Dave,
First of all I must say that I see little point in blaming someone for what his grandfather thought. Seems to me that grandfathers form their attitudes long before the grandchildren are born.
If you really believe that, which I doubt, you must of course condemn John F. and Robert Kennedy as Nazis. Their dad was Roosevelt's ambassador to England in the years just before WWII began and up until (I believe) 1941.
He was openly pro-German and bombarded the Whitehouse with dispatches describing the hopelessness of England's heroic stand against Nazi aggression. He strongly advised Roosevelt not to listen to Churchill and to offer England no support whatsoever!
In evaluating his conduct there are some important considerations to take into account:
1. First, we must remember just how frightened people were of the Soviet Union's growing power. In the 1930's their industrial production had already exceeded Germany's. They had openly declared their goal of spreading Communism all over the world, and were already working on it. Many well intended Europeans and Americans saw the USSR as a greater threat than Germany. Germany was seen as a powerful buffer state between the USSR and the rest of Europe.
2. Being pro-German in 1938 did not necessarily mean that people were pro-Nazi. Everyone knew that Hitler was anti-Jewish. But they did not know just how far his insane hatred of Jews was going to go, nor the evils it would produce in the ensuing years.
Have you ever heard of the German-American Bund. It was a pro-German organization in the USA that marched around in brown shirts and Swastikas. Many prominent Americans belonged to it. Among them was Charles Lindbergh. BTW, people who's ancestors came from Germany make up the largest group of white Americans.
3.In those days Dave, racial/ethnic prejudice was
popular! It was widely assumed that non-whites were an inferior race of men. That idea came straight out of the writings of Saint Charles Darwin, and were taught to America's brightest and best by Ivy League universities.
Now, regarding this idea that big business supporters can't support civil rights. Remember Harry S. Truman? You know, the one that threatened to use the military to compel coal miners, steel workers, and railroad workers from striking? The one that said that if they struck he would order the army to take over their industries and keep them running?
He is also the one who took a public stand against segragation in a presidential speech that made the Democrats, ( his own party), so mad that several states turned Dixiecrat and supported Strom Thurmond?
Isn't he the one who ordered the Military and all Federal employment integrated?
Hmmmmmm.
It isn't as simple as you seem to think it is.
Tom Maddux
