THE PEACE IN PREPARATION

. . . THE PEACE IN PREPARATION . . . HEADLINES concerning Japan blossomed in the nation's press last week as Gen. Douglas MacArthur, moved swiftly toward carrying out the terms under which the...

...he refused to allow the French and the Chinese to participate in the discussions of peace terms for the Balkan nations: he opposed the French proposal for detachment of the Ruhr...
...At mid-week the conference had concluded its dreary, wrangling session and the delegates were on their way home...
...All national functions, including foreign relations, will be carried on by the Allies, the edict said...
...Top story of the week and an event which was conceded to be a diplomatic grand slam for the Allied Supreme Commander in dealing with the touchy problem of how best to handle Hirohito came when the Emperor paid a visit to MacArthur at his headquarters...
...It was the first time in modern Japanese history in which the god-emperor had been so humbled before his subjects...
...After vigorously rejecting Molotov's plan, Truman apparently chanced his mind the following day, stating that an Allied advisory council would have America's approval but "in the event of any differences of ©pinion among them (the Allies) the policies of the United States will govern...
...He ordered that the persecuted people still living in the camps be repatriated where possible and advised that he would ask the British Government to ease its restrictions on immigration into Palestine...
...In a later attempt to escape the implications of his blundering comparison he boasted that "I have killed as many Germans as anyone...
...But nowhere were the signs of Allied political disintegration as apparent as they were in the London conference of foreign ministers, called to draw up the terms of the peace...
...George S. Patton "on the carpet" because of the latter's toleration of Nazis in important administrative positions in the United States' eastern occupation zone...
...He will return to the United States instead...
...One is led to wonder whether the German people, seeing this, are not supposing that we are following, or at least condoning Nazi policy...
...These precedent-shattering events were followed by seizure of 29 of Japanese overseas banks through which the war lords of Tokyo sucked wealth from conquered nations...
...Molotov objected to the manner of drawing up treaties...
...he demanded an Allied control commission in Japan and bitterly criticized America for dominating policy there...
...Included in MacArthur's program to bring the full news to the people of Japan was an order to break up the news monopoly of Domei, Japanese news agency...
...Another illustration of the tangled, indecisive policy being followed in Europe came in another Patton "incident...
...The almost unanimous verdict of newsmen covering the meeting was that it was an abject failure...
...The unprecedented event was seen as having far reaching effects on the state-religious cult built up around the person of the emperor...
...Observers believed that it would go far toward breaking up a religious doctrine which has given Japanese rulers unlimited power over their people...
...Gloom In Europe In contrast to the swift, efficient progress in Japan, Europe presented a gloomy picture of indecision, wrangling, and downright indifference to some of America's war aims...
...Prior to being jerked up by Eisenhower, Patton had commented to newsmen on reports that he was using Nazis in official jobs by pooh-poohing the anti-Nazi drive as politics...
...At mid-week Army officials in Germany expressed amazement at the President's statement which they said must be based on "old information" concerning conditions existing three months ago before the program for handling these people was organized and integrated...
...Homes, he said, should be requisitioned from the German people for those who have suffered in the prison camps...
...Eisenhower called Gen...
...Through the seizure of these investment banks MacArthur hopes to restore financial independence to some of the outlying territory of Japan such as Korea and Formosa, It is also hoped that seized records will show what happened to gold supplies taken by the Japanese armies in conquered territories and the graft indulged in by the Japanese militarists and their industrial backers...
...His demand for an Allied control commission for Japan apparently caught the United States off guard, although the British dominions supported him on the proposal...
...MacArthur also banned the production of militaristic and ultra-nationalistic films by the Japanese movie industry...
...He intimated that America is not yet ready to sit down and discuss peace terms...
...There seemed no point on which the Russian foreign commissar could be brought to an agreement for continued discussion...
...Although there was some talk that Patton would be recalled, he was back on his job at midweek carrying out the sweeping de-Nazification policy laid down to him by Gen...
...Dwight D. Eisenhower to sharp account for the manner in which Jews and other stateless persons in Germany are being treated...
...Douglas MacArthur, moved swiftly toward carrying out the terms under which the Pacific war was brought to a conclusion...
...Conference 'Without Agreement' Frederick Kuh, writing from London for the Field publications, declared that the conference had ended "without agreement on any of the fundamentals and the wartime concert of the United States and Britain with Russia tragically out of step...
...Secretary of State James Byrnes refused to discuss the proposal on the ground that is was not germane to the conference and that he did not have his experts on hand to advise him...
...Eisenhower...
...Apparently President Truman was also caught off balance by the Russian demand...
...They are in concentration camps in large numbers under our military guard of the S. S. troops...
...It was the stubborn, almost ferocious attitude of Russia's V. M. Molotov, which seemed to stall the proceedings on every subject advanced...
...He compared it to the difference between Republicans and Democrats in this country...
...ordered the plowing up of most of the nation's mulberry trees, upon which the silk worm feeds, to be replaced by food products...
...Meanwhile, the Allied control council in Berlin issued a 48 point proclamation legalizing Allied control of every phase of German life, stripping the nation of any means of re-arming, outlawing all Nazi military and political organizations...
...Basing his order to "clean up" on a report made for him by Carl G. Harrington, a special investigator, Truman said conditions existing in Germany for these people had hardly improved over what they were under the Nazis...
...At mid-week John Foster Dulles, Republican adviser to Secretary of State Byrnes, announced that he would cancel a trip through Europe to gather first hand information on conditions...
...Truman laid responsibility for these conditions on Eisenhower's subordinates and ordered that immediate steps be taken to remedy them...
...declared that occupation might last "many years" although the occupation force would be small "under favorable conditions...
...For an interpretation of the conference, see Carleton Beals' article, Page 1...
...Byrnes, he said, is in need of more definite American policies than those which he brought to London with him...
...By arranging the visit MacArthur had taken what might well be a major step in reducing one of the most formidable barriers to reconstructing Japan on a democratic basis...
...Quoting from Harrington's report, Truman said: "As matters now stand we appear to be treating the Jews as the Nazis treated them, except that we do not exterminate them...
...Bringing Japan The News MacArthur's strategy became even more evident following the conference when he issued an order compelling Japanese newspapers to cease propaganda activities and to print all the news and pictures of the conference between himself and Hirohito so that the Japanese people would know what was going on—and see for themselves that the emperor was a human being...
...The nation was stunned to hear that President Truman had found it necessary to call Gen...

Vol. 9 • October 1945 • No. 40


 
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