A few days later he called a press conference at the UMW headquarters and announced that all miners were to return to work immediately on the conditions previously agreed in the contract.
In Manila, 20,000 servicemen booed Lieutenant General W.D. Styles and the indiscipline spread to every theatre where US troops were stationed. In Yokohama Secretary Patterson was howled down as he tried to explain the problems of demobilisation shipping.
In Paris the Red Cross Clubs had boards exhorting servicemen to “Back up your Manila buddies,” and a mob marched down the Champs Elysées waving flags and chanting “We wanna go home.” And in Frankfurt a mindless, howling mob of four thousand GIs rampaged through the streets and were only turned back by the bayonets of the MPs.
The very newspapers who had played their part in supporting the GIs’ demands to be sent home now demanded that they should be brought under control and referred openly to “a breakdown of army discipline.” General Eisenhower told Congressional leaders that there was now a real danger that the United States “would run out of army.” He added that he was sure that the outbreaks had been deliberately organised by subversives working to a deliberate plan to undermine the morale of the army. What disturbed his listeners most was that it might become necessary to let US influence in Europe go by default to “some other country.” In the post-war euphoria it was not done to speak of any nation as a potential enemy but his audience knew who he meant. There had been ten million men in the Red Army in Europe, and they were still there. All of them. And they were not indulging in wanna-go-home riots.
Despite these battles and concerns it was a letter that President Truman had received from a man he respected that worried him most. It had been handed to him by the British Ambassador almost a year ago. And for some reason which he couldn’t have explained he had not shown it to any of his cabinet. The letter had been so far-sighted and what it forecast had already come true. And he had a dreadful feeling that what it merely hinted at was about to happen. He hadn’t heeded the warning. Imbued with Roosevelt’s determination to try and work with the Russians and his suspicions of British intentions in the post-war world, he had ignored the facts. They now had to be faced and he sat at his desk in the White House and read the letter again. It was from Winston Churchill and was dated May 12, 1945.
Prime Minister to President Truman.
I am profoundly concerned about the European situation. I learn that half the American Air Force in Europe has already begun to move to the Pacific theatre. The newspapers are full of the great movements of the American armies out of Europe. Our armies also are, under previous arrangements, likely to undergo a marked reduction. The Canadian Army will certainly leave. The French are weak and difficult to deal with. Anyone can see that in a very short space of time our armed power on the Continent will have vanished, except for moderate forces to hold down Germany.
2 … I have always worked for friendship with Russia, but like you, I feel deep anxiety because of their misinterpretation of the Yalta decisions, their attitude towards Poland, their overwhelming influence in the Balkans … the difficulties they make about Vienna, the combination of Russian power and the territories under their control or occupied coupled with the Communist technique in so many other countries, and above all their power to maintain very large armies in the field for a long time …
3. An iron curtain is drawn down upon their front. We do not know what is going on behind …
4. Meanwhile the attention of our peoples will be occupied in inflicting seventies upon Germany, which is ruined and prostrate, and it would be open to the Russians in a very short time to advance if they chose to the waters of the North Sea and the Atlantic …
CHAPTER 23
Anna watched Aarons as he listened to the news on the radio. She wondered so often about what went on inside his head. Chantal’s death had left him even more aloof and silent than he was before. He never spoke about her after the cremation but her clothes and things were left just where they had always been. She had tried so hard to make him take an interest in other things than his work but it was pointless. But he often sighed deeply when he thought he was not observed. She wondered what he would say when she told him her plans. At first she had thought that Chantal’s death meant that he would need her even more. But gradually she had realised that individual people meant nothing to Andrei. He cared about the world, not people. She took a deep breath. “Andrei.”
He looked at her. “What is it, Anna?”
“I want to talk to you.”
He switched off the radio and smiled. “Go on.”
It was the first time she had seen him smile for months and for a moment she wondered if it was the right time to speak.
“I’m going to be married next month, Andrei.”
He shook his head like a dog coming out of water and the shock on his face disturbed her.
He swallowed and then said, “Tell me about it. Who is the man and how long have you known him?”
“His name is Sam. Sam Fisher. We’ve been seeing each other for almost six years.”
“What does he do?”
“He’s a pianist. A jazz pianist. He plays in clubs and hotels in Manhattan.”
“I had no idea. Why didn’t you tell me before?”
“Chantal felt that it might get in the way of your work so I decided to wait.”
“Why would it have been a problem?”
“He’s not a Party member. He’s not interested in politics. You might have worried that I would talk about
