UNO CO THURSDAY. HOVEMBFJj 23- . ■ GOOD EVENING EVERYBODY: It's always appropriate to begin a broadcast on Thanksgiving Day with something suitable to the feast of gratitude. This year, however, wha^s Thanksgiving Day to some is not Thanksgiving Day to others. The nation is pretty evenly divided on whether or not to celebrate today^ proclaimed by the President - or next Thursday, today. the customary day. Twenty-eight states observed Five of these will also do the same next Thursday. Theyfll have two Thanksgiving Days. Twentyare ignoring the presidential change and will eat their turkey on the customary last Thursday of the month. And thtwitu umplikoatod at^oneomannittoe, and oaimtlopj filiiulioner "way For my part, ITm not taking sides. 1*11 celebrate both days. 1*11 have Thanksgiving Day turkey tonight and also next 7 ^ Thursday night, As&t I’ll take occasion right now to make a Thanksgiving Day reflection, and I>n do the same next Thursday evening- 5ven Stephen. 6 ^ <UJ/rJU ' ” LEAD - 2 So here goes;- we Americans have every reason to be thankful to Almighty God that we do not figure in the news which I am going to recite right after this - the war news MINES. ^ Last night we heard of something startling in the war on the sea — magnetic mines. Tonight again there is something new in the blowing up of ships by charges of high explosives. From London comes word of — parachute mines. British Naval men are saying that the recent reign of terror rm frHft can 4.,).- -A------- r- ^>nn n T D I I if 1111 I jj Hlll^1J~ II of a German war plane flying low along the estuary of ijc® the Thames. That seemed odd — hbxx no apparent purpose. Last evening I said it must have been sheer bravado by some fool-hardy Nazi aviator. But listen to this, an eye witness aJhrvCt~~ account that comes today, telling that same German war bird. A "The plane was so close” says the English eye-witness nthat I could see the silhouette of its occupants heads against rjie dim jfcight in the cockpit. I saw it f3 ;ing about fifty feet a over the water about a hundred yards from shore. I has been the work of two new iiKE devices magnetic mines and parachute mines This ties in with fete® story we had last night — A into the water as the plane passed me.” saw something splash MINES -g Another eye-witness, A British Naval Lieutenant is still more specific, "Two objects fell from the plane into the sea," said he, "and I thought bombs had been dropped." ic And he adds,* today that U» learned they were i. mines with A parachutes attached to them? This is followed by a report from London that one of the parachute mines was later found floating on the surface. It was exploded by rifle fire and water shot one huhdred feet into the air as it blew up. British naval experts say that the airplanes dropped S parachute bomb either as an experiment to see how theyfd work, or — as the beginning of a systematic campaign of mine dropping. What about the parachutes attached to the huge kmm bulbs of high explosives? The London statement is that the parachutes dissolve In the water, t leaving the mines f”ee oi any encumbrance. This statement adds that the mines thereupon sunk to the bottom. That could only mean that they must be the magnetic mines about which we heard last night the bulbSof explosive so magnetic tnat they are attracted by the steel of a ship and rise to the surface and strike the jfc ii MIMES - S 4 ; - vessel and explode. Stories from London would seem to indicate that the magnetic mines are laid in two ways — by submarines, and by airplanes, the parachute way^ fin All this deadly work in the ship lanei^aSfjEi^off the east coast of England and in the estuary of the Thames, the port of London. More ships were sunk today, terirffg&tig *r-i 1 it *' I■(itTTl-up"-tor- Lf|Ui1 *.j yi —wa^j-try And, hebe*s the latest. The British Admiralty announces the loss of a mine sv/eeper sunk by an explosion. Sha It hit a mine — bringing the total up to twenty-three. Willi.. WAR AVIATION It was a bright day on the Western ICront, clear skies - and that made it ideal for air fighting. The German flying force was unusually active - winging over for photographic observation - and for sky battle. The Allies announce they shot down seven Nazi planes. The Germans announce they brought down five. There's one novelty inAthq^Gbnp^rr-^nriorm7Tqinre»t~^->. the use of cannon. The Germans report that they blasted Allied planes with machine gun and cannon fire. Of course, we've heard of ISSii heavier type of gun mounted sky fighting craft - a A ^ especially here in the United States. ' But this is the first time that Western Front air fights have featured the use of^guns large enough to be called cannon. Hitherto.itbeen machine gun battling JK ' iL /- I FRANCE„ War supplies are being rushed to the Western Front — three thousand footballs, the kind the French kick around when they play soccer. The war on the ground has become so dull that the soldiers are in danger of being bored to death. Hence the urgent consignment of munitions of war — three thousand footballs ROUMAHIA The Cabinet of Roumanla resigned today, but cabinet resignations in King Carol !s realm are not so unusual as to make headlines. Today's event in Bucharest, however, is interpreted with relation to the war. The Hitler Government has been making increasing demands for Roumanian supplies to make up for the merchandise cut off by the British blockade. There1s a German enuoy in Bucharest right now, pressing the Hitler case. The report is that the Cabinet refused to accede to the Nazi demands, and so resigned. The latest is that King Carol has asked the veteran statesman, Tatarescu, to form a new Cabinet, and tonight Tatarescu is trying to line up ministers* The interestSng thing about him in the present juncture,is that he's reputed to oe pro-French • So London and Paris are cheering. BOMBING In Germany, the beer cellar bomb plot story takes a new turn - an American mentioned in the ramifications of conspiracies against Hitler. Two years ago, there was something of an international stir when a Jewish youth named Helmuth Hirsch was executed for an attempt on the life of the Nazi Fuehrer. The international angle lay in the fact that Helmuth Hirsch was technically an American citizen. The United States Embassy interceded for him, but in vain. At the time, there was plenty of mystery about the plot. The Nazi authorities gave little information in the case of Hirsch. But today Hitlers own newspaper in Berlin g comes forward with elucidation. It declares that tn^^American was connected with Hitler*s arch enemy, Otto Strasser, and that his plot was part of the scheming of Strasser*s flack Front. This of course ties in with the charge that Strasser and the Black Front schemed the recent beer cellar explosion, which narrowly missed killing Hitler. So tonight we are told that the two things are of the same pattern - the attempt of the American citizen to kill the Brown Shirt Dictator and the bombing of the Nazi beer cellar shrine in Munich. BOMBING - 2 It all puts increasing emphasis on Otto Strasser and the Black Front - and here we encounter an amazing story, plot m and counter-plot in the affairs of Hitler and the Nazi Party. There were two brothers, Otto and Gregor Strasser. Both were among the original Nazis, the earliest and most fervent adherents of Hitler. They were intellectuals, idea men in the formation of Nazi theories. Otto Strasser, in particular - is said to have been the thinker aradxnTwmlmtxiJUE who created much of the Nazi ideology which Hitler adopted. The two brothers were among the closest comrades and co-workers of the Nazi chieftain, helped mightily in Hitler1s rise. This was so until Hitler made his much debated deal with the financial powers of Germany. The Strasser brothers opposed the deal - Otto in particular. He was the leader of the Nazi extremists, the most radical faction. When he said "National Socialist", he meant mostly "Socialist ," He opposed the deal^gth 'lim i lliahCittiT1 puwoiu au strenuously that it came to a showdown with Hitler - and Otto Strasser was tossed out of the Nazi Party.w*d Later^went into exile, but he still kept the leadership of an extremist group both inside and BOMBING - 3 outside the party - the Black Front. Meanwhile, his brother Gregor remained loyal to Hitler, and was a dominant figure in the intrigues that led to the Nazi mastery of Germany. The strange story of Gregor Strasser is told in jjt recent book, "I Knew Hitler", S xxxmx I a former comrade of the Brown Shirt Dictator. Hindenburg was then President of Germany, and there was a scheme to form a ministry out of a combination of Nazis and other conservative groups. Hitler insisted that in any such combination he!d have to be Chancellor, though it was known that old President von Hindenburg didn’t like Hitler one bit. Two representatives went to see him to talk him into the plan. One, was Gregor Strasser, representing Hitler and the Nazis, ®adThe other was General von Schleicher, Germany^ foremost political general - representing military and other conservative groups. The two saw von Hindenburg, and laid their program before him. Hitler to be Chancellor. The response of the old warrior was thundering, "I give you my word of honor as a Prussian general," he roared, "that I will never make this Bohemian corporal Chancellor bombing - 4 of Germanyl" That was devastating - a dig at Hitler's humble rank during the war and at his being an Austrian. Gregor Strasser and General von Schleicher. Strasser duly reported it to his chief. Hitler. Von Schleicher told it around Berlin as cynical gossip. Later, both Gregor Strasser and von Schleicher broke with Hitler. This was shortly jrffc before the Nazis took Hitler wiped out so many of his old comrades. Among those killed was Gregor Strasser and General von Schleicher - the only two who had heard von Hindenburg make the crack about the Bohemian corporal. With the killing of his brother, Otto Strasser wa redoubled £& his hatred for Hitler - embittered and vindictive. as a secret element opposing Hitler. And now - the Nazi declaration that it was he and his Black Front who plotted the beer cellar Only two men besides Hindenburg knew of the insult - Hitler Chancellor. A year later, came the Nazi blood purge in which In exile he intensified his underground work build up the Black Front inside of Germany, BOMBING - 5 IK 7 bomb explosion. And also— the attempt by the American citizen, Helmuth Hirsch, to assassinate Hitler. ttsa In Germany the Gestapo,^secret police, is drumming up a violent campaign against Strasser and the Black Front -^shreiking thas they are conniving with the British Intelligence §ervice for the destruction of Nazi Germany. There1 s a witch-hunt on for the Black Front followers of Strasser, who, it is claimed, are working in the Nazi Party and even^the Gestapo.^/ It reminds one curiously of another similar combination Stalin and the Ogpu on one side, and Trotzky and the Trotzkites on the other. Remember the savage Stalin blood purge directed against Trotzky followers in the Communist ranks - Trotzky the companion of Lenin and one-time commander of the Red Army? Well, it looks as if Hitler and the Gestapo might be following the pattern set by St0!!*1 an<^ with Strasser as the German Trotzky qUAXB Here s a seismological observatory that certainly does break detecting into tne news — the Harvard station for Awd’frgm'fcTrand recording earthquakes, where the seismographic-needle charts the shocks on a roll of paper. There was an earthquake today, and did the Harvard seismologists get it? No - that wouldn*t be news. They missed the earthquake. The quake wmrvtA occurred at the exact moment when the scientists were changing the roll of paper in the seismographic machine• Every day, they put in a roll on which the needle records. Today, they had just taken the old one out, and before they could get the new one in - the quake occurred. The needle shook violently but registered nothing. The quake in question occurred in the middlewest, but it dicing amount to much. Kansas City reports that slight shocks were felt in western Missouri and eastern Kansas — just violent enough to^rattle the dishes and make the furniture move. At Loyola University, where they were not changing the rolls on the seismograph machine, the needle recorded two shocks, ten seconds apart. The recording instrum^J-ndicates that they zen seconds apar Caus<r dislocations far down in were shallow, not tne deep Jsma tne earth# President Roosevelt is celebrating Thanksgiving in high style today - it would be ironical if he didn*t. itfr^changed the customary date and proclaimed today as Thanksgiving Day* karlf-tho-eountry-egnees with him, twenty-five - stat giving—twenty-three aor4'>—they- ppefey^4.ng -the - tradit-ional observanec -and wilt^4av At the Warm Springs Foundation, dedicated to the fight : 1 I! HI f :i ii against infantile paralysis, the President is presiding at a a turkey dinner tonight* The presidential guest of honor is^blue—eyed little girl from Frankfort, Kentucky. The doctors have Just allowed her to sit up in a wheel chair - shefs improving. Ninety little patients drew straws for the privilege, and Ann Smithers won - won the privilege of being the presidential guest of honor. So F.D.R. celebrated his own particular Thanksgiving Day in appropriate style, but it wasn't unanimous, even in the Roosevelt family. At Fort Worth, Texas, Elliott Roosevelt had a plain, ordinary dinner today, maybe Texas pork chops and corn bread. He announced that he'll do his thankful dining next Thursday, the older date. This - even though Texas h is observing both Thanksgiving days. CfiOUCH What is to be the significance of February Twenty-Ninth? It will be - National Grouch Day11, if Willard Rogers of Hartford, Connecticut, has his way. Hefs the President of the Grouch Club, which has recently been formed. He celebrated Thanksgiving Day by announcing that a resolution will be introduced into Congress to dedicate February Twenty-Ninth to the grouches of America - a day for us to celebrate by expressing our favorite grouches. Well, I must confess that X have a favorite grouch. It's against the dedicating of days - like nGrouch Day.n