December 1941

by Craig Shirley

  A large school of thought in American foreign policy also believed that Japan’s society was overtaxed, having failed in four years to completely subjugate China. Large amounts of men and resources were being devoted to fighting a war without resolution and because of this, Tokyo could not seriously consider expanding the war any farther south.15

  Yet other writers and observers saw the arrival of new British battleships in Singapore as another deterrent to Japanese actions against Thailand. “Political observers here say the arrival of the British fleet brought powerful new pressure on the Japanese in connection with the Washington negotiations and believe it may be decisive in forcing Japan to drop her plans for new aggressions and to begin a general retreat.”16

  A seesaw battle of public relations and war continued on the Russian Front, with the Germans claiming their big guns were raining shells on Moscow while the Soviets claimed the guns had been “silenced.”17 Temperatures on the Russian Front had reached 13 degrees below zero.18 The British claimed to have repulsed two surges by the Germans in North Africa, though they conceded that Axis forces had “reoccupied the important Gambut supply base which the British captured in the early days of the Libyan campaign.”19

  Public relations battles were also raging in Washington with isolationist Democrats and Republicans fighting with internationalist Democrats and Republicans. On the floor of the Senate, a sharp exchange took place between Senator Charles McNary of Oregon, a Republican, and Claude Pepper of Florida, a Democrat. Pepper charged his honorable colleague with being a “laggard in supporting the President’s defense program.”20

  A grand jury had convened to investigate Nazi propaganda in the United States, and a star witness was Republican congressman Hamilton Fish of New York, an isolationist, whose chief aide had been indicted for perjury.21 Fish represented a grand legacy as his family boasted over one hundred years of political involvement.

  Henry Stimson, the respected secretary of war, declared a war of his own against the Chicago Tribune for publishing the leaked documents on covert military planning by the U.S. government the prior day. Stimson did not deny their veracity and calmly said all contingencies were being explored, but he questioned the “wanting in loyalty and patriotism” of the newspaper for printing the story. Roosevelt had been asked about the report, but threw it into Stimson’s lap to handle. Stimson did so, reading a long statement, lecturing the paper on proprieties in wartime and said his department was conducting an investigation. Capitol Hill erupted into a donnybrook over the Tribune story, while some charged that FDR was planning to give a “blank check” to Winston Churchill.22

  Japanese propagandists and newspapers had a field day with the account. “Secret United States plans against Japan and Germany are exposed,” blared a headline in the Chugai Shogyo Journal; yet other Japanese newspapers said the story demonstrated that America was not ready for war and that Secretary Hull was pursuing “dollar diplomacy.” Japanese radio was little better, bashing America, spreading disinformation, playing the race and regionalism cards.23

  A controversy over uniformed men and Washington’s nightclubs had not died down, as both a general and a senator claimed their sons, both army privates, had been turned away and were told to go and change into civilian clothes before being admitted. Not to say there weren’t plenty of other organized activities for soldiers and sailors.24 The local newspapers listed dozens of locations of Service Clubs and U.S.O. clubs in Washington. At the Soldiers, Sailors, and Marines Club on L Street in the nation’s capital, enlisted men found a “library, writing desks, table tennis, pool, radios, pianos, canteen, showers.” The club was open twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.25 At many clubs, young single women put up Christmas trees, and if a homesick soldier or sailor had trouble finding a room in Washington, they could go to the hospitality committee in the District Building for help.26

  Both Catholic and Jewish groups operated clubs for young servicemen as well. Over at the Bureau of Printing and Engraving, the Women’s Battalion was sponsoring a dance. There were also dances at the Y.M.C.A., sightseeing tours of the area, teas, and lectures. There were also plenty of “Activities for Colored Service Men” in Washington, including an open house at the Phyllis Wheatley Y.W.C.A., religious services at various institutions, lodging at the Y.M.C.A. in Anacostia, and dances.27 The Washington Evening Star referred to the minority clubs as for “colored,” while the Washington Post referred to them as for “Negro.”28 Many political leaders, including no less a luminary than Eleanor Roosevelt, lobbied for greater civil rights for blacks. But those gains were to come much later. For now, Washington was still a part of the South, a region where segregationist Jim Crow laws would continue to hold sway for the time being.

  Despite his complaints about leaked documents, Secretary of War Stimson nonetheless “disclosed” in great detail army plans for training ten thousand new bombardier-navigators. He also announced plans for “52 ‘tank destroyer’ battalions, and the conversion of two additional regular Army triangular divisions into fully motorized units. The infantry divisions to be motorized are the 8th, at Ft. Leonard Wood, Mo., and the 9th at Ft. Bragg, N.C. The action will double the number of such divisions on wheels, the 4th and the 7th already having been motorized.”29

  Military planners and civilians living and working in the areas of Arlington and Alexandria, Virginia, were still battling over the mishmash of new roads being proposed for the new $31 million War Department. When completed, “some 20,000 Government employees” were expected to work there, but “[i]t is estimated that more than 85,000 vehicles now pass the area of the new building daily.”30 The plan was for the entire building to be outfitted with air conditioning, which most federal buildings still lacked.

  In New York, two shipping companies were indicted by a federal grand jury, “charging each with conspiracy to violate the Neutrality act by shipping abroad . . . material that might have been used by Axis powers.”31

  The presidents of the various South American countries were not lagging in their concern about a possible conflict between the United States and Japan. An “extraordinary meeting” was planned in Buenos Aires by the leaders of Brazil, Chile, Peru, and Argentina to discuss the matter.32

  The District Court of Washington upheld “[t]he validity of covenants under which white owners agree not to sell land in Washington to colored persons . . . was voided when the Home Owners’ Loan Corp. became owner of the property in question.” A white family had “conveyed” property to a black family, but the white neighbors objected and brought a complaint to the city government. In simpler language, racism was still a protected institution in Washington, D.C.33

  Ugly free speech was upheld in New Jersey, as the State Supreme Court voided a “race hatred law” aimed at the German-American Bund actively operating there, including holding rallies. Nine men “accused of making or promoting anti-Jewish speeches” were found to be innocent as the state law “conflicted with constitutional guarantees of free speech.” “The State’s race-hatred law made it a misdemeanor to make utterances in the presence of two or more persons of ‘hatred, abuse, violence or hostility’ against any race, color or creed.” The anti-Semites had been convicted, fined, and some sentenced to jail time before the upper court’s ruling. “To denounce one’s fellows or advocate hostility to them . . . is as revolting to any fair-minded man . . . yet . . . his utterances must be such as to create a clear and present danger that will bring about the substantial evils to society that the state has a right to prevent,” wrote Chief Justice Thomas J. Brogan.34 An appeal was under consideration.

  The spirit of Christmas wisped thin in some places. A draft dodger of the World War, Grover Cleveland Bergdoll, was denied parole by the War Department to be with his family for the holidays. He’d lived in Germany for many years, later coming home in 1939 with a wife, Berta, and six children in tow. Bergdoll “was convicted of desertion, escape and draft evasion during the World War” and was sentenced to seven and a hal
f years at Ft. Leavenworth.35

  The Vichy government was charitable when it announced that Americans located there could broadcast a twenty word Christmas message to “10 friends in America provided the messages contain no politics or military information.”36 Meanwhile, the French Resistance, underground opposition to Nazi control in their homeland, continued to undermine the Axis powers in Paris. Another Nazi officer was shot “in the Rue de Seine Latin quarter of Paris” by a bicyclist who quickly fled the scene.37 It meant fresh reprisals against Parisians, but the Resistance pushed on.

  The Serbs continued to give the Nazis fits even as “seven Nazi divisions . . . at least 100,000 men had been dispatched in an attempt to wipe out armed opposition to the Axis occupation.” The dateline for the story was Jerusalem.38 There were only sixteen shopping days left until the birthday of the celebrated son of Joseph and Mary who had been born there, 1,941 years earlier.

  An underground movement in Nazi-occupied Romania was also taking shape, with an unusual leader—none other than King Michael, a mere sapling of nineteen years, but a brave one at that. Together with his sweetheart, Irina Malaxa, they were actively arming, aiding, abetting, and plotting with the anti-Nazi guerillas growing in the country.39

  The British government took to the airwaves and called for a “V for Victory” army of civilians in the occupied countries—estimated at 200 million—to switch over from “passive to active resistance. The time has come . . . over the B.B.C. for the army to form in small platoons . . . factory workers lose their tools and that office workers muddle and miscalculate.”40

  The Japanese government finally responded to President Roosevelt’s question via the State Department about their intentions for Thailand. Brushing aside reporters and photographers, it was formally presented to Secretary of State Cordell Hull by Ambassador Nomura and Special Envoy Kurusu in a twenty-five-minute meeting “and after their departure, it was rushed immediately to Mr. Roosevelt’s desk. The President also met Secretary Hull at a luncheon for a personal discussion of the document.”41 Hull was exhausted, but FDR was anything but. He was looking spiffy in a new, green tweed suit except for the black mourning armband he was wearing for the death of his mother three months earlier. When Hull walked in, FDR airily said, “What’s cooking?”42 Over the course of the day, FDR also met with various members of Congress, his staff, and the cabinet, but also with a young congressman from Texas, Lyndon Johnson, who huddled with the president to discuss his running once again for the senate in Texas. Johnson was described by the Post as the “fair haired boy of the Administration.” FDR later met again with Hull for an hour and a half.43

  In a long and sugary communiqué, Japan claimed their actions in Indochina had been because of Chinese troop movement—nothing more. The rambling text said “[t]hat no measure has been taken on the part of the Japanese government that may transgress the stipulations of the protocol of joint defense between Japan and [Vichy] France. Reference is made to your inquiry about the intention of the Japanese government with regard to reported movements of Japanese troops in French Indo-China. . . . As Chinese troops have recently shown frequent signs of movements along the northern frontier of French Indo-China bordering on China. Japanese troops with the object of mainly taking precautionary measures, have been reinforced to a certain extent in the northern part of French Indo-China. . . . As a natural sequence of this step, certain movements have been made among the troops stationed in the southern part of said territory. It seems that an exaggerated report has been made of these movements.”44 The Japanese had now formally offered yet another reason for their actions, and the missive was so reasonable, many thought something was up.

  Following the message, a spokesman for Tokyo, Tomokazu Hori, also raised again the chances for peace in the region, saying that America and Japan would “continue with sincerity to try to find a common formula for a peaceful situation in the Pacific.” He added, that the administration had “misunderstood our fundamental policy” and that Washington and Hull “seem[ed] to allege that we are following a policy of force and conquest in establishing military despotism” Chillingly, he concluded, “If there is no sincerity then there is no need to continue the conversations.”45

  The U.S. government had no initial response, but rumors swept Australia that America and Japan were near to breaking off diplomatic relations, even as the U.S. government was attempting to allay fears that relations were in danger of imminently breaking down. Nomura tried his best too, saying, “[A]s far as we are concerned, we are always willing to talk—after all, we are a friendly nation.” A news report further said, “Japan desired no precipitate action.”46 But in fact, a military skirmish had broken out in Manchukuo, China, near Vladivostok, between Russian and Japanese military forces. The Japanese dismissed them as “Soviet armed agitators.”47 The Japanese media then reported on a second incident involving Russian troops supposedly violating the border, and to many, it seemed a pretext, just as Hitler had done several years earlier in justifying his invasion of the Sudetenland area of Czechoslovakia.

  A Japanese passenger ship was dispatched from Yokohama to Panama and Los Angeles to bring home its citizens as soon as possible. “Repatriation of Japanese nationals from strategic areas in and along the Pacific gained ominous pace today amid signs of deteriorating relations with the United States and associated powers.” . . .”48

  After the polite official response from Tokyo came the “unofficial” response from the Japanese news agency Domei. This time, the response was more dire, in snapping tones. “Japan cannot accept” Hull’s proposal for peace in the Pacific.49 “Such a document cannot serve as a basic datum in Japanese-American negotiations henceforth. Japanese-American conversations have taken place twice since the United States handed over to Japan the document in question . . . but there is no tangible evidence of progress of the negotiations.”50 The news agency then astonishingly quoted government officials saying that Hull’s “unilateral disclosure . . . of details of the negotiations has made the situation still graver.” Japan was accusing Hull of leaking their statements, which they had already released publicly.51

  Piling on, they then accused the United States of “scheming to impose on Japan the provisions of old, obsolete principles which are incompatible with even the actual Far Eastern conditions of bygone days.”52 In short order, the Japanese had accused Washington of colonialism, plotting to invade Thailand, being too militant, not being militarily prepared, being too soft, being too hard, disinformation, of plotting to encircle Japan, and leaking to the media.

  The initial move by the Japanese into French Indochina by citing a mutual defense arrangement was a charade. The Japanese had gone in because Hitler told the French to let them send in troops, but it was all cloaked in diplomaticese.

  Hull vowed not to respond but then did so, saying, “[A] general settlement in the Pacific still depended on Japan’s acceptance of non-aggression policies outlined to the Japanese envoys last week.” He also “described the months of . . . talks since April as a period of confusion arising from actions and statements at variance with the principles under discussions.”53 In short, Hull accused the Japanese of dissembling and prevaricating.

  The First Lord of the British Admiralty, A. V. Alexander, offered up his two cents on the ticklish situation in the Pacific, warning the Japanese that “even at this late hour, aggression . . . will not pay. I had hoped that wiser counsels in Japan would prevail over those who appear to be leading her people into a new war of aggression. The threat has not abated and aggression may be imminent.”54

  In a marked change from only days prior, observers in diplomatic circles were now giving odds on war in the Pacific with war occurring as a huge favorite, 100–1. Only a fool would bet on peace now, or at the very least ignore the warning signs. Even so, there was no national will to go to war. Yet some naïve residents of Capitol Hill believed it when administration officials told them, in confidence, that “war with Japan is not expected. The Whi
te House had privately told congressional kibitzers not to get too excited about the poker game with Tokyo. War was apparently not expected by the topmost authority.”55

  Of the 17 million men registered for the draft in America, approximately 10 percent had been classified as 1-A, and there were only 1.6 million men in uniform, barely enough to handle all the new operations the War Department had planned, what with all its announced new equipment and programs. To make matters worse, some 200,000 were scheduled to be discharged sometime in December because they were over twenty-eight years of age or had dependents.56

  Oliver Wendell Holmes never said FDR had a “second class mind, but a first class temperament.” He said that instead about FDR’s cousin, Teddy Roosevelt.57 Whether Franklin Roosevelt had a second-class intellect was arguable, but he was indisputably a man of immense charm and persuasion. As Winston Churchill said of his friend FDR: “Meeting Franklin Roosevelt was like opening your first bottle of champagne.”58 FDR also had a very fine and enthusiastic mind when it came to details, especially about the navy, which he dearly loved and once helped run as assistant secretary of the navy under Woodrow Wilson.

  At a press conference, FDR discussed in great specificity a recent fight on the high seas between the U.S. ship Salinas and German U-boats. This was a commander in chief with a firm grasp of operational detail: “Mr. Roosevelt said that during the World War the navy greatly overestimated the number of submarines it had sunk. He said he kept a set of figures on the reported sinkings and these totaled 725 German submariners at the end of the war. Mr. Roosevelt added that it is silly to say a submarine has been sunk unless the person making the statement actually saw it sink.”59 Still, from the standpoint of Washington, the most important fighting going on was in the North Atlantic, after FDR had instituted Lend-Lease, after Hitler ordered his U-boats to sink “every ship with or without convoy that approaches Britain,” after FDR issued his “shoot-on-sight” order to the American fleet.60 However, he was not very forthcoming—by design—with the disappointed press corps.