The Waterbury Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury, Conn.) 1917-1946, 1943-07-17

The plan would be to send the
following men to Sicily or a near
: by neutral country to negotiate
with the Vatican and those in
touch with Mussolini, possibly
Count Ciano:
l. Judge Ferdinand PecOra,
Italian-born Supreme Court judge
of New York, close friend of
the President who staged the
sensational Senate -canking Com
mittee probe of the Stock Mar
ket which led to the establish
ment of the Securities and Ex-
change Commission. Pecora is a
liberal Italian who, though Of
ten invited to Rome by Mussolini,
never fell for II Duce's Wiles.
2. Col. Charley POletti, former
lieutenant-governor of New York,
now in the Army
2. George Macdonald, wealthy
utilities and oil magnate, full of
titles and honors, including Com
mendatore of the Order of the
Crown of Italy, knight of st.
st. Gregory, Papal Chamberlain
of the Cape and Sword, Papal
Marquis Knight Commander
Cross of the Order of the Holy
Sepulcnre of Jerusalem, vice.
president and trustee of st. Pat
rick's cathedral, New York. He
Is big benefactor of Catholic and
secular charities, and is close to
the Vatican.
4. Major Frank Capra, Italian
born motion picture producer, who
has made history with some of his
epochal films, especially his lat
est training films for the Army.
Capra, never a Mussolini-lover,
is immensely popular with the
Italian masses. They think of
him as the little immigrant boy
who conquered Hollywood.
Actually the President won't
need much urging regarding such
a move, for he once sent l.. S.
Steel's Myron Taylor, U. S. Am
bassador to the Vatican, on a
special visit to the Pope, and the
envoy landed on italian soil dur
ing wartime to reach him.
Later Roosevelt sent Arch
bishop Spellman to the Vatican.
These trips were not successful.
However, it is significant that
Mussolini appointed his son-in-
law Count CianO, as ambassador
to the Vatican. This at first
was considered demOtiOn, since
CianO was formely Foreign Min
lister. But now diplomats re-
port it as wise move whereby
Ciano can handle peace feelers
through the Vatican.
II Duce is immensely proud and
fond of his daughter, Countess
Edda Ciano, and the diplomatic
grapevine reports that while he
recognizes his day of splendor may
be over, he is anxious that his
daughter should live in comfort.
Ciano has amassed a fortune re-
puted to be around $15,00O00O-
if he can get it and his family
out of Italy.
The Roosevelt Administrators.
though not sympathetic with the
future comforts of the CianO
family, is DESTROYS at all costs to
save American lives in knocking
Italy out of the war. If helping
the Ciano family to exile would
save lives, the President would
certainly consider it.
CTCITIAN CANTpAICN
Here are some significant in
side notes on Sicily.
~ Gen. Eisenhower has re-
ported the harbor of Syracuse in
excellent condition. Apparently
the italians did not blow it up and
Allied airmen also spared it. This
means that we now have access
to an important harbor on the
East Coast of Sicily not far from
the East Coast nearest the Italian
mainland without landing them
on the southern shore and NOV
ing them by truck and highway
(2) The capture of Sicilian air
fields was easier than expected
and U. S. engineers are already
at work repairing them. They
will be in use by Allied planes
probably before this gets into
cause he blieves that our ideals our
superficial and our attitude toward