[Regulator]

I'm sorry. I went on statements people in my family made. See, my grandfather was the Acting United States Consul to Czechoslovakia in 1940-41, and had been the Vice-Consul there from 1934 to 1940. My mother was essentially raised in Prague, when it was still the Czechoslovak Republic. My mother was evacuted along with my Grandmother because of the Von Ribbentrop-Molotov pact, which of course legitimized the annexation of the Sudetenland and the division of Poland. Our family holds rather strong ties to that area. My Grandfather was heavily involved in both anti-Nazi and Anti-Communist activities of the US government at that time, until Mr. Hitler ordered him out of town, and the Luftwaffe flew him to Sweden. It was during this time that he encountered Communist agitators who were looking to revolt, but who would soon be used in the anti-Nazi campaigns. It was also at this time that he became close to Jan Masaryk, who would later play an important role in post-war Czechoslovakia.

After the war, he was sent back to Northern Europe as commander of the DP camps, under UN auspices. Once again he involved himself in aiding Masaryk against the Soviet agitators. Remember that Czechoslovakia was nominally still a Republic at this time. However, because of Yalta, the Czech Republic types were snubbed by the State Department and left to fend for themselves. The only support to be gotten was simply to get people out. Masaryk was pushed out the window, he didn't jump, and the fall of the Czech Republic was assured, as the rest of Eastern Europe. They let it happen because it was policy, and to be honest with you, my Grandfather said it was FDR's policy, because he wanted to show Stalin that "we mean't him no harm". It was appeasement of a different sort.

You can say the Red Army had overrun Eastern Europe and the deed was already done. But the intentional revocation of support for Czechoslovakia, The Baltics, and Hungary tell a different story. They were intentionally left in thrall to the Communists because of balance of power calculations and Communist influence within both Cordell Hull's and Dean Atcheson's State Departments, with the acquiescence of FDR and Truman.

I grew up with a man who was there for the whole thing. Everyone in my family always called it a sellout. You can show me all the links and documents you'd like, but I'm afraid I'm a little firm on this. Roosevelt was after a balanced world in the aftermath and I don't think he thought Communism was all that bad. He got his balanced world, but at a 50 year cost of freedom for the people involved.