America at war! (1941–) – Part 3

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americavotes1944

Keynoter’s son not impressed

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma (UP) –
Governor Robert S. Kerr said today he hoped the Democratic delegates to the National Convention would appreciate his keynote address more than his six-year-old son, Billy.

Mr. Kerr quoted this exchange of questions and answers after he had read part of his address to Billy:

“How many pages to your keynote speech?”
“About 20.”

“How many did you read to me?”
“Three.”

“Do I have to go to the convention?”
“No, son, you don’t.”

Mr. Kerr said he had whittled another two and a half minutes off the keynote address, to be delivered July 19 in Chicago, but said it was “still five minutes too long.” He refused to estimate length of the address in minutes.

8366

10,000 Jap civilians warned to surrender to Yanks on Saipan

Enemy remnants bottled up by Americans on northern tip of Marianas Island
By Rembert James, representing combined Allied press

Aboard joint expeditionary force flagship off Saipan (UP) –
U.S. military commanders today designated a road to surrender for the 10,000 to 15,00 civilians still hiding out on Saipan Island, while the victorious Yanks surged forward to deliver the death blow to the battered Jap garrison bottled up at the northern tip of the island.

A single highway was designated as the road to surrender for civilians, almost 7,000 of whom have already been interned.

The rest, including Saipan business owners, insular government officials and white-collar workers with their families, have cowered in hiding places in the hills and canebrakes on northern Saipan.

Pamphlets dropped

By word of mouth, and by pamphlets dropped from airplanes and shot from mortars, the Americans offered water, food and complete safety to those who accept.

Meanwhile, Marines and Army forces pushed in to destroy the remnants of the defending forces under circumstances in which no one could doubt that the end of military operations was in sight.

The Japs were penned into a space extending roughly two miles in each direction except for a slim area from Marpi Point at the northern end down the western coast toward Tanapag Harbor.

Hold only airfield

The Japs had already lost everything of value on Saipan except the Marpi Point airfield, where most of their troops have apparently chosen to die at the base of a sheer cliff 600 feet high.

They still held an entrenched pocket on the west coast, but were under heavy attack by the Army’s 27th Infantry Division troops there, while Marines pushed on northward.

The Americans on the other hand held approximately nine-tenths of the island, including the important Isely Airport (formerly Aslito), the town of Garapan and the harbor of Tanapag, as well as the island’s highest peak – Mt. Tapochau.

‘Gung Ho’ Raider chief wounded in Saipan battle

Col. Carlson hit while aiding Marine
By Mac R. Johnson, United Press staff writer

With U.S. Marines, Saipan, Mariana Islands – (July 23, delayed)
Lt. Col. Evans F. Carlson, 48-year-old founder and leader of the famed “Gung Ho” Marine Raiders, was wounded in one leg and one arm by Jap machine-gun bullets on the eighth day of the Saipan campaign and has been evacuated by transport plane.

Col. Carlson’s wounds, received while he tried to help a wounded private to safety, were not serious.

The Marine leader, plans officer for the 4th Marine Division, went to a forward observation post as a frontline observer June 22 while the Marines were assaulting the important Hill 500 on the southeastern slope of Mt. Tapochau, west of Magicienne Bay.

With him were Lt. Col. Justice M. Chambers of Washington, and Pvt. Vito A. Cassaro of Brooklyn, a radio operator.

Hit while aiding private

Japs spotted their observation post and sprayed the area with hundreds of rounds of machine-gun bullets, one of which hit Pvt. Cassaro in the leg.

Col. Carlson picked up the wounded radio operator and attempted to remove him from the area of fire but was hit himself in the leg and arm.

Meanwhile, Marines turned rifles, Browning automatic rifles and machine guns against the enemy positions and Col. Chambers, under cover or the protective fire, removed Col. Carlson.

Spurns help

When stretcher-bearers appeared on the scene, they attempted to get Col. Carlson out first, but the Raider chief turned down the offer on his prerogative as the ranking officer and refused to be removed, saying: “Vic Cassaro was wounded first. Take him back first.”

Col. Carlson organized his “Gung Ho” Raiders in San Diego, California, living up to the slogan which means work in harmony. Officers and men exchanged ideas at weekly meetings in which enlisted men had as much right of expression as their officers.

He led the Makin raid in August 1942, with then Lt. Col. Jimmy Roosevelt as second in command. His raiders killed all but two of Makin’s Japs in a 36-hour fight.

Fought on Guam

Another achievement of the hardened Marine leader was 20 days spent behind Jap lines on Guadalcanal, living off the land and captured stores while the raiders killed 500 of the enemy and gained valuable information.

An inspiration leader, Col. Carlson never took cover when he led his men through Jap snipers, defensive positions and machine-gun nests. He can be called the most beloved officer by the enlisted men of the Marine Corps.

Col. Carlson wears three Navy Crosses, a Purple Heart from a previous wound and two Presidential Unit Citation ribbons.

8367

Patriot raids replace Allied plane attacks

French disrupt Nazi communications

SHAEF, England (UP) –
Lt. Gen. Joseph-Pierre Kœnig ’s French Forces of the Interior, estimated at 500,000 armed men, have sabotaged German communications in France so completely that the Allied air force is now concentrating on fewer targets and the Nazis are forced to channelize their movements into the battle zone, an Allied headquarters spokesman disclosed today.

Paying tribute to the FFI, a Supreme Headquarters special communiqué said that the Vercors, and part of the department of Gers, in the southwest, Doubs and Ain, near the Swiss frontier, and Ardèche, in the southeastern Rhône Valley, had been liberated.

A spokesman interpreted this to mean that the sectors were under Maquis control and that no enemy movements through these areas were possible unless heavily escorted.

A French spokesman added that traffic was stalled entirely in Brittany in northern France, in the Pyrenees–Lyon areas, and on nine main routes, including the Calais–Reich and Paris–Belfort lines which are being cut an average of two to five times daily.

8368

Nazis battle desperately in central Italy

Allies slowed near German Gothic Line
By Reynolds Packard, United Press staff writer

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8369

12 Jap ships destroyed by task force

113 planes blasted in Bonins, Volcanos
By William F. Tyree, United Press staff writer

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8370

Congressmen swab way to England as deckhands

Philadelphia Republican learns maritime problem the hard way

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Germans predict drives by British

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8371

Yanks occupy another isle off New Guinea

Manim is captured without opposition

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8372

Stimson: U.S. soldiers equal any in world

War Secretary pays tribute to 36th, 85th and 88th Division
By Eleanor Packard, United Press staff writer

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General fired for criticizing Hitler speech

Von Rundstedt ouster shows Nazi power
By Nat A. Barrows

Stockholm, Sweden –
Field Marshal Karl Gerd von Rundstedt dared to criticize Hitler’s latest speech. That was an affront to Der Führer and, combined with the High Command’s dissatisfaction over the poor German defense against the Allied push in Normandy, was sufficient to cause the German decision to remove von Rundstedt as their Western Front commander.

This change in top command on the Western Front is only a thinly disguised symptom of the crisis in Nazi leadership, proving again that Hitler still retains powerful control over his political and military subordinates, according to the interpretation given to the move here.

Ouster termed political move

Bern, Switzerland –
Politics once more appear to have the upper hand over military exigencies in Nazi Germany.

On July 3, Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt was awarded the Knight’s Cross with Oak Leaves and simultaneously received a press accolade for his military “merits.” Der Führer even wrote him a personal letter of appreciation.

Today, four days later, von Rundstedt “for reasons of heath” is out as commander-in-chief of Germany’s Western Front, replaced by Marshal Günther von Kluge.

It is, of course, obvious, that “reasons of health” have nothing to do with von Rundstedt’s removal. His departure comes at the very moment when Nazi propagandists are playing up the cruelties of war. And he is a man known for his moderate Nazi sympathies and relative leniency in suppressing French patriots.

No doubt, now that the Gestapo are arresting French hostages by the thousands, he is considered too moderate to rule over divided France.

Casey: Yanks’ barrage a war ‘for keeps’

By Robert J. Casey

On the U.S. front in Normandy. France –
The American southward push in Normandy took a new turn this morning with a successful attack across the Vire River.

This widens the previous front considerably and gives the Germans new worries in the Saint-Jean-de-Daye area which is six or seven miles from Saint-Lô.

If any observer had thought that the American drive was a mere token performance, the operations since yesterday afternoon certainly should show their error.

There have been few artillery barrages in anybody’s war thicker, more continuous, or noisier than that which has blasted this ever-widening front for the last 18 hours. It started yesterday and is still going on with a din such as the world has probably not heard since the last war’s Battle of Verdun.

You wonder, as you hear these guns firing in such masses and so close together that their echoes blend in one continuous roar that shakes your diaphragm, how do much ammunition could have been hauled across the Channel in such a short time.

If you never realized before that this is a war for keeps, you realize it now and so undoubtedly do the Germans.

It surely sounds like one.

8373

Steele: Faith in Allies keeps China in war 8th year

Refugees from Japs doom separate peace
By A. T. Steele

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8374

Yanks can take it, too!
Kirkpatrick: G.I. victim of robot bomb rescued from 4-day trap

Only slightly injured but very hungry after entombment
By Helen Kirkpatrick

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8375

Harrington: The Flying Wallendas ‘look down into hell’

By Mary Harrington, United Press staff writer

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8376

Plan for auto reconversion given to WPB

Production may start with new designs

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Keynes: Currency fund to aid England in paying debt

Plan seen increasing world commerce
By Elmer C. Walzer, United Press financial editor

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8377

Rescuers try to send air to 66 in Ohio mine

But little hope is held for trapped men

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8378

Editorial: Shades of Coin Harvey!

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8379

Editorial: Welcome, de Gaulle!

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americavotes1944

Editorial: Young Harry at the front

Governor Dewey, with his “accent on youth,” spoke in his acceptance speech of “stubborn men, grown old and tired and quarrelsome in office” at Washington. There are such.

But we cite you one old man in office who is neither tired nor quarrelsome, and only stubborn about things that involve principle.

Henry L. Stimson, the Secretary of War, will be 77 come September. He has just flown to Italy and is now inspecting our troops there.

He is a Republican. Over some protest from fellow Republicans, he took a hard job in his old age. He has served in a statesmanlike manner, without partisanship.

We wish him a safe return from the front.

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americavotes1944

Heath: Candidate Dewey will pick out his own issues

By S. Burton Heath

S. Burton Heath is substituting for Peter Edson, regular conductor of the Washington Column, who is absent from Washington for a few days.

Washington –
Political oratory is tricky stuff. It is designed to sound like a lot but say as little as possible. Its purpose is to enthuse party workers, give slogans to supporters, create doubt and discontent among opponents, and provide a minimum of ammunition for the enemy’s counterattacks.

Speakers at the Republican convention from Keynoter Warren to Governor Dewey followed the pattern. They secreted their nuggets of wisdom carefully in long strings of pretty words. Yet nuggets were there – if not wisdom, at least of information for those who were curious what Candidate Dewey would try to make the issues of the coming campaign.

In sifting the wheat from the chaff, it is helpful to bear in mind that, unlike Alf Landon in 1936, Tom Dewey is not going to let others dictate his strategy and select his issues. There having been no meeting of minds in advance, one should not seek clues to the issues in what was said by Herbert Hoover or Clare Luce or Joe Martin or even by John Bricker, who in the interest of party unity was given the vice-presidential nomination.

Of the speakers in Chicago, three have long been in close accord in their political philosophies. It is safe to say that what Governors Warren and Griswold said comes close to what Mr. Dewey thinks. If you will analyze the speeches, they will fall into two quite dissimilar groups – those of Messrs. Warren, Griswold and Dewey in one, all the rest in another. The first may be assumed to forecast the general tenor of the campaign.

One-man government

If that is so, you won’t hear much about New Deal totalitarianism in terms of European ideology. You will hear a lot about one-man government (New Deal) versus the teamwork that would be substituted by Mr. Dewey.

You will hear a lot about the vigorous, forward-looking mental youth that the GOP wants to substitute for an administration that “has grown tired, complacent and cynical… quarrelsome… decadent” – beset with squabbles among Cabinet members, feuds among department heads, bitterness between the President and his own party leaders – “wrangling, bungling and confusion.”

For this Mr. Dewey will propose to substitute a Cabinet made up of the ablest experts he can find, in the various fields, to whom he will promise to delegate full powers under his general leadership.

You will be told that when 11 million men and women are mustered out of uniform they will want real jobs, not charity or made work. That the nation’s economic history up to the moment war created an artificial prosperity will be cited to demonstrate Mr. Dewey’s contention that northing yet down in 11 years of the New Deal indicated the incumbent administration’s ability to create work and opportunity for the use of individual initiative.

No secrets

The Republicans will seek to keep the war out of the campaign. There will be no question whether we should be in, and fully agreement that we must not only whip Axis armies and navies but wholly destroy the will of the Axis peoples to fight wars.

Insofar as international relations are brought in by the Republicans, it will probably be through accusations that the President is playing power politics, which have failed in the past to preserve peace and, in the opinion of many, have led to war.

The Republicans can be expected to inquire what commitments the President may have made, other than purely military, to Messrs. Churchill and Stalin and Chiang, and to promise that if Mr. Dewey is elected, there won’t be any secrets from the people, and from Congress about what they are being let in for.

These are generalizations, of course. They are like the main topic-headings, in Roman numerals, with which the material is subdivided before even the broad detail is filled in. They are subject to change. But, in the main, you will find them fairly accurate.

8382

Ferguson: Socialized medicine

By Mrs. Walter Ferguson

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8383

Background of news –
U.S. relations with France

By Bertram Benedict

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americavotes1944

Stokes: Wooing Willkie among Dewey’s chief projects

Candidate disregards personal feelings
By Thomas L. Stokes, Scripps-Howard staff writer

Albany, New York –
The wooing of Wendell Willkie has become a major project with Governor Thomas E. Dewey and the managers of his campaign for the Presidency.

Just what is Mr. Willkie’s political value to the Republican Party, measured in influence and votes, is a matter for argument. But the Dewey forces would rather have him on their side, plugging for the ticket, than outside, either in a passive or an actively belligerent role.

Governor Dewey is trying to become President and he’s going about it in a very businesslike manner, without emotion, and without regard for personal feelings. It’s no secret that the two men don’t care much for each other, which is not unusual between politicians who are rivals for public favor.

Score about even

The 1940 candidate got quite a shoving around at Chicago, or rather he was just locked out coldly, but he did a little shoving around on his own when he issued his rather caustic statement about the foreign affairs plank in the platform. The party and Mr. Willkie are about even now.

But Governor Dewey, since his nomination, has made several gestures in Mr. Willkie’s direction which are plain enough in their intent. At his first press conference in Chicago, he announced that he expected to consult Mr. Willkie along with other party leaders about his campaign. And now two of the Willkie satellites, National Committeeman Ralph H. Cake of Oregon, his pre-convention campaign manager, and Sinclair Weeks of Massachusetts have been included on the newly-appointed executive committee selected by Governor Dewey and National Chairman Herbert Brownell Jr.

Willkie’s future in doubt

Mr. Weeks, likewise, was among the first invited here to confer with the candidate, as a member of the Massachusetts Congressional delegation which will see Governor Dewey here Monday. Indirect overtures through go-betweens are also now going on.

Involved basically in Mr. Willkie’s decision as to his course is whether he wants to continue in politics. This raises another question: What is Mr. Willkie’s political future? Some count him out as far as actual public office is concerned. Some think he may yet come into his own. Most agree that he is likely to keep his hand in.

Whatever are his political prospects, it also seems agreed that he probably would improve his positions with the politicians by getting into the game actively, that is, by seeking some public office below the Presidency. If he should be successful, he would have an advantageous position from which to try to advance himself to his heart’s desire, the Presidency.

May run for Senate

There is a good deal of talk about the possibility of him seeking the Republican nomination for the Senate from New York to run against Senator Robert Wagner in November.

This would offer an avenue of rapprochement with Governor Dewey and the party, and his presence on the ticket might help Republicans to swing this state against Mr. Roosevelt, with Mr. Willkie’s appeal to liberals Republicans, some Democrats, and to left-wing elements, particularly on the score of foreign policy.

Mr. Willkie has made his fight on principle on the question of international collaboration. For that reason, he attacked the platform plank. But that plank, in the end, will mean what Governor Dewey says it means, and if he satisfies Mr. Willkie, this would clear the way for the latter’s acceptance of the ticket and its program, foreign and domestic.