L^T^--_SyNOCO.__TUESPAY, DECEMBER 23. 1941 GOOD EVENING EVERYBODY: History was in the making all day today at j the White House. Many important pages of history have been written there in the last hundred and fifty years, but seldom has that imposing white columned home of our oresidents presented such an unusual sight as today. The British Chief of State there in person, arriving thru the skies in war-time"to make joint war plans with our own President! One large room has been set aside in theiWhite House as the working office for Prime Minister Y/inston Churchill - a room with maps on the walls and all appurtenances necessary for discussions that will affect every part of this globe. The utmost si^crecy surrounds Mr. Churchill’s journey to these shores. Anybody who knows the details LEAD - 2 is bound in honor, and indeed by law, not to discuss them publicly. But we do kno?^ now that the British Prime Minister was met at a nearby airfield yesterday evening by Pres identpoos evelt, who then drove him to the V/hite House. Presumably, the two chiefs of state entered the front door a few seconds before I was authorized to report the event in the last fifty seconds of my broadcast last night when apparently I put it on the air before anyone else had it. Later came the news that not only the Prime Minister but a formidable corps of advisors, and expertj came with him. Including Lord Beaverbrook, Minister of Supply, Admiral Sir Dudley Pound, Air Marshal Sir Charle Portal, General Sir John Dill, former Chief of Staff of the British Aiunyj^ And many many more, for Churchill’s entourage includes eighty men who are described as I "experts rnd officials." ^ Shortly after noon today, it was announced that President Roosevelt had called a meeting of the United States-Great Britain War Council for a quarter to five, to be held in the Cabinet room of the White House. - 3 There were preliminary conversations ^earlier today, and Prime Minister Churchill passed jpart of the / forenoon consulting with Ambassador Lord ^/Halifax and the Ministers to Washington from the British dominions f / of Canada, South Africa and Australia. f Averell Harriman, our Lead-Lease expeditor / ! / 1 in London, evidently came in the British Prime Minister’s j i ' ! psrty. At any rate, Harriman wa^oneofthosev/ho j ^ 1 i visited the White House this na/orning. The Americans at the United V«'ar Council / — LEAD - 4 are Secretary knox; Secretary of War Stimson; Lieutenant General H.H.Arnold, Deputy Chief of Staff for Air; S khkx General Marshall, Chief of Staff of the Army; A.dmiral Stark, Chief of Naval Opere^tions; Admiral King, the new Cincus - Commonder-in-Chief of the United States Fleet, and Harry Hopkins. For the British, besides Prime Minister Churchill and the off-icials already mentioned, there were the Ministers fronjAustralia, Canada and South Africa. Before the meeting of the United V/ar Council, there was another unique episode. . It was a press conference at which the Prime Minister of Great Britain was formally introduced to the Press - that is, only to i the V/ashington newspapermen who are accredited to the ; i i President of the United States. It was Mr. Roosevelt's i regular Tuesday press conference, at Vv’hich the | m j President rersonally presented the British Prime Minister.| ’Gi LEAD - ^ ' i Of course, Winston '-hurchill is an old hand at American press interviews, through his previous visits to this country as a private citizen. But this 1 ”^ ! Tfas his first Experience of facing them as Prime Minister.! I In introducing him, the President, who was in , high good humor, told Mr. Churchill he was offering him up as a sacrifice to the wolves of the American press as comnared w’ith the lambs of the British nev/spapers Before he nresented the Prime Minister, Mr. Koosevelt said that the conferences between the United States and \ ^ lead - 6 Great Britain were still in a preliminary stage. But 4 he added that no other government of those who are at '0 : '1 war with the Axis vjill be excluded. He said further that he and Churchill and the nilitary and technical staffs of both the United States and Great Britain are at work on a plan for complete unity of action in I the South Pacific. Mr. Roosevelt stressed the fact that . Australia and New Zealand are particularly in the Pacific dansrer zone. Churchill reminded him that Canada,) ' r like the United States, faces danger on both oceans. The President announced that the Latin-American countries;| who have declared war, also those who are helping u in the role of what he described as "active non­ belligerency", will be kept informed of what the British , and Americans are doing Churchill had a ^ood time displaying his il ity in fencing with the newspaper questioners ADD L l MS-" ^ They asked hin v/hehlier Sinf^apore was nov/ the key to the defense of the Pacific. The Prime Minister replied that the key, as he saw it, is the resol'ution and courage with which American and British armies are throwing themselves [ ■ajt if into the battle. However, he added, geographically and A strategically, Singapore is very important. One point he made was a warning that people should not count on any crack-up in German morale. That, he ii B p said, would be a nice windfall, but we raustn*t expect it. |;|| There are no prospects, he declared, of an internalx% ^ While the Nazis have suffered a heavy rebuff in the Russian campaign, they still are in j'| j ao danger from shortages of war material. Their factories . ill have been ooerating and they’ve looted huge stores from ^he conuered countries. Somebody suggested that there was a catch in IV a K 5 Events in Washington were so momentous and exciting that they have taken precedence over the actual fighting. uf that v\ar Cepartment reported latethat the battle of Lingayen Gulf is growing fiercer ^nd that the Japanese invaders are making heavy attacks with light tanks to the south of Agoo. The communique adds: "Enemy airplanes have been particularly active in supporting- 9 landing and shore operatidns. American army bombing planes attacked several enemy troopships off l^avao with undetermined results." And the Communique "There is nothing to repcr^ from ^ other areas." But we ha^^e dispatches about other ^ areas from other sources. I'or one thing, help Irom the Dutch. The Koyal Netherlands Air 1orce claims to have hit a ten thousand ton Japanese tanker off Davao with a five hundred pound bomb. The tanker, WAH - 2 said the Dutch, caught lire. an American reporter telephoned the first dispatch from the American front at a point •k' i 1 just a quarter of a mile from the scene where American planes and tanks were "blasting away at the Japanese. Overhead while he was telephoning he could | i(! ill ii hear the drone of Jap«t©4^a planes.” Wf» have tanks,” jl he said, ”and tough seasoned Army forces both ii American and 1‘ilipino. Our. forces,” he adds, ”gave a good account of themselves. '^According to Maneuver reports three Japanese transports were sunk with a lx loss at* three thousand men. Perhaos the most spectacular news comes from Hongkong w'here the British are still fighting valiantly and are resisting the Japanese, who kx now have command of the entire Western hall of i s land .jn ow e v e r, the British add, in that Western y ; ar - 3 tyh0 r0 8 .r 0 still isolat0d British groups fighting for all they aro worth. There is also a report that the British sank two Japanese vessels. 1 i Meanwhile the advance guards of Chinese forces are [ moving to the relief of the British and have tsgkt fought their way to points forty and twenty-seven miles from tx Hongkong. Chungking says that guerilla fighting has broken out against the I Japanese at a point only fourteen miles from the^ slanc!.i3^ A communique from'Bingapcr e tells us that therebeen no change in the military situation in Malaya. But unofficially we learn that the long expected pitched battle maat any time along the British empire line three hundred miles north of Singapore. T?AKE ”1 |ii The Japanese have landed on Wake Island, bhe gallant i!! a garrison has ke-t them off until yesterday. A Navy communiquethere wa'? a strong air attack I in the forenoon of the Twenty-Second, which the marines I _ > ^ beat 0 f ^ ctown several enemy planes. But an enemy force effected a landing on Wake the morning of th e Twenty-Third. Of course this is the Twenty-Third 44v— /' A I but it's December Twenty-Fourth Christmas Eve , in the middle of the Pacific. does not mean ti I necessarily that the A communique says nothing of what has happened to the garri-on or whether the invaders were able to overrun I 't'he place, only a ddt on the map, about one ji souare mile, and could be tucked away in a small corner of Philadelphia or Boston. The Navy announced further that, USIS• "The Japanese claims of seizure of a large nuniDer of American !l -#1 ARIZONA,, Uncle Sam*s Navy released some historical photographs today. They were the official pictures of the battleship ARIZONA, sunk in the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor. In those photographs you can see the ARIZONA resting on the bottom, though a good deal of ^ her suner-structure is above water as well as the stern- i;!; ■1l= I gun-turrets and the stern mast. From the flag-staff ^ flies the Stars and Stripes. Naval experts, judging from the photogranhs, are now estimating that some of the eauipment and material of the ARIZONA may be salvaged. m M otg subma-ririG s.'t'tacKs off t/hG California coast. First a report from tho Twelfth Naval District headquarters:- the oil tanker LARFY DOHENY was shelled A at three o’clock in the morning. . But^the shelling wasn’t effective, the tanker docked at a town on the shore nearby. the fifth tanker attacked off California eo&-«4. since last Thursday. The event caused ouite a commotion around the picturesque old California cities in the neighborhood All the sheriffs and deputy sheriffs, and constables. in the neighborhood had a busy time answering telephone questions. The constable of one town declared that the noise of the shelling had continued for an hour and a h?lf, and it was heard as far off as a hundred miles away. The Twelfth Naval District reported that there railpoads ^ A Federal Director of Transoortation.' That follows the precedent of the last war. Only it s called "defense transportation." Presideritt Roosevelt today signed an order naming Joseph B.Eastman of the Interstate Commerce Ccrtnmission as Director of -■fe i flo ~ny rii 1^ rnnrriinntr the transportation needs of all federal agencies, also of private transportation groups. He will also direct the move of domestic traffic. Hi IfABOR The strike problem has been settled -- we hope, we hope, we hope. At any rate. President Roosevelt*s conference of representatives of labor and management has done its job. They agreed upon‘a plan v^hich, roughly A speaking, can be summed up in three points: First - no strikes, no lockouts. Therefore, Second - all differences to be settled by argument, peaceful means. and to that end}-Third - the President is to appoint a ^ar Labor Board to iron out all disputes. Such, in a nutshell, is the plan which was proposed by Senator Thomas of Utah, the Associate Moderator of the conf erence. ii TT yWl dUl This agreement come any too soon. Congressmen were beginning to get hot under the collar You will recall that already the House had passed the Smith Bill, a measure too stringent to suit labor. Y not at all to the te taste of theGovernment. The storm broke on the floor of the Senate h M LABOK - I whil^ the conference wss actually getting ready to make its announcement. Senator S1>yl-e-fr Bridges of New Hampshire arose to speak apparently more in sorrow than in anger, saying that he was discontented, disheartened and disillusioned by the failure of the conference to produce. And he added -- to read that they were on the point of a breakdown on the closed shop issue , with the country should not be brought up at this time* Then he criticized his colleague. Senator Thomas^ for offering in danger, was saddening to him. That issue, he a government plan which was rejected. While tiie Senator .was taking, the conference was in the throes of ^ A accepting the'i’homas plan. I^resident Roosevelt has a^epted the^ program a letter the proi of the conference without reservation^ami— congratulating the men upon what he called "tneir great Contribution to labor peace.” mmmmm I labor - 3 It was learned subsequently that the twelve representatives of labor had accepted the three point program without demur, but the men speaking for industry had insisted upon a fourth point, that the Board should have no jurisdiction over disputes about the closed shop. However, that was ironed out: the management side agreed to accept whatever decision Mr. Roosevelt would make upon that closed shop business. That’s about all -- and I haven’t enen mentioned Christmas shopping. Guess I’ll have to leave that to Hugh. II