Roosevelt suggests 50-year curb be put on Nazis and Japs
President, back from Big Three conference, will speak in Congress tomorrow
By Merriman Smith, United Press staff writer
WASHINGTON – President Roosevelt returned today from his historic Crimea Conference so inspired by the Big Three’s progress toward a durable peace that he could foresee ultimate armament reduction by the major Allied fighting powers.
But he feels that Germany and Japan must be on trial for perhaps 50 years or more before being readmitted as equals to the society of nations. In the meantime, they must be restrained by force if necessary.
Mr. Roosevelt’s full report will be made to Congress tomorrow.
All major radio stations will broadcast Mr. Roosevelt’s address at 12:30 p.m. EWT Thursday.
The President returned to American soil last night, landing at an east coast port after a 10-day voyage from Algiers aboard a heavy American cruiser which went within a few miles of enemy submarines striking at Allied shipping off Gibraltar.
He then proceeded to Washington by overnight train, arriving back in the White House early today.
Mr. Roosevelt has ready for Congress a lengthy report on the Crimea meeting which he will deliver in person tomorrow.
In his message, Mr. Roosevelt will tell how he, Prime Minister Winston Churchill, Marshal Joseph Stalin and their top advisers met in the old Livadia Palace of Czar Nicolas II on the Black Sea and developed plans for a three-way operation to squeeze the last life out of the German military machine.
He also will tell how they also built the foundation of an international organization which can squelch future wars before they start.
In news conference aboard his ship while coming back across the Atlantic, the President was buoyant about the achievements of the meeting at Yalta.
Seeks permanent organization
He looked to the United Nations Conference at San Francisco in April to produce a permanent international organization which will have unprecedented success in keeping the world at peace.
The President plans to attend the San Francisco conference, either at the start or the close of the meeting, to make what he described as a speech of greetings in the role of host. And he expects another meeting with Mr. Churchill after the conference.
British news agencies put out almost identical reports today that Mr. Roosevelt has decided to visit London this spring or summer. The reports indicated they may have been inspired officially. Marshal Stalin also may accept an invitation to visit England this year, the reports said.
Mr. Roosevelt left Washington the night of January 22. During his 36-day absence, he covered about 14,000 miles which included stops at Malta, in Russia, Egypt and Algiers.
Confers with monarchs
In addition to his eight-day meeting with Mr. Churchill and Marshal Stalin, he also conferred with King Farouk of Egypt, Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia and King Ibn Saud of Saudi Arabia. He made most of the trip by cruiser, but flew from Malta to Yalta, and from Yalta to Great Bitter Lake, in the Suez Canal.
As his ship approached the American coast, he spent an hour with three press association correspondents who joined his party at Algiers, going over the accomplishments of the Yalta conference.
Program outlined
He made these specific points:
-
He looks forward to a time after the war when armament of all nations, including the United States, England, Russia, China and France, will be decreased,
-
Germany snd Japan at some time should be added to the assembly of United Nations members, but only after they have shown a definite trend away from militarism. This possibly will require more than 50 years of concrete proof.
-
Until Germany and Japan have made considerable, unmistakable progress toward peace-keeping forms of government, the United Nations should see, by force if necessary, that they are utterly incapable of arming or preparing for war in any manner.
-
A plan of American-Russian-English occupation of Germany has been worked out, but will have to be changed according to the degree of French participation in the occupation.
-
The Big Three meeting and the later conference between the President and Mr. Churchill at Alexandria, Egypt, were concerned with Europe and not the Pacific. In fact, the President said the Pacific situation just did not come up in his later talk with Mr. Churchill. It did not arise in the tripartite conversations because Russia 1s neutral toward Japan and this country is respecting that neutrality.
-
The people of the United States, particularly in face of European successes, too often blow hot and cold about the war in the Pacific. The actual situation is that even after Germany is defeated, we face a long, hard war in the Pacific. This fact, the President said, needs particular industrial emphasis in this country.
Hard fighting faced
Mr. Roosevelt’s forward view toward a time when the five major Allied powers can cut down the size of their war machines was not meant as any prospect for the near future. He stressed repeatedly the fact that we have yet to win the war and that there 1s much work and fighting to be done before final victory.
Asked whether he thought Germany and Japan ever should be permitted to rearm, the President explained that these nations once were peaceful. They became militaristic only after a long period of years. Therefore, he said, it is possible for them to move back in the opposite direction toward peace-loving, law-abiding principles during a similarly length period.
The future of Germany and Japan, he added, depends largely on their post-war leadership and their national objectives.
Must prove selves
Until they move definitely toward a plane of good international behavior, the United Nations should see to it that they do not rearm,
In the Crimean communiqué, the Big Three announced a plan whereby “the forces of the three powers will each occupy a separate zone of Germany,” with France invited to share in the occupation if she desires.
En route home, the President amplified this by saying that the original three-power plan for post-surrender occupation of Germany had provided that:
-
Russia would occupy Eastern Germany.
-
Great Britain would occupy Western and Northern Germany.
-
The American zone of occupation would start at the turn of the Rhine River at Mainz and extend through Southern Germany. It would include a supply corridor to the sea at Bremen and would extend into the provinces of Wurttemberg, Baden and Bavaria.
May change zones
The President added, however, that this was an old plan, and that it was complicated and had not been settled upon because a French zone of occupation would change either the American or British zones. This meant obviously that Russia will occupy eastern Germany regardless of what France does.
Russian participation in the deliberations of the Anglo-American Combined Chiefs of Staff was explained by the President this way: The Russians will have a part in anything affecting their own troops, but not in anything pertaining to operations in the Pacific.
Previously the Big Three had announced that “the very close working partnership among the three staffs” attained. at Yalta would “result in shortening the war.”
May speak tomorrow
Mr. Roosevelt’s final plans for appearing in Congress will not be settled until after the funeral today of his military aide and secretary, Maj. Gen. Edwin M, Watson, who died at sea aboard the President’s cruiser. and until after the Chief Executive has had an opportunity to confer with his congressional leaders.
Mr. Roosevelt returned to the White House feeling fine and rested after the arduous meeting in Yalta. The 10-day sea voyage from Algiers gave him an opportunity to catch up in his sleep following the conference which was marked by long, hard hours of almost constant meeting.
Preparing report
En route home the President also devoted a good part of his time to preparation of his report to Congress, working in consultation with his special counsel, Judge Samuel I. Rosenman, who joined the presidential party at Algiers.
Traveling through balmy, spring-like weather most of the way across the Atlantic, the President got a good bit of sun and acquired a noticeable tan. En route to Yalta, however, he ran into several days of heavy weather in the Atlantic.
The Chief Executive’s meeting with Mr. Churchill and Marshal Stalin was, by all estimates of his close associates, the most successful conference of its type since the war began.
The President, in his role of chairman and moderator, was successful in bringing agreement out of several pronounced differences among the principals.
Among these were certainly the Polish territorial and governmental Situation and the voting and veto procedure for the United Nations, but the President did not discuss these points at his news conferences. An announcement on the voting procedure worked out at Yalta is expected shortly.
One thing detracted from the trip – the failure of Gen. Charles de Gaulle, head of the French Provisional Government, to meet the President at Algiers when Mr. Roosevelt was en route home.
President disappointed
The President invited him. Gen. de Gaulle declined and the President expressed disappointment because “questions of mutual interest and importance to France and the United States are pending.”
Later, when questioned about reports that he still would see Gen. de Gaulle soon, Mr. Roosevelt said he would be glad to see the French leader at any time, but had no present plans for such a meeting.
