L^_SUi;.OCO, FRIDAY. JU;);r 1 h 40 (Governor Ralph Carr) GOOD EVEUING EVERYBODY: ^ If I'm delighted indeed to pinch-hit for^Lowell Thomas, with whom I worked in our earlier newspaper days, particulary as this is a day when the news is of historic importance. Tonight one has the feeling of broadcasting a page of history that has just been made. ARMISTICE This afternoon, at a quarter past three. Hitler^ the Nazi Dictat jt , stepped into a railway dining car near the French town of Compiegne. It was an old dining car which for years had been kept bright and trim - as a shrine of French victory. Today Hitler stalked in and sat dov,n in the very chair which Marshal Foch occupied twenty-two years ago, when he dictated to defeated Germany the terms of utter defeat and surrender. With Hitler today was a party of the highest military and diplomatic officials of Germany, who took their places in the dining car. There wras a brief wait* '/hen three French generals were ushered in - plenipotentiaries of defeated France. They had come to receive the terms of an armistice ■ \ dictated by Germany. Hitler and his Nazis arose to greet them, and stuck their arms out in a stiff Nazi salute. Then the proceedings began. The ceremony was a symbolism by which Germany sought in its own mind to wipe out the humiliation of NineteerjEighteen. It was a rub-it-in bit of ritual - making the enemy submit this tiije in exactly the same fashion as he made you submit the last time. The armistice ceremony of Nineteerkighteen was fairly closely ARMISTICE - 2 reproduced, except that it ^as the other way around, - Germany dictating -^air&tifre conditions to France, with Hitler playing the leading role. The proceedings continued with Hitler turning to one of his chief commanders, Colonel-General Keitel, he told the general to read to the French x&x officers a preamble to the armistice conditions. Colonel-General Keitel read it - a preamble that began with a lot of Nazi rhetoric. It contained the familiar contention that the Germany army was really not defeated in Nineteen Eighteen^^^he war was lost by weakness and treachery at home^ *nd made recriminations about tne harsh armistice that was forced on the Kaiser’s army, and excoriated the drastic peace of Versailles that follov»ed. T.ie preamble spoke of the brave fight the French made in the present ,\a.r, and paid a compliment to a valiant enemy. All this elucution was more in the nature of a Nazi harangue than of military negotiations. But the preamble did get around to the subject of armistice terms, and General heitel read off some very general conditions rather vague. These were AKillSTICE - 3 undex three headings. First - the German terms are such as t< make sure that France will not be able to fight again in the present war, the French army to be rendered incapable of any further hostilities. The second article sounds decidedly ambiguous - puzzling. United Press gives it in these words "France must give Germany all assurances for waging the Reich*s war against Great Britain." This, at the very least, is a demand to use French territory in attacking England. Third - the armistice must include preliminaries for peace agreement that will recompense Germany for Versailles. X This, perhaps, ties in with other reports - that Hitler doesn* intend to present France with terms for a final peace until the German struggle with Great Britain is over. Then, presumably. they plan some sort of peace conference This preamble is all that is made public, by-TMisiiKx ^ r* n nn i on a and it tells us very little. irtht*^vagu< and obscure. When Colonel— General Keitel finished reading it. he handed to the French emissaries the real terms - a document of precise, conditions. That ended the ceremony. It lasted hardly jbhxsl ttotnxiMX RMISTICE - 4 more than ten minutes. Bsiunqaaiiissxifiltxklut Then both parties icft the historic dining car. Hitler strutted off amid a blare it * of military bands. The three French generals wont to a tent provided for them nearby. There they had wire and wireless means of communicating with the French Government of General Petain. They examined the armistice conditions and transmitted them to the Petain ministry. Later on, shortly after six, they returned to the dining car and there met Colonel-General Keitel. They resumed negotiations with him, and then communicated^with the Petain Government at Bordeaux. \ .J the w-y t fceday, - the Ministry- of-France-, ved—hi- and exaet- terms which NazL—Geraajiy- demands for- an •fc/t -ap»i at loo. The word from Bordeaux is that thuy will be considered by the French Council of Ministers, which is probably meeting tonight. After the Council has come to a decision. France will make its reiply to Germany. Then tnere will be a public r statement of the armistice conditions. Ttiese at present, are still a well kept secret. V The latest from the armistice front - Hitler has ordered the historic dining car to be taken to Germany and set up in Berlin as a trophy of victory. There will oe plenty of deliberating^ Congress about the etiiiison-^iox appointments. The naming of two prominent Republican leaders to the New Beal Cabinet must of course be confirmed by t^e United States Senate, and today it was decided to hold Senate committee hearings. These will be public. Promptly today, the Military Affairs Committee of the Upper House^ too*, up what is widely regarded as the formation of a war cabinet. The Republican members demanded - public hearings. In a caucus they insisted that Henry L. Stimson should be called upon to testify. "We agree," declared Republican Senator Austin, 11 that the proper procedure would be to invite Mr. Stimson to come before us." The Democratic members of tne Committee did not oppose the idea. "Everybody appeared to be in agreement," .So said tne Chairman, Senator Shepard of Texas, and he added that the hearing would not be heid until after the Republican national Convention. So it’s decided. There will be public hearings^ and the prominent Republican who was Secretary of State in tne noover administration, will be asked plenty of questions . j . s appointment to the Cabinet of the New Deal. *±xd die prominent ls Kin be - var. Isarx m Stimsoa is qo resort as - mm CA-pImniT - 2 advocate of aid to the Allies. ^his same story applies to the other sensational appointment - that of Colonel Frank Knox, the Republican who ran for Vice-President in Nineteen Thirty-dix, to the post of Secretary of the Navy under President Roosevelt. This is in the jurisdiction of the Naval Affairs Committee of the Senate. The Committee will meet, tomorrow, and is considered certain to decree public hearings wit.* testimony by Colonel Knox - after the Republican convention. Today, Colonel Knox accepted the nomination as Secretary of the Navy, and issued a statement of his position. "National defense," said Colonel knox, "is not a partisan question. It should have the united support of people regardless of party." He added that he is tailing the post because the President told him that he could be of service in the cause of preparedness. Vie have some vague word about the letter of resignation that Secretary of Viar Woodnng sent to the President when he stepped out yesterday and made way for the Stimson appointment. As Lowell Thomas told you last night, the White House described the letter as being very personal — too personal for publication. Today, associates of Woodring were saying that the letter was too hot for pUDliCation — so red hot that it was written on asbestos paper. There’s no Washington hint of what was in the Woodring epistle, but iii nere’s what may be a hint from Kansas. It’s a sensational story printed in the Topeka i^pINBT - 3 £.',pital today and states that three weeks ago. Secretary Woodring Informed friends that he would be - "forced to resign." Why would he be forced to resign? The Kansas newspaper quotes fooodring as having said, MIfm an advocate of adequate defense, but Ifll never stand for sending American boys into Europe's shambles." And he is said to have added: £ "There is a comparatively small clique of international financiers who want the United States to declare war and get into the European mess with everything we have - including our manpower." tv the «i newspaper. Last nignt Lowell Thomas told the radio audience that London hailed the appointment of Stimson, because the British felt tnat Woodring was opposed to the sending of army war equipment across to the Allies. This was echoed today by the Kansas newspaper, which quotes the then Secretary of War as having said tnree weeks ago:- "They don't like me Decause I'm against stripping our own defenses for the sake of trying to stop Hitler three thousand ailes away. Eventually," he is said to have added, "they will force me to resign-'1 C Ac I NET 4 T:x._, newspaper revelation promptly folloired by a demand in Congress - a demand tnat there be a joint congressional investigation of the resignation of Woodring and the appointment of Stimson. Kepresentative Carlson of Kansas introduced a resolution oaliod ior an inquiry into the allegation tnat Woodring was lorced out because he opposed the stripping of the defenses of this nation. The Republicans have officially rejected any notion of a coalition cabinet. They stated, in formal terms, that the appointment of the two Repuolicans, Stimson and Anox, does not in any sense constitute a coaltion, because the two appointees represent only themselves and not the Repuclican Party. This view is embodied in a unanimous resolution by the Republican National Committee, which reads:- ’’Having entered the Cabinet, Stimson and Knox are no longer qualified to speak as Republicans or for the Republican Party. Both men,’’ adds the resolution, ’’have long desired to intervene in the affairs of nurope, ana trie Democratic Party now becomes the war party.’ CABINET- 5 [ anking Republicans are spealcing up in the strongest terms, emphasizing and ra-empnasizing the fact that the new appointments do not const!tue a coalition. Ex-President Hoover makes this statement. "There is no question of coaltion involved he declares, "the national issues remail exactly what they were. And now it!s time to hear from the sponsor.