At ten AM, two men in dark suits exited the White House and approached Joey. He immediately knew them as FBI agents whom he’d seen on duty near the White House. They’d been formal and stern but not in a threatening manner. “Will you please come with us,” one said, “the president wants to talk with you.”
The president? “Sure,” Joey said and followed them. He expected to be taken to the Oval Office but instead went to a smaller office in the West Wing. He was told to have a seat and wait. The president would be along in just a minute.
It was two minutes before a grim Truman entered and Joey nearly fell off his chair. Truman shook his hand and told him to sit down again. Joey noted that Truman was a dapper dresser and was much shorter than he. He also noted that the new president had a strong command presence and a really firm grip.
“Young man, who was the Great Emancipator?”
“Why, Lincoln of course.”
“Yes, and can you imagine Abraham Lincoln arresting people and holding them in prisons without trial or charges?”
“I cannot, sir.”
“Can you imagine Woodrow Wilson doing that either?”
“No, sir,” answered a puzzled Joey. Where was this conversation going? “Woodrow Wilson was a man of peace.”
“Indeed he was and so was Lincoln. Yet both men arrested those who were perceived of as threats to the country and held without bail, charges or trial. Now, do you know why they did that?”
Joey was starting to realize the direction of the questions. “Because we were at war,” he said softly. He wondered if he would be allowed to leave the building.
“Precisely. Because we were fighting the Confederates in Lincoln’s time and the Germans when Wilson was president, Civil liberties were often ignored because it was deemed necessary to protect the country. Were you aware that FDR sent tens of thousands of citizens, both native-born and naturalized, to concentration camps where most of them still remain? Almost all of them are Japanese, but none have been charged with any crime, nor will they be. Do you understand where I am going?”
Joey knew a threat when he heard one and he’d begun to sweat. “If you’re suggesting that I’m a threat to the United States, that’s ridiculous. I just want to save the lives of United States soldiers. I don’t want anyone killed in prosecuting a war that’s already won. I say let the remaining few Nazis stay where they are and grow old, die, and rot in hell.”
“But what about their war crimes?”
“Sir, doesn’t the Bible say something about letting the dead bury the dead? If we can catch them we should punish them, but otherwise let God provide for their punishment. As horrible as it is, nobody can resurrect all the dead Jews.”
“Would you feel that way if the Nazis were still committing those war crimes?”
Before Joey could respond, Truman opened a desk drawer and pulled out a manila folder containing a handful of eight-by-ten photos. “Look at these, Joey,” Truman said in a voice that was taut with anger.
Joey looked at the photos and felt ill. Long rows of dead men lay facedown on the ground. Their hands had been tied behind their backs and they’d been shot in the back of the head.
“Joey, these are slave laborers, mainly Poles and Russians that the Nazis forced to work on their fortifications in the Alps. When they were no longer necessary or got too weak to work, the Nazis, the people you would have us live and let live, murdered them in cold blood.”
“Jesus, I had no idea.”
“I didn’t think you did. These were taken about a week ago and our intelligence estimates that there are at least twenty thousand prisoners remaining in various states of declining health. If we don’t do something, they will all die. I don’t think either one of us has any problems with a couple hundred thousand Nazis starving to death, but I do feel different when it comes to innocent people. I would add that there are a few American prisoners being held in Germanica. What would you have me do with them?”
Joey could feel the force of his arguments slipping away. “What do you want me to do?” he asked in a soft voice.
“I’m under pressure to charge you with either sedition or treason. Attorney General Clark is willing to argue that your wanting our troops out of Germany is giving aid and comfort to our enemy, thus making it treason. J. Edgar Hoover wanted you picked up yesterday and locked up forever, and our previous attorney general, Francis Biddle, agreed with him. You would have spent the rest of the war plus a few decades in prison if they’d had their way.”
Joey was appalled and he began to tremble. He had no idea he could get into trouble simply for doing what he thought was right. The thought of going to prison for possibly the rest of his life horrified him.
“I am not a traitor. If I had known that the Germans were still butchering people I would not have organized this march. My mother wouldn’t have wanted it either.”
“I didn’t think you did.”
“Mr. President, what do you want me to do?”
Truman handed over the folder with the photos. “These are going to be officially given to the press later this afternoon. Take them now and talk to the others in the group. Let them make their own decisions. However, I think it would be a very good idea for you to literally and figuratively distance yourself from the movement and anyone radical enough to want to continue on.”
Joey took the pictures. He would show them around and tell his new comrades that he was going to bail on them. He had a wry thought. He was going to bail and not go to jail. God, had he gotten himself into water that was way too deep for him.
“There are reporters hanging around our camp. I’ll make sure they understand my change of heart.”
Truman stood. The interview was clearly over. They shook hands. “I knew you’d see reason when you understood what the facts were. I only met your mother for that one tragic moment, but I know she’d be proud of you.”
Joey left with his FBI guardians. Truman was relieved to have solved one crisis, if only a minor one. Now all he had to do was solve the growing problem of Stalin’s Soviet Union, which was beginning to make demands that could not be tolerated. He had to concede that poor Poland was again lost. The Red Army was on her soil and not likely to leave. The same held true for Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia. Czechoslovakia and Hungary also had new masters. Austria and Germany would be partitioned.
Japan had surrendered and millions of GIs were clamoring for what they felt was a long overdue discharge.
CHAPTER 15
“This is disgusting,” Winnie said as she watched the first bus pull away from the border checkpoint with Germanica. The bus was trailed by two others and by several trucks, all containing luggage and furniture. The bus windows were closed and shaded. Whoever was inside was safe from prying eyes. However, she and Ernie knew who the passengers were. Allen Dulles had gotten the information from his contacts in the Swiss government. At first it had shocked them, but then it did make sense.
“The black widow and her hatchlings have arrived,” Ernie said and Winnie nodded.
The bus contained Magda Goebbels and her six children. Whether or not Magda would stay at the very hastily constructed compound surrounding a large house outside of Arbon was another matter. Ernie felt it was likely that she would cross the border at her leisure and be at her husband’s side until the end. The children, it was felt, would stay in the relative safety of Arbon, or be moved someplace else in Switzerland. Whether or not either parent would die in the fighting was another unanswered question.