The Pittsburgh Press (March 9, 1941)
SENATE PASSES AID BILL, 60-31
Foes fail in all efforts to make major changes
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House expected to concur in all minor amendments early next week
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By William H. Lawrence, United Press staff writer
Washington, March 8 –
The Senate tonight passed the war-aid bill giving President Roosevelt extraordinary powers to lend, lease or give away American arms, ships, planes and food to help Britain and other nations fight the Axis.
The Senate granted President Roosevelt the extraordinary powers by the impressive vorte of 60 to 31.
The bill now goes back to the House for concurrence in Senate changes, and from there to the White House for Mr. Roosevelt’s signature.
Last-minute protests that the bill’s enactment would carry this nation into war proved unavailing as a powerful administration tide battered down the opposition.
Senator Burton K. Wheeler (D-MT), opposition leader, declared that:
New Dealers who get their information from the feed-trough say we will be at war by April 1.
Woman ejected
Also in the last moments of debate, an elderly woman was ejected from the gallery when she unfurled a large black and white banner proclaiming that “H. R. 1776 MEANS WAR – VOTE NO.” The banner was signed by the “the American Peace Mandate.” The woman gave her name as Elsie Caneta of New York.
At noon Monday, two Senate messengers will carry the bill to the House chamber. Speaker Sam Rayburn hopes to obtain consent for House concurrence in the 11 amendments on Tuesday. The action might be delayed until Wednesday, but in any event it appeared President Roosevelt would be able to sign the bill in midweek.
The Senate vote came at 7:30 p.m., ending 18 days of debate. Just before the vote, Senators shouted down an amendment by Senator Bennett C. Clark (D-MO), which would have guaranteed that Congress had the right to change the bill in future laws.
Party lines split
Party lines split on the final roll call. 10 Republicans and one Progressive joined 49 Democrats in supporting the measure. Among the Republican supporters was Senate Republican Leader Charles L. McNary, the Republican vice presidential candidate in the 1940 campaign, the running mate of Wendell L. Willkie, who was a vigorous proponent of the measure.
Voting against the measure were 13 Democrats, 17 Republicans and one Progresive. It was one of the largest Senate votes in recent years. Only two Senators did not vote or were not paired out of the present Senate membership of 95.
Once signed by the President, the measure entitles him to transfer immediately up to $1,300,000,000 worth of Army and Navy stocks. The value of such equipment would be set by Army and Navy chiefs. The $1,300,000,000 limitation was one of the major changes made in the bill.
Administration advisers already have completed the general outline of a plan to administer the war-aid program. It was understood that this would call for the release of certain defense stocks now on hand or on order, at the outset.
That procedure would be followed by submission to Congress of a request for appropriations and contractual authority. Informed sources said the initial appropriation request would be comparatively small, with larger authorization outlays.
Powers listed
As passed by the Senate, the bill authorizes Mr. Roosevelt and other governmental heads to:
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Manufacture in arsenals, factories and shipyards under their jurisdiction, or otherwise procure any defense article, including farm products, for any country whose defense the President deems vital to the defense of the United States.
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Sell, transfer title, exchange, lease, lend or otherwise dispose of defense articles to such nations after consultation with the Army Chief of Staff and Naval Chief of Operations.
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To test, inspect, prove, repair, outfit, recondition, or otherwise place in good working order defense articles transferred to foreign governments. This would permit, for example, the repair of British warships in U.S. Navy yards.
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To communicate to foreign governments confidential defense information concerning war equipment provided them.
Powers granted under the bill automatically expire June 30, 1943, or sooner if Congress by a concurrent resolution – requiring only a majority vote – decides to end it. War aid contracted under the bill must be completed before July 1, 1946.
Important change
The two-year time limit on the bill, with the provision enabling Congress to terminate it even earlier, was another important change made during the measure’s course through Congress.
The administration accepted an amendment declaring that nothing in the bill shall be construed to change existing laws on the movement of American armed forces.
But proposals to write in an ironclad prohibition on the use of Army and Navy abroad were rejected decisively. Anti-convoy amendments suffered the same fate.
Under the bill, the President is authorized to accept any repayment for arms sent abroad in kind or properly, or any other direct or indirect benefit, at his own discretion.
Must report to Congress
He is required to report to Congress every 90 days all transactions under the program, except such information as “he deems incompatible with the public interest to disclose.”
The bill was introduced in both houses Jan. 10 by the two Democratic leaders – Alben W. Barkley of Kentucky in the Senate, and John W. McCormack of Massachusetts in the House – and passed the House Feb. 8.
Packed galleries sat through every day of the Senate debate, which began Feb. 17.
The Senate today rejected a virtual prohibition on the transfer of new U.S. warships and naval aircraft under terms of the aid bill.
Nye makes fourth speech
The final vote was delayed a short time tonight when Senator Gerald Nye (R-ND) rose to make his fourth set speech against the bill. He already had spoken 12 hours in formal debate and from the right side of the chamber came cries of “Vote, vote.”
Angered, Senator Nye suggested that policemen assigned to quiet the galleries could be assigned with better effect to the Senate floor. He said that if he had the physical stamina to engage in a one-man filibuster and thought it would defeat the bill he would undertake the task cheerfully.
The Walsh naval transfer amendment was defeated by a vote of 33 to 56. Widely heralded by the opposition as perhaps their strongest amendment, it failed by 10 votes of mustering as much support as the proposal by Senator George W. Norris (I-NE), declaring that nothing in this act shall be construed to authorize the President without the consent of Congress to send armed forces to fight on foreign soil outside the Western Hemisphere or U.S. possessions. The Senate rejected that proposal Friday, 52 to 39.
Other changes beaten
The defeat of the Walsh amendment was followed by rejection in rapid order of seven other restrictive amendments, principal of which was a proposal by Senator Robert A. Taft (R-OH), to substitute for the aid bill a loan of $2 billion to Britain, China and Canada for buying American armaments and foodstuffs.
The Taft substitute, the last major change the opposition offered before the final vote on the bill, lost by a vote of 63 to 28.
The Senate also defeated:
- By a vote of 55 to 33, an amendment by Senator Guy M. Gillette (D-IA) specifying that the bill would not authorize entry of American ships into combat zones.
- By a vote of 54 to 35, an amendment by Senator Gillette to strike out the clause stating that the aid program may be carried on “notwithstanding the provisions of any other law.”
- By a vote of 59 to 32, an amendment by Senator Clark incorporating the anti-foreign war declaration of the 1940 Democratic platform into the bill.
- By voice vote, an amendment by Senator Scott W. Lucas (D-IL) creating a six-man Congressional committee to consult with the President on defense matters.
- By voice vote, an amendment by Senator H. Styles Bridges (R-NH) to limit aid to the British Commonwealth, Greece, China and “such other countries as may be invaded or attacked.”
- By voice vote, an amendment by Senator Taft forbidding the use of American ports to British warships needing repairs.
Lineup of Walsh amendment*
The administration had the support of 48 Democrats, 7 Republicans and one Independent in defeating the Walsh amendment. 13 Democrats, 19 Republicans and one Progressive voted for the proposal.
In Mr. Wheeler’s closing speech against the measure, the Montanan, who has led the 18-day Senate fight against the bill, appealed to his colleagues not to “kid ourselves.”
He said:
This is not a bill to keep war away; it is a bill to permit the President to carry on an undeclared war.
He also reiterated that he plans to take the stump throughout the country to carry on a “crusade” against American involvement in the hostilities.
Connally rebukes Wheeler
Senator Tom Connally (D-TX) rebuked Mr. Wheeler for what he called the “slanders and wild reports” that international bankers and “warmongers” engineered this country’s participation in the last war.
We became involved in the World War, not because of propaganda by the British and warmongers, but because of the propaganda of the assassins of the seas – German submarines and the murdering of our citizens on the high seas, where they had a right to be. I voted for that war and I would do the same again if the same circumstances prevailed.
Shortly after voting on the Walsh amendment the Senate by voice vote adopted an amendment by Senate Democratic Leader Alben W. Barkley specifying that agricultural products could be included in commodities which would be transferred so that America would be the larder as well as the arsenal of democracies.
‘Fight has just begun’
Mr. Wheeler arose after the vote and produced a brief statement. There was a quickening of attention to which the Montanan smilingly remarked:
I am not going to read all of this. I don’t want anyone to get worried. I am perfectly willing to have the Senate vote this afternoon.
He said:
The fight against war has just begun. This bill gives the President the power to wage an undeclared war anywhere in the world and I will fight against that as hard as I can.
The Senate next accepted unanimously an amendment by Senator James J. Davis (R-PA), which would authorize the President to use private agencies in testing defense materials.
Supported by proponents
The naval transfer ban, proposed by Chairman David I. Walsh (D-MS) of the Senate Naval Affairs Committee, was one of the last major opposition challenges. It drew strong support from several proponents of the bill such as Senator Millard E. Tydings (D-MD), who, arguing for the amendment called on the Senate to be “honest” and admit that “Britain needs our men.”
If the House concurs in the Senate changes, Congressional action would be completed exactly two months from the day the bill was submitted to Congress as the quickest and most effective way of aiding Great Britain and other embattled democracies against the aggressions of the Axis powers.
Mr. Walsh proposed his amendment as a necessary safeguard of the nation’s first line of defense – its rapidly expanding two-ocean navy.
‘Don’t touch our Navy’
He pleaded:
Give away anything you like, but don’t touch our Navy. The Navy is too much identified with the real necessities of our national defense.
To this argument, Chairman Walter F. George (D-GA), who led the victorious administration forces in defeating 12 previous restrictive amendments, asserted that the alteration would “scuttle the bill and is intended to do so.”
Mr. George said:
If Britain does not get help when she needs it, the bill is no good at all.
Speaker Rayburn said that when the bill reaches the House Monday he would seek unanimous consent for House adherence to Senate amendments if changes were no more drastic than had been written into the bill at that hour. Such consent would eliminate delay of sending the measure to a conference committee but it could be blocked by a single objection.
‘Little truth’ asked
In event of an objection, Mr. Rayburn said a rule would be sought in the Rules Committee for floor consideration. The mechanics of House procedure would mean that Wednesday would be the earliest it would be sent to the President.
Mr. Tydings, who had opposed previous amendments, supported the Walsh proposal with a plea for “a little truth in this debate.”
He said:
I’m sick and tired of hearing Senators say the England does not want our men. She desperately needs American soldiers and component parts of our Navy. I can’t blame her for wanting them. She is not asking for men because if she did it would throw cold water on a lot of things that are now taking place.
A million or two American soldiers plus American armaments thrown into the scale of Britain’s forces and there would be a different tale on the other side of the ocean.
Opposes Navy Depletion
Mr. Tydings opposed depletion of the Navy on the grounds that it is “the only defense we have.” He pointed out that “you have an army of 70,000 to 80,000 men who have any length of service and only a few pilots.”
He asked:
If your Navy is gone, what is left?
As the Senate discussion approached an end, Senator Taft released copies of a printed form he is mailing constituents as a reply to their letters on the bill. He said 20,000 copies were being distributed.
Mr. Taft said:
The only criticism I resent is one which suggests that my course was dictated by political considerations. The Republican Party has not sought to change the position of any Senator against his individual convictions. The leaders of the fight against the President are Democrats.
‘Reply confidential’
Senator Charles W. Tobey (R-NH) said he had a reply from President Roosevelt to his inquiry as to whether any more warships are to be transferred.
Mr. Tobey said:
But the reply was private and confidential and my lips are sealed.
Senator Wheeler interrupted to say that Mr. Tobey was not treated as “badly as I was” because, he added, he sought information from Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson and received no reply.
Mr. Wheeler said:
Every embassy in the world knows the information better than we do.