Continuing saga of ‘Conservative Betrayal’, the over-the-top dismissal of, and vitriolic responses to, Diana’s book on Soviet infiltration of the US government during the Roosevelt years and beyond.
Here’s Diana……
Horowitz bases this stunning statement on the “extreme claims” he alleges are contained in my book, which, he says, “not only serve to discredit her work but lead her into insoluble dilemmas.” He says the problem – my problem — is “intellectual.”
It’s difficult to tell what he’s talking about, at least with regard to what I have actually written. He goes on to list a series of historical fragments related in some way to events covered in my book – for example, the debate over whether to invade Europe in northern France vs. Churchill’s favored strategy to expand from the Italian front into the Balkans.
I do treat this debate at length, particularly with regard to the machinations of Harry Hopkins, FDR’s top wartime advisor and undeviating booster of what would be the famed Normandy invasion. Readers of the following excerpt from American Betrayal (below) should know that there is a case to be made from varied sources that Hopkins was an agent of Stalin’s influence inside the FDR White House. I lay that case out in detail in American Betrayal.
If the work that went into my book is solid, even more history needs rewriting – regardless of whether, as David Horowitz says about my book, “this is not how anyone should think about history-making events and the political forces that shape them.” The fact is, if the record I have assembled (citing 900-plus endnotes) is correct, FDR might not be as great as we think he is, and, to address the flip side, Sen. Joseph McCarthy might not be as awful as we think he is, and just that changes almost everything about what we “know” as a people.
I believe it is this explosive topic that seems to be driving my critics to ad hominem attacks, perhaps unexpectedly, at conservative sites from Frontpage Magazine to The American Thinker, to National Review Online and the New York Sun. Instead of discussing the contents of my book, they attack my accuracy, honesty, even my sanity; also, instead of just ignoring my book, they try to make me radioactive so readers won’t even to think about the ideas inside it for themselves.
This becomes a question readers will have to make up their own minds about. To that end, I am happy to provide to Breitbart Chapter 9 of American Betrayal in full, including its 84 endnotes. I look forward to reading comments from people who have, for a change, read at least part of my book.
The endnotes for the following excerpt can be found here. Diana West is the author of American Betrayal: The Secret Assault on Our Nation’s Character, available now.
link to Breitbart piece w/chapter 9
I’ve been working my way though this book (chapter here, there). So far overall its good, but she does make some assertions that leave it open to criticism. Such as saying that the war would have been much shorter if the Allies had fought up the boot of Italy instead of Normandy. My grandfather was deployed in Italy during the war, and I don’t recall him saying it was a cake walk. That, and leaving Normandy intact would have its own set of questions, such as what if the Germans discovered the allied deception that prevented the V1 and V2 weapons from accurately targeting England and they started to find their mark? The Germans where also still quite formidable force, and there’s no way to tell how much resistance they would have put up if we concentrated in Italy. That, and some of the statements seem to be more along the lines of hearsay.
Still it would be nice to see them actually address the points of criticism in turn rather than blanket fire it as being a work of a crackpot.
Ms. West has written an excellent summary of the intrusion of communism into our government & society. The Verona Files, defectors & American patriots have provided Ms West with all the necessary evidence to counter her detractors. Ms. West is unfortunately experiencing the same nasty attacks other authors received when their anti- communist works have been published. I hope the rest of the Verona files are revealed to further expose this corrupt intrusion and impact on our government & society . How any American can support this evil system remains a mystery for the ages.