THE STATE OF THE REPUBLIC: How the misadventures of U.S. policy since WWII have led to the quagmire of today's economic, social and political disappointments.

By Harry Gael Michaels M.A.

The State of the Republic is an overview of significant political, social and economic events since the end of WWII, along with a look at the criminal justice system, that have led up to the quagmire of disorder witnessed daily among our political leaders in Washington. The American people are fraught with frustration and mistrust of our governm

• Language: English
• Publisher: TOPLINK PUBLISHING, LLC
• Release date: Feb 5, 2018
• ISBN: 9781948556538

Harry Gael Michaels M.A.

The author's experience as a juvenile probation officer and later as a school psychologist at the secondary level has given him a unique perspective, over the years, as a credible observer of the political leadership in our country and how it has influenced the morale and self-esteem of our people and, particularly, the youth of America. His baccalaureate degree in political science and history and his graduate degree in student personnel services contributes to his understanding of the implications of political leadership on the State of the Republic.

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The State of the Republic

How the misadventures of U.S. policy since WWII have led to the quagmire of today’s economic,

social and political disappointments.

Harry Gael Michaels, M.A.

Copyright © 2018 by Harry Gael Michaels, M.A.

Paperback: 978-1-948556-52-1

eBook: 978-1-948556-53-8

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

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Contents

Part I

The Road to Dysfunction and Decline

Part II

The Folly of the Criminal Justice System in America

Part III

The Road to Reform and Recovery

Preface

Forwored

These two anthems, so close to the American heart, seem to represent an internal fugue in the disposition of American policy. On the one hand we aspire to present to the world A shining city on the hill as was a favorite expression of Ronald Reagan, while on the other, it represents a beleaguered country desperately hanging on to its sovereignty against mortal threat and extinction through extraordinary gallantry and bravery. It is with this balance in mind that I write this e ssay.

Part I

The Road to Dysfunction and Decline

When WWII came to an end in 1945, historians were suggesting that the coming era would be called the Age of Anxiety because for the first time, in human history, the world had to face the possibility of nuclear annihilation. We did not anticipate the anxiety that would pervade this country due to the social/political/economic misadventures of the post WWII era. However, we emerged from WWII as an unequaled world power and confident of controlling the nuclear genie. The United States had decisively won, perhaps, the most significant war in history and then began to reach out to its conquered enemies to help them in their recovery and re-construc tion.

At the close of WWII in Europe and the discovery of the suicidal remains of Adolph Hitler and his new bride, Eva Braun, in a bunker under his Reich Chancellery, Germany was in a state of total destruction and collapse. Then in 1948, under the Marshall Plan conceived by General George C. Marshall, President Truman’s Secretary of State, C-54 cargo planes from the U.S. were dispatched on a round-the-clock schedule flying into Berlin with vital supplies for the devastated German people and helping them restore their shattered homeland to some semblance of order and recovery, while at Nuremberg, Nazi war criminals were being prosecuted for unspeakable crimes against humanity. It was during this time that the full horror of the death camps came to light.

As a result of the Yalta (Feb. 1945) and Potsdam (Aug. 1945) conferences, a decision was made by the allied governments to acquiesce to the Premier of the Soviet Union, Joseph Stalin, and his demands for control of east Berlin and eastern Germany at the end of the war. From there it was rather easy for Stalin to annex the rest of Eastern Europe as well as the tiny countries of Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania. Other concessions were made as well to Stalin in the Far East. He was given control of the Kurile Islands and South Sakhalin Island north of Japan, the port cities of Darien and Port Arthur as well as control of the Manchurian railway. This was to be his reward for entering the war against Japan six days before the unconditional surrender of the Japanese on the deck of the battleship, Missouri, in Tokyo Bay. As an aside, it is interesting to note that in recent years there have been friendly meetings at some of the Pacific battle sites between veterans of the U.S. as well as those of the Japanese. A documentary was broadcast on American television over 60 years after the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941 in which a veteran Japanese pilot who took part in the attack, was met by a veteran American pilot, at Pearl Harbor on the Memorial of the U.S.S. Arizona, in which they recalled their part in the event---in friendship and good will.

After the Japanese surrender, General Douglas MacArthur set about establishing a new post-war democratic political system in that devastated country and the Emperor Hirohito was no longer regarded as a descendent of the Sun God. Japanese citizens could now look upon his face while they cleaned up the utter devastation and first use of a nuclear weapon in the history of warfare and the utter obliteration of Nagasaki and Hiroshima, the first two cities ever to be destroyed by nuclear weapons. Even though MacArthur was a political conservative, most of those working under him were liberal democrats who were following the deceased President Roosevelt’s New Deal. This was in recognition of labor unions and the notion of collective bargaining to settle labor-management differences such as wages, work hours or working conditions. Generally, the New Deal allowed for private enterprise under the guidance of the government.

Back home, returning veterans had begun enjoying their rewards of victory by starting families and continuing their education on the Gl Bill. All over America college campuses were bordered by Quonset huts and barrack-type living quarters for married vets and their families. Young kids were now going to college with older veterans and could find themselves sitting next to a war-wise former officer or enlisted man from any branch of the Armed Forces. Adequate housing was quite accessible at a three percent, thirty-year fixed mortgage or less on a VA loan. Things were booming as Rosie the Riveter relinquished her job for a returning serviceman and women went back into the home--at least, temporarily. New cars, toasters and refrigerators hit the market and wartime ration stamp books went out in the trash. The price of a Coca Cola was five cents. You could buy a new car for $900.00 dollars and a new house for $9,000.00. The cost of a postage stamp was three cents.

The United Nations Organization was formed in San Francisco in 1945 and its first major challenge was the Korean conflict that began in 1950. Communist-inspired Koreans from the north, who had seen the Communist takeover of China in 1949, launched an all-out attack on the southern provinces of Korea. It was believed that the incursion of North Korea, under the Russian installed Kim il Sung, into South Korea under the leadership of the American installed Syngman Rhee, a devout Christian and with a Ph.D. in political science from Princeton, could trigger an Armageddon if nuclear weapons were to be used. A plan, therefore, of containment and resistance had to be implemented without provoking the hordes of Communist Chinese to enter the fray and, also to avoid resorting to nuclear escalation. With this delicate balance in mind, President Truman flew out to Wake Island (1951) to meet with General MacArthur to relieve him as Supreme Commander in Korea. President Truman believed that MacArthur was committed to launching a total invasion of North Korea that would take him into Manchuria; thereby, inciting a major conflict with China. The new era, however, dictated a policy of containment of aggressive adversaries rather than the achievement of total victory and unconditional surrender as was the case in WWII. It was later to be learned that the containment policy of Soviet aggression, as fathered by George F. Kennan, head of the State Department’s first policy planning staff (1947-1950), was intended to be political and diplomatic rather than military. However, the subsequent reconfiguration of this policy under the hawkish advice of Paul Nitze, National Security Council under President Harry Truman, led to the military involvements in Korea and Vietnam to curb the domino effect of a Communist insurgence.

As we entered the ‘50s the Soviet Union, our ally in WWII, was now seen as a deadly adversary following the deliverance of nuclear secret documents by Ethel and Julius Rosenberg (1951) and the subsequent buildup of nuclear weapons under Stalin’s sinister leadership. Children were taught to duck and cover in response to