Evening star., 1945-08-05
Wars Chief Slogan
Coined Accidentally
Unconditional Surrender Origin
Belied Later Implications
By B. M. McKelDdy.


Unconditional surrender" probably
is the best known slogan of the war, at
least on this side of the Atlantic Future
historians doubtless will devote con-
siderable discussion to its origin and
implications, from the point OF view of
Allied war policy and its effect on stim-
ulatipg counter-propaganda, If not
greater resistance, by the enemy.
They will discover some interesting
inconsistencies. One is that the ulti-
matum to Japan, drawn up and dis
patched at Potsdam. was in sense a
clarification of conditions to be i'm
posed by unconditional surrender.
popular sense the most important
declaration to come from the Casa
blanca Conference, it was never men
toned In the oficial communique an
nouncing the results of the conference.
Still another is that use of the term
by President Roosevelt-an old term in
military annals, incidentally, before it's
use by Gen. Grant at Fort Donel-
son-was wholly spontaneous, without
previous discussion with Mr.. Churchill
or consideration by the military men
whose counsels at Casablanca occupied
the greater part of the time spent there
in deciding on future war strategy
And it probably is fact that no one
was more surprised than President
Roosevelt over the popular acceptance
in America of unconditional surrender"
as the primary war objective. This pop
ularity finds parallel in public re-
action to Grants ultimatum to Buck
ner. In later years Gen. Grant at
tributed his cigar habit to newspaper
accounts of his dispatch of the mes
sage. They pictured him as smoking a
cigar in the midst of the conflict. His
admirers, as a result, sent him more
than ten thousand boxes of the choicest
brands" He had been an occasional,
light smoker. But he became an in
veterate cigar smoker in an effort to
use up the cigars and he kept up the
habit for the rest of his life.
President Roosevelt probably was as
much surprised as Gen. Grant by
the way the term caught on in public
imagination. But another interesting
thing about the parallel is that Mr..
Roosevelt was not thinking about Gen.
Grant at Fort Donelson. He was think
ing about Grant and Lee at Appomattox.
And at Appomattox there was no discus
sion, between Lee and Grant, of ''uncon-
ditional surrender'-at least in those
words.
Volumn v of the World Peace Asso-
ciatiops compilation of Documents of
American Foreign Relations" selects an
account of the Presidents press confer
ence at Casablanca by r. Maillard
Stead, military correspondent of the
Christian Science Monitor, for its YER
sion of what took place. Mr.. Steads
story shows no important variation
from the accounts by the Associated
Press and other correspondents who
were there. Toward the conclusion of
his narration of the Presidents informal
remarks, Mr.. Stead wrote that: Peace
is to come, Mr.. Roosevelt said, by total
elimination of German, italian and
japanese war power. This doesn't mean
destruction of the people in those un-
happy countries, but total and merci-
less destruction of the machinery they
have built up for imposing totalitarian
doctrines on the world. In this con-
nection the President reminded his
listeners of the famous American gen.
eral, Ulysses Simpson Grant. whose in
itfoic TT ola ~. - - I'D
resoluteness in the nickname, 'Uncon-
ditional Surrender Grant. The democ-
racies' war plans were to compel the
unconditional surrender of the Axis"
The Associated Press account, which
was equally casual in its reference to
the Presidents statement about uncon-
ditional surrender, added that Mr..
Churchill. who evidently had been
silent listener up to this point, inter-
jected, Hear, hear" "as If he were at
home in Commons"
The first days accounts in American
newspapers Of the windup of the Casa
blanca Conference did not put much
unconditional surrender. But in time
the term itself seemed to overshadow
everything else that had been decided
at Casablanca. It was discussed by
editorial writer's and commentators, who
analyzed its significance more thor
oughly than the President ever had
done. 1t was taken up by the prop
aganda machines of the enemy and ex-
plotted as one more bit of evidence Of
Allied determination to exterminate
Germany and Japan. The President
was probably as soundly criticized for
its use as he was praised for his apt
expression of Allied military policy to-
ward the then existing armies of Italy
and Germany. There were times when
1t has seemed, in view of the critical
comment, that in holding on to 'uncon-
ditional surrender" as a war aim, the
Allies had a bear by the tail. They
could not repudiate the term, yet 1t
plainly deserved fuller explanation.
What actually happened at Casa
blanca was that the President and MIR.
Churchill were on their way out from
their residence to the lawn where the
newspapermen were waiting for the
press conference. They had not ar
ranged any formal procedure in talking
with the reporters and Mr.. Churchill
told Mr.. Roosevelt to lead of and he
would follow. In his statement to the
reporters, during which he consulted a
few typewriter notes, the President re-
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