liil^UNQCO^^MONDAY, DECEMRF.F | ] a^p GOOD EVENING EVERYBODY: While President Roosevelt was broadcasting last night. the Nazis were delivering one of their -fchey are gloating that Goering!s air force destroyed many of the most beautiful and historic spots in London, heritages that have made London famous. As one American correspondent puts it, he saw the London of Shakespeare and Dickens, of Oliver Goldsmith and Dr. Johnson, crashing around him in flames. jOne of the objectives achieved by Hitler's bombers was the five hundred year old Guildhall, t the city hall of the old city of London. The place where Lord Mayors were elected and inducted into office, also the scene of historic and gargantuan official banquets. Only,a stone's throw from St. Paul's. But, the cathedral miraculously escaped damage, although today' it was ringed around with fires. Four of the most famous , .. « r i-fttle more than blackened shells churches in the city of London are little moie churches with such picturesque names at St. Mary Aldermary, St. Lawrence,Jewry, St. Andrew by the Wardrobe. The last time they were destroyed was in the great fire of Sixteen Sixty-Six. Then they were rebuilt from plans drawn by the great Sir Christopher Wren Another church burned down was Old St. Brides, famous for beautiful wood carvings. Another old landmark, the Inner Temple, was gutted, t.:e Inner sample described by Chzrles Lamb as the most elegant spot -n London. Liftew'ise the garret where Dr. Samuel Johnson wrote his dictionary. Early today. Prime Minister Winston Churchill, walked down one street and up another, climbing over smoldering wreckage and wading through pdddles of v/ater. As the Prime Minister passed down one street, a woman called out to him nwhat about peace, Mr. Churchill? j In characteristic fashion he turned, walked straight up to the woman, looked at her a moment, then said: nPeace? When weWe beaten them.11 With that, he turned and walked on, and the rest of the crowd shouted Goold old Winnie, stick to it Winnie." Elsewhere a man cried to him. "They gave us something last night, didn't they V,inrn.e?" To which Churchill replied: "Xes, but we will give them something bade." As his tour of inspection ended, he turned, raised and stuck out his bulldog jaw. bis peculiar hat, LEAD - 3 The crowd of London cheered him wildly. And that's not official propaganda. It's what an American correspondent saw and reported. And, the Royal Air Force did give something back to the N^zis. While Goering's bomters were setting new fires in London, the British were dropping a torrent of bombs on the area of Germany around Frankfort-on-the-Main, an important industrial center. This followed a devastating downpour of explosives on the channel ports where Plitler's generals have been concentrating forces for an invasion of Britain. Royal Air Force bombers also paid another visit to Berlin and burned out the entire wing of one of the railroad stations* However, the Nazis declare that the fire was not due to } British bombers, but to a short cirucit. Another target for British bombers was Naples. Royal Air Force planes attacked in waves, hurling down both bombs and leaflets. GREECE German reinforcements In Albania. We-ve heard this yarn before. And it has come both as a prophecy and as a statement of fact. Indeed, many people have wondered why Hitler has not long since come to the rescue of his fond ally, Mussolini. Hitherto all such reports have been promptly denied in both Rome and Berlin. The one that comes to us today is from the frontier of Jugoslavia. It*s unconfirmed, but it goes into more detail than previous rumors. The yarn is that one complete German division has been disembarked in Albania, and that motorized units from Hitlers armies are on their way to Elbansan and Libras, north of the central front in Albania. This is backed up with another report that Nazi pioneer and engineer battalions have been sent to two other important key points on the principal Albanian high road. All of which, again, is unofficial and unconfirmed. PACIFIC Observers in the Far East believe that Hitler is about to execute a s troke to divert attention to the Pacific Ocean. He has been encouraging tne Japanese to push on south toward the Dutch East Indies. The report today goes further, that Nazi diplomats fiave been assuring the Japanese that Hitler will bring enough pressure upon Soviet Russia to protect Japan from any stab in the back in case they move into the south Pacific. This rumor is backed up by another from an American correspondent at the capital of French Indo'‘China. That place is full of reports that the generals of Nippon are planning an uprising, a coup d(etat in Thailand, meaning Siam. To be pulled off about the same time that the Japanese bring increased pressure to bear on Southern Indo-China. Military observers are pointing out that this might enable the Japanese to flank tj«e British base at Singapore. Also it would help to cut off assistance from the United States to the Chinese armies of General Chiang Kai-Shek. President Roosevelt got a pat on the back today from A1 Smith. Just one of the reactions of the President's history-making broadcast of last night. ^ - -- -----— All the reactions to the speech were not favorable. Interventionists today are cheering the president; isolationists are not. In i act Senator V/neeler of Montana is going to have his say in aniraportant broadcast tonight at hal£ past ten. Governor Smith endorses the Presidents defense broadcast as he put it "without qualification." It was "a courageous and straight-hitting speech," said Al. And he added: "The president certainly put his finger on it." Then he took a typical Al Smith crack at the various committees, including William Allen Whites group to "Defend America by Aiding the Allies," and Verne MarshallS "Ko Foreign v.ar Committee." Governor Smith used these words: "I kinda agree with the president and these organization ought to pipe down and quit 9 trying to run the country." Al wanted It strictly understood that his pat on the back for F.D.R. did not Include domestic policies. leaders in Congress, Republican Senator Ball of Minnesota said *r. Roosevelt's broadcast was a convincing strong and logical argument for aid to England, but he was sorry it did not give the public more facts on our present production and what it should be. REACTION- 2 And here1 s one from the isolationist side of the fence. Senator D. Wortn Calrk of Idaho describes the president’s address as calculated to lead the Americanpepple into war. Also that’s the view of Senator Arthur Capper of Kansas. Editor Willian Allen White of Emporia described the Presi­ dent’s broadcast as calm and magnificent, while Editor Verne Marshall of Qedai Rapids, (Dowa, labeled it as another American challenge to the j Axis powers. General Robert Wood of the America First Committee referred to it as virtually a personal declaration of undeclared war on Germany. I happened to hear the President's speech under somewhat unusual circumstances. Perhaps, worth describing because I imagine more or less the same scene was being enacted all over America, in the Southern hemisphere, in Europe, Africa, the Far East, Australia, Asia REACTIONS - 3 and the islands of the Seven Seas. I happened to be attending the showing of sorae South American and Alaskan film in an auditorium at the Lake Placid Club nere m tne Adirondack — along with a crowd of nearly one thousand people. The pictures were stopped, and loud speakers brought us the Presidents speech. There was a good deal of static which interfered witn the reception. And, the crowd included some hundreds of children. But, they all seemed to sense that it was a solemn occasion, and a speech of enormous importance. For that fullhalf hour, they sat without moving, hanging on every word. What about the man in the street? The United Press questioned people at random, stenographers, printers, policemen. painters, dairymen. Their response is quoted by the United Press was unanimously in favor of what the president said. Yes, unanimous. And what was the reception abroad? From the Axis powers the principal response came from Virginio Gayda, Mussolini s mouthpiece He wrote that this made President Roosevelt the leader of an undeclared war against theUnited States At Budapest, now another Nazi stronghold, the comment was that Mr. Roosevelt had contradicted himself by saying on the one hand REACTIONS - 4 and in the next breath launching a crusade against the Axis. The Anti-Nazi side,^-spokesman al for the British, said Mr. Roosevelt h^d delivered the most logical indictment of Nazi sm ever uttered. In Ottawa, a high official in the Canadian government Sait, that ^r. Roosevelts broadcast might quite conceivably be the turning point in the world struggle against Hitlerism. Down south, the press chief of the Mexican government said the President had delivered a serious analysis at the actual moment, not t rying to push his people into war, but proclaiming once more, that the democratic flag should be in the hand of every citizen. of every country in America. In Buenos Aires, a spokesman for the Argentinians said Mr. Roosevelt had made a frank and forceful summation of democracyfs case against the dictators. Meanwhile, what about the main object of the presidents target, the principal antagonists, the Nazis themselves? Not a word officially. The Nazi newspapers paid no attention to tne speeca. But the understanding is that the reply will come from tne highest quarters, meaning Hitlefc himself. Probably something dramatic. ■■i RfinSEVELT FOLLOW REACTTOM At tne Vihite House, it was announced that in one hour following Mr. Roosevelt's broadcast, more than six hundred telegrams and telephone messages had been received. All of them said Secretary Steve Early, applauded the presidento The next important bit of news from the White House concerns a luncheons— T'ie guests were Secretary Morgenthau of the Treasury and Arthur Purvis, head of the British Purchasing Commission. As they left, Purvis declared that the president* s plan to loan or lease war material to the British opened up a new chapter. But he added that he awaited the opinion of Congress. Reporters then asked him if there had been any discussion of having British merchant ships convoyed by. Uncle Samfs men-o-war. That question was inevitable after that sentence in Mr• Roosevelt’s broadcast in which he said specifically quote:- nemphatically we must get these weapons to them." Meaning England, Greece and China. The reply of Purvis was that he ted a great respect for American laws which he understood prohibit any conboy by American ships. Then ne explained that there had been no discussion of this with the President. Later in the day Secretary Morgenthau released an important ROOSEVELT FOLLOW REACTION - 2 BIT OF SEWS. The president's nronncoi +„ i_ p b 3 ProP°sal to loan or lease war materials to the Britisi* may be broadened to include the Chinese and Greeks, in fact any other nations defending themselves against agressors. Ihe most interesting part of the big annual winter ceremony here in tne Adirondacks the crowning of the King and Queen of Winter, was semething concerning a bob-slddder. in the Olympic Arena Jack Garren had placed a vacant chair with an empty bob-sled helmet. And they blew taps — in memory of Billy Fiske. Billy drove the sled when they won the four men championship of the world at St. Moritz in Nineteen Twenty Eight. Again in Nineteen Thirty-Two, at the Winter Olympics here at Lake Plaicd, he led the four man team. Recently, in England, flying as a fighting pilot, after shooting down nine German planes, he was wounded many times. He landed his disabled plane but it burst into flames. The end of a daring American Bob-sled Driver. This afternoon, in a driving snowstorm I witnessed a perfect Christmas scene. And, for a time I thought I had been transplanted back to the Far North, to Alaska where I spend a good deal oi time many years ago. This afternoon, in the snov/storin, I helped feed a herd of reindeer. And thereby hanfes a fantastic tale:- Dr. Philip G. Cole of Tarrytown, New York has a log cabin up here in the Adirondacks, and many broad acres at the foot of Mt. Marcy and Mt. McIntyre. A year ago he told me he would like to tfcy an experiment; raise reindeer. So I put Dr. Cole in touch with an old friend of mine, a man known as the eindeer king, Carl Lomen, of the Lomens of Nome. The result was that Carl Lomen sent a herd of reindeer and an Eskimo all the way dovm from Alaska. And now the reindeer are up here near Lake Placid. Dr. Cole, feorful that they migh« find it difficult to get acclimated, at least for a while , had special reindeer moss shipped down from the great tundra country, in the Far then, after he got the Arctic moss. Dr. Cole, to his amazeme . nn here in the Adirondacks. covered the same reindeer moss grew rig fppd reindeer moss to an And now Hugh you would a Qutomboile , would you?