Origins: The Reich (29 page)

When President Roosevelt
finally succumbed to his illness back in April, Hastelloy had his doubts if the new man would have the stones necessary to make the big decision.  After all, Truman was added to the Democratic presidential ticket to carry the Midwest swing states, not for his ability to lead; but lead he did.

The new president’s first official meeting as commander-in-chief was with Secretary of War, Henry Stimson, along with certain representatives from the Manhattan Project.  One day Truman had no knowledge about the project, even as Vice President.  The next, he was informed that as President he commanded an awesome new weapon capable of destroying the world if not managed properly.  A few short weeks after that, he was then asked to unleash this terrible weapon upon civilians in Japan.  To say he shouldered well the sudden burden thrust upon him was a monumental understatement.

When asked to incinerate a city of two hundred thousand people for the sake of saving millions from a prolonged war, President Truman made the call.  When asked to do the terrible deed a second time he did not waiver. They were both dreadful, heart-wrenching decisions. Yet both times, he bore the individual hit to his personal moral values for the greater good of his nation.  After these two feats of selflessness, Hastelloy now carried nothing but the utmost respect for President Truman.  He was his sort of leader.

Today, as director of the FBI, Hastelloy attended a meeting in the oval office with the President.  He was the first to arrive and take his seat at the dueling couches near the room’s fireplace.  Secretary of State George Marshall soon joined him on his side of the room.  Next came Secretary of War, Henry Stimson, along with a virtual who’s who of top military brass from the recently ended wars: Generals MacArthur, Bradley, Groves, and Eisenhower along with the Chairman of the joint chiefs, Admiral Leahy. 

Each man carried the same swagger in their step on their way in; like it was high noon - this confident strut.  The only thing missing from the picture was them twirling their six-shooters after gunning down their enemies in both the Eastern and Western fronts.  They were gods among men in their minds.

Secretary Stimson and his gaggle of officers took up residence on the couch and chairs on the other half of the room leaving the President in the middle to preside over the two opposing ideologies: covert diplomacy, or military action.

The Secretary of War and his supporters wasted no time pressing their agenda for the meeting.  While the generals beat their chests about the combat readiness of American forces around the globe, Hastelloy watched the president’s attention turn toward the recently replaced presidential seal in the area rug.  Once more it featured an eagle looking toward the olive branch clenched in its right talon.  The nation was no longer at war as a result of his bold actions and there was an unmistakable glimmer of pride in his eyes at seeing the subtle change in decor.  That subtlety was lost on the war hawks in the room as they droned on about the Soviet threat and the need for the US military to take action.

“You’d think the Japs would’ve surrendered within hours after seeing one of their cities vanish from existence with a single bomb,” General MacArthur stated with contempt.  “What a goddamn waste having to do it twice before their emperor saw reason.”

“You disagree with what we did?” President Truman asked.  “You think there was another, less destructive or deadly path we could have taken to end the war?”

“Not at all, Mr. President.  I was expressing regret that we no longer have a functional nuclear weapon in our arsenal since we had to drop both of them on Japan,” General MacArthur backtracked. 

“That second bomb was all we had and will have for another two months,” General Groves, who led the Manhattan Project, added. 

“Those are months we could have placed that bomb over Commie airspace in Eastern Europe,” General Eisenhower declared.  “The threat alone of it being dropped would have been enough to force Stalin and those other bastards to retreat back into their little hovel of a country where they belong.  Instead, they’re busy planting their flag of ownership over the entire eastern half of Europe with aim to move farther west at any moment.”

“Plus, we all know the Reds are sniffing around the Manhattan Project team,” General Groves commented.  “Whether they succeed in stealing our research or get there by themselves, we can all agree it’s only a matter of time before the Soviets have their own atomic bomb.”

“At that point all of Europe could go communist and we’d be all alone facing Stalin and his bloodthirsty regime.  Hell, China’s already turned red on us and Korea is set to go next,” Admiral Leahy concluded.  “We now have a very short window to parlay the superior hand we’ve been dealt into permanent gains toward our nation’s future.  We needed that bomb as leverage to take action and deliver ultimatums we could back up with action if required.”

“Why not cut right to the chase?  In a few months, when the next bomb is ready, why don’t you go ahead and drop it on Moscow and be done with it?” Hastelloy asked with a straight face.  “It’s the only city they have left intact at this point, let’s finish what the Nazis started.  I mean, forget the fact that they’re technically still our allies.  We can be just like the Germans and launch an unprovoked surprise attack.”

Admiral Leahy’s face began to glow red as Hastelloy continued his satirical rant.  “Oh wait, Germany tried that and it didn’t end well for them, now did it?  Meh, that’s beside the point.  Come on now; let’s go get ‘em for daring to govern in a different manner than us.  It’s been a few weeks already, I’m sure the voting public is all set for World War III to get under way by now.  I know you fine gentlemen certainly are, how about you Mr. President?”

The admiral looked ready to erupt, but then seemed to have a notion that brought him back down to deliver his calm counter.  “You know, you’re right.  The average Joe Beer sitting on his porch watching the sunset isn’t very disposed toward fighting another war right now.  Why don’t you go and bait Stalin into striking one of our bases like you did with Japan.  Just be sure it doesn’t decimate our fighting capabilities quite so badly this time, or that it doesn’t end up killing three or four thousand of our boys.”

Every time the Admiral wanted to get his opinion valued over Hastelloy’s with the President, he dragged out the results of Pearl Harbor and waved them about the room.  President Roosevelt fell for it nearly every time since he had never seen fit to forgive Hastelloy for the magnitude of losses suffered in the sneak attack that the FBI ‘orchestrated’. Never mind that the President and congress signed off on the trade embargos that provoked Japan’s predictable reaction.

This was the first time; however, that Admiral Leahy lobbed this particular firecracker into a conversation with President Truman.  Hastelloy was curious to see if it would be a mesmerizing show or a complete dud with this new American leader. He was not the only one anxious to see this result as all eyes fell upon the President for a response.

President Truman took a few moments to consider his words carefully and then rendered his verdict, “By my count, all but one of those old battleships damaged during the attack were back in action by the end of the war.  As for our casualties, no one could have predicted a direct hit to the Arizona’s ammunition magazine, which accounted for the majority of lives lost that terrible day.  Besides, I’m not sure you have much room to complain, Admiral, considering that in the end you did get your war; we all did.  It was a distasteful and regrettable evil, but in the end it was necessary and got the job done.”

The Admiral shot Hastelloy a scorn-filled glare.  They both knew the power of influence had definitively moved to Hastelloy’s side of the room.  A less calculating man would have taken a moment to gloat, but Hastelloy still needed the military’s cooperation and therefore opted to move on to a topic on which they could all agree.

“Look.  Just because we carry the biggest stick in the room for the moment doesn’t mean we can afford to be careless with how we wield it,” Hastelloy began.  “Furthermore, that big stick is going to look like a toothpick in just a few short years considering the bombs we dropped over Japan were ninety-eight percent duds.”

“Duds?  They both leveled entire cities.  Les, tell him,” General MacArthur protested.

“The director’s right,” General Leslie Groves confirmed with a nod, “Only a fraction of the plutonium underwent fission.  That means nuclear bombs will get much, much more powerful in the near future.”

Hastelloy simply nodded with raised eyebrows.  “A blast equivalent to twenty thousand tons of TNT only released two percent of the weapon’s potential; terrifying thought isn’t it?”

While President Truman and the other half of the room pondered that thought, Hastelloy leaned in and placed his right index finger on the coffee table to accentuate his point.  “My bureau can ensure none of our research from the Manhattan Project reaches the Soviets.  What I can’t control is what the German scientists who conducted the Nazi’s nuclear development program are forced to reveal to Stalin’s men.  There is a tremendous amount of brain power over there, gentlemen.  We need to get them here, and I mean yesterday.”

“But they’re all war criminals who need to stand trial in Nuremberg,” General Eisenhower insisted.  “They don’t get to design weapons that kill millions and just walk away.”

“In fairness, by that line of thinking we should be forced to turn over everyone involved in the Manhattan Project to stand trial for crimes against humanity,” President Truman said with a finger pointing at General Groves.  “I’m afraid that includes you, Les.”

“It’s not the same thing and you know it, Mr. President.  Our men did it to stop a war, the Nazi scientists did it to keep one going,” General Eisenhower volleyed back.

“Correction, our men were just following my orders,” the President stated firmly.  “So were the Germans.  If they didn’t follow Hitler’s orders, we all can guess what would have happened to them and their families.”

“Besides,” President Truman went on, “I doubt Stalin is having this sort of conversation with his KGB or military advisors.  Nazism should no longer be a consideration from a viewpoint of national security when the far greater threat of communism is now jeopardizing the entire world.  They are going to go after those scientists with everything they have to speed along their nuclear research.  In the Soviet’s minds, their very survival as a nation depends on it.  How can we get these German scientists over here, Director?”

Hastelloy placed a hand on the shoulder of his couch companion.  “Secretary Marshall and I have a two part plan to contain the Soviet threat, and neither involves firing a shot.  We’ve named phase one Operation Paperclip.”

“Where on earth do you come up with these ridiculous project names,” General Eisenhower mocked, only half joking.

Hastelloy played it off lightly.  “It’s actually a quite literal project name.  Most scientists we have in mind to relocate are currently labeled as threats to national security; some even played parts in the extermination camps.  By current law, they are to be arrested on site and turned over to the Nuremberg Trials.”

“The solution?” Hastelloy asked rhetorically.  “We’ll wipe clean the scientists of their Nazi history.  We’ll efface any Nazi affiliations the scientists may have had from public records, and create new, fake political and employment records.  Only then will the scientists be cleared to enter the United States.  Therefore, the project name comes from the paperclips that will be used to attach the scientists’ new persona to their files.”

“We’ve dubbed the second phase the Marshall Plan, and I don’t think I need to explain how that came about,” Hastelloy joked.  “Long story short, where the Soviets are using brute force and an iron fist to hold territory and allies in Europe, we’re going to use our pocketbook.  Use force and you get a servant for a short time, use kindness and you get a friend for life.”

“Plus, servants require expensive supervision while friends can be counted on to repay your kindness,” Secretary Marshall added.  “We will foot most of the bill to rebuild Western Europe, giving first right of refusal to American firms, of course.  This will kick start our economy and gain us a continent full of friends.”

“That sounds expensive,” President Truman groaned.  “How much are you proposing?”

“Sixteen billion.”

“Dollars?” Admiral Leahy asked, or better yet accused.  “Are you on medication?”

“Do you know how much we spent on this war?” Secretary Marshall countered.  “A whole lot more than that and it got a lot of people killed too. This way is cheaper, doesn’t kill anyone, and will be more effective.  It’s the trifecta of foreign policy.”

The war hawks in the room were ready to explode in protest, but President Truman cut it off before it could start with a sweeping wave of his arm.  “Where do we start?”

“I have a list of key scientists we need to make permanent guests in our great nation.  However, I don’t have many boots on the ground in Europe, certainly not enough to carry out a mission of this magnitude.  The military does and I need your help to get this done,” Hastelloy concluded extending his hand across the coffee table.  “What do you say, Admiral, can we work together on this?”

The admiral was a proud man, but not without reason.  He knew Hastelloy was right and accepted the handshake to seal the deal and put Operation Paperclip into motion.