The Waterbury Democrat., 1945-03-01

They say that neither the Presi- dent nor Prime Minister Churchill had any objection to de Gaulle's presence, but felt rather neutral about it. Stalin, however, was the man who flatly opposed it.
 Stalin, according to those re- turnnig from Yalta. pointed out that this was to be primarily military conference and France was playing minor role in the war. Since the Big Three were bearing the main brunt of the war, Stalin said he saw no point in having de Gaulle sit ill on conference con- cerned largely with military strategy.
 The Russian war chief was quite definite and repeated the point that if the Yalta con- ference were concerned primar- fly with political and economic postwar problems, 1t would be different. But when military matters were being discussed. he just didn't want dc Gaulle around.
 Then to clinch his views, Stalin recalled that France surrendered to Germany early in the war, and refused to turn over the French fleet to the British as pei treaty arrangement.
 And concluded Stalin, when you landed in North Africa, they fired on you"
 That eAded the matter. RoCse- welt and Churchill, who didn't care much one way or the other, made no further suggestions about de Gaulle.
 LADIES OF CONGRESS
 The menfolk of Congress might take a lesson from the Ladies Congressional club when 1t comes to holding their tempers and keeping their fists in thelr pock- cts.
 On the day that "Titular Re- publican Leader John Rankin of Mississippi jumped Or the back Of Congressman Hook ot Michigan, all interesting after math occurred at the meeting of Congressional wives who form the Ladies Congressional Club.
 But the ladies engaged in no -pulling-except possibly with their eyes.
 CongresswOman Helen Ga- hagan Douglas of California, wife of movie actor Melvyn Douglas and an actress in her own right, had been asked to give talk. She had some in- teresting things to say about wO- men in politics and she said them with charm and frank ness.
 Among other things she told how a statesman who had helped to introduce women's suffrage claimed that women's entrance in- to politics had not lifted the level of political action. Mrs. Douglas took exception to this and argued that certain women had made rapid political strides in recent years. She also maintained that women could not develop politi- cally overnight, any more than an actress could attain fame and footlights overnight.
 AS an Illustration, she said that many people thought she had be- come an actress right ifter she left college, when as matter of fact she had been studying act- ing almost since the age of five. IRATE MRS. RANKIN
 Then Mrs. Douglas made a plea for sticking to facts and not hid- ing behind prejudice.
 There Is no place in our sO- ciety for hate," she said. "We don't get anywhere by hating each other. For instance, if I may be very frank and speak entirely off the record, I think that the kind of things that hap pened on the floor of the House today was most regret table and Is not going to con- tribute to the good of Congress-
 Immediately an ominous buzz buzz rose from the ladies of Con- greSs. MT. Rankin, whose hus- band had ieaped on Frank Hook, is the result not of external pres