The New York Times Book of World War II, 1939-1945

by The New York Times

  Amusement—Our service men in Japan will have to bring their own amusements with them. Their sight-seeing will, of course, include Mount Fuji and the Shinto shrines of Ise. The Japanese theatre—the serious No plays and the Kabuki farces—will be unintelligible to all but the few who may be interested in Japanese culture for its own sake. Dance halls and cabarets were closed before Pearl Harbor, when the empire began to feel the heavy economic and social pressures of the long-drawn-out “China incident.”

  EATING AND SPORTS

  Food—Tokyo had plenty of small restaurants and tea rooms before the war. Today, quite aside from air raid damage, the food situation is undoubtedly very bad. Meat-eating Americans will probably not enthuse over Japanese cooking with its emphasis on rice and fish. But the newcomers may enjoy the experience of eating sukiyaki or tempura, with a glass of rice liquor called saki.

  Sports—Baseball is the favorite sport of Japan, so much so that before the war American ball players were heroes of the Japanese fans. This is a far from insignificant fact in our relations with the Japanese. It helps explain the seemingly inexplicable spectacle of a banzai charge in which Nippon’s soldiers were shot down screaming “To hell with Babe Ruth!” Now that the war is over, baseball may actually prove a psychological factor with which to win Japanese youth over to our way of thinking.

  SEPTEMBER 2, 1945

  Text of the Address by Truman Proclaiming V-J Day

  The complete text of President Truman’s V-J Day speech, as recorded and transcribed in the recording room of The New York Times follows:

  My Fellow Americans, Supreme Allied Commander General MacArthur and Allied representatives on the Battleship Missouri in Tokyo Bay:

  The thoughts and hopes of all America—indeed of all the civilized world—are centered tonight on the battleship Missouri. There on that small piece of American soil anchored in Tokyo harbor the Japanese have just officially laid down their arms. They have signed terms of unconditional surrender.

  Four years ago the thoughts and fears of the whole civilized world were centered on another piece of American soil—Pearl Harbor. The mighty threat to civilization which began there is now laid at rest. It was a long road to Tokyo—and a bloody one.

  We shall not forget Pearl Harbor.

  The Japanese militarists will not forget the U.S.S. Missouri.

  The evil done by the Japanese war lords can never be repaired or forgotten. But their power to destroy and kill has been taken from them. Their armies and what is left of their Navy are now impotent.

  To all of us there comes first a sense of gratitude to Almighty God Who sustained us and our Allies in the dark days of grave danger, Who made us to grow from weakness into the strongest fighting force in history, and Who has now seen us overcome the forces of tyranny that sought to destroy His civilization

  God grant that in our pride of this hour we may not forget the hard tasks that are still before us; that we may approach these with the same courage, zeal and patience with which we faced the trials and problems of the past four years.

  Our first thoughts, of course—thoughts of gratefulness and deep obligation—go out to those of our loved ones who have been killed or maimed in this terrible war. On land and sea and in the air American men and women have given their lives so that this day of ultimate victory might come and assure the survival of a civilized world. No victory can make good their loss.

  We think of those whom death in this war has hurt, taking from them fathers, husbands, sons, brothers and sisters whom they loved. No victory can bring back the faces they long to see.

  Only the knowledge that the victory, which these sacrifices have made possible, will be wisely used, can give them any comfort. It is our responsibility—ours, the living—to see to it that this victory shall be a monument worthy of the dead who died to win it.

  We think of all the millions of men and women in our armed forces and merchant marine all over the world who, after years of sacrifice and hardship and peril, have been spared by Providence from harm.

  We think of all the men and women and children who during these years have carried on at home, in lonesomeness and anxiety and fear.

  Our thoughts go out to the millions of American workers and business men, to our farmers and miners—to all those who have built up this country’s fighting strength and who have shipped to our Allies the means to resist and overcome the enemy.

  Our thoughts go out to our civil servants and to the thousands of Americans who, at personal sacrifice, have come to serve in our Government during these trying years; to the members of the Selective Service Boards and ration boards; to the civilian defense and Red Cross workers; to the men and women in the USO and in the entertainment world—to all those who have helped in this cooperative struggle to preserve liberty and decency in the world.

  We think of our departed gallant leader, Franklin D. Roosevelt, defender of democracy, architect of world peace and cooperation.

  And our thoughts go out to our gallant Allies in this war; to those who resisted the invaders; to those who were not strong enough to hold out but who nevertheless kept the fires of resistance alive within the souls of their people; to those who stood up against great odds and held the line until the United Nations together were able to supply the arms and the men with which to overcome the forces of evil.

  This is a victory of more than arms alone. This is a victory of liberty over tyranny.

  From our war plants rolled the tanks and planes which blasted their way to the heart of our enemies; from our shipyards sprang the ships which bridged all the oceans of the world for our weapons and supplies; from our farms came the food and fiber for our armies and navies and for all our allies in all the corners of the earth; from our mines and factories came the raw materials and the finished products which gave us the equipment to overcome our enemies.

  But back of it all were the will and spirit and determination of a free people—who know what freedom is, and who know that it is worth whatever price they had to pay to preserve it.

  It was the spirit of liberty which gave us our armed strength and which made our men invincible in battle. We now know that that spirit of liberty, the freedom of the individual and the personal dignity of man are the strongest and toughest and most enduring forces in all the world.

  And so on V-J Day, we take renewed faith and pride in our own way of life. We have had our day of rejoicing over this victory. We have had our day of prayer and devotion. Now let us set aside V-J Day as one of renewed consecration to the principles which have made us the strongest nation on earth and which, in this war, we have striven so mightily to preserve.

  Those principles provide the faith, the hope and the opportunity which helped men to improve themselves and their lot. Liberty does not make all men perfect nor all society secure. But it has provided more solid progress and happiness and decency for more people than any other philosophy of government in history. And this day has shown again that it provides the greatest strength and the greatest power which man has ever reached.

  We know that under it we can meet the hard problems of peace which have come upon us. A free people with free Allies, who can develop an atomic bomb, can use the same skill and energy and determination to overcome all the difficulties ahead.

  Victory always has its burdens and its responsibilities as well as its rejoicing.

  But we face the future and all its dangers with great confidence and great hope. America can build for itself a future of employment and security. Together with the United Nations it can build a world of peace founded on justice and fair dealing and tolerance.

  As President of the United States I proclaim Sunday, Sept. 2, 1945, to be V-J Day—the day of the formal surrender of Japan. It is not yet the day for the formal proclamation of the end of the war nor of the cessation of hostilities. But it is a day which we Americans shall always remember as a day of retribution—as we remember that other day, the day of infamy.

  From this day we move
forward. We move toward a new era of security at home. With the other United Nations we move toward a new and better world of cooperation, of peace and international good-will.

  God’s help has brought us to this day of victory. With His help we will attain that peace and prosperity for ourselves and all the world in the years ahead.

  SEPTEMBER 4, 1945

  Attlee, Citing Occupation Rote, Dashes Demobilization Hopes

  By HERBERT L. MATTHEWS

  By Wireless to The New York Times

  LONDON, Sept. 3—The British people heard some plain and courageous speaking tonight from the Prime Minister, Clement R. Attlee who told them in a broadcast the demobilization could not be speedy and that Britain’s responsibilities required the maintenance of great forces for some time to come.

  It has fallen to the lot of the Labor Government to tell the people some unpleasant truths and to take unpopular measures, like further cuts in clothing and food rations just as everyone expected relief from the end of war. Now comes the bad news about demobilization.

  Britain’s position as a world power, her duties in the future maintenance of world peace and her policy of fostering popular democratic governments in Europe all made demands of manpower that could not be shirked, Mr. Attlee declared. He had to tell this to the British people on the sixth anniversary of the day when the sirens first sounded in London, and his plea was for renewed patience.

  The lesson that peace was indivisible, which should have been learned in 1918, must be learned today, he said, and there must be established “a world order in which war shall ever be banished.”

  NO TIME FOR RELAXATION

  The development of the atomic bomb had made this “vital for the future of civilization,” Mr. Attlee continued.

  “This is no time for relaxation, tempting as this is after years of strain,” he added.

  So he went on to tell them of the responsibilities that Great Britain must shoulder and he recalled that he had never encouraged them to think that the war’s end would mean the immediate release of all the men and women in the armed forces.

  Announcing that men between the ages of 18 and 30 would continue to be called up to meet the continuing needs of the services, he explained that large occupation forces would be required in Germany, southeastern Europe, the Mediterranean and Middle East where they would have to carry out “the difficult and perhaps thankless task” of helping to establish “governments resting on popular consent.”

  “Those of you who remember the disturbed period at the end of the last war,” Mr. Attlee said later, “will remember that one of the prime difficulties of the situation was the inability of the powers which had won the war to provide the necessary forces for the prevention of violent action by sectional interests pending completion of negotiations for world peace.”

  STRESSES ROLE IN JAPAN

  Mr. Attlee showed the extent to which his Government is continuing traditional British foreign policy by discussing “the establishment of order in Burma” and the necessity for using large forces to maintain empire life lines. Aside from that, he called attention to the obvious need of men to help in the occupation of Japan.

  The sum total of all this, he indicated, was that Britain, which mobilized literally all her manpower and which was desperately short of it for industrial labor, must still keep large forces under arms and away from home.

  SEPTEMBER 4, 1945

  INDUSTRY SPEEDS RECONVERSION JOB

  Reports Throughout Country Found Encouraging as the Plants Shift Rapidly

  By RUSSELL PORTER

  Highly encouraging reports on the progress of reconversion have been received over the weekend from scattered industrial centers throughout the country by the Committee for Economic Development, an organization of business and industrial leaders who have been formulating plans during the last three years to stimulate postwar production and employment.

  The reports indicate that industry is reconverting its plants from war to peace production much more quickly and easily, and that reconversion unemployment is much smaller than anticipated. Many industries have no problem at all, simply making the same goods in peace they did in war, and others require only a few weeks to reconvert.

  Workers laid off by war plants are being absorbed rapidly in the plants that have already reconverted, in companies making new products developed by wartime research, or in other industries, considered unessential during the war, that have hitherto been short of labor. Agriculture, distribution, construction, transportation and communications, and services of all kinds that were curtailed or abandoned during the war are also offering many job opportunities. Some ex-war workers are opening small business ventures for themselves.

  The situation is also being eased by the fact that many women and other workers, including the overage and the underage, who were employed in the war plants but normally would not have been considered part of the industrial labor force, are quitting for their homes, farms, schools or jobs outside industry.

  So far war veterans have been absorbed by business and industry, in accordance with their veterans’ and seniority rights, and indications are that by the time they are discharged in large numbers reconversion will have progressed far enough to take care of them without serious difficulty.

  The chief bottleneck seems to be delay in getting raw materials in some industries, notably in the textile and hosiery mills. Achievement of full employment in some other industries, including the printing and mechanical trades, has been slowed down by a shortage of skilled labor, and the need of long training periods for apprentices. A “back to normalcy” psychology on the part of some small employers has also been a brake on the movement for an expanding economy.

  SEPTEMBER 4, 1945

  Soviet Hints Race For Atom Bomb; Pooling of Data For Peace Urged

  By The United Press.

  MOSCOW, Sept. 3—The magazine New Times assailed today some sections of the American press for allegedly advocating that the United States “secure world mastery by threatening use of the atomic bomb,” and warned that other nations would soon invent weapons equally potent.

  The article, the first detailed analysis of the atomic bomb’s significance to appear thus far in the Soviet press, said that the missile’s development made lasting peace and security imperative. It urged international pooling of atomic knowledge as “the most effective method of mutual understanding of all freedom-loving nations.”

  Characterizing the bomb as “one of the greatest inventions of modern science, fraught with enormous consequences in all fields of human life,” the article, by M. Rubinstein, said:

  “At the same time, it is clear to all right-thinking men that the discovery does not solve any political problems internationally or inside individual countries. Those who cherish illusions in this respect will suffer inevitable disappointment.”

  The article bitterly attacked the “Hearst-Patterson-McCormick press” for its alleged arguments that the United States use the threat of the atomic bomb to enforce its will in international affairs, and said:

  “These flagrant imperialists forget history’s lessons. They ignore the collapse of Hitlerite plans for world hegemony, which were based on intended utilization of temporary superiority in technical development.”

  The article said that “many other countries have scientists who studied the problem of splitting the atom and who will work with redoubled energy to invent weapons as good or better.” It approved suggestions to vest the control of atomic energy in an international body, “since the fundamental principles are well known and henceforth it is simply a question of time before any country will be able to produce atomic bombs.”

  In addition to the gravest danger threatening humanity, “should aggressors seize control of this terrible weapon” Mr. Rubinstein said that unlimited economic abuses were possible by exploitation of atomic energy productively under conditions of “capitalist monopoly.”

  He said that the latter would cause “monstrous
mass unemployment and permanent elimination of millions of miners and other industrial workers and intensification of monopoly rule.”

  SEPTEMBER 5, 1945

  DE GAULLE INSISTS ON 4TH REPUBLIC

  By G, H. ARCHAMBAULT

  By Wireless to The New York Times.

  PARIS, Sept. 4—Gen. Charles de Gaulle, President of the Provisional Government, indicated tonight in a broadcast marking the seventy-fifth anniversary of the proclamation of the Third Republic, that he stood by the referendum that will accompany the elections next October.

  In his address he emphasized the democratic principles—“liberty, justice and sovereignty of the people, without which there can be no lasting force, no solidity and no light.”

  He pointed out, however, that the Third Republic had inherent defects that eventually brought about “conditions of permanent political crisis” resulting in twenty different Prime Ministers in the twenty-one-year period between the two world wars.

  To avoid a recurrence of such conditions, General de Gaulle explained, he wished the nation itself to decide the character of the Fourth Republic.

  “Through a capital innovation known as the referendum the French people, at the same time as they will elect their representatives, will indicate the nature of the institutions they have chosen for themselves. … I am convinced that the immense majority will receive these proposals with favor. … Frenchmen and Frenchwomen, you will soon launch the Fourth Republic.”

  Thus it was revealed that General de Gaulle had not budged tonight from the stand taken yesterday when he refused to meet Leon Jouhaux, secretary general of General Labor Confederation, heading a delegation of Leftist parties desirous of obtaining modifications in the methods of voting to be applied next October.