Simms: Palau Island ranks as Jap Pearl Harbor
Base nearer Philippines replaced Truk as key before war
By William Philip Simms, Scripps-Howard foreign editor
…
Roosevelt’s disdain shown in 3 messages to Congress
Demand for federal soldier ballot, vetoes of anti-subsidy and tax bills marked by criticism and vituperation
By Daniel M. Kidney, Scripps-Howard staff writer
…
Barkley blast brings general revolt to head
Issues now drawn squarely between Congress and the President
By Thomas L. Stokes, Scripps-Howard staff writer
…
Roving Reporter
By Ernie Pyle
In Italy – (by wireless)
After the marching order came, it took our company about 15 minutes to get itself together, with the head of the line assembled at the appointed place in front of the kitchen tent at the edge of the olive grove.
It was midnight. The night was utterly black. It was the dark of the moon, and thick, low clouds further darkened the sky. One soldier said:
In two years overseas, this is the blackest night we’ve ever moved.
With a couple of others, I felt my way from our pig shed down to where we thought the kitchen tent was. We knew we were near it, but we couldn’t see it.
One soldier said:
It’s up ahead about 50 feet.
I butted in and said:
No, it’s over to the right about 30 feet.
Just at that moment, a flash of fire from one of our nearby cannon brightened the countryside for a split second, and we saw the tent. It was six feet in front of us. That’s how dark it was.
One by one the platoon leaders felt their way up to the head of the column, reported their platoons ready in line, and felt their way back. Finally, the lieutenant said, “Let’s go.”
Let’s get along
There’s no military formality about a night movement of infantry. You don’t try to keep step. Nobody says “Forward march,” or any of that parade ground stuff. After a rest, the lieutenant says, “All right, let’s get along.” And everybody gets up and starts.
In trying to get out of the orchard, we lost our various places. Finally, everybody stopped and called each other’s names in order to get reassembled. The lieutenant and the sergeant would call for me occasionally to make sure I was still along.
When we fell in again, I was marching behind Sgt. Vincent Conners of Imogene, Iowa. His nickname is “Pete.” We hadn’t gone far before I realized that the place behind Pete was the best spot in the column for me, for I had found a little secret.
He had a rolled-up map about two feet long stuck horizontally through the pack harness on his back. By keeping close to it, I could just barely make out the vague white shape of this map. And that was my beacon throughout the night.
It was amazing how you could read the terrain ahead of you by the movement of that thin white line. If it went down a couple of inches, I knew Pete had stepped into a hole. If it went down fast, I knew he had struck a slope. If it went down sideways, I knew his feet were sliding on a slippery slope.
In that split second before my own step followed his, I could correct for whatever had happened to him. As a result, I was down only once the whole night.
Magnificent cussing
We were startled to hear some magnificent cussing down at one side, and recognized the company commander’s voice. He had stepped right off into a narrow ditch about two feet deep and gone down on his back. Bundled as he was with packsacks, he couldn’t get out of the ditch. He finally made it on the third try.
The thing that always amazes me about these inhuman night movements of troops in war areas is how good-natured the men are about it. A certain fundamental appreciation for the ridiculous carries them through. As we slogged along, slipping and crawling and getting muddier and muddier, the soldier behind me said:
I’m going to write my Congressman about this.
Another soldier answered:
Hell, I don’t even know who my Congressman is. I did three years ago, but I don’t know.
The company’s first sergeant is Bill Wood of Council Bluffs, Iowa, a tall man who carried a heavy pack, and when he fell there was a lot of him to go down. Whenever Bill would fall, we’d hear him and stop. And then we could hear him clawing with his feet and getting part way up and then hitting the mud again, and cussing more eloquently with each attempt.
It really was so funny we all had to laugh. When Bill finally got back in line, he was good and mad, and he said he couldn’t see anything funny about it.
It took us half an hour to feel our way out of the big orchard and down a few feet onto the so-called road, which was actually not much more than a furrow worn by Italian mule carts. There were knee-deep ruts and bucket-sized rocks.
Once on the road, the column halted to let a train of pack mules pass. As we stood there, the thought occurred to all of us:
It’s bad enough to be floundering around on the ground and mud, but now it’ll be like groveling in a barnyard.
Captain, eulogized by Pyle, wills prayers to his men
Memorial services for officer killed in Italy held jointly with funeral of mother
By Walter R. Humphrey, Temple Daily Telegram editor
…
EXECUTIVE ORDER 9427
Establishment of the Retraining and Reemployment Administration
For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
February 24, 1944
By virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and statutes of the United States, particularly the First War Powers Act, 1941, as President of the United States and as Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy, it is hereby ordered as follows:
-
There is hereby established in the Office of War Mobilization a Retraining and Reemployment Administration (herein after referred to as the Administration), the functions of which, subject to the general supervision of the Director of War Mobilization, shall be exercised by a Retraining and Reemployment Administrator (hereinafter referred to as the Administrator) to be appointed by the Director of War Mobilization.
-
With the assistance of a Retraining and Reemployment Policy Board, composed of a representative of the Department of Labor, the Federal Security Agency, the War Manpower Commission, the Selective Service System, the Veterans Administration, the Civil Service Commission, the War Department, the Navy Department, and the War Production Board, it shall be the function of the Administration:
(a) To have general supervision and direction of the activities of all Government agencies relating to the retraining and reemployment of persons discharged or released from the armed services or other war work, including all work directly affected by the cessation of hostilities or the reduction of the war program; to issue necessary regulations and directions in connection therewith; and to advise with the appropriate committees of the Congress as to the steps taken or to be taken with respect thereto.
(b) In consultation with the Government agencies concerned, to develop programs for the orderly absorption into other employment of persons discharged or released from the armed services or other war work, including adequate provisions for vocational training, for the finding of jobs for persons so discharged or released, for assisting those persons and their families pending their absorption into employment, and for dealing with the problems connected with the release of workers from industries not readily convertible to peacetime use. In developing such programs, special regard shall be given to the necessity of integrating them with wartime manpower controls.
(c) In consultation with the Government agencies concerned, to develop programs for the adequate care of persons discharged or released from the armed services, including physical and occupational therapy for the wounded and disabled and the resumption of education interrupted by the war.
-
The Retraining and Reemployment Policy Board shall invite representatives of other Government agencies to participate in its deliberations when matters specially affecting them are under consideration.
-
The functions conferred on the Administration by this Order shall be performed through existing Government agencies and officials so far as feasible and in such manner as the Administrator shall determine. The Administration, within the limit of funds which may be made available, may employ necessary personnel and make provision for supplies, facilities, and services necessary to discharge the responsibilities of the Administration.
-
All prior Executive Orders, so far as they are in conflict herewith, are amended accordingly.
FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT
THE WHITE HOUSE,
February 24, 1944
Völkischer Beobachter (February 25, 1944)
Segen des ‚amerikanischen Jahrhunderts‘ –
Roosevelt mordet die Ungeborenen
…
The Pittsburgh Press (February 25, 1944)
NEW RAIDS HIT NAZI PLANE PLANTS
U.S. bombers attack sixth straight day
Regensburg-Stuttgart blow follows 1,000-plane RAF smash
By Phil Ault, United Press staff writer
…
Roosevelt’s veto beaten by 72–14 Senate vote
39 Democrats join revolt against ‘dictation;’ unity plea made
By John L. Cutter, United Press staff writer
…
Taking a rest –
President goes to ‘hideaway’
Roosevelt relaxes from press and public
With President Roosevelt’s party (UP) –
President Roosevelt was relaxing today away from Washington and in seclusion from the press and public of the country.
The apparent reason for his absence from the White House at this time was that his physician, VAdm. Ross T. McIntire, has urged the President since his winter attack of influenza to get away from Washington for a rest. There was no official explanation available here, however.
The voluntary censorship code prohibits detailed reporting of Mr. Roosevelt’s movements outside Washington without an appropriate official authority.
Reporters not invited
Correspondents for seven newspapers and two press associations – men whose regular assignment is reporting the activities of the Chief Executive – followed him to the vicinity of his retreat.
They were not invited by the White House staff, but made the trip nevertheless to be near as possible to the President in the event of major developments involving the war in general and particularly because of the political crisis touched off by Senator Alben W. Barkley (D-KY).
The newspapermen were told soon after their arrival here that they could expect no contact whatever with the President; that no inquiries could be received or answered; that all the news involving the President would come from Washington through the White House Press Secretary Stephen T. Early.
Has own communications
While the President maintained no contact with the press at his retreat, he had facilities for instantaneous communication with Washington. Although out of town, he was able to follow closely the political turmoil on Capitol Hill which followed his tax bill veto and Mr. Barkley’s denunciation of the veto message.
Despite the stringent official secrecy covering the President’s whereabouts and movements, it was the Chief Executive himself who first disclosed that he was “out of town” when he sent Mr. Barkley a letter asking him not to resign as Senate Democratic Leader.
First rebuff
Mr. Roosevelt has made numerous trips since Pearl Harbor, and on a few of them, reporters have been invited to accompany him. This occasion was the first time since the war began that the White House correspondents followed the President without official sanction.
Reporters criticized by Roosevelt aide
Washington (UP) –
White House Secretary Stephen T. Early said today that President Roosevelt is out of the city for a rest, but emphasized that his basic health is “good – very good.”
Commenting on dispatches which said the President apparently left Washington because of his health, Mr. Early said:
About 100 newspaper reporters saw him at a press conference on Tuesday. He looked all right then, didn’t he? Well, he is all right. Nothing has happened since the press conference to change the situation. His health is good – very good.
Discusses departure
Mr. Early took occasion at his morning press conference to also comment on the departure of a group of newspaper and press-association correspondents, regularly assigned to cover the President, to a place near which the Chief Executive is resting.
The group left Wednesday after Senate Leader Alben W. Barkley precipitated a political crisis with his announcement that he would resign.
Dispatches from some of the correspondents today bore the dateline “With President Roosevelt” and others “With the President’s party.” Mr. Early said these datelines are incorrect.
‘Miles from President’
He said:
The correspondents are miles away from the President.
Mr. Early also said the correspondents who left the capital did not deserve great credit for going near the President.
He said:
They were told in confidence by this office where the President was. They knew, therefore, where to go. They were also told that if the President had any news to give out, it would be given out here and not by the staff accompanying the President.
The correspondents left strictly on their own, with the knowledge that there would be no news where they were going and that any news would be given out here. The news has been given out here.
No appointments
The correspondents also were told, as were all correspondents regularly covering the White House, that the President had no appointments: that he was going away only for a rest.
Mr. Early explained that it was not feasible for William D. Hassett, newly-appointed White House secretary, or other members of the White House staff who are with the President to issue any news.
He said that if either Mr. Hassett or any other accredited staff member made a statement to the correspondents, it would be recognized as coming from a competent authority and therefore subject to publication under the censorship code.
‘Security involved’
Mr. Early said:
Thus, President Roosevelt’s whereabouts would be revealed to the world. Let’s not forget that this is wartime, and that the question of security is involved. The newspaper code recognizes these questions of security.
We will comply with the code and give President Roosevelt the security to which he is entitled and will not reveal his whereabouts.
Mr. Early said that it was only right to point out that the correspondents who “left Washington uninvited to travel to a point nearby the President’s abode” did not advise his office in advance of their departure.
‘In face of the fact’
Mr. Early said:
This was in the face of the fact that they had been told before the President left Washington that he was going away for a rest and would have no appointments.
The President is in instantaneous and immediate communication with the White House. Developments here of a news nature have been given out immediately to the press and would have been given to the correspondents who left Washington if they had remained here.
As you know, the White House is the only news outlet for the President while he is off the record.
Navy prevents escape of Japs
Transport, destroyer sunk in Bismarck Sea
By Don Caswell, United Press staff writer
…
Nazis prepare Anzio attack
Germans reinforce troops; artillery battles rage
By Robert Vermillion, United Press staff writer
…
Latest from inside Europe –
Defeatism spreading throughout Germany
Interned U.S. correspondent warns that enemy has not reached state of 1918 military collapse
By Ralph E. Heinzen, United Press staff writer
…
By jet propulsion?
Snyder uses Army airplane to bring sustaining vote
Perryopolis Democrat crosses nation in 13 hours; won’t reveal type of craft he used
…
Prize fight picture today (adv.) –
Naughty Nora, Bali belles are arrested in last reel
State censor board agent waits ‘til final night of 6-week run to stop Art Cinema
…
I DARE SAY —
‘Needy and greedy’
By Florence Fisher Parry
Relief for the greedy instead of the needy.
That’s what did it. That’s what ran the cup over. Just one trick phrase too much. Just one neatest-trick-of-the-week too many. Just a little overuse of the old thesaurus.
It’s wonderful, the power of a word! Alliteration, it seems, can be enough to turn the course of Empire!
It dates back pretty far, now we come to think of it – this era of word spellbinding. It dates back to a day almost 11 years ago when the people of our Republic were gathered around their radios to hear the inaugural address of their new President.
The golden voice cast a spell. Clear and strong and confident, it rang a new bell. The people gathered closer, subtly electrified. Then, suddenly, the air became surcharged with a cold and withering current. “These economic royalists! These princes of privilege!” These words clove a rift between the people whom Lincoln had warned: United we stand, divided we fall.
Oh, words have been used before by Presidents to rouse the people to new consciousnesses. But never until that speech 12 years ago had they been chosen with such relish for their slick slogan value. Other Presidents had exhorted the people, but always to UNITE them; and although most of their speeches were written for them (as must be, for Presidents are busy men), they took care not to let their ghostwriters inflame, by catchphrases, the passions of the people.
The ghostwriters
Few Presidents have attempted their own composition. Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Woodrow Wilson – these three are best known among those who reserved for themselves alone this solemn task. And it has long been known that our present President, in love with the slick alliterative slogan, is careful to surround himself with gifted scribes whose genius lies along the lines of his own rhetorical and dramatic tastes in phraseology.
There has been a trek of these ghostwriters scurrying in and out of the White House with their red-hot writings. Many of them are avowed leftists. Some are practiced politicians. A few feel themselves to be messiahs of a new order which has commissioned them to be its eloquent stooges.
More than one gifted playwright and poet has been glad to accept anonymity in order to fashion pronouncements that will go down in history under the President’s signature and, “more clever than honest,” a few closer advisers have lent their own oblique technique to the phraseology of Rooseveltian utterances.
Alas, alack!
Our President now finds himself in a most critical position because of his relish for the alliterative phrase. He doubtless smacked his lips over the slick wording of “relief for the greedy instead of the needy.” It took him back to his triumphant “princes of privilege” days; it was too tempting to resist.
It so carried him away that he forgot for the moment its dangerous effect upon those staunch friends of his in the Senate who had stood by him through think and thin and upon whom he must rely in the campaign ahead. It made him even forget his good old Dear Alben.
He could not have dreamed that Dear Alben would kick over the traces at last. Why, it had never failed to work, that Dear Alben technique! My friends, Dear Wendell, Dear Winston, why it was foolproof! Hadn’t William Allen White himself said, after he had met him, that his charm was positively dangerous it was so overwhelming> And if Dear Alben WOULD balk, couldn’t he Dear Alben him back into the fold again?
Greedy and needy. Princes of privilege. Alliteration did it, Mr. President. It’s been the death of writers before this, but I never knew it to beset a President before.