Crucible of a Generation
Page 8
appreciated fact of life, still limited to a small audience, but their potential power
had set radio broadcasters into action. A week earlier an article in The Times had made serious accusations that the Columbia Broadcasting System was stif ling the
development of television in order to enhance the profitability of its radio opera-
tions. In a vigorous rebuttal, Adrian Murphy, the Columbia Broadcasting System
executive director for television, said that radio stations and executives had gone
into television in order to protect not only their own interests, but the future of
radio. This, said Mr. Murphy, was in no wise blameworthy or sinister, given that
any industry had a right to protect its future.
The previous article had charged that “some executives” had admitted that by
controlling television they had hoped to slow its development. “Some (unidenti-
fied) executives were dubious authority,” said Mr. Murphy, as long as they remained
anonymous. But in any event television had become widespread enough among
competing organizations that it was hardly susceptible of control by anyone.
40 Last Sunday at Peace: November 30, 1941
What was important in the last analysis was programming, and this, Mr. Murphy
declared, was the subject of an intensive effort by Columbia; it sought to advance an
industry that could hardly be helped by “uninformed and baseless accusations.” 13
*
“Modern art” has always been a subject fraught with difficulty for the public
as well as for those who have exhibited it to the public. In response to shocked
and dismayed correspondents, The Times critic Edward Alden Jewell confessed
that the newspaper’s reproduction of Joan Miro’s “Rope and Persons,” then being
shown at the Museum of Modern Art, had been printed upside down. Such things
could happen, Mr. Jewell replied, when the editor neglects to write “Top” on
the back of a photograph or other reproduction. Anyway, Mr. Jewell observed,
abstractions had been known to have been reproduced lying on their sides and a
notable work of abstract art had been hung that way at a distinguished museum.
A few of Mr. Jewell’s correspondents were sympathetic. Melvin Freidel, who
maintained lowercase throughout, wrote: “alas for the poor maligned modern art-
ist. Who lays out the art page and what did Miro ever do to him?”
Mr. F. W. James of Belleville, New Jersey, found the critics’ remarks appalling in
their childish innocence and closed by attacking the Miro as “indescribable filth.”
Mr. Saul Raskin opined that American artists were in a bad way precisely
because of such exhibitions. They had had their fill of Dali and Surrealism. Dali
was, indeed, a misfortune to the American artist and, by the way, why was the exhi-
bition at the Museum of Modern Art traveling under the title “Dali & Company”?
Mr. Jewell was happy to take on Mr. Raskin and indeed all comers. He asked
a simple question: what indeed was the function of the Museum of Modern Art?
He gave a simple answer. It seemed to him that the function of the Museum of
Modern Art was to place modern art before the public. The public might not like
it, but it ought to be exposed to it as much as possible, and the best way to illumi-
nate the whole issue was to see the art itself. Here, indeed, was a tempest that has
not perceptibly faded in the following generations. 14
Notes
1.
New York Times , November 30, 1941, 2/5
2.
Atlanta Constitution , November 30, 1941, 6C
3.
New York Times , November 30, 1941, 66
4.
New York Times , November 30, 1941, 67
5.
New York Times , November 30, 1941, 55
6.
Atlanta Constitution , November 30, 1941, 1
7.
New York Times , November 30, 1941, 18
8.
Houston Chronicle , November 30, 1941, 4C
9.
Atlanta Constitution , November 30, 1941, 8D
10. Atlanta Constitution , November 30, 1941, 10D
11. Houston Chronicle , November 30, 1941, 7C
12. Oregonian , November 30, 1941, MI
13. New York Times , November 30, 1941, 8/12
14. New York Times , November 30, 1941, 8/9
PART II
Last Week at Peace
December 1–6, 1941
5
MONDAY, DECEMBER 1, 1941
A World in Flames: Storm Signals Flying
Following up its victory at Rostov, Moscow radio announced that the forty-mile
road from Rostov to Taganrog, the line of retreat of the German army, had been
cleared. On the central front, Russian counterattacks blunted continuing thrusts
against Moscow. Berlin had little to say about the situation at Rostov but broad-
cast claims of gigantic Russian losses.
The day’s news was favorable to the Allied cause in North Africa, too. The
British Eighth Army advanced across the Cyranaican hump to the Gulf of Sidra
below Bengazi, cutting off Axis supply lines in Libya. German and Italian tank
forces attempting to escape entrapment east of Tobruk were defeated by a flank
attack. All this amounted to what Rome characterized as a “pause” on the Libyan
front. 1
*
Storm signals were f lying all across the Pacific. A large contingent of British and
Indian troops “ready for all eventualities” landed at Rangoon in British Burma,
and London radio said that more British warships had been dispatched to the
Far East. 2 In a twilight zone between peace and war it was announced that an American air group, with American pilots f lying American planes under the
Chinese f lag, would defend the vital Burma Road from Japanese air attack. The
members of the force were officially listed as members of the Chinese Air Force.
Many were former regular officers of the U.S. Army and Navy. Further confus-
ing their status, these officers retained their Army and Navy ranks or promo-
tional standing and, interestingly, they would continue to receive their regular
Army and Navy pay.
Singapore was placed under emergency orders. U.S. consular authorities in
Thailand were advising all American citizens to be ready to evacuate the country
“at any minute.” Similarly, U.S. consular authorities advised Americans to leave
44 Last Week at Peace: December 1–6, 1941
FIGURE 5.1 See color plate section.
Courtesy of Northwestern University Library World War II poster collection, Pr32.5015:38.
Shanghai, while the Shanghai branch of the Chase National Bank of New York
advised its clients that henceforth their accounts would be handled only at the
depositor’s risk.
At Manila, the U.S. Army and Navy were alerted; many officers had been
called back from leave; and all leaves from the Corregidor fortress at the entrance
to Manila Bay were suspended until further notice. 3
The Threat of War: Wait and See
Across the Pacific, The New York Times gravely reported that there had been no
abatement of tension in relations between the United States and Japan. Under
Monday, December 1, 1941 45
the press of events the President had cut short his Warm Springs stay and left for
Washington. He would arrive at noon to confer with
his advisers. He looked
“grim” and did not show the crowds that assembled in the Georgia backcountry
villages through which he traveled the buoyant attitude of the day before. Only
that evening the President had raised the possibility that U.S. troops could be in
action within the year, or possibly even sooner.
Certainly reports from Tokyo were ominous. There had been no formal reply to
Secretary of State Hull’s statement of principles and the Japanese envoys remained
in Washington.
Japan’s Foreign Minister Shigenori Togo rejected Hull’s statement and his prin-
ciples as “fantastic.” He characterized U.S. attitudes as “regrettable,” reiterating
Japan’s determination to construct a “new order in East Asia.” The close relationship
among Japan, Manchukuo, and the puppet regime at Nanking must be cemented,
he said, going forward to a new order in East Asia on the basis of cooperation and
coprosperity. The United States didn’t understand the real situation in East Asia,
Togo charged. It was trying to apply “fantastic principles” and rules not adapted
to the actual situation of the world. All this tended to obstruct progress toward the
New Order. What Togo had earlier characterized as “regrettable,” he now labeled
“extremely regrettable.”
Japan, he said, stood for “Asia for the Asiatics,” under Japanese leadership, in
stark contrast to the U.S. policy of the Open Door. That same day Japan, Man-
chukuo, and China celebrated the first anniversary of a joint declaration of coop-
eration. Foreign Minister Togo did not appear at a large rally in Tokyo, but his
message was read by General Ando, the Executive Vice President of the Imperial
Rule Assistance Organization.
General Ando’s speech was, if anything, more blunt than the statements of
the Foreign Minister. He said that Japan, Manchukuo, and China would “take
all necessary measures and suffer any sacrifices” to establish the New Order on
the basis of good neighborliness, economic collaboration, and joint defense with
due respect to the sovereignty, territorial integrity, and national characteristics
of each of the three nations. A group of powers, he claimed, was trying to
obstruct this. Among them was Chungking, a mere puppet of the United States,
which would collapse once the strings were cut. He named another target.
The Netherlands East Indies, he said, would be similarly finished once Japa-
nese troops moved toward that region, and neither the United States nor Great
Britain would be able to help. One hundred million Japanese were awaiting
the outcome of negotiations, “determined to meet all eventualities and elimi-
nate any obstacles in the way of a holy task.” He continued: “We now stand at
the crossroads of peace and war. The road ahead is beset with difficulties but
we should not be blinded by the temporary advantage of safety nor go astray on
the way to our lofty goal.” 4
All this said, the general concluded that Japan wanted to continue discussions
with the United States for at least two weeks, despite dissatisfaction with certain
fundamental points at issue.
So the talks would continue. Since there had been no sign of Japanese military
moves, the United States was inclined to wait and see. The question was whether
46 Last Week at Peace: December 1–6, 1941
Japan was bluffing. There remained, however, little question that the United States
stood together with Great Britain and the Netherlands East Indies. The problem
was one the world had faced before. Did the Japanese believe that the United
States wouldn’t fight for Thailand as Hitler had once believed that Great Britain
wouldn’t fight for Danzig? And in return for the withdrawal of Japanese troops
from French Indo-China, would the United States be prepared to relax economic
sanctions? 5
*
Amid rising tensions, Japanese envoy Kichisaburo Nomura spoke the truth when
he told a reporter that there was still a wide gap between the American and
Japanese positions but that: “I believe there must be wise statesmanship to save
the situation.”
Nomura’s statement gained authority in the light of a dispatch from a Japanese
newspaper indicating that the closing of Japanese consulates in the United States
was imminent. 6
The Threat of War: Deep Divisions
All of these developments offered a rich field for the pundits and the commenta-
tors on the current scene. Dewitt Mackenzie, a columnist syndicated by Wide
World News, concluded that Japan’s decision to continue negotiations with the
United States should not surprise anyone, given indications that Japan was anx-
ious to avoid conf lict with the United States. This was a decision, he thought,
based on necessity and calculated to give Japan additional time to decide which
side would win the European war. That was why German reverses in Russia and
North Africa might have deeply inf luenced Japan’s decision makers. Hitler had
achieved a remarkable string of victories, diplomatic and military, but his cur-
rent difficulties in Russia and North Africa could result in a loss of luster and
might forestall Hitler’s plans to capture the Russian agricultural and petroleum
resources vital to any German victory. 7
To the Chicago Tribune , it was an old story. Arthur Sears Henning of the Chicago Tribune Press Services saw Hitler goading Japan to fight America and Britain goading America to defend British interests in the Pacific region. It carried a
parallel story featuring a statement by General Lesley McNair, the general com-
manding the Carolina maneuvers, that the U.S. Army could fight effectively given
the necessary resources and equipment. But the losses would be unduly heavy, and
the results against a force as potent as the German army might not be “all that
could be desired.” He hoped that a year from now, the standard of performance of
the army would be as different from today’s as today’s was from last year’s. But, he
opined, it would take more than a year to bring the U.S. Army up to the standard
of the German Wehrmacht. 8
The novelty of many of the aspects of the U.S. military establishment was
indicated by the death of the Army’s pioneer airman, sometime Lt. Frank Lahm.
He had made the world’s first solo military flight. After minimal training, Wilbur
Monday, December 1, 1941 47
Wright had told him: “Go ahead and take her up.” This sometime cavalryman had
risen to the rank of Lieutenant General, retiring at age sixty-four as Commander
of Randolph Field, Texas, where 5,000 troops, 270 basic and advance training
planes, and 20,000 civilians were present at his retirement ceremony. How these
forces might compare to Japan’s was a matter of speculation that day.
America’s Role: An Age of Faith
The nineties may have been gay and the twenties may have roared, but in 1941,
religion remained a vital element in both public and private life. Eminent clergy-
men were well known, indeed in many cases famous, and their utterances were
not only heard but listened to. Amid rumors of war and preparations for war,
amid a deepening crisis, with much of the world already at war, it is instructive
had to tell their congregations on Sunday, November 30, 1941.
At Saint Patrick’s Cathedral in New York, Archbishop Spellman opened a forty-
hour devotion to pray for “peace and true concord” after a solemn mass attended
by 2,800. In the procession were leading members of the Catholic hierarchy,
choristers, seminarians, and acolytes, all carrying lighted candles. The sanctuary
was decorated with ferns and flowers in the papal colors of gold and white. The
devotion continued with a solemn mass for peace.
Monsignor Joseph F. Flannelly, administrator of the Cathedral, read two letters
from Archbishop Spellman. The first called for a renewal of pledges to the Legion
of Decency to avoid indecent entertainment, specifically condemning the film
Two-Faced Woman as a danger to public morals. The second letter urged generosity in the next Sunday’s collection. 9
Few clergymen were more eminent than Dr. Henry Sloane Coffin, President of
the Union Theological Seminary, who spoke at the Rockefeller-endowed River-
side Baptist Church. Men could thwart God’s plan, he said, and wreck His world
with pride, greed, and folly. But, he reassured his audience, “God . . . never gives
up.” He next addressed what he called a surge of racial feelings and discrimination
based upon a sense of national superiority. This could be read as a veiled reference
to anti-Japanese feeling occasioned by the crisis in Pacific relations.
But his principal concern that day was the need for international institutions.
We had entered a war, he said, referring to 1917–18, and we had decisively affected
the outcome; but in the end we had washed our hands of the tasks of maintain-
ing and developing justice and peace. Nevertheless he did not believe the United
States would hazard its independence by entering into an association of nations.
He easily fell in with American exceptionalism, demanding that the United States
reflect its own national experience in counseling other people toward an orderly
commonwealth of mankind with sufficient authority to maintain justice, prevent
wars, and increase the well-being of all. The good reverend did not indicate the
chances of success in counseling Adolf Hitler and Hideki Tojo, who both had