Lana collapses at bedside of Steve Crane
Rushes to hospital as he takes overdose of sleeping tablets
…
Lou E. Holland quits as deputy WPB chairman
Resignation expected since he left helm of Small War Plants Corporation
…
Madame Chiang Kai-shek to address Congress
Washington (UP) –
Madame Chiang Kai-shek, wife of China’s generalissimo, will address both the Senate and House tomorrow.
She is scheduled to speak in the Senate at 12:15 p.m. and in the House 15 minutes later. All major radio networks will carry her addresses.
Editorial: Visit of Richelieu offers chance to show our friendship for France
Now that relaxation of censorship has allowed public announcement of the presence in our harbor of the Richelieu, is there not some way in which the citizens of New York can use the visit of the French battleship to express their friendship for the France that once fought with us and now is fighting with us again?
The tricolor flies over the Richelieu. Soon that flag will be flying beside the Stars and Stripes in the battle of the Atlantic, as the French flag already flies beside our banner in Tunisia. If the City of New York were to offer some sort of public tribute to the officers and sailors of the Richelieu, it would be a symbol of the affection which the United States bears for France, for the brave, fighting France the whole democratic world loves and honors.
It would be a gesture of goodwill to men who for nearly three years have suffered humiliation and forced inaction. It would be a sign of our feeling of kinship with a nation that has borne great sorrow.
We are not prepared to say just what form the demonstration should take – possibly a great reception in the form of a rally; possibly some sort of a gift to the ship, to be paid for by public subscription. But some way should be found to express to France, through the men of the Richelieu, our friendship for the France that is now coming back into the fight against the forces of darkness.
Has anyone any suggestions?
The Pittsburgh Press (February 17, 1943)
Roving Reporter
By Ernie Pyle
With U.S. forces in North Africa – (Feb. 16)
Four good soldiers, who have already done more than their share in the war have been down in these parts lately. They are Kay Francis, Martha Raye, Mitzi Mayfair and Carole Landis.
Some people may take lightly the contributions of Hollywood folks to the war effort, but I don’t. These gals work themselves to a frazzle. They travel dangerously. They live and work under mighty unpleasant conditions. They don’t get a dime. They are losing a lot and they have nothing to gain – nothing material, that is. But surely, they are going home with a warm inner satisfaction, knowing that they have performed far beyond the ordinary call of duty.
The quartet of stars has been away from America since October. They flew the Atlantic by Clipper, toured the camps in Northern Ireland and England, and came to Africa by Flying Fortress. They have heard bombs fall, and they know about Army stew. They’ve averaged four hours’ sleep a night. Each of them has had a bout with the flu. They have done all their own washing, because there’s no other way to get it done. Yet they could all be in California lying on the sand.
When they came out to our far desert airdrome, they put on their performance on the flat bed of a big wrecking truck out in the midafternoon sun, surrounded by soldiers sitting on the ground. They spoke the first English from a woman’s mouth these soldiers had heard in months. To say they were appreciated is putting it mildly.
Half the fun and half the good, I suppose, of such a performance is the opportunity it gives the soldiers in the audience to imagine themselves as great lovers, and the inspiration it provides for the soldiers’ own brand of humor.
Kay Francis starts it off by saying they’d rather be here than any place in the world. That brings a thunderous cascade of boos. Then she says:
The reason is there’s no place else we could be the only women among several thousand men.
That brings the laugh. Then she says:
And I know every one of you would protect me, wouldn’t you?
That brings the “Oh yeahs!” and yells and whistles of appreciation.
When Carole Landis comes out, something like a great sigh goes over the crowd. Carole, as you know, is rather voluptuous. As she finishes her song and holds out her arms, a pathetic, wracked voice comes from the far edge of the audience, a lonely guy screaming to the world his comical misery:
I can’t stand it!
Mitzi Mayfair wears a skimpy green spangly thing and does her famous dances. A couple of dozen soldiers are perched on the truck’s big steel boom above her, and every time Mitzi kicks, they pretend to swoon and fall off. Mitzi ends her act by calling for jitterbug volunteers. The boys are bashful, but finally a private is pulled down off the boom. He is no slouch as a jitterbug, but she almost dances him off his feet. She winds up by throwing the exhausted soldier over her shoulder and carrying him off the stage.
Sometimes Mitzi gets herself in a pickle with this stunt. One night in England she had to carry off a guy who weighed 225 pounds. Another time she sprained a shoulder. And in her second performance at this airdrome, she almost met her Waterloo.
This show was for flying officers, the ones who actually do the bombing and fighting, and there’s nothing bashful about them. When Mitzi called for volunteers, up rose Capt. Tex Dallas, a Fortress pilot who doesn’t give a damn about anything. Tex took off his coat, folded it neatly, and walked challengingly onto the stage. Mitzi whispered instructions to him, but Tex doesn’t follow instructions very well. Instead of pretending to be exhausted, he had Mitzi on the ropes within a minute. After chasing her around the stage he finally had her hiding behind the piano. The audience went wild.
Eventually, after poor Mitzi had given herself up for lost, Tex relented and let her carry him off the stage.
I’ve seen Mitzi dance in New York musical comedies, and now I’ve seen her dance in dust-covered slacks on the African desert. She has already given a strenuous year and a half of her life to the war and she’s in it for the duration, and all I can say is, she’s a honey.
Martha Raye is really the star of the troupe. The soldiers have gone for her crazy brand of slapstick. The program winds up practically in a riot when all four girls sing the French, British and American national anthems.
The girls are pretty sore about one thing. It seems one of the American broadcasters in Algiers broadcast back to America that they wouldn’t go to the Tunisian front because they were afraid. He asked why they were any better than anybody else.
Actually, the girls begged to go to Tunisia but were turned down. The generals wouldn’t let them go because it would be dangerous for troops to be concentrated to see the show. Those girls were not afraid. Carole Landis even wanted to go on a bombing mission.
Personally, I think they will deserve medals.
1 Like
The Free Lance-Star (February 17, 1943)
Executive admits Nazi sympathies
New York (AP) –
E. E. Conroy, special agent in charge of the New York FBI office, announced today that the $75,000-year-president of a New York City war plant which operates nearly 100% on contracts for the Armed Forces, was one of 11 aliens rounded up in spot searches last night.
Conroy said the alien admitted he favored victory fore the Axis. His wife, son and his daughter, a student in a fashionable girls’ school in New England., were also apprehended, Conroy said.
The 11 persons were removed to Ellis Island for questioning and possible internment. No names were announced.
Conroy said the plant president fought with the German Army from 1914 to 1918, received the Iron Cross and, until the outbreak of the present war, received a pension from the Nazi government. The FBI agent added that the man went to the German Consulate in New York City in September 1940 to volunteer his services with the German Army, but refused to serve in the U.S. Armed Forces.
Slang gang troubled with name for lady Marines
By Kenneth L. Dixon
Washington (AP) –
The lady Marines have landed, but the situation is plumb out of hand.
Just “Marines” they call themselves, mind you – no nickname. It’s all very upsetting to the slang gang.
Ever since Maj. Ruth Cheney Streeter said the Marine Corps Women’s Reserve would be known simple as “Marines” because the name was “pretty distinctive in itself,” the barbershop boys have been so blue and befuddled they’re almost quit whistling.
Now take the WAACs, for instance (Don’t mind if I do, at that). It’s a cinch for the punny stuff. You know – I gotta wacky little WAAC, or my WAACs wacky over me.
And WAVE a cinch – a breeze, it was. No less. I gotta a wavey little wave, and the WAVES all waved goodbye.
SPARs? Even better, said the barbershop boys. Whooie! A very trim pair of SPARs going by there, Oscar – and who could take offense, not really knowing whether the remark referred to both SPARs, or only one of them? And during a tag dance, a tap of the shoulder of her dancing partner and – spar me, sailor!
But Marines, now what can you do with Marines, except tell it to them – which was never healthy, eh Tōjō?
Everybody was hoping for Marinettes, or at least MARs – Marine Auxiliary Reserves. But Marine Corps Women’s Reserve… just try pronouncing those initials. MCWR!
Sound like a tomcat with his tail caught in the clothes wringer.
Of course, when the boys recover from the initial shock, one of them is bound to come up with leatherneckers.
But his heart won’t be in it.
1 Like
Völkischer Beobachter (February 18, 1943)
Brasilianer meutern gegen die Verschickung nach Afrika
Sie wollen nicht Kanonenfutter für Roosevelt sein
vb. Wien, 17. Februar –
Wie über Lissabon gemeldet wird, kam es am Montag in den brasilianischen Atlantikhäfen zu schweren Meutereien, als brasilianische Truppen eingeschifft werden sollten, um nach Westafrika übergeführt zu werden. Die Unruhen nahmen ein derartiges Ausmaß an, daß die Einschiffung abgebrochen und vorläufig eingestellt werden mußte. Mehrere Regimenter wurden aus den Häfen zurückgezogen.
Die höhere Führung ließ zahlreiche Offiziere und Unteroffiziere verhaften, ein Regiment wurde der Strafe der Dezimierung unterworfen, das heißt, es erging Befehl, jeden zehnten Mann zu erschießen. In Rio de Janeiro und anderen Städten wurden gleichzeitig Flugzettel verteilt, in denen die selbst bewußten Teile der brasilianischen Bevölkerung gegen die Politik des Außenministers Aranha protestieren, der Brasilien zu einer Kolonie der USA. erniedrigt hat und auf dessen Betreiben es in erster Linie zurückzuführen ist, daß brasilianische Landeskinder im Dienste Roosevelts über See eingesetzt werden sollen.
Die „Bedrohung“ Amerikas
Daß Roosevelt sich nicht damit zufrieden gibt, Brasilien entgegen seinen wahren Interessen in den Krieg gegen die Mächte des Dreierpaktes hineingetrieben zu haben, sondern daß er darüber hinaus auch den aktiven Einsatz und den Blutzoll der Brasilianer für den Imperialismus der USA. fordert, wurde offenbar, als der Weltpräsident kürzlich auf der Rückreise von Casablanca in Rio de Janeiro einen Zwischenaufenthalt nahm. Die amtliche Verlautbarung, die nach seinem Besuch bei dem Präsidenten Vargas veröffentlicht wurde, enthielt folgende Sätze:
Zwischen Präsident Vargas und Präsident Roosevelt besteht volles Einvernehmen darüber, daß man in permanenter und klarer Form garantieren muß, daß die Küste Westafrikas und Dakar, ganz gleich unter welchen Umständen, niemals mehr zu einer Bedrohung der beiden Amerikas werden kann, sei es als Basis einer Invasion oder einer Blokkade.
Es hieß dann weiter, beide Präsidenten seien in der Meinung einig, daß an diesem Problem alle amerikanischen Republiken in gleicher Form interessiert seien.
Es gehörte keine besondere Kunst dazu, aus dieser diplomatischen Sprache die robusten Tatsachen herauszulesen: Roosevelt ist nicht nur entschlossen, die Besetzung Französisch-Westafrikas und vor allen Dingen des Hafens von Dakar, durch die Yankees zu verewigen, er verlangt auch, daß die südamerikanischen Staaten die Kosten seiner Eroberungspolitik mitbestreiten. Vorerst geht seine Forderung dahin, daß die Brasilianer ein ansehnliches Besatzungskontingent für Französisch-Westafrika stellen, damit die dort stationierten Yankees für einen Einsatz an anderer Stelle frei werden. Selbstverständlich ist das nur der erste Schritt; Stehen die Brasilianer erst einmal auf dem Schwarzen Erdteil, so wird man sie bald zwingen, dort ihre Haut zu Markte zu tragen, wo die Demokratien fremdes Kanonenfutter am dringendsten brauchen.
Auch den amerikanischen Müttern hat Roosevelt jahrelang versprochen, er werde sie davor schützen, daß ihre Söhne erneut auf die europäischen Schlachtfelder geschickt würden. Brasilien wußte daher, was es von dem Kommuniqué über den Rooseveltschen Besuch zu halten hatte, und es kam schon damals, in den. letzten Jännertagen, zu wütenden Demonstrationen gegen den beabsichtigten Verrat der von Roosevelt ausgehaltenen brasilianischen Regierung an ihrem eigenen Volk. Der Polizeipräsident von Rio de Janeiro suchte die allgemeine Erregung mit der Erklärung zu beschwichtigen, alle Behauptungen über die Anwesenheit brasilianischer Truppen in Afrika seien unwahr. Das war dem Buchstaben nach ohne Zweifel richtig, ging aber am Kern der Dinge vorbei. Die Anwesenheit brasilianischer Truppen in Afrika war zwar noch nicht Wirklichkeit, jedoch beschlossene Tatsache.
Roosevelt ist kaum vierzehn Tage aus Rio abgereist und schon beginnt Vargas Gehorsam mit der von ihm verlangten Anlieferung des brasilianischen Menschenmaterials.
Wenn nun die Sahne. Brasiliens sich gegen eine solche Vergewaltigung zur Wehr setzen und daraufhin von ihrer eigenen Regierung unter das von Washington diktierte Gesetz gebeugt werden, so kann man sich freilich keine prächtigere Illusion der famosen Atlantik-Charta und der Weltbeglückungsideen Roosevelts vorstellen. So ist es in der Wirklichkeit um die von ihm garantierte Selbständigkeit der Völker bestellt, um das Recht jeder einzelnen Nation, sich ihre eigenen Daseinsgesetze zu geben und selbst über ihr Schicksal zu bestimmen. Auch in dieser Hinsicht besteht keinerlei Wesensunterschied zwischen dem völkerverschlingenden Bolschewismus und dem herrschgierigen Polypen der jüdisch-amerikanischen Demokratie.
Eine Rechnung ohne Deutschland –
Schon die Atlantik-Charta diente Moskau
vb. Wien, 17. Februar –
Wie planmäßig England den europäischen Kontinent dem Bolschewismus ausliefert, geht aus der englischen Wochenzeitschrift Spectator vom 5. Februar hervor, die den Einfluß der Sowjetunion auf ein Nachkriegseuropa unter der Voraussetzung eines englisch-amerikanisch-bolschewistischen Sieges einmal aus dem zwanzigjährigen Bündnisvertrag zwischen Großbritannien und der Sowjetunion und zum zweiten aus den geheimen Abmachungen über die Ungültigmachung der Atlantikerklärung für alle Ansprüche Moskaus ableitet. Die Unterstellung unseres Kontinents unter eine bolschewistische Herrschaft ist demnach für die Briten nicht eine Möglichkeit der Kriegsentwicklung, sondern ihr Ziel, ein Beschluß, der schon vor Jahren auf weite Sicht gefaßt worden ist. Daß die Sicherheit Europas also ihren letzten Schutz nur in den deutschen Waffen findet, ohne deren Wall es der Überschwemmung aus der östlichen Steppe hilflos ausgeliefert wäre, beweist auf dem Hintergrund solcher englischen Äußerungen die Entwicklung der Ereignisse in ernsterer Form täglich.
Die Stellungnahme der englischen Zeitschrift spricht in ihrer rücksichtslosen Offenheit eine allgemeinverständliche Sprache. Es heißt in ihr: Wer könne daran zweifeln, daß die Sowjetunion auf das Nachkriegseuropa einen gewaltigen Einfluß ausübt? Denn die russische Armee wird dann die größte Landmacht auf dem europäischen Festland darstellen. Gestützt wird sie durch riesige Rüstungswerke im Rücken, die zusammen mit den Streitkräften ein furchtbares Machtinstrument in den Händen ihrer Führer bilden.
Unter diesen Umständen ist es wichtig, daß England eine dauerhafte Verständigung mit der Sowjetunion pflegt. Die Grundlage zu einer solchen ist bereits in dem zwanzigjährigen Bündnisvertrag vorhanden. Deshalb ist es zweckmäßig, schon jetzt zwischen Großbritannien und der Sowjetunion eine enge Interessengemeinschaft aufzubauen.
Die kleineren Nachbarn der Sowjetunion fürchteten, daß ihre Länder nach Kriegsende vom Kreml als ein militärisches Vorfeld angesehen und die inneren Angelegenheiten deshalb ständig von Moskau aus kontrolliert werden. Ein solcher Zustand verstoße zweifellos gegen die Grundsätze der Atlantikerklärung. Gleichzeitig muß man aber in Rechnung stellen, daß die Sowjetunion angesichts des hohen Preises, den sie dann für den Endsieg bezahlt hat, sich entsprechend der Geheimklauseln dieses Abkommens wenig um die Atlantik-Charta stört und über ihre staatliche Sicherheit selbständig urteilt.
Außer dem Verrat der europäischen Interessen am Bolschewismus, verdient festgehalten zu werden, daß
-
schon beim Schluß des Bündnisvertrages mit der Sowjetunion die Verständigung zwischen Moskau und London die Grundlage für den sowjetischen Vorherrschaftsanspruch abzugeben bestimmt war, und daß
-
die Atlantikerklärung als reines Blendwerk für eine Zeit gedacht war, in der die imperialistischen Ansprüche der Bündnispartner von London, Washington und Moskau noch nicht zur Verwirklichung reif waren, während von vornherein feststand und heute als selbstverständlich betrachtet und hingestellt wird, daß diese seinerzeit als allgemeinverbindlich erklärte Atlantik-Charta vor allem den Bolschewisten freie Hand in Europa einräumt.
Um es auch dem Spectator entgegenzuhalten, sei noch einmal der feste deutsche Entschluß betont, die heimtückischen Absichten des britisch-sowjetrussischen Bündnisvertrages und der Atlantikerklärung von Churchill und Roosevelt durch den Widerstand der deutschen Waffen zunichte zu machen, an dem der bolschewistische Ansturm zerschellen muß, wenn nicht Europa sein Ende finden soll.
Eine treffende rumänische Stimme –
„Wer hat Roosevelt gerufen?“
dnb. Bukarest, 17. Februar –
Gegen die von Roosevelt und seinem Marineminister Knox geäußerten Absichten, sich zu „Protektoren“ der Welt, vor allem aber Europas, aufzuschwingen, schreibt Porunca Vremii:
Warum und mit welchem Recht mischt sich der Präsident der USA. in die inneren Angelegenheiten Europas, wer verlangt nach seinem Eingriff in unsere Lebensweise, die wir allein zu bestimmen haben?
So fährt das Blatt fort:
Man würde es noch verstehen, wenn die USA.-Intervention in Europa sich gegen die Gefahr der Brandfackel des Bolschewismus richten würde, denn die Verteidigung der kontinentalen Kultur gegen das Wüten der sowjetischen Anarchie hätte Herrn Roosevelt wohl zu einer Expedition zur Rettung der menschlichen Gesellschaft veranlassen können, die auch der Neuen Welt das Leben schenkte. Aber die Lage ist völlig verkehrt: In Wirklichkeit steht das ganze gesunde und verantwortungsbewußte Europa in Reih und Glied im Kampf gegen den bolschewistischen Irrwahn, und wen bedroht eine Invasion aus USA.? Nicht etwa die Bolschewisten, mit denen Herr Roosevelt verbündet ist, sondern deren Todfeinde: die Nationen, die ihre Tradition und die Schätze der europäischen Kultur erhalten wollen. Diesem Europa wollen die USA. einen Dolchstoß versetzen. Diesem Europa, das mit dem Faschismus und dem Nationalsozialismus eine gerechtere Sozialordnung im Leben der Völker aufrichten will, hat Roosevelt den Tod geschworen. Ein Europa aber, in das die Heere Roosevelts eingedrungen wären, würde niemals zu USA.-Großgrundbesitz werden, sondern zu einem einzigen Dschungel, in dem ausschließlich der jüdische Bolschewismus regieren würde.
Japans Wacht auf den Alëuten
Tokio, 17. Februar –
Ein Bericht in Yomiuri Hotschi beschreibt die dauernden, aber bisher erfolglosen nordamerikanischen Anstrengungen, die von den Japanern besetzten Alëuten zurückzugewinnen. Zu diesem Zwecke bauten sie auf anderen, noch nicht von den Japanern besetzten Alëuteninseln Flughäfen und andere militärische Anlagen. In den etwa 250 Kilometer von der Insel Kiska entfernten nordamerikanischen Stützpunkten lägen heute, so heißt es in dem Bericht der Zeitung, 20.000 Mann Truppen mit 350 Flugzeugen aller Typen. Von hier aus unternähmen die Nordamerikaner Luftangriffe gegen die japanischen Stellungen, bei denen sie aber gewöhnlich nur unbewohnte Landstriche und keine militärischen Ziele träfen.
Die Wunschträume der Dollarimperialisten
Stockholm, 17. Februar –
Die kürzliche Feststellung des nordamerikanischen Marineministers Knox, daß die USA. im Atlantik und im Pazifik alle zu ihrem Schutz nötigen Stützpunkte besitzen müssen, findet – wie ein Vertreter der „ABC“ aus Neuyork meldet – in nordamerikanischen Presse- und politischen Kreisen lebhafte Zustimmung. Eine Reihe führender Senatoren in Washington tritt dafür ein, daß die USA. sich ernsthaft mit der Frage der Übernahme der benötigten Stützpunkte befassen sollen. Eine andere Washingtoner Gruppe vertritt den Standpunkt, daß die von Großbritannien auf 99 Jahre gepachteten atlantischen Basen endgültig von den Vereinigten Staaten übernommen werden müssen.
Der jüdische Neuyorker Publizist Walter Lippman vertritt diese Ansicht ebenfalls und verlangt für den Stillen Ozean gleiche Maßnahmen. Lippman fordert, daß nach dem Kriege den Japanern ihre Mandatsinseln (Karolinen-, Mariannen- und Marshallinseln) abgenommen und den USA. einverleibt werden. Diese Inseln zusammen mit den nordamerikanischen Besitzungen im Pazifik sind nach Ansicht Lippmans die Sprungbretter nach den Philippinen, deren Rückgewinnung für die Niederhaltung Japans nach dem Kriege von überragender Bedeutung ist. Lippman verlangt weiter, daß im Rahmen dieser Sicherheitsmaßnahmen Japan die Insel Formosa an China abtreten soll.
U.S. Navy Department (February 18, 1943)
Communiqué No. 286
South Pacific.
On February 17:
-
Dauntless dive bombers (Douglas), with Airacobra (Bell P-39) and Wildcat (Grumman F4F) escort, bombed and started fires in the Japanese-held area at Munda on New Georgia Island.
-
During the night of February 17-18, U.S. aircraft bombed enemy positions on Kolombangara Island.
Soong Mei-ling’s address to the U.S. Senate
February 18, 1943, 12:15 p.m. EWT
Mr. President, Members of the Senate of the United States, ladies and gentlemen.
I am overwhelmed by the warmth and spontaneity of the welcome of the American people, of whom you are the representatives. I did not know that I was to speak to you today at the Senate except to say, “How do you do? I am so very glad to see you,” and to bring the greetings to my people to the people of America. However, just before coming here, the Vice President told me that he would like to have me say a few words to you.
I am not a very good extemporaneous speaker; in fact, I am no speaker at all; but I am not so very much discouraged, because a few days ago I was at Hyde Park, and went to the President’s library. Something I saw there encouraged me, and made me feel that perhaps you will not expect overmuch of me in speaking to you extemporaneously. What do you think I saw there? I saw many things. But the one thing which interested me most of all was that in a glass case there was the first draft of tone of the President’s speeches, a second draft, and on and on up to the sixth draft. Yesterday I happened to mention this fact to the President, and told him that I was extremely glad that he had to write so many drafts when he is such a well-known and acknowledgedly fine speaker. His reply to me was that sometimes he writes 12 drafts of a speech. So, my remarks here today, being extemporaneous, I am sure you will make allowances for me.
The traditional friendship between your country and mine has a history of 160 years. I feel, and I believe that I am now the only one who feels this way, that there are a great many similarities between your people and mine, and that these similarities are the basis of our friendship.
I should like to tell you a little story which will illustrate this belief. When Gen. Doolittle and his men went to bomb Tokyo, on their return some of your boys had to bail out in the interior of China. One of them later told me that he had to mail out of his ship. And that when he landed on Chinese soil and saw the populace running toward him, he just waved his arm and shouted the only Chinese word he knew, “Mei-kuo, Mei-kuo,” which means “America.” Literally translated from the Chinese, it means “Beautiful country.” This boy said that our people laughed and almost hugged him, and greeted him like a long lost brother. He further told me that the thought that he had come home when he saw our people; and that was the first time he had ever been to China.
I came to your country as a little girl. I know your people. I have lived with them. I spent the formative years of my life amongst your people. I speak your language, not only the language of your hearts, but also your tongue. So coming here today I feel that I am also coming home.
I believe, however, that it is not only I who am coming home; I feel that if the Chinese people could speak to you in your own tongue, or if you could understand our tongue, they would tell you that basically and fundamentally we are fighting for the same cause; that we have identity of ideals’ that the “four freedoms,” which your President proclaimed to the world, resound throughout our vast land as the gong of freedom, the gong of freedom of the United Nations, and the death knell of the aggressors.
I assure you that our people are willing and eager to cooperate with you in the realization of these ideals, because we want to see to it that they do not echo as empty phrases, but become realities for ourselves, for your children, for our children’s children, and for all mankind.
How are we going to realize these ideals? I think I shall tell you a little story which just came to my mind. As you know, China is a very old nation. We have a history of 5,000 years. When we were obliged to evacuate Hankow and go into the hinterland to carry on and continue our resistance against
aggression, the Generalissimo and I passed one of our fronts, the Changsha front. One day we went in to the Heng-yang Mountains, where there are traces of a famous pavilion called “Rub-the-mirror” pavilion, which perhaps interest you to hear the story of that pavilion.Two thousand years ago near that spot was an old Buddhist temple. One of the young monks went there , and all day long he sat cross-legged, with his hands clasped before him in and attitude of prayer, and murmured “Amita-Buddha! Amita-Buddha! Amita-Buddha!” He murmured and chanted day after day, because he hoped that he would acquire grace.
The Father Prior of that temple took a piece of brick and rubbed it against a stone hour after hour, day after day, and week after week. The little acolyte, being very young, sometimes cast his eyes around to see what the old Father Prior was doing. The old Father Prior just kept on this work of rubbing the brick against the stone. So one day the young acolyte said to him:
Father Prior, what are you doing day after day rubbing this brick of stone?
The Father Prior replied:
I am trying to make a mirror out of this brick.
The young acolyte said:
But it is impossible to make a mirror out of a brick, Father Prior.
“Yes,” said the Father Prior:
…and it is just as impossible for you to acquire grace by doing nothing except murmur “Amita-Buddha” all day long, day in and day out.
So my friends, I feel that it is necessary for us not only to have ideals and to proclaim that we have them, it is necessary that we act to implement them. And so to you, gentlemen of the Senate, and to you ladies and gentleman in the galleries, I say that without the active help of all of us, our leaders cannot implement these ideals. It’s up to you and to me to take to heart the lesson of “Rub-the-Mirror” pavilion.
I thank you.
Soong Mei-ling’s address to the U.S. House
February 18, 1943, 12:30 p.m. EWT
Broadcast audio:
Mr. Speaker, Members of the Congress of the United States:
At any time, it would be a privilege for me to address Congress, more especially this present august body which will have so much to do in shaping the destiny of the world. In speaking to Congress I am literally speaking to the American people. The 77th Congress, as their representatives, fulfilled the obligations and responsibilities of its trust by declaring war on the aggressors.
That part of the duty of the people’s representatives was discharged in 1941. The task now confronting you is to help win the war and to create and uphold a lasting peace which will justify the sacrifices and sufferings of the victims of aggression.
Before enlarging on this subject, I should like to tell you a little about my long and vividly interesting trip to your country from my own land, which has bled and borne unflinchingly the burden of war for more than five and a half years. I shall not dwell, however, upon the part China has played in our united effort to free mankind from brutality and violence. I shall try to convey to you, however imperfectly, the impressions gained during the trip.
First of all, I want to assure you that the American people have every right to be proud of their fighting men in so many parts of the world. I am particularly thinking of those of your boys in the far-flung, out-of-the-way stations and areas where life is attended by dreary drabness; this because their duty is not one of spectacular performance and they are not buoyed up by the excitement of battle. They are called upon, day after colorless day, to perform routine duties such as safeguarding defenses and preparing for possible enemy action.
It has been said, and I find it true from personal experience, that it is easier to risk one’s life on the battlefield than it is to perform customary humble and humdrum duties which, however, are just as necessary to winning the war.
Some of your troops are stationed in isolated spots, quite out of reach of ordinary communications. Some of your boys have had to fly hundreds of hours over the sea from an improvised airfield in quests, often disappointingly fruitless, of enemy submarines. They, and others, have to stand the monotony of waiting, just waiting. But, as I told them, true patriotism lies in possessing the morale and physical stamina to perform faithfully and conscientiously the daily tasks so that in the sum total the strongest – the weakest link is the strongest. The trivial round, the common task , would furnish all we ought to ask.
Your soldiers have shown conclusively that they are able stoically to endure homesickness, the glaring dryness and scorching heat of the tropics, and keep themselves fit and in excellent fighting trim. They are amongst the unsung heroes of this war, and everything possible to lighten their tedium and buoy up their morale should be done. That sacred duty is yours.
The American Army is better fed than any army in the world. This does not mean, however, that they can live indefinitely on canned food without having the effects tell on them. These admittedly are but minor hardships of war, especially when we pause to consider that in many parts of the world starvation prevails. But peculiarly enough, oftentimes it is not the major problems of existence which irk a man’s soul; it is rather the pin pricks, especially those incidental to a life of deadly sameness, with tempers frayed out and nervous systems torn to shreds.
The second impression of my trip is that America is not only the cauldron of democracy but the incubator of democratic principles. At some of the places I visited, I met the crews of your air bases. There, I found first generation Germans, Italians, Frenchmen, Poles, Czechoslovakians, and other nationals. Some of them had accents so thick, that if such a thing were possible, one could not cut them with a butter knife.
But there they were, all Americans, all devoted to the same ideals, all working for the same cause, and united by the same high purpose. No suspicion or rivalry existed between them. This increased my belief and faith that devotion to common principles eliminates differences in race and that identity of ideals is the strongest possible solvent of racial dissimilarities.
I have reached your country, therefore, with no misgivings, but with my belief that the American people are building and carrying out a true pattern of the nation conceived by your forebears, strengthened and confirmed.
You, as representatives of the American people, have before you the glorious opportunity of carrying on the pioneer work of your ancestors, beyond the frontiers of physical and geographical limitations. Their brawn and thews braved undauntedly almost unbelievable hardships to open up a new continent. The modern world lauds them for their vigor and intensity of purpose, and for their accomplishment.
You have today before you the immeasurably greater opportunity to implement these same ideals and to help bring about the liberation of man’s spirit in every part of the world. In order to accomplish this purpose, we of the United Nations must now so prosecute the war that victory will be ours decisively and with all good speed.
Sun-Tzu, the well-known Chinese strategist, said: In order to win, “know thyself” and “[know] thy enemy.” We have also the saying:
It takes little effort to watch the other fellow carry the load.
In spite of these teachings from a wise old past, which are shared by every nation, there has been a tendency to belittle the strength of our opponents. When Japan thrust total war on China in 1937, military experts of every nation did not give China even a ghost of a chance. But when Japan failed to bring China cringing to her knees as she vaunted, the world took solace in this phenomenon by declaring that they had overestimated Japan’s military might.
Nevertheless, when the greedy flames of war inexorably spread in the Pacific following the perfidious attack on Pearl Harbor, Malaya, and lands in and around the China Sea, and one after another of these places fell, the pendulum swung to the other extreme. Doubts and fears lifted their ugly heads and the world began to think that the Japanese were Nietzschean Supermen – superior in intellect and physical prowess, a belief which the Gobineaus and the Houston Chamberlains and their apt pupils, the Nazi racists, had propounded about the Nordics.
Again, now the prevailing opinion seems to consider the defeat of the Japanese as of relative unimportance and that Hitler is our first concern. This is not borne out by actual facts, nor is it to the interests of the United Nations as a whole to allow Japan to continue, not only as a vital potential threat but as a waiting sword of Damocles, ready – but as a waiting sword of Damocles ready to des[cend] at a moment’s notice.
Let us not forget that Japan in her occupied areas today has greater resources at her command than Germany.
Let us not forget that the longer Japan is left in undisputed possessions of these resources, the stronger she must become. Each passing day takes more toll in lives of both Americans and Chinese.
Let us not forget that the Japanese are an intransigent people.
Let us not forget that during the first four and a half years of total aggression China has borne Japan’s sadistic fury unaided and alone.
The victories won by the United States Navy at Midway and the Coral Sea are doubtless steps in the right direction, they are merely steps in the right direction – for the magnificent fight that was waged at Guadalcanal during the past six months attests to the fact that the defeat of the forces of evil, though long and arduous, will finally come to pass. For have we not on the side of righteousness and justice staunch allies in Great Britain, Russia, and other brave and indomitable peoples?
Meanwhile, the peril of the Japanese juggernaut remains. Japanese military might must be decimated as a fighting force before its threat to civilization is removed. When the 77th Congress declared war against Japan, Germany, and Italy, Congress, for the moment, had done its work. It now remains for you, the present representatives of the American people, to point the way to win the war, to help construct a world in which all peoples may henceforth live in harmony and peace.
May I not hope that it is the resolve of Congress to devote itself to the creation of the post-war world? To dedicate itself to the preparation for the brighter future that a stricken world so eagerly awaits?
We of this generation who are privileged to help make a better world for ourselves and for posterity should remember that, while we must not be visionary, we must have vision so that peace should not be punitive in spirit and should not be provincial or nationalistic or even continental in concept, but universal in scope and – and humanitarian in action, for modern science has so annihilated distance that what affects one people must of necessity affect all other peoples.
The term “hands and feet” is often used in China to signify the relationship between brothers. Since international interdependence is now so universally recognized, can we not also say that all nations should become members of one corporate body?
The one hundred and sixty years of traditional friendship between our two great peoples, China and America, which has never been marred by misunderstandings, is unsurpassed in the annals of the world. I can also assure you that China is eager and ready to cooperate with you and other peoples to lay a true and lasting foundation for a sane and progressive world society which would make it impossible for any arrogant or predatory neighbor to plunge future generations into another orgy of blood.
In the past China has not computed the cost to her manpower in her fight against aggression, although she well realized that manpower is [the] real wealth of a nation; and it takes generations to grow it. She – She has been soberly conscious of her responsibilities and has not concerned herself with privileges and gains which she might have obtained through compromise of principles; nor will she demean herself and all she holds dear to the practice of the market place.
We in China, like you, want a better world, not for ourselves alone, but for all mankind, and we must have it. It is not enough, however, to proclaim our idea[l]s or even to be convinced that we have them. In order to preserve, uphold, and maintain them, there are times when we should throw all we cherish into our effort to fulfill these ideals even at the risk of failure.
The teachings drawn from our late leader, Dr. Sun Yat-sen, have given our people the fortitude to carry on. From five and a half years of experience, we in China are convinced that it is the better part of wisdom not to accept failure ignominiously, but to risk it gloriously.
We shall have faith, that, at the writing of peace, America and our other gallant Allies will not be obtunded by the mirage of contingent reasons of expediency.
Man’s mettle is tested both in adversity and in success. Twice is this true of the soul of a nation.
Brooklyn Eagle (February 18, 1943)
Yank Army defeated
Nazis seize three towns near Algerian border
Allied HQ, North Africa (UP) –
German armored forces, slashing to within 14 miles of the Algerian border, have driven U.S. troops from three more towns and the Berlin radio broadcast an announcement today that the High Command now considers the Tunisian offensive ended.
The first reaction here at Allied headquarters to the Berlin announcement was that Marshal Erwin Rommel was not willing to risk further, advance westward in the face of the threat of the British 8th Army, which is rolling up toward his flank from the south.
Meanwhile, a London dispatch said, the German armored forces which attacked U.S. forces were menaced from the rear by the advancing British 8th Army, which entered Medenine, outpost of the Mareth Line, and prepared to hurdle that town in pursuit of Rommel’s rear guard.
U.S. troops, evacuating the towns of Kasserine, Fériana and Sbeitla, retired to strong defensive positions in the 4,000-foot hills west of the triangle formed by the three communities.
Yank casualties heavy
U.S. casualties were reported to have been heavy and our forces were believed to have abandoned a considerable amount of equipment.
The drive which resulted in the capture of Fériana enabled the Germans almost to cut clear across the waist of Tunisia. Fériana is 14 miles from the Algerian border.
Nazis gain 30 miles
The twin thrusts of the Germans against the American lines has now gained a total of about 50 miles in the southern sector and 30 miles in the northern.
Some U.S. troops have already reached the hills west of Fériana, it was said, and now are busy regrouping their forces for a determined stand on the high ground.
The communiqué said:
Fighting was on a reduced scale yesterday. Our fighters were active throughout the day over southern Tunisia. Our heavy and medium bombers attacked enemy airfields in Sardinia. At one airfield bombs burst close to a number of grounded aircraft. Four enemy fighters and one Italian seaplane were shot down by our bombers and their fighter escorts.
Five of our aircraft are missing from these operations. During last night a few enemy aircraft dropped bombs in the Algiers area. There was a small number of casualties and some damage to buildings.
It was said that the Americans made little, if any, attempt to defend Fériana, Kasserine and Sbeitla. Rather, it was an evacuation designed to get the U.S. troops into a better defensive position.
British enter Mareth ‘Verdun’
London, England (UP) –
German armored forces, menaced from the rear by the advancing British 8th Army, have overrun the American defense triangle hinged on Fériana, Kasserine and Sbeitla in central Tunisia, it was announced today.
African communiqués reported British entry of Medenine, outpost of the Mareth Line, which the 8th Army was preparing to hurdle in pursuit of Rommel’s rear guard.
A broadcast Italian communiqué said U.S. planes smashed at Cagliari, Sardinia, killing 100 persons and injuring 235 in a blow against the Tunisian supply lines.
Gen. Sir Bernard L. Montgomery’s veterans, after entering Medenine, “Verdun of the Mareth Line,” were aiming at the heart of that Tunisian bulwark.
Medenine, 63 miles from the Tunisian border, is on the edge of the Mareth Line, which runs along the Mahatma Mountains from Fum Tatawin, 24 miles below Medenine, through a strongpoint at Toujane to Mareth, just below the port of Gabes.
Jap strength rising, says Mme. Chiang
Resources top Nazis’, she warns Congress in appeal for China
Washington (UP) –
Mme. Chiang Kai-shek today denounced the “prevailing opinion” that the defeat of Japan is less important than the defeat of Germany and urged Congress to lead the way in formulating one corporate body of all nations after the war.
In addressing Congress, she appealed for more aid for China:
…which has bled and borne unflinchingly the burden of war for more than five and a half years.
Before a crowded House chamber in her first public appearance, she praised America as:
…not only the cauldron of democracy, but the incubator of democratic principles.
She hoped that the Congress of that America would help make a post-war world in which it will be impossible for anyone to plunge future generations “into another orgy of blood.”
Mme. Chiang received prolonged and rousing ovations from Congressional members and packed galleries.
Presented by Wallace
Vice President Wallace presented her first to the Senate, where she spoke briefly and extemporaneously, saying she was overwhelmed at the reception given her.
She said as her listeners smiled:
I am not a very good speaker. As a matter of fact, I am not a speaker at all.
She said:
There is a traditional friendship between your country and mine. I feel that there are a great many similarities between your people and mine. These similarities are the basis of our friendship.
The address of the famous American-educated wife of the Chinese generalissimo was in impeccable English, and woven into it were the sayings of old Chinese philosophers to illustrate important points.
Offers philosophical advice
She concluded with this philosophical advice from a nation long torn by war to one barely initiated in its hardships:
From five and a half years of experience we in China are convinced that it is the better part of wisdom not to accept failure ignominiously but to risk it gloriously.
We shall have faith that, at the writing of peace, America and our other gallant allies will not be obtunded [dulled] by the mirage of contingent reasons of expediency.
Man’s mettle is tested both in adversity and in success. Twice is this true of the soul of a nation.
Madame Chiang left no doubt that her mission here, now that her treatment for an old injury has been pronounced successful, is to convince Americans that the Japanese are no less a dangerous foe than the Germans.
She prefaced her review of Japanese strength with this Chinese saying:
It takes little effort to watch the other fellow carry the load.
The prevailing opinion now, she added, seems to consider the defeat of the Japanese as of relative unimportance and that Hitler is our first concern.
She said:
This is not borne out by actual facts nor is it to the interests of the United Nations as a whole to allow Japan to continue, not only as a vital potential threat but as a waiting sword of Damocles, ready to descend at a moment’s notice…
Japanese military might must be decimated as a fighting force before its threat to civilization is removed.
She praised the American naval victories at Midway and in the Coral Sea, but emphasized that “they are merely steps in the right direction.” The six-month battle at Guadalcanal attests to the fact, she said, that the defeat of evil forces, “though long and arduous, will finally come to pass.”
Cites foe’s resources
But she warned Congress:
Let us not forget that Japan in her occupied areas today has greater resources at her command than Germany.
Let us not forget that the longer Japan is left in undisputed possession of these resources the stronger she must become. Each passing day takes more toll in lives of both Americans and Chinese.
Let us not forget that the Japanese are an intransigent people.
Let us not forget that during the first four and a half years of total aggression China has borne Japan’s sadistic fury unaided and alone.
She told the 78th Congress that as its predecessor had discharged its duty in 1941 by declaring war on the aggressors, the duty of the present Congress ls to help win the war and to create and uphold a lasting peace which will Justify the sacrifices and sufferings of the victims of aggression – to help construct a world in which all people may henceforth live in harmony and peace.
She said:
May I not hope that it is the resolve of Congress to devote itself to the creation of the post-war world? To dedicate itself to the preparation for the brighter future that a stricken world so eagerly awaits?
Pattern for peace
We of this generation who are privileged to help make a better world for ourselves and for posterity should remember that, while we must not be visionary, we must have vision so that peace should not be punitive in spirit and should not be provincial or nationalistic or even continental in concept, but universal in scope and humanitarian in action.
Since international interdependence is now so universally recognized, can we not also say that all nations should become members of one corporate body?
I can assure you that China is eager and ready to cooperate with you and other peoples to lay a true and lasting foundation for a sane and progressive world society which would make it impossible for any arrogant or predatory neighbor to plunge future generations into another orgy of blood.
We in China, like you. want a better world, not for ourselves but for all mankind, and we must have it. It is not enough, however, to proclaim our ideals or even to be convinced that we have them. In order to preserve, uphold and maintain them there are times when we should throw all we cherish into our effort to fulfill these ideals even at the risk of failure.