UNSAVORY ALLIES, FROM STALIN TO THE SAUDIS
Unsavory Allies, From Stalin to the Saudis
FDR cooperated with one of history’s most murderous dictators.
The media, Democrats and even some Republicans have been full of moral indignation over the Trump administration’s failure to punish Saudi Arabia for killing writer Jamal Khashoggi. Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia says “the president’s failure to hold Saudi Arabia responsible in any meaningful way” is an “example of this White House’s retreat from America’s leadership on human rights and protecting the free press.”
President Trump has balked at all of this, noting that the Saudis are valuable allies against Iran. The “Death to America”-chanting fanatics who make up the Iranian regime are the world’s foremost sponsors of terrorism, and they are committed to building nuclear weapons that could reach not only Israel but also Europe and the U.S.
The president’s critics must be a bit short on American history. During World War II, the U.S. and President Franklin D. Roosevelt were in bed comfortably with one of the most murderous dictators in history. Joseph Stalin didn’t kill one citizen of the Soviet Union. He killed millions, before and during the war. He was quoted saying: “The death of one man is a tragedy; the death of a million is a statistic.” Maybe, frighteningly, he was right.
Stalin played a double game with the Nazis until Hitler stabbed him in a the back by attacking the Soviet Union in June 1941. When the U.S. entered the war six months later, FDR sought out Stalin as an ally and provided the Soviets with an endless supply of military equipment—all interest-free under the Lend-Lease Act.
Hollywood papered over Soviet crimes. “Mission to Moscow,” a 1943 Warner Bros. movie, portrayed the Soviet people as happy and prosperous under Stalin’s benevolent rule. The purges and show trials were depicted as efforts to rid the country of German agents. The film’s producer called it “an expedient lie.”
Other studios followed, with MGM’s “The North Star,” United Artists’ “Three Russian Girls” and Columbia’s “The Boy from Stalingrad” appearing the same year. Each depicted well-nourished Russians living pleasant, fear-free lives. All of it was propaganda, spurred by Roosevelt’s Office of War Information. The goal was for Americans to see the U.S.S.R. as a normal ally rather than a merciless, murderous regime. Almost everyone saw this as necessary at the time—which brings to mind a remark by the late, great Charles Krauthammer: “If it weren’t for liberal hypocrisy we wouldn’t have anything to talk about.”
Today, America isn’t fighting Hitler. But a nuclear-armed Iranian theocracy is no laughing matter. It is important to keep the Saudis in the U.S. orbit; they have ordered about $100 billion in U.S. arms to serve as a bulwark against Iran in the Middle East.
Killing Khashoggi was reprehensible. And to say that the Saudis are not completely attuned to Western values would be a vast understatement. But perhaps the malediction presently heaped upon them will give them pause in the future. Either way, an old proverb comes to mind: “The enemy of my enemy is my friend.”
Mr. Groom is author of “Forrest Gump” and, most recently, “The Allies: Roosevelt, Churchill, Stalin, and the Unlikely Alliance That Won World War II.”
Appeared in the December 5, 2018, print edition.
