Evening star., 1942-12-09
War WEAKNESS Sans
Italian Resistance,
owl Director Says
Davis Reports He Has
No information Thut
MussoIini Is III

While there is no sign of open
revolt in Italy, sabotage, war weari-
ness and disgust" are doing a great
deal to weaken Italian resistance,
Elmer Davis, director of the Office
Of War Information, declared today.
Mr.. Davis said at a press confer
ence there is no doubt that ma
jority of the Italian people have
no enthusiasm for the war or the
Axis, adding that he had no infor-
nation on reports that Premier
Mussolini was seriously i'll.
In a frank discussion of the ham
ding of American war news Mr..
Davis referred to criticism of the
manner in which the full story of
the Pearl Harbor attack was re-
vealed. He said that to the best of
his knowledge the whole story was
told" and if it was open to criticism,
1t was his fault. Mr.. Davis said the
complete story had to be told some
time, and that he had picked the
date for release, the anniversary of
the attack. He pointed out that it
had been held up six months when
he came to Washington last June.
Plans Return to Radio.
Mr.. Davis revealed that he plans
to return to the radio shortly to
make weekly or periodic broadcasts.
He hopes to give interpretative
background information on the
general war situation. He said that
the broadcasts would carry no spot
news.
Referring to the North African
campaign, Mr.. Davis said that some
OF the optimistic reports which have
been broadcast by the Morocco radio
are open to considerable doubt.
though a great deal of the informa-
tlon sent out is undoubtedly true"
Mr.. Davis said he hoped to get
more news in the future about the
African campaign. He declared this
mad been very difficult so far since
INES OF communication are clogged
with official dispatches. He added
that a newspaper similar to STARS
and Stripes" the Army publication,
would be set up for our North
African forces. He said the United
States would supply news and news
print to friendly African papers,
addlng that those papers probably
were being censored by our Army.
Asked why the name of Emperor
Hlrohito was never mentioned in
American broadcasts to the JAP
anese people, Mr.. Davis said that
the Emperor obviously doesn't figure
10 any extent in establishing empire
pollcy. While the Emperor has the
hnal say, Mr.. Davis continued
some one tells him what to say and
He has no more to say about Jap-
anese policy than 1 have" He
pointed out that the Emperor was
regarded by the japanese as a god.
he said the State Department had
set the policy of never mentioning
the Emperor's name and that he
had approved it.
Internal Damage Possible.
The owl director said it was pos
slole that a great deal of internal
damage had been done to the French
Warships still atloat in Toulon har-
Dor. Secretary of Navy Knox re-
ported yesterday that aerial recon-
nalssance indicated that 20 of the
French ships at Toulon were still
af1oat.
Discussing the italian situation
at length, Mr.. Davis said that re-
ports received here concerning dis
satisfaction with the war among
Italian people were generally true.
He added that our broadcasts to
Italy strive to encourage passive re-
slstance. We do not ask them to
revolt. He said there is no evidence
of any strong force in Italy capable
OF carrying out very active resist
ance.