WILLKIE FOR PRESIDENT. Of the many former Roosevelt supporters who have bolted from the President’s ranks as he chases an unprecedented third term, the most prominent of all is -- Wendell Willkie. An article in Current History points out that Willkie himself actively supported F.D.R.’s first presidential bid, donating $150 to the Roosevelt campaign. Willkie showed good judgement then, as he does now in seeking to replace the President.
Castigated by his enemies as a cynical manipulator and a would-be Caesar, Franklin D. Roosevelt has in fact been a pretty good chief executive and an able administrator whose best-known reforms, such as Social Security, are today endorsed by forward-thinking Republicans and Democrats alike. Most importantly, President Roosevelt saw better than most Americans the dangers of a Nazi victory in the European war and moved as aggressively as he dared to get the U.S. behind the democracies. But contrary to the argument of New Dealers this campaign season, that does not make him indispensable. It’s critical that in this year of unprecedented world crisis that the U.S. stay true to the wise ways of our forefathers. The third-term tradition is indeed a wise one. It periodically renews our democratic faith with a solemn promise -- that America continues to be governed by laws, not by men.
President Roosevelt has served ably, but it is time for him to respect that tradition and step aside in favor of other men -- such as Wendell Willkie. "If you want a good, shrewd, able business man to unscramble the tax and business situation," said former Democratic presidential nominee Alfred E. Smith several months ago, "there’s Wendell Willkie." He is a first-rate utility executive who upholds the rights of unions, a man whose straightforward talk and keen business sense make him better equipped than anyone in the current Administration to clear away the bottlenecks in U.S. preparedness plans. Willkie supports the military draft and all aid to Britain short of war. He proposes not to demolish the New Deal, but to rescue it from its friends -- those who believe the only way to administer programs is through "domination of the legislature, the courts, and the people by big government." He counts many friends in both parties, and his flexibility can be summed up in one of his observations -- "The greatest joy in life is to keep one’s thoughts uncontrolled by formulas."
Certainly one can reject the base insults hurled at Roosevelt by the isolationists ("Warmonger!" "Dictator!") and still oppose giving him a third term. The principle is so much greater than any individual’s views of this President. As minister and author Norman Vincent Peale writes, "I would not vote for my own brother for a third term. No man or men have immunity to the corrosion of power upon their souls." That alone is a very great reason to vote for Wendell Willkie in 1940. Thankfully, we have many other reasons to give him our enthusiastic support.
SEVEN WEEKS OF BOMBING. Frank R. Kelley writes a fairly typical bombing-roundup in Monday's New York Herald Tribune -- "minor attacks" by scattered German formations on southeast England, a "usual nightly alarm" for London, and "vigorous action" by the R.A.F. against Hamburg and Nazi-held invasion ports. As the Nazi bombing campaign reaches the seven-week mark, Britain’s official casualty figures are remarkably low so far -- 8,365 killed, 12,252 injured. The majority of those killed so far have been women, and four-fifths of the total Londoners. Yet lest one get the idea that the Germans have quieted their bombing campaign, the current issue of Time reports it’s merely a change in strategy, with an eye toward random strikes and terror tactics --
"Big bombers and dive bombers stopped flying over Britain almost entirely. In their place went fast light bombers and fighting planes fitted up with racks for a few medium bombs. These droned over high, in small but incessant waves. They made air-raid alarms last longer than ever, interrupting civilian life and preying upon morale more persistently than ever. Bombs were dropped more indiscriminately than ever, yet sometimes with more wickedly calculated aim. For every now and then a lone pilot would cut his motor, glide daringly down and plant his load in a thoroughfare crowded with pedestrians going to work, on a cathedral, a university, a hospital, a railroad station. The Germans called these the ‘trip-hammer’ blows of ‘total air war.’ The British admitted it was the most thoroughgoing treatment they had yet received."
CRUX OF THE WAR DUE NEXT APRIL? Edwin L. James writes in Sunday’s New York Times that the invasion of Britain is definitely off for now, but we won’t know until at least next April whether Britain can turn the tide or not --
"While the long Winter nights bring the British an advantage which they may be expected to use and while the immensity of their target enables them to use the element of surprise to greater extent than can the Germans, it is not to be expected that they can perform any miracle which would cause the collapse of Germany this Winter....On the other hand, the Germans will not be able to starve out Britain in the next six months. Despite sinkings, the British merchant marine is just as large now as at the beginning of hostilities and perhaps a bit larger. This all points to next Spring as being the period of determining interest. If by April 1 the Germans have kept up their torture of London and if during the Winter the British shall have inflicted heavier damage on Berlin, the situation will be shaping up for a real struggle next year. As things stand now, Hitler may appear to have an advantage. He has been enormously successful in 1940 and, despite the liability he has in Italy, seems in a very strong position. However, the British have shown that they can take it....John Bull is still going strong."
Mr. James is also far more optimistic than I that "Britain cannot be defeated in the Mediterranean or in the Orient; Britain must be defeated in Britain." A Britain deprived of links to the vital regions of her Empire is a perilously weakened Britain, and if this winter brings Nazi victories in the Near East, Suez, and Gibraltar, the British may well face 1941 in as bad a shape as they were in during the early days of this past summer, if not worse.
ITALIAN BOMBERS OVER THE PERSIAN GULF. Allen Raymond reports in Monday’s New York Herald Tribune on a "spectacular" though militarily insignificant gesture by Mussolini’s air force -- Italian heavy bombers have raided oil works on the Island of Bahrein in the Persian Gulf, after a flight of 2,800 miles from Milan. Significantly, the targets hit by Italy’s bombs are owned by a pair of U.S. oil companies, Standard Oil of California and the Texas Company. The Fascists claim the raid caused "enormous fires visible at a great distance." On the other hand, a Standard Oil spokesman says a water pipe and an oil pipe were slightly damaged, with no injuries. The oilman's version is probably much closer to the truth.
Saturday, October 22, 2016
Thursday, October 20, 2016
Sunday, October 20, 1940
THE AXIS THREATENS GREECE. Not surprisingly, Germany and Italy are shrinking from a possible confrontation with the combined military power of Russia and Turkey. Hitler, who above all likes an unfair fight, is now said by the Associated Press to be pressuring Greece, probably the weakest of the Balkan states militarily. According to the A.P., the Axis has made five demands on the Greeks -- an end to economic ties with Britain, territorial concessions to Italy and Bulgaria, permission for Italy to build a military road, Axis use of certain Greek air bases, and the dissolution of the government led by King George and Premier Metaxas. There’s no word in the A.P. report on any response from the Greek government.
Britain and Turkey have pledged to come to Greece’s aid if she is attacked. But can Britain, so ineffectual in getting help to Norway and the low countries when they were invaded, put troops on the ground in Greece, on the other side of the continent? How many of the Turks' "2,000,000 bayonets" could be safely moved through the narrow corridor of western Thrace in time to help the Greeks resist an invasion? Apparently the Hitler plan is to use Greece as a jumping-off point for a German drive directed at the Near East oilfields and the Suez Canal. Alas, it appears likely that whether by intimidation or invasion, the Nazis will be in Athens very soon.
WAS AN INVASION PLANNED FOR SEPT. 16TH? Robert P. Post passes along the info from London in Saturday’s New York Times --
"Authoritative sources here have indulged in some speculation and come to the conclusion that Chancellor Hitler had set Sept. 16 as the date for his invasion of England and had failed because of the Royal Air Force’s hammering at the invasion ports. According to this speculation there were a full harvest moon and high tides on that date. The air force was in readiness, and a fleet of barges and boats was standing by. It is now reported that troops actually embarked that day, but then were ordered back on shore. This suggests that Sept. 15, the day of one of the heaviest daylight attacks on England, told the tale. That was the day the British shot down 185 German planes. This loss, coupled with R.A.F. attacks on Channel ports, is believed to have caused abandonment of the invasion for the time being."
WILLKIE PICKS UP 85 ELECTORAL VOTES. The newest Gallup survey, run in Friday’s Washington Post, contains some of the best news for the G.O.P. in the entire campaign. Dr. Gallup says that the trend toward President Roosevelt which was noted throughout August and September "has been halted and reversed." In twelve days, the latest poll says, Willkie gained one percent in the overall popular vote and moved five states -- Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, Indiana, and Iowa -- into his column. Willkie still trails in the popular vote, 55% to 45%, but Roosevelt’s comfortable lead is "precarious," Gallup says, because 9% of the vote is still undecided and in eight states, with 129 electoral votes, Roosevelt’s lead is less than 4%.
FORMERLY FOR F.D.R., NOW FOR WILLKIE. Just as Gallup tells us that Wendell Willkie has started shooting upward in the polls, it seems like there’s a number of stories in the press about former Roosevelt supporters who’ve come on board the Willkie bandwagon. Okay, well, two stories that I’ve seen. The first is Robert C. Albright’s article in Saturday’s Washington Post about the radio endorsement from Senator Hiram Johnson, the veteran Progressive Republican of California who was once a strong Roosevelt supporter. What’s significant about Senator Johnson’s announcement, according to the Post, is his acid attack on the Third Term -- "Johnson said the third-term bid presents a greater crisis than the war and may involve ‘the preservation of the last fortress of democracy on this earth.’" The Chicago Tribune story by Chesly Manly offers more quotes --
"[President Roosevelt] has contributed a perfect illustration of every danger and evil which Jefferson foresaw so clearly, and against which he warned his countrymen so earnestly. No longer need we consider what may happen -- what is certain to happen is obvious if the President sees fit to destroy this great tradition and custom. If he sees fit to increase his term four years, he can increase it eight, or 16, and finally, as Jefferson once remarked, the whole Presidential office becomes but an inheritance."
The current Time magazine mentions a few choice Democrats who are supporting Willkie -- (1) Mrs. Harold M. Lehman, the niece of New York Governor Lehman, he who made the notorious speech last month claiming the Axis are rooting for Willkie. His niece’s comment -- "I don’t think being a Democrat and not voting for Roosevelt is news this year." (2) Mrs. Isabella Greenway, a former Democratic congresswoman from Arizona and the bridesmaid at Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt’s wedding 35 years ago. Says she -- "Every instinct of my country tells me we should not risk a third term." (3) The President’s third cousin, 93-year-old Mrs. Deborah Delano, who made the most damning statement of all -- "Even if he is as smart as they say, no man is smart enough to run for three terms."
THE GALLUP POLL "BOX SCORE." Here’s how the states stack in the newest Gallup survey, with the leading candidate’s estimated percentage of the vote in parentheses --
Willkie -- Nebraska (58%), North Dakota (57%), South Dakota (57%), Kansas (55%), Vermont (54%), Maine (53%), Indiana (53%), Illinois (53%), Michigan (53%), Iowa (52%), and Wisconsin (51%).
Roosevelt -- South Carolina (98%), Mississippi (95%), Georgia (85%), Alabama (85%), Texas (85%), Louisiana (84%), Arkansas (79%), Florida (76%), North Carolina (72%), Virginia (71%), Tennessee (69%), Arizona (67%), Maryland (64%), Nevada (63%), West Virginia (62%), Montana (62%), Oklahoma (62%), Delaware (61%), New Mexico (60%), Kentucky (59%), Rhode Island (58%), Connecticut (58%), Utah (58%), Oregon (57%), Washington (57%), California (56%), New Jersey (56%), Pennsylvania (55%), Idaho (55%), Massachusetts (54%), Minnesota (54%), New Hampshire (53%), Missouri (53%), New York (52%), Ohio (52%), Wyoming (52%), Colorado (51%).
Obviously the President has a huge advantage, but it’ll be interesting to see how this picture looks in twelve more days, if the Willkie trend continues. Senator Hiram Johnson is enormously popular in California -- he was recently renominated for office on every party ticket in the state except for the Communists. His ringing endorsement of Willkie will make a big impact there. Also, Gallup points out that in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, which have 52 electoral votes between them, the numbers of undecided voters are still significantly higher than Roosevelt’s lead.
Britain and Turkey have pledged to come to Greece’s aid if she is attacked. But can Britain, so ineffectual in getting help to Norway and the low countries when they were invaded, put troops on the ground in Greece, on the other side of the continent? How many of the Turks' "2,000,000 bayonets" could be safely moved through the narrow corridor of western Thrace in time to help the Greeks resist an invasion? Apparently the Hitler plan is to use Greece as a jumping-off point for a German drive directed at the Near East oilfields and the Suez Canal. Alas, it appears likely that whether by intimidation or invasion, the Nazis will be in Athens very soon.
WAS AN INVASION PLANNED FOR SEPT. 16TH? Robert P. Post passes along the info from London in Saturday’s New York Times --
"Authoritative sources here have indulged in some speculation and come to the conclusion that Chancellor Hitler had set Sept. 16 as the date for his invasion of England and had failed because of the Royal Air Force’s hammering at the invasion ports. According to this speculation there were a full harvest moon and high tides on that date. The air force was in readiness, and a fleet of barges and boats was standing by. It is now reported that troops actually embarked that day, but then were ordered back on shore. This suggests that Sept. 15, the day of one of the heaviest daylight attacks on England, told the tale. That was the day the British shot down 185 German planes. This loss, coupled with R.A.F. attacks on Channel ports, is believed to have caused abandonment of the invasion for the time being."
WILLKIE PICKS UP 85 ELECTORAL VOTES. The newest Gallup survey, run in Friday’s Washington Post, contains some of the best news for the G.O.P. in the entire campaign. Dr. Gallup says that the trend toward President Roosevelt which was noted throughout August and September "has been halted and reversed." In twelve days, the latest poll says, Willkie gained one percent in the overall popular vote and moved five states -- Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, Indiana, and Iowa -- into his column. Willkie still trails in the popular vote, 55% to 45%, but Roosevelt’s comfortable lead is "precarious," Gallup says, because 9% of the vote is still undecided and in eight states, with 129 electoral votes, Roosevelt’s lead is less than 4%.
FORMERLY FOR F.D.R., NOW FOR WILLKIE. Just as Gallup tells us that Wendell Willkie has started shooting upward in the polls, it seems like there’s a number of stories in the press about former Roosevelt supporters who’ve come on board the Willkie bandwagon. Okay, well, two stories that I’ve seen. The first is Robert C. Albright’s article in Saturday’s Washington Post about the radio endorsement from Senator Hiram Johnson, the veteran Progressive Republican of California who was once a strong Roosevelt supporter. What’s significant about Senator Johnson’s announcement, according to the Post, is his acid attack on the Third Term -- "Johnson said the third-term bid presents a greater crisis than the war and may involve ‘the preservation of the last fortress of democracy on this earth.’" The Chicago Tribune story by Chesly Manly offers more quotes --
"[President Roosevelt] has contributed a perfect illustration of every danger and evil which Jefferson foresaw so clearly, and against which he warned his countrymen so earnestly. No longer need we consider what may happen -- what is certain to happen is obvious if the President sees fit to destroy this great tradition and custom. If he sees fit to increase his term four years, he can increase it eight, or 16, and finally, as Jefferson once remarked, the whole Presidential office becomes but an inheritance."
The current Time magazine mentions a few choice Democrats who are supporting Willkie -- (1) Mrs. Harold M. Lehman, the niece of New York Governor Lehman, he who made the notorious speech last month claiming the Axis are rooting for Willkie. His niece’s comment -- "I don’t think being a Democrat and not voting for Roosevelt is news this year." (2) Mrs. Isabella Greenway, a former Democratic congresswoman from Arizona and the bridesmaid at Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt’s wedding 35 years ago. Says she -- "Every instinct of my country tells me we should not risk a third term." (3) The President’s third cousin, 93-year-old Mrs. Deborah Delano, who made the most damning statement of all -- "Even if he is as smart as they say, no man is smart enough to run for three terms."
THE GALLUP POLL "BOX SCORE." Here’s how the states stack in the newest Gallup survey, with the leading candidate’s estimated percentage of the vote in parentheses --
Willkie -- Nebraska (58%), North Dakota (57%), South Dakota (57%), Kansas (55%), Vermont (54%), Maine (53%), Indiana (53%), Illinois (53%), Michigan (53%), Iowa (52%), and Wisconsin (51%).
Roosevelt -- South Carolina (98%), Mississippi (95%), Georgia (85%), Alabama (85%), Texas (85%), Louisiana (84%), Arkansas (79%), Florida (76%), North Carolina (72%), Virginia (71%), Tennessee (69%), Arizona (67%), Maryland (64%), Nevada (63%), West Virginia (62%), Montana (62%), Oklahoma (62%), Delaware (61%), New Mexico (60%), Kentucky (59%), Rhode Island (58%), Connecticut (58%), Utah (58%), Oregon (57%), Washington (57%), California (56%), New Jersey (56%), Pennsylvania (55%), Idaho (55%), Massachusetts (54%), Minnesota (54%), New Hampshire (53%), Missouri (53%), New York (52%), Ohio (52%), Wyoming (52%), Colorado (51%).
Obviously the President has a huge advantage, but it’ll be interesting to see how this picture looks in twelve more days, if the Willkie trend continues. Senator Hiram Johnson is enormously popular in California -- he was recently renominated for office on every party ticket in the state except for the Communists. His ringing endorsement of Willkie will make a big impact there. Also, Gallup points out that in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, which have 52 electoral votes between them, the numbers of undecided voters are still significantly higher than Roosevelt’s lead.
Monday, October 17, 2016
Thursday, October 17, 1940
AUGUST 1939 ALL OVER AGAIN. There seems to be an undercurrent of dread on the front pages of Wednesday's papers, akin to what everybody felt in the last days of August a year ago. Once again some a flurry of threats and troop movements involving several small countries, and two large ones, Germany and Russia. And again it seems like any day now the now-terrified peoples of the region might find their cities and livelihoods wrecked by the Blitzkrieg.
Ben A. Thirkield of the Washington Post finds "signs of an impending explosion in dynamite-laden southeast Europe," including the sudden arrival of German troops in Albania, "giving rise to fears of an impending Axis move against Turkey, Greece, or Yugoslavia." The Associated Press quotes an official Soviet statement pointedly asserting that Germany never informed Russia of Nazi moves into Rumania -- and proclaiming that Russia's armies will be kept in a state of "constant mobilized preparedness." The New York Times reports that Russia and Turkey are working on a military-assistance pact, and that the Greeks are calling several more classes to the colors.
The only thing that seems certain at this point is something big is about to happen in the Balkans.
PEACE WITH BRITAIN, WAR WITH RUSSIA? Russell Hill reports from Bucharest in Wednesday's New York Herald Tribune that some in eastern Europe are actually speculating, on the basis of God knows what, that Britain and Germany are about to suddenly conclude a peace deal --
"While few facts and many rumors come from the frontier zone, the extent of German-Rumanian military preparations on this side of the Soviet border has suggested to many persons here the possibility that Great Britain and Germany might make a peace which would give Adolph Hitler a free hand in the East. It will be remembered that early in 1939 British foreign policy favored allowing Germany to expand toward the East, in the hope that this would eventually bring the Reich into collision with the Soviet Union. Many observers are now asking whether, under present conditions, Britain might not be willing to agree to German domination in Poland and southeastern Europe. On the other side, Hitler has often said he did not want to dismember the British Empire, and merely wanted to be left alone in what he considers his 'Lebensraum' (living space), presumably eastern and southeastern Europe. But even if talk of peace is still premature, the chances of German-Soviet conflict are not eliminated."
If Britain were to turn around and make such a peace with Germany, it would prove right every cynical thing the isolationists have been saying about the self-interested, scheming duplicity of those back-stabbing Europeans. But it's beyond belief that Churchill would agree to such a thing, and almost equally beyond belief that the Rumanians, or Mr. Hill, or anyone else could take such a fantasy very seriously. I don't think it was ever more than a minority belief in Chamberlain's government that it would be "good" for Germany to attack eastward -- Chamberlain's own beliefs and character show his fondest hopes to be that the Nazis could somehow be persuaded to be responsible neighbors living in peace with all of Europe. If Britain seemed to endorse the idea of Hitler "expanding" anywhere, it was in Africa, where significant colonial concessions would likely have been granted by the British in exchange for disarmament.
Besides, it's way too late to talk about Hitler restricting his territorial ambitions to eastern Europe. The Nazis have wrecked the nations of Norway, Belgium, Holland, and France. How exactly would a peace agreement go about un-wrecking them?
16,500,000 REGISTER FOR THE DRAFT. For the first time since Sept. 12, 1918, the nation's men are being summoned for possible military service. Registration day went on Wednesday from 7 A.M. to 9 P.M., as men between the ages of twenty-one and thirty-five signed up. Most of the papers are treating it matter-of-factly, the New York Herald Tribune adding a little color to its story by describing the cross-section of those affected by the call -- "doctors, lawyers, merchants, farmers, mechanics, students, ditch diggers, loafers and everyone else, citizens and aliens alike." A lottery will be held on Oct. 26 and the first callup, for 400,000 draftees, will be announced in November.
The isolationist papers, on the other hand, can't resist using the day to get in some more jabs against conscription, President Roosevelt, or whatever. The Chicago Tribune's front-page editorial cartoon isn't a masterpiece of subtlety. A young man, helpfully labeled "Your Son!", faces a crossroads near a tombstone marked "Draft Registration" -- one fork is a "Willkie Road" leading to a glorious sunrise marked "Peace," while the other fork, the "Roosevelt Road," is marked by two other tombstones successively reading "Conscription" and "War." Just for good measure, there's a gigantic skull and crossbones gleaming in the darkness at the end of the road. The caption is, "On the Road to War -- The Last Turn Off Is Just Ahead."
Of course, what the cartoonist doesn't say is that Willkie is as much a supporter of the peacetime draft as President Roosevelt. In fact, somebody correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think the Tribune has ever mentioned Willkie's support for the draft.
IT'S TOO LATE NOW, BUT... Here's the registration reminder that ran Wednesday on the front page of the New York Times --
"If you are a man who has reached his twenty-first birthday but has not reached his thirty-sixth birthday you must register today for selective military service. If you have no valid reason for failing to do so you are liable to arrest and, if convicted, you may be sentenced to as much as five years in prison or fined $10,000."
Radio reports this morning say that registration centers all over the country were "swamped" and many had to stay open well past the scheduled 9 P.M. closing time to accommodate the long lines of young men. No wonder.
WILLKIE GAINS IN THE MIDDLE WEST. At last, some good news for the G.O.P. -- the latest Gallup poll, reported in Tuesday's Washington Post, says that Wendell Willkie has picked up 62 electoral votes by taking the lead in Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan. Gallup says that Willkie is closing the gap with Roosevelt in Ohio, too. "The shift emphasizes the fact that the campaign still has every element of a horse race as it rounds the turn into the home stretch," says Dr. Gallup.
Of course, this doesn't come close to giving Willkie a lead in the presidential race. The last comprehensive Gallup survey, back on October 6, gave President Roosevelt 499 electoral votes and 55 percent of the popular vote. But even that lopsided finding showed that 221 of the President's electoral votes came from eleven states in which the Democrats held only a slight lead. And Dr. Gallup now posits that "the presidential race may turn into a nip and tuck affair in electoral votes."
The latest Gallup news gives credence to an analysis by Arthur Krock in last Sunday's New York Times describing a shift in the President's strategy. According to Mr. Krock, "Democrat managers had been confident...that Mr. Willkie was a badly beaten man, and that the spread of war and critical conditions abroad would merely clinch his already certain defeat." But they've found since that Willkie's vigorous campaigning, especially his stinging attacks on entrenched Democratic city bosses, is making headway. The result -- the President has given his aloof strategy of not going out on anything that looked like a campaign trip, and last week made "defense inspection" trips to Pennsylvania and Ohio that looked suspiciously like election rallies.
Ben A. Thirkield of the Washington Post finds "signs of an impending explosion in dynamite-laden southeast Europe," including the sudden arrival of German troops in Albania, "giving rise to fears of an impending Axis move against Turkey, Greece, or Yugoslavia." The Associated Press quotes an official Soviet statement pointedly asserting that Germany never informed Russia of Nazi moves into Rumania -- and proclaiming that Russia's armies will be kept in a state of "constant mobilized preparedness." The New York Times reports that Russia and Turkey are working on a military-assistance pact, and that the Greeks are calling several more classes to the colors.
The only thing that seems certain at this point is something big is about to happen in the Balkans.
PEACE WITH BRITAIN, WAR WITH RUSSIA? Russell Hill reports from Bucharest in Wednesday's New York Herald Tribune that some in eastern Europe are actually speculating, on the basis of God knows what, that Britain and Germany are about to suddenly conclude a peace deal --
"While few facts and many rumors come from the frontier zone, the extent of German-Rumanian military preparations on this side of the Soviet border has suggested to many persons here the possibility that Great Britain and Germany might make a peace which would give Adolph Hitler a free hand in the East. It will be remembered that early in 1939 British foreign policy favored allowing Germany to expand toward the East, in the hope that this would eventually bring the Reich into collision with the Soviet Union. Many observers are now asking whether, under present conditions, Britain might not be willing to agree to German domination in Poland and southeastern Europe. On the other side, Hitler has often said he did not want to dismember the British Empire, and merely wanted to be left alone in what he considers his 'Lebensraum' (living space), presumably eastern and southeastern Europe. But even if talk of peace is still premature, the chances of German-Soviet conflict are not eliminated."
If Britain were to turn around and make such a peace with Germany, it would prove right every cynical thing the isolationists have been saying about the self-interested, scheming duplicity of those back-stabbing Europeans. But it's beyond belief that Churchill would agree to such a thing, and almost equally beyond belief that the Rumanians, or Mr. Hill, or anyone else could take such a fantasy very seriously. I don't think it was ever more than a minority belief in Chamberlain's government that it would be "good" for Germany to attack eastward -- Chamberlain's own beliefs and character show his fondest hopes to be that the Nazis could somehow be persuaded to be responsible neighbors living in peace with all of Europe. If Britain seemed to endorse the idea of Hitler "expanding" anywhere, it was in Africa, where significant colonial concessions would likely have been granted by the British in exchange for disarmament.
Besides, it's way too late to talk about Hitler restricting his territorial ambitions to eastern Europe. The Nazis have wrecked the nations of Norway, Belgium, Holland, and France. How exactly would a peace agreement go about un-wrecking them?
16,500,000 REGISTER FOR THE DRAFT. For the first time since Sept. 12, 1918, the nation's men are being summoned for possible military service. Registration day went on Wednesday from 7 A.M. to 9 P.M., as men between the ages of twenty-one and thirty-five signed up. Most of the papers are treating it matter-of-factly, the New York Herald Tribune adding a little color to its story by describing the cross-section of those affected by the call -- "doctors, lawyers, merchants, farmers, mechanics, students, ditch diggers, loafers and everyone else, citizens and aliens alike." A lottery will be held on Oct. 26 and the first callup, for 400,000 draftees, will be announced in November.
The isolationist papers, on the other hand, can't resist using the day to get in some more jabs against conscription, President Roosevelt, or whatever. The Chicago Tribune's front-page editorial cartoon isn't a masterpiece of subtlety. A young man, helpfully labeled "Your Son!", faces a crossroads near a tombstone marked "Draft Registration" -- one fork is a "Willkie Road" leading to a glorious sunrise marked "Peace," while the other fork, the "Roosevelt Road," is marked by two other tombstones successively reading "Conscription" and "War." Just for good measure, there's a gigantic skull and crossbones gleaming in the darkness at the end of the road. The caption is, "On the Road to War -- The Last Turn Off Is Just Ahead."
Of course, what the cartoonist doesn't say is that Willkie is as much a supporter of the peacetime draft as President Roosevelt. In fact, somebody correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think the Tribune has ever mentioned Willkie's support for the draft.
IT'S TOO LATE NOW, BUT... Here's the registration reminder that ran Wednesday on the front page of the New York Times --
"If you are a man who has reached his twenty-first birthday but has not reached his thirty-sixth birthday you must register today for selective military service. If you have no valid reason for failing to do so you are liable to arrest and, if convicted, you may be sentenced to as much as five years in prison or fined $10,000."
Radio reports this morning say that registration centers all over the country were "swamped" and many had to stay open well past the scheduled 9 P.M. closing time to accommodate the long lines of young men. No wonder.
WILLKIE GAINS IN THE MIDDLE WEST. At last, some good news for the G.O.P. -- the latest Gallup poll, reported in Tuesday's Washington Post, says that Wendell Willkie has picked up 62 electoral votes by taking the lead in Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan. Gallup says that Willkie is closing the gap with Roosevelt in Ohio, too. "The shift emphasizes the fact that the campaign still has every element of a horse race as it rounds the turn into the home stretch," says Dr. Gallup.
Of course, this doesn't come close to giving Willkie a lead in the presidential race. The last comprehensive Gallup survey, back on October 6, gave President Roosevelt 499 electoral votes and 55 percent of the popular vote. But even that lopsided finding showed that 221 of the President's electoral votes came from eleven states in which the Democrats held only a slight lead. And Dr. Gallup now posits that "the presidential race may turn into a nip and tuck affair in electoral votes."
The latest Gallup news gives credence to an analysis by Arthur Krock in last Sunday's New York Times describing a shift in the President's strategy. According to Mr. Krock, "Democrat managers had been confident...that Mr. Willkie was a badly beaten man, and that the spread of war and critical conditions abroad would merely clinch his already certain defeat." But they've found since that Willkie's vigorous campaigning, especially his stinging attacks on entrenched Democratic city bosses, is making headway. The result -- the President has given his aloof strategy of not going out on anything that looked like a campaign trip, and last week made "defense inspection" trips to Pennsylvania and Ohio that looked suspiciously like election rallies.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)