush's words on Yalta from an establishment perspective)

[wain]

1. Yalta. Isn't that the conference where Roosevelt appeased Stalin?

by acceding Eastern Europe to communism at the objection of Churchill? The same conference Alger Hiss from the State department accompanied the President.

Much as I admire Roosevelt, no President can be perfect in a complex world with such seriously evil people as Stalin. In my relatively simple life trusting people has been a personal flaw.

:)