On Active Services in Peace and War

Henry L. Stimson

Description

Henry L. Stimson’s 1947 autobiography features an account of Stimson's 13 years' public service, and explores his actions, motives, and results in great detail.

On Active Services in Peace and War is highly recommended for those with an interest in the life and work of this great American statesman, and would make for a worthy addition to any collection.

The contents include:

- Attorney for the Government

- Roosevelt and Taft

- Responsible Government

- The World Changes

- As Private Citizen

- Governor General of the Philippines

- Constructive Beginnings

- The Beginnings of Disaster

- The Far Eastern Crisis

- The Tragedy of Timidity

Henry Lewis Stimson (1867–1950) was an American politician who held many important governmental positions under numerous American presidents, including Herbert Hoover, Harry S. Truman, and Franklin D. Roosevelt.

We are republishing this volume now in an affordable, modern, high-quality edition complete with a specially commissioned new biography of the author.

Introduction by Henry L. Stimson

Part I: On Many Fronts

I. Attorney for the Government

II. With Roosevelt and Taft: Running for Governor - Secretary of War - The Split of 1912

III. Responsible Government: Framing a Program - In Convention Assembled - Success, Failure, and Victory - Credo of a Progressive Conservative

IV. The World Changes: War Comes to America - Colonel Stimson

V. As Private Citizen: The League of Nations Fight - At the Bar - The Peace of Tipitapa

VI. Governor General of the Philippines: The Background - A Happy Year - Later Disappointments and Some Hopes

Part II: With Spears of Straw

VII. Constructive Beginnings: Washington in 1929 - London in 1930 - Latin America in 1931

VIII. The Beginnings of Disaster: Before the Storm - Economic Crisis in Europe - More about "These Damn Debts"

IX. The Far Eastern Crisis: A Japanese Decision - From Conciliation to Non-recognition - Shanghai - The Borah Letter - Conclusion and Retrospect

X. The Tragedy of Timidity: Disarmament, A Surface Issue - The Failure of Statemanship

XI. Out Again: The Campaign of 1932 - Middleman after Election

XII. Toward General War: Citizen and Observer - 1933-1940 Cast as Casandra

Part III: Time of Peril

XIII. Call to Arms: Back in Washington - The Newcomer - The Best Staff He Ever Had

XIV. The First Year: Men for the New Army - Supplies - To Britain Alone

XV. Valley of Doubt: A Difference with the President - The Price of Indecision

XVI. The War Begins: Pearl Harbour - Mission of Delay - War Secretary

XVII. The Army and Grand Strategy: Pearl Harbour to North Africa - The Great Decision

XVIII: The Wartime Army - Reorganisation - "Dipping Down" - The Place of Specialists - Student Soldiers - The Army and the Negro- Science and New Weapons

XIX: The Effort for Total Mobilisation - Military Manpower - National Service - Labor and the War - The Army and War Production - A Note on Administration - Public Relations

XX. The Army and the Navy: Stinson and the Admirals - Lessons of Antisubmarine War - Unifaction and the Future

XXI. The Army and the Grand Alliance: Stilwell and China - France, Defeat, Darlan, DeGaulle, and Deliverance - FDR and Military Government - A Word from Hindsight

XXII. The Beginnings of Peace: A Shift in Emphasis - The Morgenthau Plan - The Crime of Aggressive War - Planning for Reconstruction - A Strong America - Bases and Big Powers - The Emergent Russian Problem

XXIII. The Atomic Bomb and the Surrender of Japan: Making a Bomb - The Achievement of Surrender

XXIV. The Bomb and Peace with Russia

XXV. The Last Month: Judgement of the Army - The Chief of Staff - The Commander in Chief - The End

Afterword by Henry L. Stimson

A Note of Explanation and Acknowledgement by McGeorge Bundy

Brief Chronology of World War II

Index

Sujets

• Political
• Lettres et linguistique
• Biography
• Autobiography

Informations

• Publié par: Read Books Ltd.
• Date de parution: 06 septembre 2016
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781473350663
• Langue: English

Extrait

ON ACTIVE SERVICE
IN PEACE AND WAR
BY
HENRY L. STIMSON
Secretary of War 1911-13, Secretary of State 1929-33 Secretary of War 1940-45
AND
McGEORGE BUNDY
Junior Fellow, Society of Fellows Harvard University
4 - 8
O N A CTIVE S ERVICE IN PEACE AND WAR
Copyright, 1947, 1948, by Henry L. Stimson
Printed in the United States of America All rights in this book are reserved. No part of the book may be reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. For information address Harper Brothers
FIRST EDITION
B - X
About one fifth of the material in this book was published serially under the title of Time of Peril
THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED
TO
M. W. S.
WHOSE LOVE AND CARE HAVE MADE POSSIBLE BOTH THE LIFE AND THIS RECORD OF IT
H. L. S.
McG. B.
TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction by Henry L. Stimson
P ART I:
ON MANY FRONTS
I
Attorney for the Government
II
With Roosevelt and Taft

1. Running for Governor 2. Secretary of War 3. The Split of 1912
III
Responsible Government

1. Framing a Program 2. In Convention Assembled 3. Success, Failure, and Victory 4. Credo of a Progressive Conservative
IV
The World Changes

1. War Comes to America 2. Colonel Stimson
V
As Private Citizen

1. The League of Nations Fight 2. At the Bar 3. The Peace of Tipitapa
VI
Governor General of the Philippines

1. The Background 2. A Happy Year 3. Later Disappointments and Some Hopes
P ART II:
WITH SPEARS OF STRAW
VII
Constructive Beginnings

1. Washington in 1929 2. London in 1930 3. Latin America in 1931
VIII
The Beginnings of Disaster

1. Before the Storm 2. Economic Crisis in Europe 3. More about These Damn Debts
IX
The Far Eastern Crisis

1. A Japanese Decision 2. From Conciliation to Nonrecognition 3. Shanghai 4. The Borah Letter 5. Conclusion and Retrospect
X
The Tragedy of Timidity

1. Disarmament-A Surface Issue 2. The Failure of Statesmanship
XI
Out Again

1. The Campaign of 1932 2. Middleman after Election
XII
Toward General War

1. Citizen and Observer 2. 1933-1940-Cast as Cassandra
P ART III:
TIME OF PERIL
XIII
Call to Arms

1. Back to Washington 2. The Newcomer 3. The Best Staff He Ever Had
XIV
The First Year

1. Men for the New Army 2. Supplies 3. To Britain Alone
XV
Valley of Doubt

1. A Difference with the President 2. The Price of Indecision
XVI
The War Begins

1. Pearl Harbor 2. Mission of Delay 3. War Secretary
XVII
The Army and Grand Strategy

1. Pearl Harbor to North Africa 2. The Great Decision
XVIII
The Wartime Army

1. Reorganization 2. Dipping Down 3. The Place of Specialists 4. Student Soldiers 5. The Army and the Negro 6. Science and New Weapons
XIX
The Effort for Total Mobilization

1. Military Manpower 2. National Service 3. Labor and the War 4. The Army and War Production A Note on Administration 5. Public Relations
XX
The Army and the Navy

1. Stimson and the Admirals 2. Lessons of Antisubmarine War 3. Unification and the Future
XXI
The Army and the Grand Alliance

1. Stilwell and China 2. France-Defeat, Darlan, De Gaulle, and Deliverance 3. FDR and Military Government 4. A Word from Hindsight
XXII
The Beginnings of Peace

1. A Shift in Emphasis 2. The Morgenthau Plan 3. The Crime of Aggressive War 4. Planning for Reconstruction 5. A Strong America 6. Bases and Big Powers 7. The Emergent Russian Problem
XXIII
The Atomic Bomb and the Surrender of Japan

1. Making a Bomb 2. The Achievement of Surrender
XXIV
The Bomb and Peace with Russia
XXV
The Last Month

1. Judgment of the Army 2. The Chief of Staff 3. The Commander in Chief 4. The End

Afterword by Henry L. Stimson

A Note of Explanation and Acknowledgment by McGeorge Bundy

Brief Chronology of World War II

Index
INTRODUCTION
THIS book contains an account of the years of my public service-my actions, motives, and estimates of results-from my point of view. The writing of the book has been the work of Mr. McGeorge Bundy. Its style and composition are his; but, where he writes of what I have thought and felt, he does so after we have worked together for eighteen months in an earnest effort to make an accurate and balanced account. We have aimed to present not only my past experience but my present opinions as clearly and as honestly as we can. The result is a record which I believe fully reflects my best judgment of what my public life has been. I am profoundly grateful to him for having made possible this record upon questions which are vital to me and on which I have spent most of my active life.
This book is intended to be a pilot biography -to be written while my memory of important events is still alive-in order to forestall possible biographies written without the careful aid of my papers or myself. Unfortunately I have lived long enough to know that history is often not what actually happened but what is recorded as such. While it is as accurate as Mr. Bundy and I can make it, we know that even so it contains errors of fact and judgment, and accordingly my executors will be directed to place my diaries and other papers in a depository where, in due time, they will be perfectly accessible to historians and other students, in order that such errors may be corrected in the cold light of history.
Inasmuch as I did not enter into public office until I was over thirty-eight years old and kept no diaries of my previous life, and as the reader may have some interest in the sources from which I came and the formative conditions which developed and influenced me during my early life, it has seemed well that I should add to this introduction a few pages bearing on those factors. It will be necessarily a little longer and I trust a little more illuminating than a transcription of Who s Who and will be wholly dependent upon my own memory. When a man reaches my age, there are-for better or worse-few who can either corroborate or contradict him.
My forebears on both sides of my family were nearly all of New England stock, products of the Massachusetts migration during the first half of the seventeenth century. They were sturdy, middle-class people, religious, thrifty, energetic, and long-lived. Almost the only non-English strain was composed of the French Huguenot Boudinots, represented in my great-grandmother, whose stories to me of her childhood talks with George Washington, coupled with the fact that I possessed for some years not only all my grandparents but in addition no less than four great-grandparents, convinced me that man s normal term of life on this earth was at least a hundred years. Soon after the Revolution both sides of the family moved from Massachusetts and took up land in New York, my Stimson ancestor, who had been a soldier in the Continental Army throughout the war, becoming the first settler of Windham in the Catskills, and the ancestors of my mother settling on the Delaware River near Delhi. Both lines contained enough clergymen and deacons to keep up fairly well the moral standards of the stock. From these agrarian surroundings of up-State New York my father s father and my mother s mother, years later, attracted by the great city which was developing at the mouth of the Hudson, moved down to New York to try to find a more interesting and varied life.
I was born in New York City on September 21, 1867. Less than nine years thereafter my young mother died leaving her two children motherless, but the doors of my grandparents home immediately opened and took us in to the loving care of the large family within.
From then until I was thirteen years old I lived the life of a New York City boy. During the morning I attended New York schools whose curricula were so unsatisfactory that for two years my hard-working father took me entirely out of school and himself gave me the only teaching of that period which stood by me in later years. During the afternoon I had no outdoor place wherein to play except the cobbled streets of the city. There were then in New York no recreation grounds in or out of the schools, and the grassy meadows of Central Park were strictly foreclosed against trespass. Nor were there any rapid transit systems by which to reach the outside country.
But at thirteen there came a great change. My mental and physical horizons broadened before me. My father, dissatisfied with the conditions in New York, placed me in Phillips Academy at Andover, Massachusetts. I was much younger than any other boy in the school but the new surroundings were like heaven to a boy who craved escape from city life. I have heard the discipline of Phillips Academy of those old days described by an alumnus as perfect freedom, tempered by expulsion. Of the outdoor life of the students that was a fair description. There was football, baseball, skating, bobsledding, and walking over the hills and woodlands of northern Massachusetts within generous limits, quite untrammeled by authority.
But once we entered the classroom it was quite a different matter. Andover fitted a boy for college and it fitted him well. The courses taught were fewer than they are today, but they were taught with extreme thoroughness. And the numbers of each class being large, the mere experience of standing up before a good-sized audience and answering tough problems before a rapid-firing instructor was in itself a stiff discipline to the average boy. To me it opened a new world of effort and competition. It also opened to me a new world of democracy and of companionship with boys from all portions of the United States. At that time Phillips Academy contained about two hundred fifty students, many coming from rural New England, but the remainder from nearly every other state in the Union. A large percentage of them were working their own way in whole or in part.
School life was extremely simple