she went. 34
Human Interest: Famous and Infamous
Newspaper readers are perennially interested in the doings of the wise and the
great and of celebrities who may be neither wise nor great but famous. It was a
symbol of the times when Junius S. Morgan, the eldest son of J. P. Morgan, and
a director of J. P. Morgan & Co., reported for duty as a lieutenant commander
in the U.S. Naval Reserve. He had served in the Navy aboard a destroyer in the
First World War. The spectacle of a director of U.S. Steel and General Motors
taking up his naval duties testified to a sense of service that was then abroad in
the land, emphasized by the report that his younger brother was now serving as
a Navy lieutenant. 35
*
Few topics are of more absorbing interest to newspaper readers than crime and
punishment, especially in the case of a wronged woman and a gun. In a classic
Tuesday, December 2, 1941 67
of the genre, Mrs. Betty Williams of Long Beach, California, appeared before a
coroner’s jury inquiring into the death of her husband, Technical Sergeant Noah
Williams of Fort MacArthur. He had died on the front porch of his wife’s home, a
small caliber bullet piercing his heart. Lieutenant Colonel Gail Cleland, the chap-
lain at Fort MacArthur, gave testimony of continuing incidents of marital violence,
including beatings, furniture wrecking, and clothing destroyed in the apartment
they had shared. The chaplain testified that Sergeant Williams had so threatened
his wife that she feared for her life. Mrs. Fern Pitts, whose husband managed the
apartment where the Williamses lived and where Sgt. Williams died, testified that
after hearing a shot, she rushed to a window and saw Mrs. Williams standing in
the doorway, a gun in her hand. Mrs. Williams said: “Call the cops, I’ve done it.”
In further dramatic testimony, Mrs. Pitts said that the defendant, standing over the body of her dead husband, had muttered “Die, damn you, die.” The defendant claimed that her husband had died in her arms and that his last words were:
“Honey, I had it coming.” Beyond that, Betty Williams refused to testify further. 36
Diversions: Arts and Entertainment
Brooks Atkinson, The New York Times dean of drama critics, had a sensibility that was generally considered to be highbrow; but he proved fully capable of enjoying the lowbrow humor of Ole Olsen and Chic Johnson. They were returning
to the scene of their Hellzapoppin’ “triumph” in what Atkinson termed a corn-
shucking bee called Sons o’ Fun. He lauded the performance of the sulfurous
Carmen Miranda who “wears jingling costumes and wriggles her music.” It
was, Atkinson reported, an excellent production. Hellzapoppin’ had come into a
fortune and was putting on the dog. 37
In other news of the theater, the Chekov Theater Players were planning a new
and original presentation of Twelfth Night in which there would be no pause or
intermission and the cast and technical crew would make all scene changes in full
view of the audience.
Cheryl Crawford was holding her production of Porgy and Bess in Boston until
a suitable Broadway house became available and Warner Bros. was negotiating
with Lillian Hellman for screen rights to Watch on the Rhine. 38
*
Radio was an ideal medium for a nation pressed by a great depression. Radio
came direct to the home and, saving the initial expenditure, was completely and
totally free. Families gathering around the radio set could keep up with the news
and enjoy entertainment in the form of music, drama, comedy, and myriad other
forms of entertainment. Radio had something for everyone.
For the children there was Uncle Don. Sportscasters were famous: Bill Stern,
Clem McCarthy, Jimmy Powers, and Stan Lomax were only a few. There were
celebrated comics, George Burns and Gracie Allen, Bob Hope and Jerry Colonna,
and Fibber McGee and Molly. But there was culture, too: the WJZ Treasury Hour
presented Maurice Evans, the Golden Gate Quartet, and Geraldine Fitzgerald with
68 Last Week at Peace: December 1–6, 1941
FIGURE 6.2 A grandmother listening to her radio.
Courtesy of National Archives, photo 196484, NLR-PHOCO-A-66312(5) from the Franklin D.
Roosevelt Library collection.
music by Eddy Duchin. For a fabulously diverse market WEVD offered Irish
music and the Jewish Philosopher. At a testimonial dinner that night in honor of
Edward R. Morrow, the principal speaker was to be poet and sometime Librarian
of Congress, Archibald MacLeish. Among other commentators on the news were
Raymond Graham Swing, Gabriel Heatter, and Lowell Thomas.
*
As early as December 1941 television programs, still in their developmen-
tal stages, were being regularly broadcast in New York. WNBT offered the
Radio City Matinee with former governor Alfred E. Smith and others. There
were travelogues by Julien Bryan and songs by Igor Gorin. Catering to obvious
audiences were dancing lessons, children’s stories, and more Songs by Timara.
At opposite ends of the entertainment spectrum were visits to the Metropoli-
tan Museum of Art and—was this a portent of things to come?—wrestling at
Ridgewood Grove.
*
But behind the façade of entertainment, of stage, screen, and radio, there were
portents of things to come. An Oldsmobile ad in the Houston Chronicle announced that airplane, cannon, and artillery shells were now rolling off Olds production
lines. With its remaining facility, Oldsmobile was building only a limited num-
ber of quality cars. Its number one job, it told its readers, was defense.
Tuesday, December 2, 1941 69
Notes
1.
New York Times , December 2, 1941, 1
2.
Oregonian , December 2, 1941, 2
3.
New York Times , December 2, 1941, 1
4.
New York Times , December 2, 1941, 1
5.
New York Times , December 2, 1941, 4
6.
New York Times , December 2, 1941, 4
7.
Washington Post , December 2, 1941, 1
8.
New York Times , December 2, 1941, 6
9.
New York Times , December 2, 1
10. Washington Post , December 2, 1941, 1
11. New York Times , December 2, 1941, 4
12. New York Times , December 2, 1941, 4
13. Atlanta Constitution , December 2, 1941, 8
14. Washington Post , December 2, 1941, 14
15. Chicago Tribune, December 2, 1941, 27
16. New York Times , December 2, 1941,16
17. Washington Post , December 2, 1941, 11
18. Chicago Tribune , December 2, 1941, 14
19. Atlanta Constitution , December 2, 1941, 8
20. New York Times , December 2, 1941, 16
21. Chicago Tribune , December 2, 1941, 27
22. Chicago Tribune , December 2, 1941, 27
23. Denver Post , December 2, 1941, back page
24. Atlanta Constitution , December 2, 1941, 1
25. Oregonian , December 2, 1941, 1
26. Houston Chronicle , December 2, 1941, B1
27. Houston Chronicle , December 2, 1941, B1
28. New York Times , December 2, 1941, 42
29. New York Times , December 2, 1941, 16
30. Denver Po
st , December 2, 1941, 10
31. Washington Post , December 2, 1941, 4
32. New York Times , December 2, 1941, 22
33. New York Times , December 2, 1941, 30
34. Washington Post , December 2, 1941, 18
35. New York Times , December 2, 1941, 2
36. Los Angeles Times , December 2, 1941, 3
37. New York Times , December 2, 1941, 28
38. New York Times , December 2, 1941, 28
7
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 3, 1941
FIGURE 7.1 See color plate section.
Courtesy of National Archives, photo 5197, NWDNS-44-PA-2272 from the World War II Posters collection.
Wednesday, December 3, 1941 71
A World in Flames
The Wednesday newspapers told of German troops f leeing Rostov under con-
tinuous Russian pressure. The Germans claimed that they were punching holes
in Moscow’s defenses where counterattacks sought to contain an “admittedly
acute” situation.
*
In London, Prime Minister Churchill told the country that the crisis of equip-
ment was largely over; that the nation must now face a crisis of manpower,
which would dominate 1942. Churchill asked the House of Commons for author-
ity to draft three million more men for military service, and for the first time to
require women to serve in the uniformed forces. Under the new program, the
age for compulsory military service would be raised from forty-one to fifty-one,
providing 2,750,000 men between these ages. They would not be required to
“march with the troops” but would be put to static or sedentary work, releas-
ing younger men for active service. Reducing the call-up age of youths from
nineteen to eighteen and one-half years would raise an additional 70,000 men
in 1942.
The Prime Minister asked permission to withdraw the government’s promise
not to send anyone younger than twenty years old overseas; this would break
up existing troop formations. He also asked the House’s consent to send abroad
men younger than nineteen. And finally, men not acceptable to the regular ser-
vices, whose part-time service had hitherto been purely voluntary, would now be
required to join the Home Guard.
*
In North Africa, the situation was described as one of “ups and downs.” The
Germans had cut the corridor to the fortress of Tobruk and had again recaptured
Rezegh. Perhaps more significant was the report of the sinking of an Italian
destroyer and three Axis supply ships in the Mediterranean. In the end, rein-
forcement and resupply would be critical to both armies.
The Threat of War: Rising Tensions in the Pacific
Under The Atlanta Constitution ’s map of the Far East stretching from Peiping to the northern Australian port of Darwin appeared in bold print: “ WAR IMMINENT IN VAST ORIENT . ” 1 Responding to that imminent threat, the greatest British f leet ever to sail in Far Eastern waters, headed by the battleships Prince of Wales and Repulse , had arrived at Singapore.
Miyako complained that the ABCD powers—Australia, Britain, Canada and
Dutch East Indies—were attempting to bar Japanese entry into and activity in
Burma, Malaya, the Netherlands Indies, and the Philippines. They were, it said,
“hijackers waiting like wolves to jump on Japan.”
America, too, was being cast as a wolf. Seigo Nakano was an enthusiastic
admirer of Hitler and Mussolini. He had earlier attempted to form a Japanese
72 Last Week at Peace: December 1–6, 1941
Fascist Party, black shirts and all, with little success. He had made a fiery speech
calling for immediate Japanese action to obtain military, naval, and air bases
throughout greater East Asia, gaining Japanese dominance of the Western Pacific.
As part of his program, he demanded the sinking of American transports, philos-
ophizing that countries must use force if they were to make their basic national
policies prevail. If Japan gave up her southward advance, the Netherlands Indies,
French Indo-China, and China would “dance in ecstasy” and America would
cast off her sheep’s clothing, finally appearing as “the wolf she really was.” 2
The Threat of War: Alliances and Optimism
On the other side of the world, tensions in the United States centered on the expected talks by President Roosevelt with the Japanese envoys Nomura and
Kurusu. The tenor of various Japanese spokesmen and organs of opinion did
not augur well for such talks. The United States, the Japanese press insisted, was
attempting to apply “fanciful principles” to the Far East—principles based on the
Nine-Power Treaty, which had been rendered obsolete by the new situation in
East Asia created by Japanese arms.
Nichi Nichi declared that if the United States were sincere in its search for peace in East Asia, it would stop interfering there and retire to its Western Hemisphere
base.
The Washington Post thought that the answer to its query “ Peace or War in the
Pacific? ” might turn on the Japanese reply to the President’s message asking for an
explanation of troop movements and concentrations in Indo-China. In his press
conference, the President called his message “very polite” and firmly denied set-
ting any deadline for an answer. 3
The New York Times shared the President’s concern for Japanese penetration
into Thailand, which it romanticized as a “quaint little country where the temple
bells ring and the rivers run down to flood the rice fields.” “Little brown soldiers”
in Thailand would, it said, threaten British and American interests and policies
throughout the Far East, menacing the Burma Road and Malaya. 4
*
Britain and its dominions were at war on the ground in North Africa and in the
Middle East, in the air over the European continent and over Britain itself, and
across the seven seas. What stand would Canada, Australia, and New Zealand
take in the event of a war between Japan and the United States? For Australia,
were Japan to triumph in such a war, it would mean, sooner or later, an end to
the policy of a “white” Australia. It was widely believed that Australia and New
Zealand had arrived at an understanding with Washington for the grant of bases
and facilities in return for assurances of “consultation” in any prospective emer-
gency. Australia’s Minister of External Affairs had recently said that in a war
with Japan the initiative should be with the United States, although Australia
would accept no agreement at the expense of China or Russia.
Wednesday, December 3, 1941 73
Canada was less definite in its stance. A question had recently been asked in
Parliament: would Canada adhere to a Churchillian promise to declare war against
Japan “within the hour,” were the United States to be involved? The Canadian
prime minister chose not to answer. He stated only that Canada’s attitude toward
Britain and the United States was well known. In bilingual and bicultural Canada
there was always the difficult question of conscription, and what was more, con-
scription for overseas service. Prime Minister King stood on his pledge against
conscription without public approval in the form of a general election or a refer-
endum. But Canada had an immediate interest at stake. Newly arrived Canadian
t
roops were an important part of the Hong Kong garrison and would be on the
front lines in the case of any Japanese attack. 5
*
Amid escalating tensions there were those who found cause for optimism. Gladstone
Williams, writing in The Atlanta Constitution , proposed that the Japanese were simply bluffing. This, he opined, was the appraisal of the President and his chief advi-
sors in foreign affairs and of Senators Tom Connelly of Texas and Walter George of
Georgia, the present and past chairmen, respectively, of the Senate Foreign Relations
Committee. Williams thought that Russian defensive and now offensive successes
and Britain’s improved performance in North Africa had raised second thoughts in
the minds of Japanese policy makers. This was a pattern, he said: Japanese belliger-
ency mounted with German successes and vice versa. He considered the cutoff of
vital materials for the Japanese war machine another contributing factor. And the
final proof, to this observer of the Japanese bluff, was the willingness of the Japanese
representatives to continue to negotiate, saving face by so doing. 6
New York mayor Fiorello La Guardia was even more optimistic. He had told
the Senate Naval Affairs Committee the day before that he expected the war to
be over in a year, so long as the United States sustained its production goals and
delivered what was needed to its putative allies. This was further evidence of the
mindset that America ought to supply the materials of war (at favorable cash
prices) while others did the actual fighting.
In the Houston Chronicle , DeWitt Mackenzie, another member in good standing
of the commentariat, amplified and interpreted La Guardia’s remarks. This was, he
wrote, a war of resources. Germany was bottled up on the European continent, its
strength steadily waning for lack of replacement materials, while the strength of
the United States and its allies was waxing. Mackenzie laid it down as axiomatic
that, “if two and two make four,” then Germany must break its encirclement to
gain fresh resources. In colorful phrases he concluded: “The crimson flash of great
guns and the roar of exploding bombs may distract our attention from that fact,
Crucible of a Generation Page 12
