Poll: Two Western states swing to Roosevelt
Washington, Idaho show recent trend
By George Gallup, Director, American Institute of Public Opinion
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Senator charges Dewey ‘distortion’
New York (UP) –
Senator Robert F. Wagner (D-NY) charged last night that statements by Governor Thomas E. Dewey, GOP candidate for the Presidency, that the “Hoover depression continued into the Roosevelt administration and it took a war to get us out” were a “blatant distortion of the facts.”
Senator Wagner said in an address before the International Ladies Garments Workers Union that Dewey “being a young man, has somehow forgotten to remember the Hoover depression,” and “what a change took place” when President Roosevelt took over.
He described Mr. Roosevelt as a great President before the war and a great Commander-in-Chief during the war and said that it was a “sham and delusion to try – as the Republicans are trying – to separate Mr. Roosevelt’s domestic record from his war record.”
He urged that all “work vigorously” to “get out every possible vote for President Roosevelt… as the least we can do to fulfill our obligations to our fighting men.”
Like others Yanks took, Palaus are Coral Islands
Principal products are shells and Japanese is taught in all the schools
Washington (UP) –
U.S. troops now fighting in the Palau Islands will encounter thick tropical forests of ironwood and ebony trees and a few crocodiles as they battle inland from coralline coasts.
The islands, which extend some 77 miles in a north-northeasterly direction, lie some 560 miles east of Mindanao in the southern Philippines and 1,980 miles south of Tokyo.
Most of the islands, with the exception of Angaur at the southern tip, lie on and are surrounded by coral reefs.
Some, including Babelthuap, Arakabesan and Malakal, appear to be of volcanic origin with hills rising to a height of 641 feet.
Some are of coral
Others, consisting mostly of coral, are either flat or composed of long narrow hills with steep slopes on the seaward sides.
The natives speak a Malayan dialect and are the majority of the inhabitants. Out of a population of 10,632 in 1934, however, 4,842 were Japanese. Japanese is taught in the schools.
The principal products are shells, copra and pearls.
Has four peninsulas
Halmahera is an extremely irregular island consisting of four peninsulas enclosing four great bays opening toward the east.
The four peninsulas are traversed lengthwise by mountain chains 3,000 to 4,000 feet high, covered with forests rich in a great variety of trees.
The mountain chains from which spurs extend to the coast are frequently interrupted by plains.
The northern part of the mountain chain of the northern peninsula is volcanic. Along the western coast are volcanic mountains, at least one of which is active.
USS Nevada’s home from war without scratch, casualty
Fired first shell into Normandy in D-Day; saw action at Cherbourg
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‘Final stage’ is foreseen by MacArthur
Says ‘defeat stares Japan in the face’
Adv Allied HQ, Southwest Pacific (UP) –
In a statement issued on the Morotai Beachhead today, Gen. Douglas MacArthur declared that the Allied campaign is entering upon its decisive stage and “defeat now stares Japan in the face.”
Gen. MacArthur said:
Our position here is now secure and the immediate operation has achieved its purpose.
We now dominate the Moluccas. I rejoice that it has been done with so little loss. Our campaign is now entering upon its decisive stage.
Jap officers inferior
Gen. MacArthur declared:
The Japanese ground troops still fight with the greatest tenacity. The military quality of the rank and file remains of the highest.
Their officer corps, however, deteriorates as you go up the scale. It is fundamentally based upon caste and the feudal system and does not represent strict professional merit.
Therein lies Japan’s weakness. Her sons are strong of limb and stout of heart but weak in leadership.
Sees Jap ‘revulsion’
Gripped inexorably by military hierarchy, that hierarchy is now failing the nation. It has had neither the imagination nor foresighted ability to organize Japanese resources for total war. Defeat now stares Japan in the face.
Its barbaric codes and creeds dominated the Japanese character and culture for centuries and have produced a type of national savagery at strange variance with many basic impulses of the Japanese people.
Its successful domination has been based largely upon the people’s belief in its own infallibility. When public opinion realizes that its generals and admirals have failed in the field of actual combat and campaign, the revulsion in Japanese thought will be terrific.
‘Military failed Japs’
Therein lies the basis for the ultimate hope that the Japanese citizen will cease his almost idolatrous worship of the military and readjust his thoughts along more rational lines.
No sophistry can disguise the fact from him that the military has failed him in this, his greatest hour of need.
That failure may mark the beginning of a new and ultimately happier era for him. His hour of decision is close at hand.
Jap armies drive toward U.S. base
Kweilin Airfield object of advance
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Superliberator attack on North Kuril Islands reported by Japanese
But enemy’s designation of planes as B-34s indicates Tokyo had information mixed
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Are they going someplace else?
Roosevelt-Churchill war talks in Québec are in closing stages
Spokesman indicates parley may continue elsewhere; Eden joins discussions
Québec, Canada (UP) –
Official spokesmen of the Roosevelt-Churchill war talks said today the conference here has moved into its closing stages, but indicated the President and the Prime Minister might continue their discussions elsewhere.
White House Press Secretary Stephen T. Early said the President and the Prime Minister will finish their work by noon tomorrow, then added this would “conclude their conferences in Québec.”
Reports leaped at this indication of another meeting as contained in Mr. Early’s emphasis of the words “in Québec.”
“Does this mean,” one reporter asked, “the Prime Minister will go to Washington for further conferences?”
“I can’t answer that,” Mr. Early replied.
Eden joins parley
Robin Cruikshank, British spokesman, was similarly reticent about discussing Mr. Churchill’s plans beyond noon tomorrow.
Anthony Eden, British Foreign Secretary, and Sir Alexander Cadogan, Permanent Undersecretary for Foreign Affairs, were at the Citadel today to talk primarily with Mr. Churchill. They were with Mr. Churchill and the President last night until a late hour.
Plans for Germany
Peace terms for Germany obviously were the most pressing problem in which Mr., Eden was involved in talks with Mr. Churchill and the President. But a backlog of other problems was building up.
Mr. Eden was believed to have brought with him a new summary of activities of the European Advisory Commission which is dealing with the detailed planning for post-war Germany.
Following his talks here with Mr. Roosevelt and Mr. Churchill, Mr. Eden is expected to hurry back to London with their latest views – and orders.
Command setup set for Pacific
Québec, Canada (UP) –
A new U.S. command setup, dominantly Navy and geared to the Pacific war plans being formulated at the Churchill-Roosevelt conferences here, is expected to be announced soon.
Decisions on the command setup have already been made, White House Secretary Stephen T. Early said, but what the command setup will be has not been revealed. Nor is there any official information as to the British part in it, if any.
More integration seen
Recent developments, together with information from usually reliable sources, permits this picture to be drawn:
The present likelihood is that there will be no super-command of all Allied forces for the whole Pacific and Asiatic theaters. Rather the outlook is for more efficient integration of certain of the present command areas.
Adm. Ernest J. King, Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. Fleet, one of the President’s advisers here, is expected to relinquish his other post of Chief of Naval Operations and to move to a Pacific base for a more active role as fleet commander. Adm. King had been assigned the dual jobs shortly after the Japs attacked Pearl Harbor. But many functions of the Naval Operations office were subsequently transferred to the jurisdiction of the fleet commander’s organization.
The information here is that the Naval Operations post will be turned over to Adm. Frederick J. Horne, now Vice Chief of Naval Operations.
Use of British units seen
Adm. Nimitz, Pacific Fleet commander, may move to an advanced Pacific base, closer to the scene of operations, moving ever nearer the Japanese homeland.
Since the British Navy is expected to take a part in the Pacific campaign, its fleet units may be attached to Adm. Nimitz’s fleet, rather than operate as an independent force.
Some British units have operated with the U.S. Pacific Fleet in the past as integral elements of the American force. But this was done largely for training and indoctrination in U.S. naval tactics adapted to the special needs of the Pacific.
Simms: Polish-Soviet settlement hinted in Eden’s arrival
With impending collapse of Germany, ticklish issue can’t be avoided longer
By William Philip Simms, Scripps-Howard foreign editor
Québec, Canada –
With the arrival here of British Foreign Minister Anthony Eden, there is talk of a settlement of the ticklish, if not dangerous, quarrel between Poland and Russia.
With the impending collapse of Germany, European boundary problems become acute, especially in Eastern Europe and the Balkans. Russia has staked out expansive territorial and political claims. Thus far, Britain and America have shied away from such questions, preferring to cross those bridges as they come.
But the Polish issue can no longer be avoided. She is an ally. If she is to lose half her territory and her political independence to appease an ally, it may knock post-war world collaboration into a cocked hat.
In Washington recently, I learned that the Polish government in London was willing to meet Moscow more than halfway.
Up to the present, Moscow’s attitude toward Warsaw has been frigid.
Russia ever refused aid to Gen. Bor’s Polish Patriots, fighting in Warsaw. The British and Poles had to fly all the way from Britain to drop supplies for Gen. Bor. Russia, with airfields 10 minutes from Warsaw, refused to do anything.
It is a reasonable assumption that Mr. Eden came to give Mr. Churchill and the President a fill-in on important developments since Mr. Churchill’s departure. He may have brought news that the end of the war in Europe is nearer than was thought, and perhaps to urge upon the “Big Two” a new and early meeting of the “Big Three” – a meeting with Marshal Stalin.
Editorial: What’s so remarkable?
The expressions by National Chairman Hannegan of the Democrats and Brownell of the Republicans against the exploitation of racial or religious issues during the campaign are well-timed and welcome.
We confess to some puzzlement, however, over the following passage in Mr. Hannegan’s statement:
I believe America’s unwavering purpose of holding a national election in 1944, regardless of war or the fortunes of war, will someday be looked upon as one of the greatest historical measures of the hardihood and integrity of our democratic way of life.
We will concede that hardihood and integrity, etc. but how in Heaven’s name these traits are proved by the fact that the country is simply fulfilling in the normal manner a constitutional mandate – a mandate which permits of no exceptions for whatever cause – is something that escapes us.
Background of news –
Québec now and in 1943
By Bertram Benedict
The first conference of President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill at Québec was held a little more than a year ago, from Aug. 17 to Aug. 24, 1943. There were rumors that the conference would produce a notable declaration like the Atlantic Charter, which had come out of the Roosevelt-Churchill meeting on the high seas two years before, or like the “unconditional surrender” demand which had come out of the Casablanca Conference in the previous January, but the 1943 Québec Conference produced nothing of the sort.
The joint Roosevelt-Churchill statement issued at the close of the conference said merely that military operations all over the world, including the war against Japan, had been surveyed. Decisions had been made, but could not be disclosed. It had been resolved to hold another Anglo-American conference before the end of the year, “in addition to any tripartite meeting which it may be possible to arrange with Soviet Russia.” Russia would be fully informed of the decisions reached as to the war against Germany and Italy.
The President’s address at Ottawa following the conference was in the nature of a “peptalk,” telling the world that Germany was about to be defeated.
Invitation denied by Moscow
In 1943, as in 1944, Soviet Russia was not represented. President Roosevelt was understood to say that Marshal Stalin had been invited to come. Thereupon Moscow denied flatly that any such invitation had been received.
While the conference met, Soviet publications continued to criticize the United States and Great Britain for not opening a real second front. The magazine War and the Working Class explained that the Québec Conference was all right as an Anglo-American parley, but said that the real need was for a tripartite Soviet-Anglo-American conference soon in Moscow.
The 1943 Québec Conference met amid fears that Russia would insist on playing a lone hand. There were rumors that Germany had offered Moscow a separate peace.
Several weeks before the 1943 Québec Conference met, Mussolini had been deposed in Italy, and Gen. Badoglio had been named Italian Premier. There was confusion as to Gen. de Gaulle’s status. After the conference adjourned, the United States recognized Gen. de Gaulle’s French Committee of National Liberation as the “administrative authority” of the French overseas territories actually under the committee’s control.
Action on war fronts
While the conference was meeting, the conquest of Sicily was completed. American and Canadian forces occupied Kiska, from which the Japanese had departed unscathed. There was hard fighting on New Guinea. In the east, the Russian advance retook Kharkov.
Goebbels told the German people over the radio that a new secret weapon was under construction which would soon give them relief from Allied air raids.
At Québec in 1943, President Roosevelt made public his executive orders allowing the War Manpower Commission to withdraw draft deferment from recalcitrant strikers and allowing union dues to be placed in escrow in any plant taken over by the government.
The War Labor Board took jurisdiction of the wage dispute in the anthracite mines. The Board also ordered Montgomery Ward to enforce a maintenance of union membership clause. Under Secretary of State Welles was said to be on the point of resigning. Mrs. Roosevelt was in New Zealand.