America at war! (1941–) – Part 3

[NormanStewart]

War overshadows GOP deliberations

Lincoln’s prophetic words on strain of a war election recalled at Chicago

Chicago, Illinois – (June 25)
Chicago has tried hard to whoop up the Republican National Convention, but the race between Governor Thomas E. Dewey and Governor John W. Bricker seems so one-sided and the big guns at Cherbourg make so much noise that it just won’t whoop.

The trappings may be pretty frivolous, the bands are as brassy, the lights as bright, but the war is not somebody else’s this time; there are soldiers and sailors on Michigan Boulevard and anti-aircraft balloons over the lake front, and while delegates are endangered only by their own indulgences, most of them have sons who are in danger, and that takes priority even over politics.

The talk, of course, is little different. The delegates are here to “kick the rascals out,” and most of the speeches and meetings in the Loop are looking to that end, but just as the Republicans are, for the moment, dominating Chicago, the war is dominating the Republicans. Even in the first editions, they cannot get the big headlines over Cherbourg and Vitebsk, and Saipan.

Difference in atmosphere

The atmosphere of the convention is different in more ways than one. The wind is blowing the wrong way from the stockyards and the amount of excitement that can be created over whether Mr. Dewey is nominated on the first or third ballot is not unlimited, but the essential difference is that America is having its first war political convention since the War Between the States, and the delegates are aware of it, even if they say very little about it.

Eighty years ago, near the end of the Civil War, it was the Democrats who held their convention in Chicago, and then, as now, the election was overwhelmed by the war. The great difference then was that the opposition party declared the war a mistake and called in its platform, for a negotiated peace. The opposition this time is not making that mistake.

In the course of that presidential campaign 80 years ago, however, President Lincoln made a statement which foresaw the campaign that starts tomorrow and defined its purpose.

Lincoln statement quoted

As the results of the election of 1864 were coming in, he addressed a group of his supporters who came to see him at the White House.

He said:

It has long been a grave question whether any government, not too strong for the liberties of the people, can be strong enough to maintain its existence in great emergencies. On this point the present war brought our government to a severe test and a presidential election, occurring in regular course during the Rebellion, added not a little to the strain.

The election, along with its incidental and undesirable strife, has done good. It has demonstrated that a people’s government can sustain a national election in the midst of a great civil war.

[NormanStewart]

Mrs. Farley ready to bolt her party

Won’t vote for Roosevelt, but shares Chicago suite with Mrs. Mesta, new Democrat
By Kathleen McLaughlin

Chicago, Illinois – (June 25)
Mrs. James A. Farley issued a political declaration of independence today, confirming a report that she will vote Republican unless the Democratic nominee is other than the present occupant of the White House.

Characteristic of the current state of things here, Mrs. Farley is happily sharing a suite with her longtime friend, Mrs. Pearl Mesta, widow of a wealthy Oklahoma oil man, now operating a ranch which she has bought near Prescott, Arizona. Mrs. Mesta, a lifelong Republican, will not only vote Democratic in November but will also be an Arizona delegate to the party’s convention.

Mrs. Mesta’s friends are as stunned at her conversion to the Democratic as Mrs. Farley’s are dumbfounded at her desertion of it. But, since they avoid argument by mutual consent, they are having a gay time of it.

Asked why she was here now if she was a Democrat, Mrs. Mesta smilingly replied, “Oh, I’m just snooping.”

Mrs. Farley said she and her husband had long seen eye to eye politically and that although she had registered as a Democrat, she had voted “independently” for some time.

She went on:

I believe in democracy, and we haven’t got democracy now. I have a couple of children growing up, and if it’s a case of voting for a fourth term, I simply won’t do it. That isn’t democracy.

Her favorite candidate is Governor Warren of California, who, she thinks, should be on the ticket.

She said that her husband, now in Mexico, knew she was here and added that she would be at the Democratic sessions next month.

Mrs. Robert Lincoln Hoyal of Douglas was elected head of the Arizona delegation today, the first woman to hold such a post in the history of the party. She was head of the Women’s Division of the National Committee, 1935-36 and later served as assistant to the national chairman.

Among the “regulars” is Mrs. Alice Roosevelt Longworth, who explains that she attends more out of habit than because of political connection, this being her ninth Republican convention in succession.

Women are in more favorable position in the convention than at any time since 1924, the session that followed their enfranchisement, when they had 121 full delegates and 285 alternates. This year, they had 102 full delegates and 270 alternates.

States which have noticeably increased their feminine groups are Colorado, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Utah, Vermont, Washington and Wyoming.

[NormanStewart]

New Jersey delegates 34–1 for Dewey

Only Senator Hawkes opposes New Yorker as Edge champions latter as nominee

Chicago, Illinois – (June 25)
With Senator Albert W. Hawkes of Montclair, New Jersey, the lone dissenter, the New Jersey delegation to the Republican National Convention recorded itself as 34–1 for Governor Dewey for President at a caucus held this noon at the Hotel Blackstone. Senator Hawks voted for Governor Bricker of Ohio.

There was almost another Bricker vote in the New Jersey delegation. On the first rollcall, Thomas A. Mathis of Toms River cast his vote for Governor Edge of New Jersey, who was presiding.

Governor Edge rose and said, “Look, we’ve been through all that and I’m not a candidate.”

“Is Dewey?” asked Mr. Mathis. Then he added, “Make it Bricker for me.”

When the rollcall was completed and no other Bricker votes had appeared, Mr. Mathis again rose and asked permission to make one more change in his vote. He voted for Mr. Dewey, amid applause.

Governor Edge, after organization of the delegation had been completed, made a short speech in which he noted that he was expressing only his own opinion, and that he did not expect anyone to be bound by it, but that he thought the delegation ought to be for Governor Dewey.

Governor Edge said:

I feel, as a result of the preliminary actions thus far, that it is pretty well settled that the distinguished Governor of New York, Thomas Dewey, will be the nominee of this convention. I expect to vote for him on the first ballot. If things develop beyond that, we can then further consider our viewpoint.

It is not a question of getting on the bandwagon. It is a question of showing to the electorate around the country the confidence and the unanimity of the party’s mood. I feel that New Jersey should not straddle, but should take a definite position. It is the best thing to do, and I do it with confidence.

The group voted to send a telegram of good cheer to Mrs. Edna B. Conklin, one of the delegates-at-large, who has been unable to attend the convention because of illness.

New Jersey’s delegation ran into room trouble, with no one apparently getting what had been ordered. Governor Edge had received the suite and an extra room, and tonight only had the extra room. His suite had been appropriated by a woman delegate from a Western state, who refused to move out. Others experienced similar difficulties.

[NormanStewart]

Gerald Smith ‘seizes’ ballroom for speech

America First crusader invades Republican quarters

Chicago, Illinois – (June 25)
Gerald L. K. Smith, leader of the America First Crusade, caused a minor diversion today by “seizing” the ballroom of the Stevens Hotel, Republican convention headquarters, and holding a rump meeting in the face of disapproval by the convention management.

Mr. Smith, followed by several hundred of those who favor nationalistic views, took over the ballroom to harangue these persons and numerous others, who were drawn in by curiosity, foe about two hours. His speech was marked by equal denunciation of Harrison M. Spangler, chairman of the Republican National Committee; Governor Dewey of New York, and President Roosevelt.

He led his followers in cheers for Col. Robert R. McCormick, publisher of The Chicago Tribune, and Senator Robert Reynolds (D-SC), who is retiring from the Senate and has intimated an intention to form a new national party.

Mr. Smith issued a typewritten statement in which he said that a group of “Independent Republicans,” had reserved the ballroom for his meeting today, but that “pressure” by the Republican leaders caused the hotel to cancel the reservation. This statement was ignored.

No other meeting was scheduled for the time during which Mr. Smith held the ballroom, as he said, “by force.”

[NormanStewart]

Editorial: Americans in Cherbourg

Cherbourg has been entered, and the first great prize of the invasion is virtually in Allied hands after a great final assault that began with the war’s mightiest combined barrage from land, from the sea and from the air, and is ending in bitter hand-to-hand fighting from house to house and from street to street. Some mopping-up of individual sections of the town still remains to be done; for the Germans converted many of its houses into forts, and German officers forced their weary troops to continue a hopeless struggle at the point of a gun in conformity with an order issued by their commander to fight or be shot. But these last desperate tactics were of no avail. Berlin was the first to announce the fall of the city, which means the loss of between 25,000 and 50,000 men, with the explanation that they had fought to the “last bullet.”

This is a splendid, heartwarming victory, won less than three weeks after D-Day and only five days after the actual attack on Cherbourg was launched. It completes the Allied break through the German “Atlantic Wall” and clinches our hold upon French soil. There is glory enough here for both the American and British armies: the Americans, who gained the city by assault; the British, who made the assault possible by holding against strong German counterattack the pivotal eastern end of the line.

Cherbourg will now become for the European war what Naples became for the Italian campaign and what Brest was in the last war – the great disembarkation port and supply base for the Allied armies which must break the deadlock in Europe. It is the third greatest port of France, amply able to take care of all Allied requirements until other ports are opened up by further Allied advances or invasions. And though German demolition squads have been reported active for some time, and the Germans have undoubtedly done their best to blow up the port’s facilities, Allied ability for restoration thus far has always exceeded the German power of destruction.

Cherbourg will permit the Allies to land troops and heavy equipment in protected waters. It will permit America in particular to ship men and supplies directly to the European continent and close to the battlefront without first unloading and transferring them at British ports. Finally, it will give the Allies a naval base from which whatever remains of the German submarine menace can be met far more effectively than at present. A safe base, safe communication lines and speed in the handling of equipment and supplies are of the essence of victory, and all these elements are now provided by the capture of Cherbourg.

Beyond that, the capture of Cherbourg means first the capture of the Cherbourg Peninsula. And this peninsula, together with the Allied bridgeheads captured in the first onslaught, provides the first really adequate marshaling ground and springboard for large-scale Allied attacks on the German armies in the West.

It may be assumed that one of the first Allied moves will be in a southwesterly direction toward the Loire to cut off the Brittany Peninsula as well and thereby secure the Allied rear., but the Germans have been forced ti tie down so much of their strength in the west to guard king coastlines still exposed to new invasions that they may have little left for mobile armies with which to counter Allied thrusts. And this opens up the chance for an even mire daring strategy than might have appeared possible at the start of the invasion when the Allies still counted on a mighty German counteroffensive – a strategy which would reduce the capture of the Brittany Peninsula to a secondary operation and wheel the Allied armies toward the southeast for a drive toward the Seine and Paris. The resumption of the American offensive southeast of Carentan, the new British-Canadian drive which led to the capture of Tilly-sur-Seulles, the continued German attacks at Caen, all point in that direction. Cherbourg is still 200 miles from Paris, but its capture has put the Allies definitely on the road to the capital of France. And beyond Paris lies Berlin.

[NormanStewart]

Editorial: The Republican opportunity

The Republicans meeting in Chicago today are facing a national situation more critical than that which existed when they met in the same city in 1860 and again when they met at Baltimore in 1864. As on both those historic occasions, they believe they have a chance for victory. If they are right in this belief, they have a great opportunity. If they are wrong, they may still give their party a significance and cohesion it has lost since 1932 and restore the vitality of the two-party system.

This system demand compromise. Each of our major parties is the equivalent of half a dozen or more groups and factions such as have bedeviled many European parliaments in times gone by. If we are to avoid a similar confusion here, the right wing and the left wing must somehow find middle ground. The extreme policy is not practicable and cannot be expected. But this need not mean that the party as a whole cannot stand firmly and unequivocally for a few easily understood principles.

This is the first wartime presidential year since 1864. In that year, the Democrats, as the opposition party, declared that the war to restore the Union had failed and demanded “that immediate efforts be made for a cessation of hostilities.” They paid for that error by 20 years out of office. Today there is no question of Republican support for all-out victory. There is some question as to how fast the party will go in committing the country to all-out participation in a worldwide organization to keep the peace. Just eight years ago, it took its stand against the League of Nations and the World Court. It has certainly learned much since that time, as have the Democratic Party and the voters to whom both must appeal. The old cry of “entangling alliances” cannot successfully be raised again. Our only choice is between limited ties in a precarious balance-of-power system and full membership in a world organization for peace. If the Republicans will accept this necessity, as their wiser leaders urge them to do, they will redeem past errors.

In the domestic field, there are real issues on which the Republicans can seize. Perhaps the most vital of these is the relationship between the federal government and the states and between the federal government and private enterprise. Neither of these issues is likely to be stated now in the terms that would have seemed most appropriate in 1932. But they can be stated. The country has the right to expect a statement that shall e honest and explicit, so that voters this fall may know exactly what they are voting for or against.

Viewed with perfect impartiality, the Republican Party has a great history. It has now reached a turning point. We may hope that this week it will rise to its destiny, suppressing within its own ranks the forces of isolationism and reaction.

[NormanStewart]

McCormick: The concert of powers in combined action

By Anne O’Hare McCormick

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[NormanStewart]

Patterson calls individual to war

Under Secretary lays on union class a personal obligation in fight for freedom

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[NormanStewart]

Army unit is routed by Aleutian volcano

4 saved, 1 believed lost – erupting since June 10

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[NormanStewart]

New landing craft to help beat Japan

1,000-men attack-vessels are planned for the Pacific

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[NormanStewart]

Glider pilot tells of French landing

Flown here wounded, officer says craft hit tree – Nazi tanks did not fire

Washington (UP) – (June 25)
The first two wounded soldiers to arrive in this country from the invasion beachhead in France were identified today by the War Department as Lt. Col. Michael C. Murphy, 37, of Lafayette, Indiana, and Pfc. James A. Lester, 21, of Route 3, Clio, Michigan.

The two arrived last night at Mitchel Field, Long Island, on an Air Transport Command hospital plane and were taken to a nearby hospital. Their names were withheld overnight until the next of kin could be notified.

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Lt. Col. Murphy said in New York yesterday, according to the Associated Press, that he landed his glider at Sainte-Mère-Église within 15 feet of a German tank column without being fired upon.

He recalled:

We were caught in a pretty heavy crossfire while still in the air. The pilot of the plane leading us was Col. Whitaker. I called him and told him that they were making a sieve of us back there. He said, “What in blazes do you think they are doing to me up here?”

I received my injury because my glider didn’t stop when I applied the brakes. It skidded on the tall grass and coasted into a tree.

When my glider came to rest, I was within 15 feet of an enemy reconnaissance tank column. I was pinned in and couldn’t move. I told the passengers what was in front of us. In about 15 seconds, the enemy started up the motors on their tanks and moved off. They moved past the other parked gliders and didn’t fire a shot.

Because snipers and machine-gunners were firing on then, Murphy said, the troops took cover in ditches at the edge of the field. He said a Medical Corps doctor risked the fire to reach the gliders and treat the injured.

Lt. Col. Murphy said the trip back to England from Normandy required three days because of snipers and artillery firing on the beach, as well as mines offshore.

He said:

It is interesting that it took twice as long to evacuate us across the Channel to England by boat as it took us to fly across the ocean.

The glider pilot, who formerly operated his own flying service at Findlay, Ohio, trained flight nurses at Bowman Field, Kentucky, before going overseas.

Four months ago, he married the former Mary Louise Neville of Lafayette.

[NormanStewart]

CIO INSISTS COSTS REQUIRE WAGE RISE
Says living expense is up 45.3%, increase of 1.8% this year, and federal index errs

Pay formula ‘obsolete;’ report by Murray and Thomas declares Little-Steel plan violates stabilization
By Louis Stark

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[NormanStewart]

Army nurses accept discomfort of moving base in Italy in stride

By Dorothy Sutherland

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Tornado victims aided

Red Cross rushes relief – death toll now stands at 146

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[NormanStewart]

LIFE (June 26, 1944)

Bayeux Tapestry reports old invasion

When the English-speaking allies fought their way into Bayeux June 7, they had returned to one of the great sources of English culture. That is the place from which Normans came in 1066 to conquer England. There, until the Germans came, hung the great Bayeux Tapestry which depicted the Battle of Hastings only a few years after it had been fought. Key examples of the 72 surviving scenes are reproduced here from the 230-foot embroidery on white linen, which used to be hung around the nave of Bayeux Cathedral. Today, three German scholars are studying it for Hitler in some “safe place,” said to be Linz, Austria. They have already described it as “a sort of German royal saga.”

By more respectable scholars, the Bayeux Tapestry has been called “the noblest monument in the world relating to English history” and “the most famous and most remarkable of medieval embroideries.” So factual is the work that the Bayeux Tapestry is one of our chief historical sources on the decisive Battle of Hastings. The borders are decorated with the Romanesque conceits then in fashion” griffins, phoenixes, fables, hunts, monsters, real animals.

The Battle of Hastings was the last great flare of infantry against armored cavalry for several centuries. The battle was won, however, not by mounted knights but by the Norman archers who pitched their arrows high and finally dropped one into Harold’s eye, killing him and demoralizing his army.

Harold, carrying a falcon (left), sets sail in Channel in 1064. Normans claim that he was going to pay a call on William of Normandy.

Landing in Normandy, Harold’s Saxons drop anchor in a calm sea. This contradicts Saxon story that Harold was shipwrecked in a storm. Saxons wear mustaches.

The seizure of Harold, by anchor, is effected by Count Guy. He surrendered him to Duke William, who released him after oath.

Harold sails home, having given oath to support William’s claim to throne of England on death of King Edward the Confessor.

Edward dies in 1066 and is hastily buried in St. Peter’s on site of Westminster Abbey. Harold is crowned King, violating his oath, a sacred thing in those times.

William’s fleet of about 700 open boats is built in the mouths of the Norman rivers. Each one carried about 20 men and three horses.

With a south wind setting out at midnight, Sept. 27, 1066, William’s fleet reaches Pevensey, England, by 9:00 a.m. The following four pictures are panorama of fleet.

Sailing swiftly by night, William carried “a great lantern” on mast of his own ship, the* Mora, as well as a brass Cupid on the prow.

The fleet carries not only Norman barons but also Breton and French adventurers to a total of perhaps 13,000 men, 2,000 horses.

A crusade was what Pope had called William’s expedition, for Harold had broken his word. Furthermore, William’s great-aunt was Edward the Confessor’s mother.

Landing at Pevensey on southeast coast of England is shown above. The horses are led ashore. Notice that Normans are clean-shaven.

In mail armor, Norman barons head for Hastings. Their weapons were the lance, sword, mace and kite-shaped shields. Duke William carried a mace in battle.

Normans dig entrenchments around camp at the town of Hastings and build a timber castle. They had won complete surprise.

The countryside is burned by Duke William’s men. His objective is to force Harold to fight quickly, before Normans supplies run out.

William (left) has his fine Spanish stallion, given him by King Alfonso of Spain, led up, to lead his army into battle. He has already caught two of Harold’s spies.

The Norman barons head for Hastings. Decorations at the top of the strip may include Harold’s personal insignia, The Fighting Man.

Harold’s spy, caught by the Normans, is shown the Norman host and in turn tells Duke William which way Harold is coming. William is left center, the spy at right.

The spy is released after having been wined, dined and impressed by Norman power, Decorations of strip include griffins, donkey.

Spy tells King Harold that the Normans are coming. Harold has formed strong shield wall on a ridge after marching 30 miles a day.

The battle begins with a volley of Norman arrows, then the charge by the heavily-armed Norman knights, here shown all across the bottom row of these two pages.

“Dex aie!,”cried Normans, meaning “God’s aid!” Replied Saxons, “Out! Out!” Another favorite Saxon cry: “Godemite” (God Almighty).

**The shield wall of housecarls of Harold is impregnable against charges of the Norman knights, and volley of javelins, casting axes and stones throws Normans back.

Norman allies were routed by Saxon levies, who pursued but were themselves cut to pieces on the open plain by the Norman knights.

The Norman horses, including William’s, are decimated by the Saxons.

At cry he is dead, William raises his helmet (left) and rallies his men.

In hand-to-hand fighting, King Harold’s two brothers are cut down.

Harold is killed (center), an unaimed arrow had pierced his eye.

The Norman knights harry the remnants of the Saxon shield wall.

[NormanStewart]

War photographers’ stories

LIFE’s cameramen describe their battle experiences on second front and on road to Rome

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Our worldwide war

American armed might engages enemy from France to the Far Pacific

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Incident in Normandy

Some U.S. infantrymen move the battle ahead by eliminating a German sniper in a barnyard

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The High Command visits beachhead

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First casualties were lower than had been expected

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Sea power wins on Normandy coast

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