The Key West citizen., 1940-12-16
BY CHARLES HONCE
AP News Editor

AP News Editor
The top news story of 1910 in
my rating was made in America
the presidential campaign.
No other event of the year ex-
cited the American people as did
that story. In the rest of the
world, it competed successfully
for attention with other exciting
happenings.
1t began with the nomination
of Wendell Willkie by the Repub-
licans, which was a thunderbOlt,
and it ended in roaring climax
with the reelection of President
Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
There were two simple reasons
for the importance of this story:
To the United States it meant a
thrid-term president for the first
time in history; to the world, con-
tinuance Of the Roosevelt poll
cies regarding the European war,
which may settle the destinieS of
most of the worlds peoples.
For the majority of 1940's great
est news stories. one must look
across the seas where wars pano-
ply spread to the fullest in the
horror of death, destruction and
suffering.
Here they are as 1 see them,
the ten biggest news stories of
1910:
/. ROOSEVELT WINS AGAIN
Probably no American political
issue has been more widely de-
bated than that of a third presi-
dental term. President Roosevelt
shattered the tradition in his vic
tory over Wendell L. Willkie,
who thoroughly broke tradition
himself in his ball-of-fire cam
paign for the Republican presi-
Dental nomination and his effort
tc win election
2. US. ADOPTS CONSUMPTION
The Secretary of War put his
hand in jar, took out a capsule
and the first number had been
drawn in Americas precedent
shattering peacetime conscriptiOn
for which II million men had
registered This story shaped up
big because it was part of great
national effort for re-armament
for "aIl out" defense of the West
ern Hemisphere. COincidentally,
81 American nations agreed to
stand together for that defense.
3. FRANCE SURRENDERS
A tragic story of stunning i'm
pact, high in interest Described
by many experts as the finest in
the world. the French army melt
ed before the German blitzkrieg
in a few weeks. And into the
discard, at least temporarily.
went the historical French phrase,
Liberty. Equality, Fraternity.
4. BATTLE OF BRITAIN
Here is one of the epic stories
of the year. Adolf Hitler smashed
to the channel ports, and then
across that short stretch of water
he sent his bombers at England
Fire, death, destruction rained
from the skies. Devastation has
been enormous. but Britons have
fought back. bitterly and stub
bornly. "There Will Always Be
An England, they sing. as they
stumble through the rubble of
their homes. factories, churches
and hallOWed buildings.
S. GREECE REPULSES ITALY
High on the list of events that
held the attention of the world
was the Greek repulse of Italian
armies, which sought to dominate
the small nation. Italy entered
the war in the last few days of
the battle of France. Nothing
much happened until near the
years end, when Italian met
Greek. Then the FasciSts suf-
fered disastrously and the world
watched closely.
s. DESTROYERS FOR BASES
Few issues aroused more dis
cussion than the United States
trade of so deStroyers for defense
bases on British Western Hem
iSphere territory. President
Roosevelt made the deal and an
nounced it after it was all over.