The Ron Paul File

Acting under direct orders from Secretary of War Henry Stimson (who, with his long experience of Presidents, knows the key to dealing with them is just not telling them things), General Douglas MacArthur leaves Bataan Island and surrenders his role as commanding officer there. After arriving in the combat area and assisting with attempted repairs of the Lexington, Captain Mason of the Hornet, the senior officer of the arriving fleet (Captain Harriman of the Enterprise being very new, he just was delivered to the ship the Tuesday before.) takes the two fresh, undamaged carriers west, to hunt the Shokaku and Zuikaku. With the temporary chaos in the civilian sector of the War Department, the Wallace administration is forced to rely heavily on the professionals, so, reluctantly, Wallace takes the advice of Chief of Staff George Marshall and cancels Operation Torch, the planned invasion of North Africa. To replace him, Wallace opts to go outside the Department altogether; to Paul McNutt, former Governor of Indiana and High Commissioner of the Philippines, current director of the Federal Security Administration. And thus it is that while Lieutenant Scott Oscuro's recon flight from the Enterprise sees the Japanese fleet, the Japanese don't see him, and, an hour or so later, around high noon, to the delight of jingoistic American film makers of the future, "all the dive-bombers in the world came crashing out of the sky," in the words of one Japanese sailor.

While the former director of the Securities and Exchange Commission is far to the right of Wallace, he is a self-made millionaire, like the new President, and also shares with him a strong suspicion of the British Empire. Plus, he has extensive experience as the former Ambassador to Great Britain. It's a good speech, just a little too long." commented Franklin Delano Roosevelt, trademark cigarette holder clenched in his teeth, as he read Judge Samuel Rosenman's draft for his Christmas Address to the Nation. He looked up and grinned at his speechwriter, the former judge. " It's damned good, in fact. He knows full well that Wallace wants him gone, too, and is grooming White House Chief of Staff Alger Hiss for his job. McNutt is a very, very good administrator, (his enemies called him "The Hoosier Hitler" for his organization abilities) though, and he quickly helps rebuild the plans, so the strike is postponed until the first week of May, when the Hornet and Enterprise will launch the planes of General James Doolittle. I don't think this is a good idea," said President Henry Wallace firmly, tapping his pen against the memorandum he needed to sign. "Granted, Wavell is experienced, but as I recall, Rommel handed his head to him on more than one occasion, and do we really want this Yamashita fellow doing the same thing?

February also sees the beginnings of President Taft's cabinet shaping up; Henry Stimson is back in Washington (somewhat reluctantly) at State, now serving under his fifth President. Early 1942 also saw the beginnings of South America turning away from the Axis; the governments of Peru, Uruguay, Bolivia and Paraguay all broke off diplomatic and economic relations with the Axis powers during January and February, after the US (and Secretary of State Cordell Hull) helped show them what a good idea it was. In OTL, early 1942 saw the openings of the first joint Anglo-American economic committees the Combined Raw Materials Board, the Munitions Assignments Board, and the Combined Shipping Adjustment Board, with their goal as coordinating the economic and industrial policies of the Allies. Instead of the various boards, policy and planning will be made by the Combined Industrial Board, and its various subcommittees; and Wallace knows just the man to run the American side of things. Wallace is a businessman, though, and knows how to negotiate with inferiors; he offers them something of a national bribe, lots and lots of Lend-Lease aid, to make up for the economic disruption caused by the loss of German trade.

This was quite bizarre, but seems to have caused some real problems for the music venues that were misled. Hell, Franklin, if Christmas is about Christ in this town, or half the country these days, I'll eat that speech. Are you sure you don't celebrate Christmas on the sly, Sam? In late April of 1942, General James Doolittle receives word that his planned airstrike against the Japanese Home Islands has been postponed, yet again; Japan is poised to seize Port Moresby and have a gateway against Australia, and the Enterprise and Hornet are needed to reinforce the Yorktown and Lexington in the Coral Sea. While he reluctantly agrees some sort of economic cooperation is needed between the Great Powers, he'd like to have someone on the committee besides Great Britain; and when his lobbying efforts to Stalin fail, he settles for making sure the cooperation is done his way. Cordell Hull comes near to resigning, yet again, when President Wallace (though not publicly, thank God, he thinks as he throws an empty bottle across the room) puts strong pressure on the British government, along with Chiang Kai-Shek, to simply grant India the independence they want, and not horse around with the Cripps offer extended earlier in the year.