The Iron Curtain Over America

The Iron Curtain Over America by John Beaty Copyright 1952 by John Beaty The Iron Curtain Over America - an Internet book Page 1 Preface The Iron Curtain Over America Lt. Gen, George E. Stratemeyer, USAF (ret.), says: ―I congratulate you on your book and the service you have performed for our country. If my health would permit it I would go on a continuos lecture tour gratis and preach your book and recommendations. My ―Iron Curtain Over America‖ will be on loan continuous- ly and I intend to recommend its reading in every letter I write. Lt. Gen. Edward M. Almond, USA. (ret.), says: ―It is an inspiration to me to find an author with the cou- rage and energy to research and to secure the publication of such information as you have assembled in order that the poorly informed average American may know wherein the real threats to our Country lurk. Your book is a magnificent contribution to those who would preserve our American ideals.‖ ― I think it ought to be compulsory reading in every public school in America.‖ Senator William A. Langer, former Chairman, Judiciary Committee. Vice Admiral T. G. W. Settle, U.S.N. (ret.), says: ―The Iron Curtain Over America‖ is a most pertinent and excellently presented treatise on the cancer on our national set-up. ―I hope this book has had, and will have, the widest possible dissemination, particularly to our leaders-in Washington, and in industry and the press,—and that our leaders who are ―uncontaminated‖ will have their serious attention engaged by it.‖ Lt, General P. A. Del Valle, USMC (ret), says: ― I am impelled to write to you to express my admiration of your great service to the Nation in writing this truly magnificent book. No American who has taken the oath of allegiance can afford to miss it, and I heartily recommend it as an honest and courageous despeller of the fog of propaganda in which most minds seem to dwell.‖ John Beaty The author of The Iron Curtain Over America has written, or collaborated on, a dozen books. His texts have been used in more than seven hundred colleges and universities, and his historical novel, Swords in the Dawn, published originally in New York, had London and Australian editions, and was adopted for state-wide use in the public schools of Texas. His education (M.A., University of Virginia; Ph.D., Columbia University; post-graduate study, University of Montpellier, France ), his travel in Europe and Asia, and his five years with the Military Intelligence Service in World War II rounded out the background for the reading and research (1946-1951) which resulted in The Iron Curtain Over America. To The Reader Many authors of books on the current world scene have been White House confidants, commanders of armies, and others whose authority is indicated by their official or military titles. Such authors need no in- troduction to the public, A Prospective reader is entitled, however, to know something of the background and experience of an unknown or little-known writer who is offering a comprehensive volume on a great and important subject. In the spring of 1926, the author was selected by the Albert Kahn Foundation to investigate and report on world affairs. Introduced by preliminary correspondence and provided with numerous letters of introduc- tion to persons prominent in government, politics, and education, he gained something more than a tour- ist‘s reaction to the culture and institutions, the movements and the pressures in the twenty-nine countries which he visited. In several countries, including great powers, he found conditions and attitudes sig- nificantly different from the conception of them which prevailed in the United States. Though previously successful in deposing of his writings, he was unable, however, to get his observations on the world situa- tion published, except as the Annual Report of the Foundation and in his friendly home special foreign correspondent, and in the Southwest Review, in whose files his ―Race and Population, Their Relation to World Peace‖ can still be seen as a virtual prognosis of the oncoming war. The Iron Curtain Over America - an Internet book Page 2 After his return to America in the autumn of 1927, the author kept abreast of world attitudes by correspondence with many of the friends he had made in his travels and by rereading French, German, and Ital- ian news periodicals, as well as certain English language4 periodicals emanating from Asia. World trends continued to run counter to what the American people were allowed to know, and a form of virtual censor- ship blacked out efforts at imparting information. For instance, though the author‘s textbooks continued to sell well and though his novel Swords in the Dawn (1937) was favorably received, hes book Image of Life (Thomas Nelson and Sons, 1940 ), which attempted to show Americans the grave world-wide significance of the degradation of their cultural standards, was granted, as far as he knows, not a single comment in a book review or a book column in New York. Indeed, the book review periodical with the best reputation for full coverage failed to list Image of Life even under ―Books Received‖. In 1940 - as our President was feverishly and secretly preparing to enter World War II and publicly deny- ing any such purpose - the author, a reserve captain, was ―alerted,‖ and in 1941 was called to active duty in the Military Intelligence Service of the War Department General Staff. His first assignment was to write, or help write, short pamphlets on military subjects, studies of several campaigns including those in West- ern Europe and Norway, and three bulletins on the frustration of an enemy‘s attempts at sabotage and subversion. In 1942, the author became a major and Chief of the Historical Section (not the later Historical Branch of the War Department Special Staff). In his new capacity, he supervised a group of experts who prepared a current history of events in the various strategically important areas of the world. Also, he was one of the two editors of the daily secret ―G-2 Report,‖ which was issued each noon to give persons in high places, including the White House, the world picture as it existed four hours earlier. While Chief of the Historical Section, the author wrote three widely circulated studies of certain phases of the German - Russian cam- paign. In 1943 - during which year he was also detailed to the General Staff Corps and promoted to lieutenant colonel the author was made Chief of the Interview Section. In the next three years he interviewed more than two thousand persons, most of whom were returning from some high mission, some delicate assignment, or some deed of valor - often in a little-known region of the world. Those interviewed included military personnel in rank from private first class to four stars, diplomatic officials from vice-consuls to ambassa- dors and special representatives of the President, senators and congressmen returning from overseas in- vestigations, missionaries, explorers, businessmen, refugees, and journalists - among the latter, Raymond Clapper and Ernie Pyle, who were interviewed between their next to the last and their last and fatal voyag- es. These significant people were presented sometimes individually but usually to assembled groups of officers and other experts from the various branches of G-2, from other General Staff divisions, from each of the technical services, and from other components interested in vital information which could be had by interview perhaps sex weeks before being received in channeled reports. In some cases the author in- creased his knowledge of a given area or topic by consulting documents suggested during an interview. Thus, from those he interviewed, from those specialists for whom he arranged the interviews, and from study in which he had expert guidance, he had a unique opportunity for learning the history, resources, ideologies, capabilities, and intentions of the great foreign powers. In its most essential aspects, the picture was terrifyingly different from the picture presented by our government to the American people! After the active phase of the war was over, the author was offered three separate opportunities of further service with the army - all of them interesting, all of them flattering. He wished, however, to return to his home and his university and to prepare himself for trying again to give the American people the world sto- ry as he had come to know it; consequently, after being advanced to the rank of colonel, he reverted to in- active status, upon his won request, in December, 1946. Twice thereafter he was recalled for a summer of active duty: in 1947 he wrote a short history of the Military Intelligence Service, and in 1949 he prepared for the Army Field Forces an annotated reading list for officers in the Military Intelligence Reserve. From 1946 to 1951 the author devoted himself to extending his knowledge of the apparently diverse but actually interrelated events in the various strategic areas of the present-day world. The goal he set for himself was not merely to uncover the facts but to present them with such a body of documented proof that their validity could not be questioned. Sustaining quotations for significant truths have thus been taken from standard works of reference; from accepted historical writings; from government documents; from The Iron Curtain Over America - an Internet book Page 3 periodicals of wide public acceptance or of known accuracy in fields related to America‘s foreign policy; and from contemporary writers and speakers of unquestioned standing. The final product of a long period of travel, army service, and study is The Iron Curtain Over America.

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