THE ROBERT W. WHITAKER ARCHIVE

HEROISM CANNOT TRUMP STUPIDITY | 2005-05-21

Germany and the Soviet Union were buddies until June 22, 1941. That was the day Germany, which shared Poland with the USSR, attacked the USSR on the common front they shared in Poland.

So the Germans thought, "OK, now you know what we were really after all this time was the Soviet Union."

Wrong.

Right after Germany invaded the USSR something incredible happened. Rudolf Hess, the Number Three man in the entire Nazi Government, flew straight to Britain to arrange for a peace settlement with Britain and the freeing of France so Germany could take care of Stalin.

Hess was a World War I hero as a combat pilot. This was a heroic mission that was typical of Hess.

I knew someone who served with him in World War I. He called my friend before he left. Hitler knew all about it.

The number three man in the United States Government is the Speaker of the House. Can you imagine, in the middle of a war, the Speaker of the House flying unprotected into an enemy country and trying to make peace?

That's what happened. Germany simply could not understand that Churchill lived in 1814. Edward R. Murrow and Roosevelt said Hess was nuts. Hess spent the rest of his life in prison.