Historical Characters in "Cold War" - Lucius D. Clay
The Bridge to Tomorrow Series includes several historical characters. One of these was the US Military Governor at the time of the Berlin Crisis, General Lucius D. Clay. Although Clay was a highly decorated General, he never fought in combat. He arrived in Germany with no liking for the Germans, yet he became a hero to the Germans. And although the Berlin Airlift was a British idea and the RAF flew the first sorties, he was the man whose support enabled the Airlift to succeed:
General Lucius D. Clay
Lucius Clay was the son of a U.S. Senator from Georgia. Born in 1898, he was just a fraction too young to fight in WWI, graduating from West Point in 1918. An engineer, he was heavily involved in major engineering projects during the interwar years, particularly dams and -- strikingly -- airfields. By March 1942, Clay was the youngest brigadier general in the U.S. army, and had taken charge of military procurement. "For three long years, Clay kept millions of soldiers supplied with everything they needed." [1] He had a reputation as a "workaholic" who substituted two packs of cigarettes and two dozen cups of coffee for lunch.
When the war ended, Clay remained Eisenhower's deputy as the later transitioned into the role of Military Governor of the American zone of occupation. As such, he was from the start Eisenhower's representative on the Allied Control Council (ACC), which met in Berlin. Clay arrived in Germany without speaking any German and without any particular knowledge of German culture or history. He saw the Germans as "the enemy" while he firmly believed that he would be able to work with the Soviets -- just as the U.S. and Britain had worked with them during the war.
Yet Clay was also an engineer and logician with an understanding of economics. It took him almost no time at all to realize that if Germany was ever to become self-sufficient again it would have to be allowed to restore its industrial capacity and to export industrial goods and finished products. The alternative was for Germany to become permanently dependent on U.S. handouts -- or for the population to literally starve to death. Clay may not have liked Germans, but he didn't like the idea of American being permanently responsible for Germany either. He was instrumental in getting American policy changed from one of turning Germany into an agricultural country (the so-called Morganthau plan) to a policy of economic reconstruction. Clay was increasingly involved in the process of creating a new German government and advocating for both Marshall Plan and its extension to Germany. Dramatically, he told the U.S. Congress that the U.S. flag should not fly over territory where children are starving.
Meanwhile, Clay had become disillusioned with the Soviets and their leadership. He no longer expected cooperation and reluctantly recognized that Soviet objectives in Germany were contrary to U.S. and British aims. Clay was intensely frustrated by Washington's slowness in acknowledging the problem with the Soviet Union. When the crisis came in the form of a blockade, Clay was already slated for replacement. His initial response, to advocate an armed convoy to solve the "technical difficulties" that had closed the access routes to Berlin triggered alarm -- both in Washington and London. He flatly denied that the city could be supplied from the air in a press conference on the first day of the blockade. But once he had listened to Air Commodore Waite and received Reuter's assurances that the Berliners could take the hardship, he gave orders to start an airlift without awaiting permission from Washington. Furthermore, once he had committed himself to the Airlift, he became one of its most dogged supporters. Twice he flew to Washington to advocate for it and press for more resources. Fortunately for history, President Truman sided with Clay rather than the Pentagon and State Department.
Below an excerpt from Cold War featuring General Clay. Emily Priestman, representing Air Ambulance International, has requested an meeting with him and come to U.S. Military HQ in Berlin. She is accompanied by Air Commodore Waite, the British Air Attache to the Allied Control Council.
Men busy as uniformed beeshurried here and there. Telephones rang. Typewriters clacked. The heels ofpolished shoes pounded on the gleaming granite of the well-washed floor. Emilyfelt utterly out of place. In the military governor’s anteroom, the [American]lieutenant indicated they should take seats alongside a dozen other supplicantsawaiting an audience with the most powerful man in Germany. The lieutenant thendisappeared into the inner office.
As Emily sat down, she felt theothers assessing her surreptitiously. Men, particularly military men, were aptto categorize women by what they wore. Emily was grateful that the RAF clothingallowance enabled her to outfit herself in stylish, quality, tailored clothes.These suggested she was too much of a lady to be dismissed as either a floozyor a mousy housewife, without looking overly manly. The latter would havepigeon-holed her as a troublesome do-gooder.
The door to the inner officeopened and General Clay appeared. Emily rose to her feet and advanced to shakehis outstretched hand. She could not remember ever seeing the American militarygovernor without dark circles under his eyes, yet he still managed to look moreexhausted than usual. That didn’t stop him from smiling and announcing in asoft, Southern drawl, “A pleasure to see you again, Mrs Priestman. Do come in.Air Commodore Waite.” He returned the latter’s salute and then held out hishand, drawing the Air Commodore inside his office as he closed the door behindthem.
Clay indicated they should sit ata coffee table and took a place at the head. He did not offer them coffee ortea, an indication that he expected their visit to be short. He had given thempriority over that gaggle of officers in the outer office, but he expected themto keep their part of the bargain and confine the visit to a concise minimum.
[Waite opened with] “MrsPriestman and I have come to find out what plans the United States has forevacuating civilians with medical emergencies during this siege.”
Clay took a moment to digest that, and then his eyes flickered in Emily’s direction. At last, he leanedback in his chair and smiled slightly as he replied, “I’m going to be candidwith you: I don’t think we’ve thought that far ahead.” His eyes settled onEmily.
Seizing the silent invitationoffered, Emily opened with her prepared remarks. “General, in the last months Ihave visited nearly forty hospitals in the Western Sectors of Berlin and what Isaw shocked me deeply. You may think that I was naïve. I certainly don’t haveyour vast experience, and I’m sure you have seen many sobering sights beyond myimagination. Yet, nothing can change the fact that the hospitals in this cityare in a dreadful state. Nearly all of them sustained damage during the wareither from our bombs or Soviet artillery or both. None have been properlyrebuilt since. All are run down. I was particularly struck by how dark theyare. They lack sufficient glazing for widows and have only inadequate,artificial light — and that was before the Blockade started and electricityrationing came into effect. They are overcrowded and understaffed. They do nothave enough clean sheets or pillows for every bed.” She paused, Clay waslistening to her, but he did not seem moved.
Emily continued. “The mostdistressing thing I learnt was that due to an acute shortage of surgeons,surgical equipment, and anaesthetics, Berlin hospitals have long been unable toconduct certain kinds of surgery. They can do no heart or brain surgery,for example, nor can they operate for stomach and other forms of cancer.”
Clay nodded but said nothing.Emily had no choice but to forge ahead. “The situation, as you can imagine, hasbeen aggravated by the Blockade. The hospitals can no longer be assured ofeither power or diesel for their generators. Patients on life support systemscould be lost due to sudden or sustained power outages. The most vulnerable ofpatients, are at risk.” Emily hesitated and then with a glance at Waite asked,“General, do you want the American flag to fly over a city where the hospitalshave become helpless? Where the sick are dying for want of proper medicaltreatment?”
Clay cleared his throat andannounced, “No. The evacuation of seriously ill hospital patients makes sense.We shouldn’t be flying food or fuel in for people who need medical treatmentthat can’t be provided. I’m a touch confused, however, Mrs Priestman, becauseas I remember it, you work for an air ambulance company. Aren’t you alreadyactively engaged in flying the most severe cases out of Berlin?”
“General, Air AmbulanceInternational has been forced to shut down its operations.”
Clay looked startled. “Why?”
“Do you know the cost of a gallonof aviation fuel, General?”
“Not off the top of my head, butaviation fuel for this airlift is costing the American taxpayer upwards of halfa million dollars every day.”
“I can’t afford to fill aWellington from my kitchen kitty, General, and nor can Mr Goldman, and nor canthe Berlin City government because aviation fuel can only be purchased withhard currency.”
Clay did not bat an eye andnothing in his expression betrayed what he was thinking. Emily had no choicebut to continue, “Air Ambulance International could shuttle as many as 18seriously ill patients out of Berlin each day — but only if the aircraft is intip-top condition, which requires meticulous maintenance and the rapidreplacement of defective equipment. Furthermore, it can only fly three flightsa day if it has two fully qualified pilots on board. It must also have oxygenand life-support systems for the patients. And, as I indicated before, aviationfuel. If we are to help with the evacuation of those who need medicaltreatment, we have to receive sufficient compensation for our services to coverour expenses and our staff.”
“And General Robertson has turnedyou down?” Clay asked, his eyes boring into her.
“No, sir,” Emily squirmed. “Wedecided not to ask him.”
“Why was that?” Clay wanted toknow.
Emily hesitated and then didsomething she rarely did, she flirted. With a smile, she admitted, “Well,General, my husband thought you would be more receptive to an appeal from alady than General Robertson.”
Clay smiled faintly at that andnodded ambiguously. He appeared to be thinking things over, and Emily decidedit was wiser not to push him any further, although she glanced at Waite, whowinked encouragement.
After several tense seconds inwhich no one spoke or moved, the American general nodded and got to his feet.He pushed a buzzer on his desk and the lieutenant who had escorted themimmediately popped in. Clay told his aide to fetch a major something-or-otherand then returned to the coffee table and sat down again. “I’ve asked anofficer of my staff to join us. I want you to go with him to his office to workout the details.”
“Meaning the United States willcover the costs of medical evacuations in the air ambulance?”
“If they are reasonable andverifiable, yes. This isn’t a blank cheque, Mrs Priestman, but fundamentally —”There was a knock on the door, and Clay called “Come in.” A major with thick,dark-rimmed glasses saluted, and Clay beckoned him to join them.
“Cohen, Mrs Priestman and AirCommodore Waite have come about emergency medical evacuations for Germancivilians. I’d like you to work out the details with them and be sure a lineitem is added to our next budget request covering anticipated costs.”
“Yes, sir!”
Clay turned to Emily and shookher hand with a wan smile. “A pleasure as always, Mrs Priestman. You have anuncanny knack for surprising me anew each time I encounter you. Please give myregards and compliments to your husband.”
General Clay is a character in "Cold Peace"
Berlin is under siege. More than twomillion civilians must be supplied by air -- or surrender to Stalin's oppression.
USAF Captain J.B. Baronowsky and RAF FlightLieutenant Kit Moran once risked their lives to drop high explosives on Berlin.They are about to deliver milk, flour and children’s shoes instead. Meanwhile,two women pilots are flying an air ambulance that carries malnourished andabandoned children to freedom in the West. Until General Winter deploys on theside of Russia. Buy now!
Based on historical events, award-winning and best-selling novelistHelena P. Schrader delivers an insightful, exciting and moving tale about howformer enemies became friends in the face of Russian aggression — and how closethe Berlin Airlift came to failing.
Winning a war with milk, coal and candy!
