THE WEEK IN REVIEW
THE WEEK IN REVIEW THE MIRACLE of American war production will doubtless be recorded in history as one of the genuinely decisive factors in the Allied struggle to destroy the Axis powers. The...
...Heinrich Himmler, head of the dread Gestapo and one of the current rulers of Germany, wrote recently that before the recent purge of generals, Germany had been living under a military-bourgeois system, not National Socialism...
...On May 29, 1940, President Roosevelt created an agency with vaguely defined duties, and almost no powers, known as the National Defense Advisory Commission...
...These promises never were carried out," he said...
...Its members would pledge to settle disputes by peaceful means...
...Upshot of the whole controversy was a War Department ruling that equal time on the short-wave radio will be made available to the five political parties with national tickets— Democratic, Republican, Socialist, Prohibitionist, and Socialist Labor...
...In adjoining columns on the front page of the Chicago Sun this week were two stories dealing with military supplies...
...Summoned before a House investigating committee, Sidney Hillman, chairman of the CIO Political Action Committee, bitterly denied that the PAC was Communist-dominated or was prepared to pour a multi-million dollar slush fund into the 1944 campaign...
...Roosevelt to set up the Office of Production Management on Jan...
...President Roosevelt denied the charge as "entirely unfounded" and intimated that Nelson would be back at the helm in a few weeks...
...Comdr...
...The plan indicated approval of the American proposal to put an agreed-upon quantity of forces at the disposal of the new organization...
...One story dealt with War Department disclosures that production in vital materials had fallen drastically...
...George Aiken, Vermont Republican, secured adoption of an amendment which forbids sale of Government-owned transmission lines to private companies for one year...
...The War Department ruled that Thomas was right, that the President's speech was political, and that the Socialist candidate was entitled to an opportunity to address the troops...
...Whispers...
...Once a vote was approved, the powers would automatically provide forces in agreed-upon quantities...
...There was no provision that Congress, which under the Constitution has the sole power to declare wars, must approve the vote of the American delegate...
...The picture is changing," Biddle said...
...7, 1941...
...Germany will lead this revolution to establish "national communism," he forecast...
...Promise...
...Meanwhile, the New York Times scored a notable news beat by piercing the wall of secrecy and coming up with a digest of the three plans under consideration for enforcing whatever peace settlement is ultimately reached...
...Krug, 36, was formerly a vice chairman of WPB in charge of programs, and before that was on the staff of the Tennessee Valley Authority...
...Six hours afterwards, the War Department did a flip-flop, ruled the speech was not political...
...Robert M. La Follette, Jr., Wisconsin Progressive, successfully sponsored amendments to protect farm prices and to give the Rural Electrification Administration special consideration in acquisition of public property...
...Wilson, on the other hand, was said to have sided with military officials that war production should not be decreased until it was possible to begin full-scale production of civilian goods...
...Government, too, has played its role, but here the performance is far less impressive...
...It will take a "30 years revolutionary war," he predicted, to destroy all traces of this and other "liberal" systems in Europe...
...The week's uproar in political circles concerned the use of radio facilities to campaign among American armed forces overseas...
...The council would undertake the enforcement of peace...
...Formal protests against the undemocratic policy of "secret covenants, secretly arrived at," were lodged by the press with Undersecretary of State Edward R. Stettinius, Jr., chairman of the American delegation, but to no avail...
...The War Department found it necessary this week to remind commanding officers of camps, posts, and stations throughout the country that a long standing Army policy forbids segregation of whites and Negroes in Government-operated post-exchanges, theaters, and busses...
...Nelson and Wilson have been at war with each other and with other agencies of the Government for months...
...The other told of the sale of 11,000 "surplus" Army and Navy planes...
...J. A. Krug as acting chairman...
...The latter, wealthy Texas cotton broker who has helped finance such anti-liberal, anti-labor organizations as the Liberty League and the Associated Farmers, is now directing disposal as an executive appointee of President Roosevelt's...
...At the same time, Wilson, aroused by "unfair attacks and criticism" from Nelson's personal staff, submitted his resignation...
...The Republican organization of Illinois has issued a campaign handbook urging women "to pass along gossip" and "to effectively start a whispering campaign that will rapidly pass through every precinct the latest information...
...Clash Over Surplus Disposal Another phase of the transition from a war to a peace economy was the subject of sharp disagreement in Congress during the past week...
...Charles E. Johnson, chairman of the Western Association of Railway Executives, denounced filing of the suit and asserted the issues "strike at the keystone of the economic and political structure of the country...
...The trouble started when Norman Thomas, Socialist candidate for President, demanded time to speak to overseas troops via shortwave radio...
...Planning...
...At Dumbarton Oaks The three-power talks on peace by force continued at Dumbarton Oaks, the stately Washington mansion, this week amid mounting protests against the iron-clad secrecy invoked against press and public...
...BRITISH: "A 'simple and flexible' world organization would be established containing an assembly of all nations plus a council of the largest...
...RUSSIAN: "The power to prevent and repel aggression would be vested in a World Council dominated by the major powers, each with veto power...
...Background Of The Row This division of opinion and authority in the job of planning and administering the program of war production has now been carried over into the vital field of reconversion...
...16, 1942, SPAB was abolished and the War Production Board was established...
...Donald Nelson was made chairman of WPB...
...Nevertheless, unrest, dissension, resignations, bickerings, and the issuance of conflicting orders continued to confuse administration at the top, but did not seem to interfere greatly with production as instruments of war continued to roll from the assembly lines at a. breath-taking rate...
...The incredible output of war materials and supplies is an eloquent testimonial to the competence and productivity of American labor, the skill of scientific and engineering leadership, and the efficiency and organizing capacity of management...
...Friends of Nelson promptly charged that this was a "kick in the teeth" and that the WPB chairman was being "exiled to Siberia...
...The collapse of the NDAC led Mr...
...Forecast...
...Two days later the Department of Justice filed a civil suit in Lincoln, Nebr., charging the principal railroad companies west of the Mississippi River with violation of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act through an alleged long-existing conspiracy to prevent the reduction of rates, to forestall establishment of technical improvements, and otherwise keep train service from desirable improvements...
...The Senate passed legislation creating an eight-member board to supervise disposal of some 100 billion dollars worth of Government surpluses in plants, materials, and lands...
...Reminder...
...Although generalization, especially in this case, can be dangerously inaccurate, the situation can be summarized this way: Nelson favored the gradual reconversion of industry to civilian production...
...It proposed outright the formation of an 'international military air corps' made up of volunteers from the member states to carry out the will of the council in enforcing the peace...
...With Nelson en route to China and Wilson determined to return to private employment, President Roosevelt appointed Lt...
...Candy and cigars are the gifts soldiers overseas appreciate most, Army reporters disclosed last week...
...Wilson asserted that he and his staff have been "constantly pilloried" by charges they were holding up reconversion to favor big business over small business...
...Force could be applied against an aggressor only by majority vote of the council, including all four permanent members, thus giving each of the great powers a veto on all proposals and at the same time guaranteeing smaller nations a voice in decisions...
...Kick In The Teeth...
...The Senate measure clashes head-on with a House-approved bill which would vest control over disposal of the vast Government holdings in the hands of a single administrator, probably Will Clayton...
...In the same week that Prime Minister Churchill praised the valor of Japanese-Americans in the Italian campaign, the masters of five state Grange organizations in the west called for the deportation from the United States of all persons of Japanese ancestry...
...Francis Biddle, who has collaborated in the Roosevelt Administration's decision to suspend anti-trust proceedings during the war emergency, promised last week .that the Department of Justice will resume a normal course of prosecuting anti-monopoly law violators within the next six months...
...The Times reported these to be the proposals in essence: AMERICAN: "An assembly of all nations and a council composed of four permanent members—the United States,-Great Britain, Russia, and China— plus seven additional members would be formed...
...He resisted the effort of Army and Navy brass hats to continue producing war goods long after the need for some lines of equipment had disappeared...
...The new organization should concentrate on problems of international security, leaving political, social, or economic questions to other international agencies...
...Thomas said he was entitled to as much time as President Roosevelt took in the "political address" he made on returning from his Pacific tour...
...In place of an international military] force it proposes a creation of an international general headquarters where officers would control the policing of the Axis powers, plan out the forces each nation would contribute in the event of an emergency, and arrange joint maneuvers between the armies of the great powers...
...Last week 4he dispute exploded into the open...
...Nelson constantly promised me he would hold a press conference and correct these statements...
...Less than eight months later OPM was merged with SPAB (the Supply Priorities and Allocations Board...
...Names And Notes In The News Politics...
...The White House announced that Nelson was being sent to China on a special mission, and that Wilson would be in charge during his absence...
...The organization would not, in its charter, attempt to define in advance precisely oil what occasions it would bring force to bear to maintain peace...
...Decisions on procedure in dealing-with disputes would be left to the World Council in which the major powers would have the largest voice...
...His view represented the position of many of the nation's biggest corporations which have been reluctant to let small business get an early start in the manufacture of civilian materials...
...Five months later, on Jan...
...Conflicts continued and the President created the Office of War Mobilization with authority over Nelson and WPB...
...Deportation...
...International courts would be set up to pass upon these disputes...
...A number of safeguards were written into the Senate bill...
...Favorites...
...Atty...
...White House dissatisfaction with Nelson did not lead to his dismissal, but to the appointment of Charles E. Wilson, General Electric executive, to be vice chairman under Nelson...
Vol. 8 • September 1944 • No. 36
