Evening star., 1943-10-12
Enlightenment and War

From the mass of documents lust
issued by the State Department to
implement the American White
Paper" published last January, there
emerges a clear picture of public
opinion in this country remaining
dangerously apathetic and unen-
lightened during years when the
leaders of our Government were we'll
aware that the outbreak of another
world war was virtually inevitable.
The documents begin with the note
of alarm expressed by Secretary of
State StimSon over Japan's agrees
sion in Manchuria in 1881. They
show that two years later, on No
vember 3, 1933-siX years before the
invasion of Poland and eight years
before the attack on Pearl Harbor-
Secretary Hull told Ambassador Lu-
ther of Germany that President
Roosevelt and the State Depart
ment fully believed that "a general
war during the next two to ten years
seemed more probable than peace"
This belief was based on something
much more substantial than instinct
or guessWork. 1t was based on the
penetrating observations of able
American diplomats in the key capi-
tails of the world and as time wore
on, the findings of these official re-
porters served only to confirm and
heighten the fears felt by the Presi-
dent and Mr.. Hull in the first days of
their administration of foreign af-
fairs.
The trend of events was obvious to
them. On the strength of all the
evidence at hand, Secretary Hull re-
vealed to the Canadian Minister in
August, 1887, that the United States
was proceeding on the assumption
that Germany and Japan were bent
upon conquering and dividing the
world between them-a declaration
he repeated three years later to
French Ambassador CASTOR Henry
Haye. Yet, during all this time, de-
spite the foreboding convictions of
President Roosevelt, of Mr.. Hull and
of others obliged to worry constantly
over the Nations security, a large
segment of the American people
continued to walk in its sleep, believ-
ing that through neutrality laws and
such, the United States could some
how keep the fire from it's shores.
Even after the invasion of Poland
and the fall of France, this illusion
persisted; it did not end until the
blasting shock Of Pearl Harbor.
Would the story have been diff
ferent if some of the documents just
issued by the State Department had
been communicated to the Nation a
few years ago instead of now?
Would we have been better prepared
for this titanic struggle if in 1885
and 1886 the people as a whole had
had an inkling of what our AmbaS-
sadors were reporting from Rome,
Berlin and Toxic? Would there have
been less isolationism and more
realism if in 1887 the country at large
had been permitted, somehow, to
listen in on Mr.. Hull's conversation
with the Canadian Minister? The
processes Of diplomacy often de-
mand the highest degree of secrecy,
OF course, and it would have been
dangerous to reveal certain develop
ments, but still the fact remains
that if preWar American public opin-
ion had been more informed, it
would have been more enlightened
as we'll, and probably far better
equipped to cope with the growing
crisis.
Historians years hence may be able
to decide whether the Roosevelt ad-
ministration could have been more
effective in arousing the Nation dur
ing the sleep-Walking era Certainly
the Presidents occasional warning
speeches were not enough to do the
job. And certainly both he and Mr..
Hull were up against a powerful wall
fact we'll demonstrated by their IA
nous preWar meeting with a picked
congressional group, at which the
late Senator Borah said his sources
of information were as good as theirs.
The documents now made available,
together with events themselves,
show how wrong the Senator was. but
by the same token, they show, too,
that there is room for improvement
in keeping the American people in
formed during periods Of developing
turmoil.
Perhaps, in the long future, it will
be possible to keep the public in
closer touch with international un-
dercurrents and to effect a better
liaison system between the President
and the State Department on one
hand and the congressional Military
and Foreign Affairs Committees on
the other. This is admittedly more
easily said than done, but it's de-
STABILITY cannot be questioned in
view of what has happened during
the past ten years For the lesson
taught by those years is plain: It is
simply this, that the American
people can never again afford to be
apathetic and unenlightened in a
dangerous world.