Table Of ContentTHE NEW YORK TIMES DECADE BOOKS
is a series of uniform volumes dealing with major
national and international events in individual ten
year periods.
Each volume provides a unique view of history
in the making as viewed and reported by the world¬
wide network of New York Times correspondents. By
reproducing approximately 200 front page stories and
inside continuation pages, we experience the fresh¬
ness and immediacy of events as they occurred.
Stories have been selected that were not only
important at the time but have proved of lasting in¬
terest. Not all of the important events of a decade
could be included but what was aimed at and hope¬
fully achieved is a unique overall view of the rapidly
changing character of national and international life.
The Introduction to this volume was written by
William Benton, whose distinguished career embraces
government service, education and publishing. During
most of the years covered by this book he served as
an Assistant Secretary of State and as U.S. Senator
from Connecticut.
The Times in Review:
1940-1949
A NEW YORK TIMES DECADE BOOK
INTRODUCTION BY WILLIAM BENTON
ARNO PRESS / A NEW YORK TIMES COMPANY
New York 1973
55193
Copyright © 1973 Arno Press Inc.
All rights reserved
Contents: Copyright © 1940,1941,1942,1943,1944,
1945, 1946, 1947, 1948, 1949.
Printed in the United States of America
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Main entry under title:
The Times in review; a New York times decade book.
Third-fourth vols. published by Arno Press.
CONTENTS: |3] 1940-1949.
[4] 1950-1959—15] 1960-1969.
1. History, Modern—20th century—Chronology.
I. New York times.
D840.T54 909.82 74-139439
ISBN 0-405-01714-6 (v. 3)
TABLE OF CONTENTS
BOOK BOOK
PAGE PAGE
NUMBER NUMBER
MY OVERVIEW OF THE June 24 French yield fleet under armistice,
NINETEEN FORTIES by William Benton give up west coast, half of country;
Britain and Petain regime in
open break 45
June 28 Republicans nominate Wendell
1940
Willkie for Presidency on 6th
ballot 49
Mar. 13 Moscow announces peace treaty
July 18 Roosevelt renominated on 1st
signed; Finns delay ratification;
ballot; strict anti-war platform
terms give big Finnish areas
adopted 51
to Soviet 1
Sept. 4 Roosevelt trades destroyers for
Apr. 9 Germans occupy Denmark, attack
sea bases; Britain pledges never
Oslo; Norway joins war against
to yield or sink fleet 54
Hitler 4
Sept. 11 British bomb Berlin, hit Reichstag
May 10 Nazis invade Holland, Belgium,
building; Germans pound London
Luxembourg by land and air;
in 8-hour attack 58
Allies rush aid 6
Sept. 28 Japan joins Axis Alliance, seen
May 18 Nazis pierce French lines; take
aimed at U.S. 61
Brussels, Louvain, Malines and
Nov. 6 Roosevelt elected President;
Namur 11
certain of 429 electoral votes;
May 22 Nazis at Channel, trap Allies in
Democrats keep House control 64
Belgium; France can’t die,
Reynaud tells people 14
May 28 Leopold orders Belgian Army to
quit; Allies forced back in
Flanders pocket 18 1941
May 30 Allies abandoning Flanders; a
rescue fleet at Dunkerque 21 Jan. 11 Bill gives President unlimited
June 1 75% of B.E.F. reported safely power to lend war equipment
out of Flanders; Allies attack and resources 69
on Somme 24 Jan. 21 Roosevelt inaugurated for 3rd
June 5 Churchill pledges war till Empire time; Winant to be named
ends; air fleets raid Reich and Ambassador to London 72
French cities 27 Mar. 9 Senate passes Aid-to-Britain Bill
June 11 Italy at war, ready to attack; stab 60 to 31; final House action
in back, says Roosevelt 30 expected early in week 76
June 15 Germans occupy Paris, press on Apr. 6 Germans invade Yugoslavia and
south; French Army intact 33 Greece; Hitler orders war,
June 17 Reynaud resigns, Petain is now blaming British; Moscow signs
Premier; new Cabinet considers amity pact with Belgrade 79
fate of France 35 Apr. 14 Russia and Japan sign neutrality
June 18 France asks peace, but is fighting treaty; Germans capture Bardia,
on; Hitler, Duce today to set push into Egypt 83
terms; British stand firm for war May 13 Hess flies to Scotland; Berlin
to a finish 38 reports him missing and insane 86
June 23 French sign Reich truce, Rome May 28 Roosevelt proclaims unlimited
pact next; British bomb Krupp emergency, will resist any Hitler
works and Bremen 42 effort to rule seas; Bismarck sunk 88
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NUMBER NUMBER
June 22 Hitler begins war on Russia; Oct. 27 Japanese open major attack on
Damascus fails 91 Guadalcanal; hit carrier, sink
Aug. 13 House for 2-112 years army destroyer; Willkie demands 2nd
service by one vote; Petain yields, front 161
pledging to work with Hitler; Nov. 5 Rommel in full retreat; 9,000
Nazis reported at Black Sea 95 prisoners 164
Aug. 15 Roosevelt, Churchill draft 8 peace Nov. 8 American forces land in French
aims, pledging destruction of Africa; effective 2nd front,
Nazi tyranny 99 Roosevelt says 167
Nov. 7 U.S. lends $1,000,000,000 to Nov. 11 Hitler to take over all France and
Russia; Stalin forecasts second Corsica; our troops in Oran,
front 102 speeding toward Libya 170
Dec. 8 Japan wars on U.S. and Britain; Nov. 28 French scuttle fleet, ruin Toulon
makes sudden attack on Hawaii; base 175
heavy fighting at sea reported 105 Nov. 30 (A) Boston fire death toll 440; night
Dec. 9 U.S. declares war, Pacific club holocaust laid to lighted
battle widens 111 match 178
Dec. 12 U.S. now at war with Germany Nov. 30 (B) Churchill tells Italy to oust leaders
and Italy 117 or face shattering air blows;
Dec. 16 Knox reports battleship sunk at Russians break Nazi Don
Hawaii, 5 other craft lost, but main defense line 178
fleet is at sea; President lays
perfidy to Japan’s Emperor 120
1943
1942
Jan. 27 Roosevelt, Churchill map 1943
Jan. 2 MacArthur unites his lines for war strategy at Casablanca 187
crucial stand 125 Feb. 12 Churchill pledges invasion within
Jan. 7 President says we will carry war 9 months; says 500,000 are in
to foe; asks 60,000 planes, 45,000 Africa; Eisenhower, promoted, in
tanks this year 127 supreme command 192
Feb. 16 Singapore surrenders uncondi¬ Mar. 11 (A) Russians nearing Vyazma; check
tionally; Churchill asks unity in foe below Kharkov; Munich fired
hour of defeat; foe pours into by R.A.F. raid 196
Sumatra, strikes in Burma 130 Mar. 11 (B) Roosevelt offers plan to Congress
Apr. 10 Japanese capture Bataan and for birth-to-grave Social Security 196
36,000 troops; sink two British May 2 Roosevelt seizes all struck
cruisers 135 coal mines 201
Apr. 29 Sales prices, rents, service May 8 Tunis and Bizerte captured, enemy
charges frozen; Roosevelt sees in flight 206
Axis cracking 138 June 22 23 dead in Detroit rioting; Federal
May 6 Corregidor surrenders under land troops enter city 210
attack after withstanding 300 July 1 MacArthur starts Allied offensive
raids from the air 140 in Pacific; Churchill promises
June 1 1,000 British bombers set Cologne blows in Europe by fall 213
on fire; use 3,000 tons of July 26 Mussolini ousted; Badoglio, his
explosives in record raid; foe, made Premier by King 216
Germans are hurled back in bid Sept. 3 Allies land in Italy opposite
for Tobruk 142 Messina; 8th Army leads 219
June 12 Soviet and Britain sign war and Sept. 9 Italy surrenders, will resist
peace pact; Molotoff and Germans; Allied forces land in
Roosevelt plan 2nd front 146 Naples area 222
June 22 Tobruk falls, Axis claim 25,000 Nov. 2 Four Powers agree on world
prisoners; Germans drive wedge peace group; President orders
into Sevastopol lines; Japanese Ickes to seize coal mines 225
ashore on Kiska 149 Dec. 4 Roosevelt, Stalin, Churchill agree
Aug. 20 U.S.-Allied troops, tanks raid on plans for war on Germany in
Dieppe 9 hours; more than 1,000 talks at Teheran; 1,500 more tons
planes in land action 153 of bombs dropped on Berlin 228
Oct. 4 Roosevelt freezes wages, rents, Dec. 7 “Big 3” charts triple blows to
farm prices; names Justice Byrnes humble Reich and agrees on a
Economic Director 157 peace to eliminate tyranny 230
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Dec. 25 Eisenhower named Commander Dec. 16 U.S. force lands unopposed on
for invasion; planes smash French Mindoro 308
coast; Roosevelt promises nation Dec. 28 U.S. tanks smash into Bastogne,
a durable peace 232 break siege; foe’s spearhead
Dec. 28 Army seizes railroads on near Meuse driven back 311
President’s order; steel men
ordered back 236
1944 1945
Jan. 12 President asks civilian draft to bar Jan. 18 Russians take Warsaw; Americans
strikes^ realistic taxes, new Bill close on St. Vith 315
of Rights 241 Jan. 21 Roosevelt sworn in for 4th term;
Jan. 28 5,200 Americans, many more extends good neighbor policy
Filipinos die of starvation, torture to world 317
after Bataan 244 Feb. 13 Big 3 doom Nazism and Reich
Feb. 2 U.S. force wins beaches on militarism; convoke United
Marshalls atoll; battles rage on Nations in U.S. April 25 320
first Japanese soil invaded 246 Feb. 17 Fleet planes renew pounding of
Feb. 19 Americans land on Eniwetok, Tokyo; Bataan recaptured 322
flanking Truk; great victory seen Mar. 21 German Saar-Moselle armies
in blow at Pacific base 248 smashed; foe’s loss tops 40,000;
Apr. 27 Troops seize Montgomery Ward carriers blast Japanese fleet
as it rejects Roosevelt order; in lair 324
Avery denies legality, ejected 250 Mar. 24 Patton crosses Rhine, expands
May 26 Americans link the Anzio and bridgehead; Nazis say Russians
main fronts; Nazis flee toward are moving on Berlin 327
Rome 252 Apr. 2 Americans invade Okinawa; first
June 5 Rome captured intact by 5th resistance light 330
Army; Nazis move northwest 256 Apr. 6 Soviet voids Japanese Neutrality
June 6 Allied armies land in France in Pact; MacArthur heads U.S. Army
Havre-Cherbourg area; great in Pacific 333
invasion is under way 259 Apr. 8 U.S. fliers sink Japan’s biggest
June 7 Hitler’s sea wall breached; new warship; British near Bremen;
Allied landings made 263 Patton seizes Nazi hoard of gold
June 16 Superforts bomb cities in Japan; and art 336
American forces landing in Apr. 13 President Roosevelt is dead;
Marianas; Allies gain on Truman to continue policies 341
Cherbourg peninsula 268 May 2 Hitler dead in Chancellery;
June 27 Cherbourg falls to American Doenitz, successor, orders war
troops; enemy leaders among to go on; Berlin almost won 344
30,000 prisoners 272 May 3 Berlin falls to Russians, 70,000
July 21 Roosevelt nominated for 4th term; give up; 1,000,000 surrender in
Hitler escapes bomb, purges Italy and Austria 349
generals 279 May 8 The war in Europe is ended!
July 22 Nazis block plot to seize govern¬ Surrender is unconditional 353
ment; Americans land on Guam; June 20 Welcome to Eisenhower is New
Truman nominated for Vice York’s greatest; he calls for strong
Presidency 284 U.S. to maintain peace 357
July 26 Air blows open U.S. drive in June 22 Okinawa is ours, after 82 days;
Normandy; Russians ring Lwow 289 45,029 U.S. casualties, foe’s
Aug. 24 Paris is freed 293 94,401 360
Aug. 26 Allies sweep to Troyes, Nazis June 27 Truman closes United Nations
rout grows 295 conference with plea to translate
Oct. 20 MacArthur invades Central Charter into deeds 363
Philippines; foothold to split July 27 Churchill defeated in Labor
islands firmly held 297 landslide; Allies order Japan to
Oct. 26 U.S. defeats Japanese Navy; all quit or be destroyed 366
foe’s ships in one fleet hit; July 29 (A) Senate ratifies Charter of United
battle continuing 300 Nations; Truman hails aid
Nov. 8 Roosevelt wins 4th term; record to peace 369
popular vote is close; Democrats July 29 (B) Bomber hits Empire State
gain in House 303 Building; 13 dead, 26 hurt 369
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Aug. 7 First atomic bomb dropped on Jyne 15 U.S. will tell atom secret, destroy
Japan; equal to 20,000 tons of bombs, if U.N. establishes
TNT; Truman warns foe of a controls without a veto 444
“rain of ruin” 372 July 1 Atom bomb exploded over Bikini
Aug. 8 Atomic bomb wiped out 60% of fleet; blast force seems less
Hiroshima; Tokyo Cabinet meets 379 than expected 446
Aug. 9 Soviet declares war on Japan; Sept. 21 Wallace ousted, starts a “fight for
attacks Manchuria; atom bomb peace’’; Truman declares com¬
loosed on Nagasaki 383 plete support for Byrnes 449
Aug. 15 Japan surrenders, end of war! Oct. 2 12 Nazi war leaders sentenced to
Emperor accepts Allied rule; be hanged; Goering heads list;
MacArthur Supreme Commander 387 Hess gets life, 6 others ordered
Sept. 2 Japan surrenders to Allies, signs to prison 451
rigid terms; Truman sets today Oct. 5 Truman again prods Britain on
as V-J Day 390 100,000 Palestine visas; backs
Oct. 28 Truman bars recognition of Jewish State plan 453
“imposed” regimes and sets Oct. 16 Goering ends life by poison, 10
12-point U.S. policy for world others hanged in Nuremburg
peace 395 prison 455
Nov. 16 (A) We knew Japanese secrets 6 Dec. 8 Lewis ends strike, mines open
months before Dec. 7,1941, tomorrow 458
Pearl Harbor data shows 399
Nov. 16 (B) Three nations offer atom bomb
1947
to UNO on reciprocal basis 399
Dec. 12 Nation-wide steel strike called
Jan. 1 Truman declares hostilities ended,
by CIO; more than 700,000
terminating many wartime laws 465
involved 403
Jan. 8 Marshall to succeed Byrnes as
Dec. 28 Big Three re-establish unity in wide
Secretary of State resigns; shift
accord; 28 nations set up the
surprises world capitals 468
Bretton Woods Bank 406
Feb. 26 Bevin accuses Truman of
wrecking Palestine talks in 1946
campaign 471
1946 Mar. 13 Truman acts to save nations from
Red rule; asks $400 million to
Jan. 1 Hirohito disclaims divinity; Chiang aid Greece and Turkey 474
proposes Marshall as referee in May 10 House adopts $400,000,000 Bill to
China strife 413 help Near East fight Communism;
Jan.11 (A) UNO opened; Attlee asks world World Bank lends France
unity 416 $250,000,000 479
Jan. 11 (B) 5% GM pay rise urged by Board; June 24 Bill curbing labor becomes law as
phone tie-up off until Monday 416 Senate overrides veto; unions to
Jan. 21 (A) Crisis arises as De Gaulle resigns 420 fight for quick repeal 482
Jan. 21 (B) Steel industry closed down as Aug. 15 India and Pakistan become
nation-wide strike starts 420 nations; clashes continue 485
Feb. 7 Strike emergency stops fuel; Aug. 21 Marshall stresses help for Europe
schools shut; Truman cuts must precede assistance for
nation’s food to feed Europe 425 Americas 487
Mar. 13 Heavy Russian columns move Sept. 18 (A) Resorts hit in hurricane over
west in Iran; U.S. sends Note 430 Florida 489
Mar. 16 Churchill again asks Anglo-U.S. Sept. 18 (B) Marshall asks a new U.N. group
harmony, puts onus on Soviet if to guard peace, backs veto curb;
it bars cooperation; Iran to Forrestal is sworn in suddenly 489
appeal to UNO 433 Oct. 6 (A) Truman calls on nation to forego
Mar. 28 Russian, defeated on Iran, walks meat Tuesdays, poultry, eggs,
out of UNO; Teheran’s envoy puts Thursdays 493
plea before Council 436 Oct. 6 (B) Reds of 9 nations revive Comintern
May 1 Joint Palestine body bars a Jewish to fight U.S. “imperialist
State, but urges entry of hegemony” 493
100,000 refugees 439 Nov. 21 Elizabeth and Philip wed in Abbey;
May 18 Government seizes nation’s London throngs cheer royal
railroads but unions fail to cancel pageant 497
strike due today; AFL pledges aid Nov. 30 Assembly votes Palestine Partition;
to Lewis as deadlock holds 441 Arabs walk out 500
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Dec. 3 Jerusalem torn by rioting 504 Dec. 16 Hiss indicted for perjury in
Dec. 20 Truman asks $17 billion to restore Communist spy inquiry 565
Europe; Congress votes
stop-gap aid 507
1949
Dec. 27 Record 25-inch snow cripples
New York and East; thousands
Jan. 4 Nanking suing for peace
marooned 511
with Reds 571
Jan. 6 Truman asks increased taxes,
debt cut, Taft Labor Act repeal 573
1948 Jan. 21 Truman is inaugurated; calls on
U.S. to lead democratic world;
Jan. 31 Gandhi killed by Hindu; 15 die in denounces Communism, pledges
rioting in Bombay 517 U.N. aid 576
Feb. 25 (A) Czech Reds seizing power, Jan. 29 Council of Europe formed by 5
occupy some ministries; Socialist western powers; they will
Party taken over 519 recognize Israel 582
Feb. 25 (B) U.S. ready to discuss force to Feb. 24 Israel and Egypt reach armistice 585
keep peace in Palestine but not Mar. 5 Molotov replaced by Vishinsky in
compel partition 519 Soviet Foreign Office shift 587
Feb. 26 Benes bows to communists, Apr. 5 12 nations sign Atlantic Treaty,
Gottwald forms Cabinet 524 stress aim is to uphold U.N. 589
Mar. 11 Masaryk killed, a suicide, Reds May 12 (A) Israel wins seat in U.N. 592
say; Marshall is stirred by May 12 (B) Berlin land blockade is lifted 592
world crisis 527 May 25 (A) Soviet asks 4-power rule for
Mar. 20 U.S. abandons Palestine partition; Germany be resumed; West turns
asks U.N. trusteeship till final down proposal 596
solution 531 May 25 (B) Red troops enter Shanghai;
Apr. 2 (A) U.N. sets special assembly on Nationalist forces flee 596
Palestine to reconsider partition 534 July 1 (A) Judith Coplon guilty as spy 600
Apr. 2 (B) U.S. flies food into Berlin as July 1 (B) Senate votes Taft Labor Bill in
Russians block traffic 534 blow to Administration; Truman
May 15 Zionists proclaim new state of pledges to fight on 600
Israel; Truman recognizes it and July 22 Senate votes Atlantic Pact binding
hopes for peace; Egypt orders 12 nations to resist attack 603
invasion 538 Sept. 18 207 lost as cruise ship burns in
June 25 Dewey unanimous Republican night fire at Toronto pier 606
choice for President on 3rd ballot 542 Sept. 24 Atom blast in Russia disclosed;
July 15 Truman, Barkley named by Truman again asks U.N. control;
Democrats; South loses on civil Vishinsky proposes peace pact 610
rights 545 Oct. 1 Steel strike starts as 500,000 quit;
July 27 Truman orders end of bias in Truman plans no new intervention;
forces and Federal jobs 549 Lewis recalls 102,000 miners
Sept. 10 Russians fire on defiant Berliners to pits 614
as 250,000 protest Assembly coup 552 Oct. 3 (A) Soviet recognizes China Red
Sept. 18 Bernadotte is slain in Jerusalem; regime; drops Chiang link 616
Security Council will act today 554 Oct. 3 (B) Yankees and Dodgers win
Oct. 10 Truman drops Moscow mission; penants in final games;
keep atom bomb, Churchill says 557 68,055 cheer 616
Nov. 3 Truman leads Dewey in late Oct. 22 10 top Communists get 5 years,
returns; Democrats gain in House one gets 3, all are fined $10,000;
and Senate 560 U.S. indicts Amtorg, 5 heads held 619
MY OVERVIEW OF THE NINETEEN FORTIES
by William Benton
The phrase “nineteen forties” has a soft, almost hopelessness; they had the feeling of an inability to
muted sound to it, not as strident or harsh-sounding cope. There’s little doubt in my mind that the sound
as the fifties, sixties or seventies. Don’t we think of of hope both felt and heard in Franklin Delano Roo¬
the forties as the postwar years, the years of settling sevelt’s voice was just about all that kept millions
down, rather than the harsh cloud of Pearl Harbor of people going at that time. But the feeling of de¬
and Normandy Beach? Perhaps it has that soft con¬ spair — of economic hopelessness — began to fade
notation because everything that happened since as the 1940s opened and more and more working
the end of the nineteen forties has happened at an men and women marched into jobs in the defense
accelerated pace, with speed that shocks the mind. industry. Yes, there was an awakening. America’s
Or perhaps it is just that we learn of things now so industrial capability was being challenged and in¬
quickly that the immediacy mutes the trumpets of dustry began pouring forth the necessities of war
the past. for America’s allies, particularly Great Britain, who
As you read the headlines and important stories faced the onslaught of the Third Reich’s incredible
from The New York Times that are included in this war machine. (Churchill said, “In the first year
provocative book, you will begin to get your own America goes to war, nothing happens; in the second
feeling for that decade. Yes, indeed that’s what this year, a trickle; in the third year, an avalanche.”)
book does. It joggles the memory for those over In 1939, the invasion of Poland was followed by
forty, it opens the door to that vast data bank of that of the Low Countries and France. Then came
information that we collect in our minds. the miraculous rescue of an army on the beaches of
But a true understanding of the period, I believe, Dunkirk, the Battle of Britain — the attempt by the
requires more background than the reminders of Luftwaffe to destroy Britain’s will to survive with in¬
the news. The headlines and the stories too often cessant, constant bombing. In June 1941, Hitler’s
absorb one in a single event and make him forget armies attacked Russia and the world again gasped
the context and perspective of the times in the light at his lust for power.
of what happened after. There was by no means total agreement in Amer¬
Let me share with you my own overview of the ica during those years whether we should enter the
nineteen forties. I believe I can set the perspective war. But December 7, 1941 wiped out all doubts in
with accuracy because my own activities covered a the minds of everyone but Jeannette Rankin, a cou¬
spectrum as broad as the country itself. As the rageous U. S. representative from Montana, who
decade began, I was associated with the University cast the lone vote against the declaration of war, as
of Chicago whose president was then Robert Hut¬ she had done earlier in 1917. I was myself a sup¬
chins, and with Encyclopaedia Britannica, both of porter of the America First Committee, which op¬
which associations continue to this day. With the posed our entry into the war, as were Governor
close of World War II, President Truman asked me Chester Bowles, Dr. Robert Hutchins and many of
to join his administration as Assistant Secretary of my closest friends. When I told Secretary of State
State, and my responsibilities included the educa¬ Byrnes that this was a reason why he shouldn’t
tional and cultural rebuilding of the part of the world appoint me Assistant Secretary of State, he said,
devastated by war. I was even responsible, believe “You will find that 80 percent of the Congress agreed
it or not, for the re-education of the Germans and with you.” Whether we would have entered the war
the Japanese! And as the decade ended, I entered without the attack at Pearl Harbor can never be
the United States Senate. determined . ..
I suppose that to understand the nineteen forties, The assault on Pearl Harbor cast the psychologi¬
one has to be reminded — especially our younger cal die that still affects this country’s instincts about
people — that the war jogged the United States and defense spending. As soon as we entered the war,
much of the world out of the incredible agony of a President Roosevelt was pressed to open a second
worldwide depression. Unless you experienced the front, to invade Europe from the west, and thereby
Depression here in America, you cannot imagine relieving Russia of the enormous pressure from the
what it was like. Millions of people had a sense of German army’s invasion. The Japanese relentlessly
