Freedom Betrayed: Herbert Hoover's Secret History of the Second World War and Its Aftermath

This book is not fully a history, but rather an historic opinion piece. It is Herbert Hoover's exceptionally well reasoned (and well supported) position (and apparent opinion) that President Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) drug the U.S. into WWII, when such could have been avoided (to the ultimate betterment of the world following WWII). Hoover backs up his position with innumerable quotes and citations, all of which are incorporated into the narrative in an exceedingly readable format (for the most part - more on that below). This was Hoover's Magnum Opus, never actually completed or published around the time it was written (circa 1963, at the time of Hoover's death), but now published (in 2011) following the extensive and masterful efforts of the editor (Dr. George H. Nash).First of all, let me comment on the composition of the book itself. The book comprises four parts: (1) a rather long (120 pages or so) introduction by the editor (Dr. George H. Nash); (2) Vol. I (being a rather concise history of the events leading up to, and including, the global war following the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941); (3) Vol. II (being a concise history of the conferences between the Allies during the war itself); and (4) Vol. III, being a collection of Hoover's "Case Histories" of the post-war Communization of certain countries (and other post-war matters).Being somewhat adverse to lengthy Introductions by persons other than the author, I skipped over the largest part of Dr. Nash's Introduction and went right to Vol. I. However, if you have the fortitude, it is worth reading the Introduction. But if you just want to cut-to-the-chase and start with Vol. I, then no harm is done. You can always go back and read the Introduction later (as I did).Volumes I and II are the real meat of the matter. They are the most essential elements of the book, and are also the best organized and well edited (by Hoover, his staff, and Dr. Nash). If your reading time is precious to you, at the very least read Vols. I & II. These volumes alone will be sufficient to convince you that Hoover was on the right track in condemning FDR's activities and policies which resulted in the involvement of the U.S. in WWII, as well as in condemning FDR's activities and policies during the conduct of the war.Volume III (the case histories) essentially comprises Hoover's last drafts and notes for the third volume of his Magnum Opus, and are quite rough in comparison to Vols. I & II. Vol. III suffers from: (i) lack of editing by Hoover (and his staff); and (ii) being written (in draft form at least) circa 1961 to 1963 (and thus not including much information which has subsequently to come to light). Notwithstanding, Vol. III is worth reading just for the official disclosures that it provides regarding such matters as: (i) the U.S. policy towards China following WWII (and how that policy that helped the Chinese communists come to power in 1949); and (ii) the egregious and short-sighted policies of the Allies towards Germany and how those policies stunted growth in Europe and the world in general following the war.Now, I will give my personal views as to the content of the book and its importance to modern history.Prior to reading this book it was my opinion (based on previous readings and basic logic) that FRD had drug the U.S. into WWII. This book confirmed my suspicions. However, my primary motivation for reading this book was to try to find out why FRD was so hell-bent on getting the U.S. involved in WWII. To that end, my expectations were not met. But this is not the fault of the author. The reason that Hoover was not able to document FRD's motivations for wanting to get the U.S. into WWII (which I'm sure Hoover would have done, were he able to do so) is most likely due to: (i) no such documentation exists; and/or (ii) any such documentation (such as personal diaries and the like) have been destroyed or suppressed. (Hoover based his research on over 25 million documents available to him and his research staff circa 1961, so if anything was available to him at this time regarding FRD's motives, I'm certain he would have included it in this tome.) In the end I concluded that, while FRD's personal motives remain a mystery (perhaps never to be solved), the bottom line is that FRD did, in fact, drag the U.S. into WWII. And U.S. involvement in WWII lead to the Cold War and all of the following problems (which we still suffer from to this day).Hoover's warnings concerning the potential dangers of U.S. involvement in WWII are not just "Monday morning quarterbacking" or "hindsight" observations. Rather, Hoover was active at the time in warning of the potential dangers to the U.S. of getting involved in WWII. (See, for example, his speech of June 29, 1941 (pages 231-234) (i.e., prior to Pearl Harbor and declaration of war with Germany) warning of the unholy risks of aligning the U.S. with Stalin's USSR.)So history is just that - history. And history is what has come and gone. Unfortunately, recorded history is not always an accurate record of what has actually come and gone. Hoover's Freedom Betrayed offers a well reasoned alternative to the commonly accepted history (i.e., the attack on Pearl Harbor) as the reason for U.S. involvement in WWII.The result of FDR's policies and activities, which resulted getting the U.S. involved in WWII, were 400,000 U.S casualties (as of 1945), and a resulting cold war with the USSR. The biggest beneficiaries of U.S. involvement in WWII were: (i) the Soviet Union (USSR); (iii) the communists in China; and (iii) colonial Britain. None of which were to the benefit of the U.S.So what's the significance of Hoover's Magnum Opus regarding FRD and WWII? Twofold: (i) we (as the American public) should insist on having verifiable assurance (from both Congress and the Executive office) that any extra-territorial involvement of U.S. forces should be done in an honest and open manner (the U.S. attack on Iraq in 2003 comes to mind); and (ii) the true legacy (or fallacy) of FDR as being the great defender of freedom in WWII (and the concomitant aftermath) should be taught in public schools (and in universities) in light of Hoover's disclosures in Freedom Betrayed.

Herbert Hoover, the man who lost his position as President to Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1933, was a man of intelligence and detail. He was an engineer before entering politics and he thinks and writes like an engineer. His book, Freedom Betrayed, is insightful and is definitely a different take on World War Two and the American experience surrounding that war. Hoover's book starts with the pre-war era in Europe and the US and in Asia then develops events as they lead the US into the world war. Then he explores the consequences of the decisions made during that war and its aftermath in Asia and Europe. There is almost nothing about his Presidency or his loss to FDR or the economy.Hoover does all of this with great precision. His book has many short chapters that are filled with direct quotes from numerous documents and statistical summaries where necessary. Hoover seldom asks the reader to take his word for anything. The footnoting is extensive, to say the least, and one gets the impression that Hoover is not counting on his word carrying weight, especially when he is reporting things that the Roosevelt administration agreed to , decided, or took action on. Hoover likes to use government documents, communications, and testimony before Congress as the foundation for his facts. He has so much documentation that it is nearly impossible to argue with his facts and the conclusions he draws from them. In most cases he can prove his point with direct quotes and documents, but in a few instances he must infer the truth, especially when someone is lying to Congress or the public. In the cases where he must infer Hoover goes to great lengths to point out several documents, or lots of testimony, that would lead most people to conclude his inference - which is always logical - closely follows from the facts he has laid out. Excellent work. And Hoover is easy to read. This is not a text by a professor of rhetoric, but a practical man who sees history in a different light than most modern historians.I do not agree with some of his ideas or his conclusions, but none of his ideas were out of bounds in any way. If his advice had been followed WWII might have ended months before the A bombs were dropped. On the other hand his idea of letting Stalin and Hitler fight each other until exhausted had some deep risks that Hoover does not address. For example, what if Hitler and Stalin fought each other to a stalemate and then made a deal to divide up Europe? ALL of Europe would then have been under dictators, including France, Italy, Greece, and probably many outlying nations that would not dare to mess with either of them.There are some rather egregious errors. One error that confounds me is his constant reference to MacArthur as being the general in charge of the Pacific, including the conquest of Guadalcanal and the central Pacific. Sorry Mr. Hoover, but every US Marine (me included) knows the Navy and the Marines landed on Guadalcanal and the Corps was not under the command of MacArthur. The Corps answered to Nimitz. This idea the MacArthur was the sole person in charge of the conquest of the Pacific is widely misplaced. One other error bothers me a little more... well... a lot more. At location 10299 (Kindle Edition) he states that Roosevelt "suddenly" imposed an embargo on Japan that froze her assets in the US and cut off oil and strategic material. Hoover acts as if this were done for little or no reason; however, such is not the case. Japan had just moved to occupy Southeast Asia. It was actually more of an invasion which was "allowed" by the Vichy French Government under German pressure. The US had been warning Japan to stop its war against China and this move by Japan finally led to action by the US. Many conservative administration officials (the few there were) had been calling for tough sanctions for Japan actions in China. The occupation of IndoChina was the final blow showing that Japan had no respect for the US. The war in China, the rape of Nanking, the brutality shown by Japan in its attempted conquest of China, the seizure of every major port along China's coast, and the occupation of IndoChina to put further pressure on China's Nationalist was more than enough to justify the sections.Hoover should have mentioned this occupation as being the final straw that broke the US back. After a lot of words the US finally moved, but Hoover ignored all this provocation in his book. Because of this one must wonder what else may have been left out. He went to so much effort to document everything else this must be an obvious omission.Nonetheless his book is a stunning record of failures by the US government before, during and after the war. The secret deals make by Roosevelt with Stalin and Churchill that were never brought to the Senate for approval, and many of them not disclosed to the US public, were criminal in nature. The US gave away large parts of China to the USSR without China's even being told. Wasn't that exactly what the English and French did to the Chezs? (For a more detailed account on WWII please see my book, for sale on Amazon, The Super Summary of World History, REVISED. Please get the REVISED edition. About one quarter of the book is on WWII.)Hoover is pretty good to Truman, and he reports on Truman's change of policies set by Roosevelt, the cleaning out of Communist influence in and around the Presidency, and many other steps that would give honesty back to the people of the US; however, he still points out that Marshall and Truman lost China to the Reds - after Roosevelt had set them up for failure - but they lost it just the same.Long book set forth in many short chapters that make it easier to read. A must read for anyone interested in WWII, the Roosevelt administration, and the Truman takeover after Roosevelt's death. Many fun new ideas and facts to mull over.AD2

私が長年持っていた[何故、帝国日本はアメリカと戦争をしたのか？]の疑問点に回答してくれる本が見つかった。私の父は満州で現地入隊した。職業軍人では無く、一銭5厘での応召だったけど、支那事変勃発直後から13年間従軍し、昭和21年に博多へと引き揚げてきた。昭和18年、満州軍古参軍曹で終わるかと思っていた父は、前線での下級士官不足の対策で、満州軍第13連隊から北京へ転属後に、同文館で再教育を受け准尉となった。日本帝国軍内での階級は兵卒だが、給与、軍装は士官待遇、従卒も付く士官待遇だったそうです。この転属が彼の運命を大きく変えました。昭和20年9月に横須賀港に入港した米国海軍ミズーリ号で降伏文書署名で迎えた終戦。(国際法上、終戦は8月15日ではありません。)北京での父は、戦後の日本帝国軍武装解除、日本軍武器引き渡し、北京の戦争捕虜収容所の閉鎖等、[国民党軍]への引き継ぎを終え、帰還船で博多湾に戻った時、自分自身は生きて日本に戻れた事に感無量だったそうだ。[北京へ転属後に同文館で再教育を受け准尉となり、原隊は南方戦線へ転戦、現地で潰滅。なのに運命のイタズラか、生きて再び日本へ還って来れた。これがすべてだよ。]と、父は私に教えてくれた。厨二病の頃の私は、[何故、日本は物量豊富なアメリカへ戦争を仕掛けたのか? ]と、言う疑問を持ち続け、父にも聞いたが、[日本は戦争に引きずり込まれたのさ。追い込まれて戦端を開いてしまったのだ。]としか言わなかった。 末端とは言え、下級士官待遇だった父は、ある程度の機密情報を得られるので、一般人とは違う視点を持っていた。玉音放送の一週間前に、重要発表がある事を知らされても居ました。話はフーバー元大統領が書き残した本に戻るが、この[裏切られた自由主義]に残された、日米開戦への道程は私の父の言葉を裏付ける事になりました。[ホワイトハウスに居るマッドマンが日本を戦争へ追い込み、選択肢を塞ぎ開戦させた。]フーバー元大統領の著作は一般的な歴史の視点を大きく変えました。最近、翻訳版も出版された様です。ぜひ皆さんにも読んで欲しいと思います。

I am glad that this book is finally on the market. It was for many years on the list of forbidden books.

本書は第31代アメリカ大統領ハーバート・フーバーの回顧録であるが、さまざまな情報にアクセスできたアメリカの政治指導者が20年の歳月をかけて完成させた第一級の第二次世界大戦秘史である。われわれの関心を惹くのは、フーバーがフランクリン・ルーズベルト大統領こそ不毛の日米戦争を仕掛けた張本人だとしてルーズベルトを糾弾したことである。フーバーの糾弾は単なる政敵への攻撃ではない。その論拠を公文書その他の信頼できる文書で示しているので、説得力が高い。本書の邦訳は値段が高すぎる。原書は邦訳の３分の１以下の値段で買えるところがよい（2019年3月現在で5,971円）。重要な政策決定のいきさつが原文ではどう表現されているのか興味があるので、原書のほうを備えることにした。

You Tubeで動画を色々見ていると時々この本の翻訳本（裏切られた自由）の翻訳者である渡辺惣樹という人の書籍の広告がポップアップで出てきてその広告でこの本を知り、興味を持ちました。翻訳本は上下2巻で2冊合計で2万円くらいします。これはとても高いので図書館で借りて読んでみました。そして英語学習の為にこちらの原書を購入。You Tubeではこの本の編集者でrGeorge H Nashが講演会でこの本の要旨を説明している約50分の動画が投稿されているので役立ちます。この本を見て感じたことは、歴史というものは新たな発見や新たに公開された資料によって常に更新されていく性格のあるものということ、それと学校で学ぶ歴史というものは日本でも、中国でも、アメリカでも結局時の権力者が自分にとって都合の良いことを教科書にして生徒を洗脳しているようなもので学校で学ぶものは必ずしも事実や真実ではないこと。大切なのは自分で情報を収集し、分析し、考えることだと思います。

A nice, thick book that sheds light on an interesting period of American history. I recommend this book, a much misunderstood man about whom much utter nonsense has been spouted.