The Home Front
BOHN, WILLIAM E.
A Page of Features Americana Books and Writers Chatter The Home Front By WILLIAM E. BOHN ftHcript on Soap tAST week I was untimely chopped off. Perhaps it would be wise for me to accept the...
...Sam ia nttl moving up with the British 8th Army...
...Knoekle coder ». Vtatvd* all the more firmly and proudly onTsur own ground...
...These concoctions tie addressed to working housekeepers, to the women who stay hi the home...
...If American Ambassadors are ostracised when they represent us, ia not that proof cenclusive that such foreign governments do not...
...That the half a billion or so people ef the Western Pacific have a primary stake in their inherited lands hardly occurs to them' Mr...
...These plays are obviously addressed to women...
...They are provided by the Red Cross...
...We learn now of the consternation that caused Up and down Bermsylvania Avenue...
...His material for on has been considerably delayed in transmission, but this weak we received an interview with Lord Renneil AMG chief, with General Montgomery, aad a general mass-interview with soldiers of the 8th Army on various Italian issues...
...As Gide writes: "His voice became louder and louder, ami he seemed to he giving s lecture or reciting s lesson...
...In short, the main task for us in southern and eastern Asia, according to this author, is to nee all our power and toluenes1 to liberate latent energies He brings into focus tins central objective and stimulates thinking on leaser issues where the path is lean clssrr...
...13.06...
...In their substance as well as in their purpose they are obviously- and rather blatantly feminist...
...Duggan was not in Berlin in 1938 as a political scientist investigating conditions (which role justifies its own proper type of behavior) but as a Director of an important American Institute, in control sf opportunities and benefits eagerly pursued by all foreign governments and hotly pursued at the time (as Duggan himself tells us^ by the Nazi government...
...Shall the ambassadors represent as, or represent the governments to which they are accredited ? Who is right—Dodd or Duggan...
...I didn't hear all that were on the air...
...And is not that what Duggan, as director of a great educational Institute of a great democracy, should also have been doing then...
...In a low votet thai time...
...R/cfcord Armour...
...So far as concerns the German government, one may ask Duggan: And what influence, pray, did, for example, Neville Henderson have on the German government...
...No mere man will ever dare to admit that the women of this class have a lower I Q than the rest of the nation...
...friend made long and loud explanation* He defended "conformism " He dismissed the ciitkmaas ns —a..ml...
...I expressed the hope mat the American Special Services Division would try something •Jadlar...
...If the edecatfonal exchange has any valuable parpens then it is to stimulate and develop hi tar-cultural relations an that, in the course of time, there will be created a genuine cultural internationalism, the real "one world" ef the future, not the bastard "one world" of the airplane tourist...
...They are not addressed to all women...
...Duggan's Institute is a clearing house for all educational exchanges...
...We cannot wash our hands of China," says Howard...
...Of coarse,' he said 'yoa are perfectly right . . . not there wen people listening to us just now . . . and I have an exhibition opening very soon.' . . Contrary to prevailing conceptions mdsed.' * • • Ballots snd Ballets:—There was nothing funny about this hut election campaign, nothing funny at all...
...Helen Kirkpatrick writes from Algiers: "There are many more thinking men in the Army than are given a charifce to Urink con- > §nictively...
...All or Nothing.at All," and "Burning, Monday or Always"—and then made a wild dash to greet Frankie personally at the gate...
...The whole subject, in fact, had better be dropped...
...He reports that the British political bull senium* are even having a good effect on most brass-hatthlh officers...
...But earlier in the day I at* condemned to"pretty low-down fare...
...The meeting, said Stettinius just "had to be called off...
...City College, A PROFESSOR AT LARGE, fry Stephen Dug***- MaoMiOau, 468 pp...
...There is a period for questions after the lectures...
...Eastern Asia and India are still great reservoirs of wealth to which we must try to help ourselves as best we can in competition with others...
...We get terrible profrsms in the morning and much better ones at night, says the learned first-nighter, because during the earlier hours people— whether men or women—are busy, distracted, concerned with life's routines...
...Tins eon versati— took place ia the hail of the hotel st Sochi...
...Dwight Macdondhl, ex-Fortun« editor, ex-Partisan Renew editor, is planning a now radical political monthly...
...The enslavement of the artist under totalitarianism ia aa open historical record for any one with eye* to road and a Blind - to understand...
...Is not that what Dodd, as ambassador of a great democracy, was doing then...
...A very important meeting hat* been scheduled between Sn>t* Department and Economic Mobilization officers Topic: the nob* economic-business relations between the U. S. and newly-recount: r red territories...
...You may recall my account of Reinhold Niebuhr's report on systematic discussion meetings carried on in the British service...
...Unfortunately, some ef them erne* "off-tbe-record" snd "not for publication...
...How many of these Red Cross lectures are held ? Nobody pretends that British soldiers are more intelligent than Americans...
...Whom shall the President of the United States send as his ambassadors...
...The s*|y way f°r me to esc»P« impending' wrath is to put my ideas asjdMkfstrtely...
...Sign of the Times- la his . wisecrack collection last week, Walter WincheU quoted a htm asoT of W. H. Auden...
...In the second and more important place...
...l^here's Sammy ? :—Queries come into this desk constantly ashing " about S. L. Solon, former Modern Quarterly editor (ia in* V. F. Calverton days), former London correspondent of this panor, who is now wandering around in Europe...
...Of necessity, no inter-relation can be a one-way affair and be genuine...
...The advertising boys faxiw their business...
...Perhaps it would be wise for me to accept the hint and say bo more about fifteen forenoon dramas which I discussed...
...Why are the strfler programs, comparatively, lower-down...
...Box Score of the Meeting—Fraak the Crooner: S songs 1 encore . . . Frank the Mayer: Not a word In edgewise...
...For I foresee that any critical ^riling on the saponaceous stage will get me into trouble...
...If American representatives, political or cultural, are not to be or not to be seen acting as representative Americans when abroad, it wculd best serve the ultimate purpose of the real "one world" if they ware kept at home...
...aa a resell of his (Dodd's) attitude the America* Embassy was to a gnat extant ostracized and had practically a* nnfusai i with either the German government or the people...
...HKofieii In the Army ITS a big army—with many men, many minds and many re portiere...
...Their soldiers' paper, *** Union Jack, takes up controversial subjects...
...A professor who becomes a college president usually tarns into a business man...
...what shoufc we do...
...A record-breaking crowd of 50.000 heard "That Old Black Magic...
...the dial to any number of things...
...Janet Planner has written a sharp tstter to the N. Y. Herald-Tribune, blasting some of Its correspondent* for "irresponsible reporting" One dispatch talked of the "depraved" Italian people rioting for bread, another about "this ntg&Yman of hags out of the French Revolution...
...We told then* ha w*» "at the fighting fronta," and left it at that . . . • • * I iterati & Co.:—Edmund Wilson, one of our finest literary critics, will be doing "books" for The New Yorker—as soon as ClMTban Fadiman'a "resignation" becomes effective...
...But there are diplomats and diplomats...
...writer on Jewish affairs, is beaded for the U. S. Army at the end of this month...
...For your information, we do have lectures—although we don't haw regular times for them...
...to the extent to which this may be necessary, with amterial aid...
...And so this booh hi to be recommended eanoriaflg to those wbn have been to* busy with Brtshnns closer home to pay much attention .to our role in Ama Testing My Metal Disappointments I've suffered in days now bygone...
...Through our American fa vestments and trade policies we can herp the Asiatics to raise themselves out of the slump of pgrpetuai deptsaslon...
...The question which is uppermost in the minds of most of us »: 'When do we go home?' Nevertheless, there is considerably ¦tore interest in world affairs than you give us credit for...
...First issue of the magazine is expected about the first of the year, and will probably be called "Left" {By the way...
...in life repudiated Communism and scorned the Communists for their ill-smelling practices, with their own ideas...
...But I heard the most famous...
...Is not our government now doing everything it can to bring aid and comfort to the anti-Nazi Germans in Germany and the anti-Naxis in Europe everywhere...
...Joseph Shipley, our dramatic critic, has been clever enough to furnish me a neat exit from my difficulty...
...Tito ex-movie critic shipped out with the merchant marine, and fata ship went down off the coast of Italy...
...When Andre Gide went to Stalin's Rossi* in ISM ("1 doubt whether ia any other cosntry ia tho world thonght bo Ions free, more bowed down, more fearful, terrorized, more •nasalised"), he had a dispute with s painter frtond of his over Shostakovich...
...As a regular reader of your column," writes this boy from his foxhole or pup tent or barracks, "I feel impelled to take issue with j*u on the question of adult education in the Army as expressed in your column of August 14...
...It is with real delight that I share with you the following letter from a. It is dated: Terre Haute, Indiana, October 28, 1943: ^1 have just read your splendid article in The New Leader, issue October 23rd, with keen interest, a large measure of appreciation I heartiest appreciation...
...Miss Flanner asks, for hungry people of Europe to struggle for white bread after the Nazi-ridden years...
...to the Mas as a dictatorship is revolutionary Their objection to the Dsrls* deal f* t false front for their war os democracy...
...Gene was unqualifiedly opposed to Communism, as he was to tatorship—by whatever class practiced—and so declared himself (Sand over again by voice and pen...
...For American students are seat to Europe on scholarships* provided by colleges, organizations, and individuals, but European students sent here*are provided for by their governments...
...Otis Ferguaon, who for years was the only bright spot in drab issues of The Sen: Republic, has been listed among the "casualties...
...Bart on* story makes «s crack a smile right through the sackcloth and ashes...
...As to the deal with Daiian...
...People just naUiraliy seem to be duller in the morning than they are in the evening...
...A revolstiomsc how sis*, weald have born* in mhsd that the whole region belongs to the Aran*, and tins never occurs to our hsfsmtSM toftists.' far when* any nntidemorratk set-up toys...
...So far as concerns the German people with whom the American Embassy "had practically no influerK»e"vbecauee of Dodd's attitude, nsi only may one ask, one would insistently ask Duggan: Which German people...
...the simple answer w««: "Herb Feis is oar *nly man who knows anything about the subject—and he's just quit...
...In the very next Issue [current] the editor crammed snd overloaded it with politic at comment...
...Whsrt ^aa been said is that the young Britishers are politically more Wake than our boys...
...It is through failure to recognise this simple human fart that many marriages go on the rocks...
...la-dee-dah...
...One can sympathize with Duggan's natural desire to...
...And even a narrow national self-interest dictates the same answer...
...Perhaps this is too strong an indictment, but clearly there is a task for us...
...Bat repetitivprnrernings in the dull and over-candid light of day wm mons^han frail romance could bear...
...If We begin to define and differentiate, we don't get very far...
...QAN a witty, observant and intelligent man write a book about his extraordinary range of educational experiences 'which has practically the opposite qualities...
...You will think of one possible answer on the spot...
...Boris Shut, well-knowr...
...Professional women, office-Workers, even Katie the Riveter—all of these have gone to work...
...And when faced with #lT| e«*>r...
...In contrast, The Start and Stripet not only does not touch •a controversial subjects but does not provide anything ether than We outlines of the news.....In meetings arranged by the Special *>"rtces, controversial subjects are definitely banned and speakers urged to avoid anything remotely political...
...On most of the uaiapasas of the eoantry then hare been organised special "World Crisis Courses...
...It wen my support ad a war in defense ef assnoiiatfc cirilisatton...
...B*t s few moments later he came to my room and...
...and limy cover the significant diiosupssauta of over own time...
...Hs's filing regular diepatches for the London Sevt Ckrenieie...
...hich if soreessfnl will produce a totahtsrisw regime morv brsts...
...A CONSISTENT demand runs through the book that we do not rest content with the defeat of only one type of dictatorshfp...
...That was printed in this space on August 14...
...Well...
...He's with the military advance guard—and this week, too, we received inquiries frorr S. Li draft hoard as to his whereabouts...
...If it had been after six in the evening I could have gang...
...How I receive a V-Mail letter from Private Gillespie which deals with this and some other matters...
...W* must help to crests a new League in which there will be no privileged position for Great Powers...
...Thus far they have for the most part, often with our connivance, been prevented from participation in the benefits of the machine age which their labor and their resources have helped .to feed...
...It happened in New Jersey...
...Hence Dnggan's primary, official contacts in Europe were with government officials...
...i> * • * Iem Theodore Debs v BE spirit of Gene Debs lives on in his brother Theodore...
...There is the whole story of the RAPP and "Artists in Uniform " There are the accounts of the wholesale purge* m cultural circles, and the abject servility of so many talented figures to the Stahn-worsftip-cult...
...Dodd was a noble gentleman but as a result of his attitude the American Embassy was to a great extent ostracized and had practically no influence with either the German government or the people...
...And yet, I maintain, there weren't many That rank with the dinre that I counted upon Turning oat just a copper leas penny...
...Well, it may be...
...as a matter *4 fact, "recognise" the Government of the United States, though they keep Up the formal jretensc of doing so...
...With the spectre of mass unemployment after the war, it goes without saying that we need some protection against unfair competition from sweated Asiastic labor...
...tt this is impossible, then Stephen Duggan has inadvertently and nfihappily* added the doing of the impossible to his other and happier* achievements...
...We must not permit the Korean people to be once more betray ec into the acceptance of foreign rule...
...It would take days wde that...
...Is it "depraved* or "corrupt...
...Duggin's directorship turned a City College professor of political science and education into a diplomat—and almost in the fall technical sense of the term...
...From Msx W i itntnat we received this reply: The wsr never "felt revolutionary' to use, and I don't see hew anybody could imagine Rosesvslt and Charchill boding a revolatienary war...
...And Sidney mbe% has been preparing s general article for a* on "Worst [ War II: Illusions and Realities...
...Howard's book has the merit that it is interestingly written...
...Gide had been outraged...
...Professor Turns Diplomat •y JOSEPH HATNiR Editor...
...And there an the cboctreied btog J amities of artists like Sergei Eisenstein and Dvmitri Shostakovich...
...I serf enough...
...All right...
...They trapped him then, and made htm sing another ("How's Your Love Life...
...If he believes now, as he says, that he should not have been doing that then, I for one...
...Mayor Frank Hague was running a hnge political rally, and he dug op some fancy entertainment incloding Frank Sinatra...
...If young married couples Mr* allowed—let us say—to see each other only after six o'clock ja the evening, many a marriage would be saved...
...The one thing you hear surprisingly little complaint about is the superficiality and irresponsibility with which both legislators and commentators often express themselves on American relations with parts of the world that happen to lie outside their own range of vision...
...Not every detail of the program which Howard unfurls will he acceptable even to those who share his enthusiasm...
...Between ten in the morning and three to the afternoon I heard over the radio fifteen plays which were ghost on the level of the un-funny "funnies" enjoyed by our chil?tn...
...One would never, know (without independent sources of information) that Duggan has the qualities his book denies if he had not reprinted a piece he wrote rn 1928 for the N. Y. Times and if he had not quoted a few sentences from »>*thea he has made...
...I have friends who are not fit to be spoken to before assn, who grow more human and decent toward night and who by midnight fairly shine with wit and wisdom...
...4 Note From Max Eastman On the War /Controversy:—To our symposium came a few more eosranV i buttons this week...
...How cosJd a musician ho ordered (as Stalin dM) to write only tunes that aoonie could horn* . . . His...
...get some first hand knowledge of the situation in the course of his official visit, but what of the first hand knowledge he gained of the fact and the consequences of the fact that "the one center of omen and iilliantojl illeanilB to all that the Nazis stood for was the American Embassy...
...People who in the past have taken little interest in Asiatic politics will gain from it a sense of the issues, though they may not always be ready to accept at once the proffered solutions...
...frftlsfc Stiff Ahead of Us I AM ANXIOUS to get corroboration from other soldiers...
...As Director he has travelled all oyer the world (including Russia) arranging for "exchange" students and professors...
...You also hear complaints that "America has no foreign policy...
...It is on this account tfaat life's routines are taken care of early in the day and more fajmm and cultural affairs naturally come into their own after nightfall...
...But there is a danger that once again the technical jargon of the specialists will obscure the fairly obvious interests ef the American people in the Pacific...
...On which Duggan rather ingenuously comments: "This was unwise counsel...
...Finally...
...Can there be any doubt note as to whether Duggan or Dodd was right...
...Had I done as he suggested I would have learned nothing about the situation...
...Duggan, I hope that as you attend dinners and luncheons, you will express your opinions about conditions here as freely as you have to me...
...whatever this may involve in fundamental political and social changes...
...I got a fair sampling...
...Yen see the problem...
...Can it be possible that women, on the average, are more stupid than men...
...They can lend only half an ear to radio entertainment c .of the day is done, according to this theory, the Istire family gathers about the receiving set and puts its whole Bind on the business of being entertained...
...Duggan has been the Director of the Institute of International Education since its foundation over twenty years ago...
...Exchange student* and professors are anoffletal...
...Hague threw up his hands in despair (to the rhythm of "Stormy Weather"), and called the whole thing off ("srorything I had is gone la-dee-dah...
...The Nazi Germans...
...Instrseter...
...He has also been connected, in some capacity or other, with about every organization in the United States devoted to international affairs (many of which, like his own Institute, he has helped found...
...Their leaders seem reluctant to stimulate the men's woughts for fear of controversial issues and potrtteal repereuSThe, British are way ahead of us...
...Mark Starr has now returned to hack up Keinhold Niebuhr...
...One ayffiahna has some to ear attention, and in leafing through Mi pages, this stopped us— "Contrary to prevailing misconceptions [than hi in Soviet Sandal the ihxiti of amy dmunsMna towards offieta* Inter foronce with tho work of tho aa Una, . . .* Our nnfversftha an seppoood to ho citadel, of the eight—bat this land of thosis front owe aianw infriana reminds os ef that curious pVtmtbW who didn't want The facts* but only "tike truth...
...In the first place, Duggan must already have known considerable about the situation and also have formed a judgment about it—witness his direct quotation of Dodd's advice (the ingenuous part of Duggan's comment...
...The bride and bridegroom courted during long electric-lighted Wlingi and each seemed to the other gay, charming, intelligent...
...The answer which national self-respect gives is as unambiguous as it is clear...
...any level has nod commander of s maritime fail antim weehi hove made it...
...John Dewey's Philosophy" (Modem Library...
...His address is care of me New York Postmaster—so he is out on some front...
...But we must see to it that the people of Japan are placed in a position where, without risk of subjecting themselves to foreign rum, they can give their military dictatorship the knock-out blow...
...And all the whfle the politieal speakers burned in loneliness at the other end...
...After tins, there are always a lot of us who remain to talk further with tite speaker...
...Therefore the lords of the radio during those hours furnish their richest fare...
...There can be no stability and no economic advance in southern and eastern Asia unless the peoples, whether colonial or nominally self-governing, are free to determine their own destinies...
...Howell, Sosfcts, 417 pogee...
...Ambassador Dodd said to him: "Dr...
...Duggan says if he had followed Dodd's "unwise counsel" he "would hare learned nothing sftovt the »^nation...
...Yesterday, for ^stance, one article was entitled: 'Some of You Must Go Into Jhrtiament.' The British Army's educational authorities isstie booklets on all subjects, however controversial, and regular distossions take place in the ranks...
...By Harry Paxton Howard...
...But we also need—and this perhaps even more urgently—the development in Asia sf our greatest potential market...
...Japan must be demilitarized, of course...
...and he adhered to these ivietions to the end of his days...
...Inside and Out By MATTHEW LOW Tphs Oasatsr ft The Artist:—Sometimes we foal that our fine f ptafanssrs cast see the outside world for all the ivy creeping over the window-panes...
...metaphysician among modern poets...
...This little incident and Duggan's comment probe the most important issue, both in foreign policy and international exchange education, we were faced with before the war, are faced with now and will be faced with after the war...
...At the last minute, a call earn* through to Jhn Byrnes from Edward Stettinius...
...In just a month General F. H. Osborne, chief of that drvi*8>n, took my hint and announced that, with Herbert Agar as leader, educational work would soon start among our boys...
...What do you think...
...And toe reporter sounds as if he had met plenty of French fff i iiMhfhai J hags, probably on movie sets in Hollywood I . . . What About the Pacific Charter...
...can but reluctantly conclude that his conception of the function and duties of an American "professor at large" and Director of an Institute of International Education partakes of the sounding brass and the hollow drum...
...Whom should American Ambassadors represent ? Us, or the countries to which they an accredited...
...Our selfish and muddled policies in China have led directly to the present impasse...
...entturaj ¦sanassadiira...
...AMERICA'S ROLE IS ASIA...
...I . . . » » • rT*he Indispensable Man:—Last column we ran the itom absut * Herbert Feis' resignation as economic expert for the State Department...
...Or "the mass of the German people" which Duggan still believes "like the mass of our own people, are essentially decent and humane ?" Or the antiNazi-Germans—whether or not they are "the mass...
...And when Byrnes asked indignantly "why...
...They get the audience and sell their soapy pods...
...Which, of course, brought out lb* jitterbug addicts in full force...
...It is written without dogma but with a deep conviction of what the main current of our American policy toward that region should be...
...Coukmt he have learned Volumes from this alone had he thirsted for knowledge...
...The other answer which naturally rises to the lips is one which ¦cans the life out of me...
...For some of them...
...M00 Y^>U HEAR a lot of complaint about the reactionary post-war policies of the State Department...
...And yet, in the face of these facts, the Communists have the Gargantuan gall to ask: 'Who are the inheritors of Debs?' Well, there are a few millions in this land who can readily enlighten ••m upon the point as to who are NOT...
...The Dodds or the Carleton Hayes'es...
...the* Darlaa ever arenannd at...
...Kenneth Burke, critic and theoretician, is joining the faculty at Bennington College...
...in some respects different from our own, will be free to express itself And we should implement it...
...If MI/NO LASHER Institute of Pscifi Relations...
...Three numbers by Sinatra broke up the vihole rallv...
...Macdonald quit PR because of its "literary enrphaaw" to the exclusion of political materials...
...As for the rest, the book » in style and content a Mend of thd mere unattractive features of a pedestrian textbook and of, say, Cordell Hull's more uninspired addresses on foreign policy...
...He had no use for Communists with their despicable methods...
...We bitterly resent any attempt on the part of Communists to associate the name of my brother, Gene, who...
...We should use all our influence to make sure that the Chinese brand of democracy...
...When Duggan was in Berlin...
...But the evening programs (often low-down, too) a» also put on to make money by selling goods...
Vol. 26 • November 1943 • No. 45
