The Wilmington morning star., 1942-05-10
Fair Enough
WESTbRlNjK PE(lB
By WESTBROOK PFc1rn

60-Hr O- al e.
ror recently. affecting VIZ
Willkie, and today's esssv viii i'-s1 :.
to set the record straight
Some weeks ago, when the ,,.
munists were trying 10 promo 49, .
political pardon for Earl Brows,t
their criminal leader and e.s,rs,.
chief of the pro-Axis forces N -.
country, they quoted Mr.. WH,.! !
in a display advertisement in ~.
port of this campaign.
Discussing this move ard s5.-.
ly recalling that until E;,'ar =
tackled Stain Browder a75 -,
party were savagely ar.:.41s~-S ~
can and pro-Axis, I was deca;~..
by the form Of the aover.;se,,o..
as no doubt it was intended r. =.
ceive all readers Of the sara ~.
a belief that Willkie had g;ver .
statement for this specific n,,r,o
The fact is. Mr.. Willl,;e sss a;,..
informed me. that he yra1a =.
statement for this specific oyr,,.,
but that in March. 1870 in go
eral discussion Of equal rrea-7ss-. .,..
OF all under law. he leaned ~ ,
belief that Browder had beeo ~.
ished for his political bel:e:s SN'-'
Mr.. Willkie tells me t5s. =.
communists did not naisoYo,e -. H.,
or represent that the s.a>e7... 49,.
was made currently. bv. s7rs..
that some. seeing this cyo,s,;..
came to the conclusion ira, v.
Willkie had joined the Free Br.~. w,
der campaign. '"'
The fact is, he states tAa, wr
ke has made no public ststers., ~
with reference 10 the Free Pr,r
der movement. What i co..
down to is that BY their oyo..s..S
OF the Willkie statener, r... ~.
years ago. the Free Bronde~i.s,.
have practically committed tssn
serves to the immediate irs%;,~,:,.
OF Free Fritz Kuhn" r7orera,.
A logical suggestion would he r..
under the circumstances thn,,
lovers OF liberty. free trial ..,
civil liberties effect merge .rs
dub their movement Free Bm-
der and Kuhn
Kuhn. it may be recalled u.
the leader Of the An,i.4roera,.
German Bund in New York w,
was sentenced TO Sing Sing 4,
spending $500 of the Bund's morn
on woman. Declaring that b,
hated Kuhn's doctrines. Willkis
said he couldn't see convictr,
4 him OF stealing the money whc,
l Bund leaders testified Kuhn had /,
right to spend any way he like
I Misled by the tenor Of the cor
! munist advertisement. ! thors
: Wlllkte had actually joined tle
E campaign to get Browder a poll
. cal pardon and wrote that his ST.
I gestion that Browder was ,o,
fenced in part for his political a.
filiation was "a slv m;sstatemer
and quite expectable from rm
i who could say. as Willkie did. tm
: one OF his utterances aga :ns' r',.
e ticipation in the war was deln
erately insincere and only can
: paign oratorv."
= I would like to withdraw h
4 assertion that Wilkes remarks ~
y Browder were sly nisstatempr
e I think he was mistaken and that
: Browder was sentenced under p"
e for an act which was the more
offensive to the nation whose lar
he constantly invokes because t
was committed in cortemntuon
hostility to this nation. in the r.
, terest Of another. But conce@
! to Willkie the right to his opiam
!. that this was political prose-
, ton.
AS to his remark about "car'
. paign oratory," went too far
: saying that he admitted that TIE
utterance in question was "delN
erately insincere." |, myself St4
think there was an implied adr"
sion of insinceritv in the phrase
: 1T was bit Of campaign ora
tory" But Willkie did not say 50
, and I should not have said he
did.
Testimony Recalled
:, The occasion was his TESTIMONY
= before the Senate Foreign Rea
, tions committee in February, ls4
+ following his return from Englana
! Senator Gerald Nye reminded WIZ
, kie that. during his campalgn T
!, had said: ION the basis Of &
. president Roosevelt's> past per-
, formances with pledges to the pec
!, ole, we NAV expect to be at va
! by April. 1941. if he is elected
!, Nye asked. DO you still asf.
that that might be the case? soa
Willkie replied. ''it might BE-
was bit of campaign orator..
Some have said that Willh'
showed sincerity rather than
sincerity in this remark. That Is
attractive argument. but it seeI
to me that if the remark. llss-
was sincere, then the "bit OF car
paign oratory" couldn't have oee-
However. l believe both can':
dates in that campaign reallN'
that sincerity would have deso",
ed at once the election chance
him who had been rash enough
confront the people with ID
which they understood with CO
dread in their hearts. but "oy,.
not admit to anyone Our poep.
knew then that Hitler Wa, 0F!,
ing the war to us and the cam,
ldafeS hofh l.reu, II and all lit"