Bride of only 12 days hears ‘dead’ husband was freed in Japan
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ON THE RECORD —
Why we must have peacetime conscription
By Dorothy Thompson
In principle, President Truman in his letter to the congressional committees on military affairs abandons the idea of universal selective service in peacetime. In principle he accepts the theory of voluntary service for occupation purposes, but expresses fear that insufficient numbers will volunteer and therefore asks Congress to prolong the draft bill in order to induct supplementary youth between the ages of 18 and 25.
The main objection against teen-age induction is that more mature men would be better for occupation purposes.
The main argument for the continuance of selective service is that we owe it to our veterans that they come home quickly.
I am inclined to think that neither the pros nor cons are speaking to the point.
It has been estimated that the occupation forces needed to police Germany will not exceed a quarter million men, or half the numbers originally contemplated. The reasons are: The population is more docile than expected; and the atomic bomb.
For the same reasons the Japanese occupational forces will not have to be huge, and there we have the additional advantage of a working government pledged to co-operate with the occupation.
The Army estimates that between now and next July we can only raise 300,000 men by voluntary enlistment. Some congressmen doubt this, if a real recruiting campaign is put on. With the outlook for a temporary unemployment crisis, I incline to doubt it also.
But the issue is not whether we can raise, by volunteer enlistment, sufficient forces for occupational purposes. The issue is whether it is wise, at this point, to abandon selective service. There we are not altogether free to decide. The answer depends on what other nations do.
With the exception of the defeated nations all intend to have huge conscripted armies. The counterargument to this is that we needn’t care; we have the world’s largest Navy and airpower; we have the highest technology; and we have the atomic bomb.
But how long will this argument hold? Only while some other country does not get the atomic bomb. The estimate on that is from two to five years.
In pure military terms, the argument for conscription is not that it creates a huge standing Army, because it does not necessarily do so, but that it creates a trained nation that can be called up at any moment. At present we have a trained nation. But five years from now many of the present veterans will be over age. and the youngsters will not have had the training.
Military experts are saying that the “next war” – horrible words – will not be fought with huge armies, but with robots, V-weapons, rockets, super-super bombers and atomic science. But that is not sure.
This war was not fought with poison gas only for the reason that everybody had it. Mussolini used it against Ethiopia, but did not dare to use it against Britain. We dared to use the atomic bomb against Japan; despite the propaganda for it we did not use poison gas. There was too much possibility of reprisal. Thus there may be international agreements to outlaw the atomic bomb and other super weapons, and these agreements may be kept.
I do not say this to reassure the public about these weapons. On the contrary, I would like to arouse the public which after the first sensation seems to be settling down to life with the atomic bomb. I have said it before and I shall say it on every possible occasion that Dumbarton Oaks and the San Francisco Charter were blown into the air with Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
But the question of selective service still cannot stand or fall with the atomic bomb. In the world, as it is, a great nation must train its youth for war. It can be argued that we should begin with 20 rather than 18 – though it is easier for a young person to interrupt his schooling or career after high school than at any other time. But it cannot be argued that we should let our reserves become physically obsolescent in the world as it is – not as we wish it were.
If the United States does not like peacetime conscription – and we don’t – then we must work to bring about the universal abolition of conscription. The way to do that is not to start unilaterally to abolish it, while the enormous power that we presently hold gradually evaporates.
But if I could beg anything of our leaders, it would be to discuss the issue on the highest level of national policy, and not try to smuggle something in through the back door.
Hero’s sister, 13, not invited to White House, leaves home
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Stocks up fractions to more than $2; many at new peaks
By Victor Eubank, Associated Press financial writer
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Case, Kimble back as Griffs open vital series with Yanks
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By John B. Keller
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Nazi ‘night and fog’ records found by U.S. investigators
By Thomas R. Henry, Star staff correspondent
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Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (August 31, 1945)
Childs: All mankind responsible for Europe’s mass crimes
By Marquis Childs
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The Pittsburgh Press (August 31, 1945)
Gracie Allen Reporting
By Gracie Allen
HOLLYWOOD – Dear me! I’d say it’s just as well that tall, handsome General De Gaulle ended his visit here when he did because he was beginning to upset two classes of people in this country – the men he was kissing and the women he didn’t. as a woman of the world, I realize that when one Frenchman kisses another, it’s a mark of respect, but it’s hard for Americans to get used to the idea. George respects Jack Benny, but he’s never dreamed of even holding his hand.
It’s fun to see the newsreels of the men to whom the general paid his respects. Poor General Marshall looked like he was signing the terms of surrender after we’d lost a war to Switzerland.
And did you notice the one person the general didn’t kiss when he met him was Mayor La Guardia? I guess the general was too dignified to kneel down.
EXECUTIVE ORDER 9608
Providing for the Termination of the Office of War Information, and for the Disposition of Its Functions and of Certain Functions of the Office of Inter-American Affairs
Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release
August 31, 1945
By virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and Statutes, including Title I of the First War Powers Act, 1941, and as President of the United States, it is hereby ordered as follows:
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Effective as of the date of this order:
(a) There are transferred to and consolidated in an Interim International Information Service, which is hereby established in the Department of State, those functions of the Office of War Information (established by Executive Order No. 9182 of June 13, 1942), and those informational functions of the Office of Inter-American Affairs (established as the Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs by Executive Order No. 8840 of July 30, 1941 and renamed as the Office of Inter-American Affairs by Executive Order No. 9532 of March 23, 1945), which are performed abroad or which consist of or are concerned with informing the people of other nations about any matter in which the United States has an interest, together with so much of the personnel, records, property, and appropriation balances of the Office of War Information and the Office of Inter-American Affairs as the Director of the Bureau of the Budget shall determine to relate primarily to the functions so transferred. Pending the abolition of the said Service under paragraph 3(a) of this order, (1) the head of the Service, who shall be designated by the Secretary of State, shall be responsible to the Secretary of State or to such other officer of the Department as the Secretary shall direct, (2) the Service shall, except as otherwise provide in this order, be administered as an organizational entity in the Department of State, (3) the Secretary may transfer from the Service, to such agencies of the Department of State as he shall designate or establish, any function of the Service, and (4) the Secretary may terminate any function of the Service, in which event he shall provide for the winding up of the affairs relating to any function so terminated.
(b) There are transferred to the Bureau of the Budget the functions of the Bureau of Special Services of the Office of War Information and functions of the Office of War Information with respect to the review of publications of Federal agencies, together with so much of the personnel, records, and property, and appropriation balances of the Office of War Information as the Director of the bureau of the Budget shall determine relate primarily to the said functions.
(c) All those provisions of prior Executive orders which are in conflict with this order are amended accordingly. Paragraph 6 of the said Executive Order No. 8840 and paragraphs 3, 6, and 8 of the said Executive Order No. 9182 are revoked.
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Effective as of the close of business September 15, 1945:
(a) There are abolished the functions of the Office of War Information then remaining.
(b) The Director of the Office of War Information shall, pending the abolition of the Office of War Information under paragraph 3(b) of this order, proceed to wind up the affairs of the Office relating to such abolished functions.
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Effective as of the close of business December 31, 1945:
(a) The Interim International Information Service, provided for in paragraph 1(a) of this order, together with any functions then remaining under the Service, is abolished.
(b) The Office of War Information, including the office of the Director of the Office of War Information, is abolished.
(c) There are transferred to the Department of the Treasury all of the personnel, records, property, and appropriation balances of the Interim International Information Service and of the Office of War Information then remaining, for final liquidation, and so much thereof as the Director of the Bureau of the Budget shall determine to be necessary shall be utilized by the Secretary of the Treasury in winding up all of the affairs of the Service.
HARRY S. TRUMAN
THE WHITE HOUSE,
August 31, 1945
Statement by President Truman Upon Signing Order Concerning Government Information Programs
August 31, 1945
I have today signed an Executive Order abolishing the Office of War Information.
This agency and its able personnel, under the leadership of Elmer Davis, have made an outstanding contribution to victory. Our military commanders have acclaimed its psychological warfare work as a powerful weapon against the enemy. Its other overseas activities have aided our whole effort in the foreign field.
In its domestic activities, OWI has performed an invaluable service in coordinating the Government’s wartime information and in utilizing the generous contribution of private press, radio, motion pictures, advertising and other facilities to inform the American people about their Government’s wartime programs.
Although it is possible to curtail wartime governmental information activities, some of our foreign information operations will continue to be necessary.
Along with the international information functions of the OWI, this order also transfers to the Department of State the foreign information functions of the Office of Inter-American Affairs. The nature of present day foreign relations makes it essential for the United States to maintain informational activities abroad as an integral part of the conduct of our foreign affairs.
I have asked the Secretary of State to study our foreign informational needs, and to formulate during the remainder of this calendar year, the program which he considers should be conducted on a continuing basis.
The Office of Inter-American Affairs has played a major role in strengthening the relationships between the United States and the other American republics. As distinct from the informational activities, the work which the OIAA has been carrying on cooperatively with the governments of Latin American countries in public health, agriculture, and other fields will be continued by that agency.
To the fullest possible extent, American private organizations and individuals in such fields as news, motion pictures and communications will, as in the past, be the primary means of informing foreign peoples about this country. The government’s international information program will not compete with them.
Instead it will be designed to assist American private enterprises engaged in the dissemination of information abroad, and to supplement them in those specialized informational activities in which commercial or other limitations make it difficult for private concerns to carry on all necessary information work.
This Government will not attempt to outstrip the extensive and growing information programs of other nations. Rather, it will endeavor to see to it that other peoples receive a full and fair picture of American life and of the aims and policies of the United States government.
The domestic work of OWI, such as cooperation with the press, radio, motion pictures, and other informational media in explaining governmental programs is no longer as necessary as it was. This order discontinues these activities and provides for the liquidation of OWI itself.
Hereafter each government agency will deal directly with the various private informational facilities. Certain prewar information activities, placed in the OWI as a wartime measure, such as the publication of the United States Government Manual and answering inquiries from the public, are transferred by this order to the Bureau of the Budget.