Editorial: Typhoon
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Anti-British lies denied
Hull scorned Nazi rumor, said U.S. absolutely didn’t want split
By Alex Faulkner
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ON THE RECORD —
The Big Three’s problem in Germany
By Dorothy Thompson
President Truman is on his way to Potsdam to meet Prime Minister Churchill, Clement R. Attlee and Premier Stalin, and a preparatory meeting is going on in Berlin among the military leaders of the four occupation forces.
President Truman is attending his first international conference under conditions far more difficult than any which confronted President Roosevelt. For a coalition in war has one simple aim: to crush the enemy. A coalition in peace, over the body of the defeated enemy, introduces an illimitable number of conflicting arms. Interests arise again, ideologies conflict, motives clash, and greed and revenge raise their ugly heads.
In a short conference it is obviously impossible to settle all the affairs of the world. It is generally agreed that the agenda will embrace both European and Asiatic issues, and probably the Near East and the Mediterranean. But the place of the meeting stresses Germany – from which I have just come home.
Urges unified policy
It will be impossible physically to organize Germany, except in the framework of an overall and commonly supported policy. Transportation is not divided into zones nor even contained within Germany. You cannot travel from Paris to Prague except by way of Germany. A railway system cannot be disintegrated into pieces to satisfy army corps.
The same is true of a postal and telegraph system. There is no way of confining radio to zones. No wavelengths can be stopped in Baden, Hannover, or Potsdam. And here, immediately, a political problem arises – what is to be said on the radio? What political ideas, if any, are to be promoted?
In the British and American zones, no political activity is permitted. The present British and American military governments have no parallel in history. They are making an attempt to govern through German anti-Nazi personalities, but without any active political ideas. The assumption, apparently is that an anti-Nazi will be loyal to the Allies in the absence of any notion of what is going to happen to his country, to Europe, or to his economy. In the modern world, no colonies have been governed on such assumptions, which reduce government to mere technique, devoid of higher purpose.
Russia allows politics
But, accepting this as a theoretical possibility, it obviously can work only if all parts of Germany are governed in the same manner. But in the Russian zone, there is already active party life. Three parties are permitted: Communist, Social Democrats, and one which apparently aims to catch up the more conservative elements, called “the Christian Democratic Union.”
These have newspapers published and written by Germans whose purpose is to give information and form and canalize opinion, whereas in our zone a feeble press, written mostly by Americans, is confined wholly to laconic information, and carries no editorials.
Obviously that zone which first releases political action has a head start.
As far as I could ascertain the four occupying powers have decided not to partition Germany west of the Oder. But the structure of the Allied Control Council in Berlin will, in my opinion, not permit a unified administration of the remainder of the Reich.
All decisions must be made unanimously by the four commanders. Each has a veto power. They must govern unanimously by decree, without a constitution to which to refer. I think we can safely predict that under such conditions, decisions will be postponed and the country will be run by the bureaucracy.
But if, at the same time, the four armies, except for such unanimous directives, are each supreme in a different zone, four different bureaucracies will pursue four different policies.
The other suggestion – that Berlin be governed by the four commanders serving n rotation – is hair-raising. How long is each to serve? If each is to be replaced every few months, no authority can be created, for the Germans will speculate on every successor. If each is to serve for a year or more, then the first will set the policy which his successor must follow – or create a revolution.
The only workable thing that can possibly be done is mutually to pick a central, strictly provisional government of Germans as widely comprehensive as possible, and give it authority under the control of the four, until conditions permit a genuinely representative government to be formed by popular procedures.
Even under a rule of force, reason must prevail, if any order is to prevail.
Lawrence: Labor strife to follow war
Sees trouble, urges continuance of WLB idea
By David Lawrence
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Eliot: Urges laws to enforce peace pact
Pleased charter’s opposition in U.S. is minor
By Maj. George Fielding Eliot
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Gracie Allen Reporting
By Gracie Allen
A Swedish scientist says he believes that wars are caused by the effect of sunspots on people. Well! Can’t you just see Hermann Goering standing up in the war criminals’ court as though Danish butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth, saying: “Not guilty on account of sunspots!” And Hirohito would have even a better defense. He claims descent from the sun goddess, and could argue that he was simply a victim of heredity.
If you ask me, this whole idea of sunspots affecting people is pretty dangerous. Just think, your husband could walk right up to a strange girl and kiss her, and then calmly blame the whole thing on sunspots. Still, it could work to advantage, too. Girls, we could come home with a new coat or a couple of hats and say “I’m sorry, dear, but I simply couldn’t help myself. It was very sunspotty out today.”
U.S. State Department (July 13, 1945)
Log of the President’s Trip to the Berlin Conference
Friday, July 18:
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After lunch, the President, Secretary Byrnes and Admiral Leahy appeared on deck and posed together for still and motion pictures. The President, the Secretary, and Admiral Leahy spent most of the remainder of the afternoon in conference shaping up the agenda for the tripartite conference and preparing a written brief on the problems that were expected to be brought up at the conference.
The Syonan Shimbun (July 14, 1945)
Intensified Nippon storming attacks baffle foe in Burma
Retreating enemy being hotly pursued
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Americans have no real culture; pragmatism their sole philosophy
Army spokesman flays foe’s shallowness
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Potsdam post-war Europe peace parley opens today
TOKYO (Domei, July 13) – Checking the ever-expanding Soviet Union influence into Western Europe and clarification of the still-veiled Soviet attitude toward East Asiatic problems, will be main objectives on the part of the United States and Britain, says the Yomiuri Hochi editorially on the eve of the Potsdam conference.
The 3-power Potsdam conference will have a different character in many respects compared with the so-called Big Three Conferences held previously at Teheran and Yalta, the paper says.
Firstly, important changes have taken place in leading personnel. Roosevelt has been succeeded by Truman. Churchill will attend the conference but reports indicate he will represent Britain jointly with Clement Attlee, leader of the British Labour Party.
Although changes in personnel do not seem so important, it should be kept in mind the Soviet Union usually does not fully appreciate a conference in which the other country’s representatives are not powerful enough to secure the Soviet Union’s confidence. And, it is doubtful whether Truman will satisfy the Soviet Union.
Truman is beginning to show signs of leaning to the right recently. Furthermore, Truman has made clear he has no power to lead Congress and has even tried to shift the responsibility of leadership from the administration to Congress itself. This is in striking contrast with Roosevelt’s policy which demonstrated Rooseveltian domination over the Congress by full utilization of the brain trust.
In Britain, there have been disputes among the Labour Party with regard to Attlee’s responsibility at the coming conference. The Anglo-American press declare the Potsdam conference will be virtually a peace conference in Europe. President Truman himself also said peace problems will be discussed at the coming conference although the United States is at present still facing the big problem of the war against Nippon.
Meanwhile, the Soviet Union has started a vigorous political offensive toward the Black Sea, Turkish and Mediterranean regions which form the last barriers of the Soviet Union’s security, and probably aims to bring up matters concerning these areas.
Therefore, more attention may be expected to be paid upon this broad point than comparatively less important problems. The United States and Britain realize the necessity for establishing a balance of power with the Soviet Union also in East Asia. This means East Asiatic problems will naturally be included in the agenda.
Although the Soviet Union has shown active interest in current conflicts between the Chungking and Yenan regimes, her attitude toward other problems and other regions of East Asia are still not known. Naturally the United States and Britain will demand clarification of these points.
U.S. Bickerson lost
LISBON (Domei, July 12) – Fifty-one men were killed and 15 others wounded when the United States transport Bickerson was lost off Okinawa as the result of Japanese aerial action, the U.S. Navy Department disclosed yesterday, according to an American dispatch. The ship was so seriously damaged that she had to be abandoned.
Typhoon hits U.S. fleet
LISBON (Domei, July 13) – Twenty-one U.S. warships including two Essex-class carriers and three new battleships were damaged by a severe typhoon which struck the American 3rd Fleet on June 5, Nimitz’s headquarters disclosed in a dispatch from Guam. The locality was not mentioned but it is thought to have been between Okinawa and the P.I.
Tokai area raided
NAGOYA (Domei) – Thirty-seven B-29s attacked the Tsuruga, Ogaki, Ichinomiya and Kagamigahara areas between 11 p.m. Thursday and 2:30 a.m., according to an announcement by the Tokai Army District Command Headquarters.
Salzburger Nachrichten (July 14, 1945)
Englisch-französischer Pakt in Sicht
Volksentscheid über Frankreichs künftige Verfassung
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L’Aube (July 14, 1945)
Les « cent soucis » des Trois –
Balkans et Dardanelles à l’ordre du jour de Potsdam
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Letter from President Truman to Secretary Morgenthau Concerning the Appointment of Fred M. Vinson as His Successor
July 14, 1945
Dear Henry:
I have given careful consideration to your letter of July thirteenth urging that I send to the Senate immediately the nomination of Judge Vinson as Secretary of the Treasury.
I am inclined to agree with you that for the reasons you mention it would be preferable to take this action now instead of waiting for my return from Europe.
I appreciate very much the fine spirit and keen sense of public responsibility in which you have approached this matter.
With personal regards,
Sincerely yours,
HARRY S. TRUMAN