Radio transcript of Lindenwood College students debating whether or not the United States should join World War II.  circa April 1941

Anderson, Elaine Janet

Estes, Maurita

Felger, Dorothy June

Lindsay, Peggy

St. Clair, Mary Helen

English

Digital Commons@Lindenwood University

\'ffii T PART D • T TES PLAY I N TFIE WAR? Anderson. (b r eijks in a t end of announcer) I don 't agree with you at all. • t. Clair. Yell, f or one thing , we do agree t hat Araerica is in an awful mess. Just think what woul d happen to us if Hitler would wi n this war l Felger. foll, what would hap pen? I just get so fu rious with these hysterica l paranoids who keep screaming that once H1.tler will win the war, h e ·will immedi ately com.e over, bomb ard New York City, and t hen march up Fifth Avenue, mowing down t he p eople right and left, ooard t he New York Central and conquer the hinyerland as fast as a 20th cen t ury s~ream liner can carry h i m to the various parts of the country and as fast a s his super bombe rs can level cities 1 i ke ;-t. Louis to t he ground. St. Clair. Yes, Dotty, I agree. Ideas like t h ese are sheer hysterical nonsense. But, t here are many ways by which a victorious Hitler could make life pretty mls~erable for us. Felger. For i nstancel!l _!. Clair. Lots of for instances. Estes. ell, I should say sot! / Hitler co ul d easily put t he squeeze on / our countrv b v tightening economic ~/\ _____!L. screws t h e little tin-hatted mustachio d would-be on us, '':,! stirring up /\all Hi t l e rs ~to raise ca in\ in our country, p y taking over Latin Ameri can countries~and establ ishing oases t he re, and by provoking J apan ; o attack us. -2-Anderson. That's right, Maurita, if he could do all this, we'ed be ruined. But, could he do it, that is the question? ~ Sure he could, K~. If he ga ins control of El.l.ro pe /\,and all the European colonies, he can, first of all, block almost all our necijs-sary foreign trade and many of the raw materials so necessary for ~ A our industries ~ i,~aie~y b.e..,ome i:1.•u!..eeeaw.&.1:-e Then much of our bu sines s would be ruined and a serious depressionAmight ~ ~ ,, result. This woul d pave the way ~for little American would-be Hitlers, directed from Berlin, to :rmke a spirited attemptA to over-throw our government , and establish ano t her 11 Quisling farce ~ in its place . Lindsay . And Kay, if the a.xis could do all t his if victorious, it is almost certain t hat Hitler and Company would be a.ble to get a foothold in South America . Anderson. ~-,hy, Peggy? Please elucidate L Lindsay. Shucks, May, that's easy to explain. ~ince the very ex istence of several Latin American countries is dependent upon the ~uropean market, Hitler could easily ap ply the mast disastrous economie pressure on them. And t h e N·azis have always followed economic press ure with political pres sure. Anderson. (Some hat disgusted). But Peggy L nouldn I t our country do something to p revent this. I just can't feat ure our government just settling down to after lunch eon ;y awns like students in one o'clock classes and do nothing to fi ght the Naz is in their economic war . Lindsu. But Kay, can't you see that we would h ave little to say about it~ Remember, t h e United tates alon e can not and does not buy enough from some of the key countries of South America to save the economies of t he se countries . vve h ave a s urplus of many oft he same t h ings that t hese countries so . If Hitle r ls victorious , these countries will simply have to sell to Germany at her own price 0 .1.· else commit economic suicide . If Hitler ever gets an ec onomic foothold in Latin America , it vv ill b e a simple matter for him to tak e over poll tic al control of t h ese countries, es pecially since a large percent of t h e population of many ~outh American countries is pro-Axis . Felger. And listen, Kay, if Hitler ever g ets control of ~outh America, he will h ave posses s ion of some excel~ n t naval and air oa ses to use to atta ck t he United St ates. ~stes . The Nazis wouldn 1 t even h ave to get c ontrol of Latin Alnerica in or der to swin¥ club at us. h.p~rson . nhy? Don ' t be another one of those alarmi stsl Estes . y, have you ever read many of Hi t ler's writings? Anderson. vell, I 1 ve read some . ut I can t se e how this h as anyt h ing to do with the disc us sion at hand. stes. I t has plenty to do wi th it. Hitl er h a s many t ime /1 boasted in the pro p aganda which he has put ou t /\for people to consume At hat he_ \ csn produ ce a r evolution in t he LJn i t ed States any time h e wants to. .Anderson . Ylihj I'm gl ad you sa id boasted. Ti tl e r also boa ste d t ha t he 1 d be i n London by l as t J ul y lbth . Is he t here yetr No l l And I don 't see how h e coul d ever p roduc e a r evol ution in t he united .St a tes either. J Estes. Oh you don 1t, ( <>t. Cla ir. I do t o o , Kay, fjj,{j~j~p~j}~jj~,: -wins the war in urope. - 4-I think 1 t woul d b e qulte ea sy, if Hitler For years t h e Naz is have ~r epa red t he way 'l'he secret Nazi penetrat ions in Norv ay, France, Denmark, P~land, and other countries , did much to pave the way for the conquest of tho s e count r ies. These are also many secret Nazi o~gani zations in America today . Firs t of all , t he&e are t he openly pro-German orgm izations such as t h e German- American Bund, but much more dangerous t han such organizations are g roups that mas querade under some high sounding patriotic American narae . Linday. ~uch a s, for example? t. Clair . ell, it has been estimated t hat t here are over 800 such or gan i z8_t ions in the United St a tes. All of' t hem are vl olen tly anti-Semitic , allegedly bittefly anti-communist, and, although, for propaganda purposes, t h ey find it umvise to admit it, very anti-democracy , and, in my op inion, certainly dec idedly anti-.Ame rican. Felger. That's ap palling 1 lhat are t h e n ames of s ome of t hem? .St. Cla ir. Well, some of them fre quently include the names nchristian, 11 "Liberty, 11 and 11 American I in their t itle. I frequently get qu i t e SLlSpicious when I see t he name of an organizat ion with such words in them, although, to ~e f a ir, we mus t admit t hat many l egi timate and patriotic organizab ions al so have s uch names in their titles . Anderson . Yeh l But Mary Helen, you still haven ' t g iven any s pecific n ames. -5-t. Clair. Ah shucksl Some people alway s try to pin me down, but I 111 forg ive you this time. I mean such g roups as t he Knights of t he :silver ~hi r ts, the Knights of the wh ite Camelia, t h e Christian Fr ont, the American Mobilizers, and American Patriots, Incorporated, and-----. j\ l!istes. Oh stopl That's plenty. I don 1 t want to hear any more. nhenever - - t r I do it simply makes my 0lood boil. Felger. I t does min e, too, Maurita. Hut come, t h e way American op inion ls now opposed to fascism, I don't see h ow t hese organizations can ever become dangerous. • t. Clair. Probably not right now, Dotty. But don't forget t h at a r ut h lessly organized and armed minority, no matter how small, can cause cons ideraole trouble. Remember, t he .t'.lolsh evist party only numbered 100,000 in a population of 180,000,000 at t he time t h ey took over congrol of the Russian government late in 1917 . Lindsay. Then, too, although tllB membership in t hese organiza tionti is now quite small, what would happen if the Nazis won in Europe. Nothing wins more easily than success. If the Nazis win, I'll stak e my reputation on p redicting that in a very short time the membership of our American f ascist org ro izations 11• ould -increase by leap s and bounds and that all t hese organiza tions woul d suddenly leap out from t h e da rk to try to impres s t h ems elves upon the public mind. S t. Clair. Yes, J:eggy, an d if Germany could produce a bad economic crisis in this country, all sorts of reasonaole p eople, int he depths of des pa ir, would make a mad r u sh to join t hese organ izat ions. The dep ression di d a lot to help the Nazis to get control of Germany. -6-Es t es. Yes, t h at 's possiblel But while we 1 re taltlting about t he se "ifs 11 we're forgetting about another way I ment ioned in which t h e Nazis coul d make it 1 hot" for rn if they in in Europe. I think it's much more important than what we 1ve just b e en talking about. Lindsay . Sorry, Maur ita, but we've b l abb ered about so many t h ings since t hen t hat I 1m afr ai d I I ve torgot ten ~vhat it was. Estes. Tushl '11hah l Peggy l ~d here I thought it ·was so importantt ... Wel l , although I'm almost broken-hearted, I 111 forg ive you and the It 1 s/danger~that Germany may get Japan to - '! ~ and mention it anyway. at tack o • interests. -Fel ger. ,hy Jav an could never sail acros s t he Pacific Ocean and attack u s I Estes. Of course not, at least not at first. I didn't mean t nat . But Dot, we 're dependent upon the Dutch and eritish East Indies for almost all our rubber and over ninety percent of our tin. If J apan takes thi s over, whe re will we be? And how would we ever be able to defend the Philipptnes? Felger. ell, what goo d are t he Philippines to us anyway? Este . I f the ~ anese woul d ever attack them, try to convince most AnBri cans of that. Then , too, if Germany/\,could get bases in Latin Arner ic9;\and control of the British fle and be able to putAt he Panama. 6enalf\ out of comm ission, a joint invaslon attempt /)against the United State (\ from all t hese di rect ions/\ could b e very dange r ous . Felger. Yes , Maurita, I guess t h ere is a pos sioil ity of ~hi s, but it seems to be a danger so far in t he f ut ure dependent upon so many 11 ifs. n E~tes. (excitedly and gisgustedly1. Yes, Dottyl But Baldwin and Cham-berlain, and t heir contemporari es f\...in al 1 Europe , also said th~t '\ beg innin g way oack in 19o3 (:hen t he Na~is firs t ueg~ to - 7-to rearm Germany un t il l ate in 1908 , after the Naz is has crush ed ' --Czechoslovakia. was too l a te. By the time~the British governmentl\saw t he light, it Until 190 th e Bri tish and Frenc could probaoly have prevenw ed war by standing firm . After thei r failure /2to make a stand over Austria and Czechoslovakia, a l ong var ,.,1th the odds ~ against them roved to be inev itable. 'Ihe Nazis have always planned t heir moves l ~ng ahead. Isn 1t there a grea t dange ~ in t heir doing i t r gainst t h e United ,States Awhile we are also s l eeping~ in a oed of "ifs.n Anderson . I ce rtainl y don't think t hat t hat's t h e danger for America . Our dang er is the opposite: that we'll get so h·ysterical t hat we 1 11 pl unge into an unnecessa ry war, or t hat we'll antagonize Hitle r even mor e t htµl we already have and force him to declare • .. ar on us. Lindsay . But Kay, we're already in the war in a moral and economic way . • e 1ve al ready t urned over bO over- aged destroyers, guns, merchant marine, etc. to Great Hr i tain. e 1ve frozen the credits of countries ove r r un oy t he Nazis and kept much of our navy in the Pacific to warn J apan to oehave. we 've sent England a lot of airplanes and othe r mat e r ial to England, for cash of co urs e unti l recently, and now we've passed t he Lend-Lease Act and pppr opriat ed 7 billion dol lars to make it effective. lt'elger. Yes, l'eggy, but hasn 1 t t he extent of our aid b een exaggerat ed . Lindsay. Yes , Dotty, I oe lieve it has. For i ns tance , although s i nce t h e very beg inning of t h e wa r some en t husias t s h ve talked aoo u t 'j.¢jv;¢i.) ten s of t housands of p l anes to England, my records show that by t h e end of Febr uary of t his year we had onl y sent about 3 , 00U p l an s to England . .t3ut t h is aid is con s t antl y inc reasing , and by J une of this year , I am t ol d , it is hoped t ha t about 800 plans wi ll oe sent a month . - 8-Anderson . Yes , but look at all t h e help we have p romised England in t h e lend- leas e a ct. We h aven 't even asked f or cash here -- just that a f ter t h e wa r t h ey g ive us thi/4r , an equal amount o f other ma t erial back . nd wur Congres s han already ap r ropriated 7 , OOO , OOO , OOO . OO to carry t h e ac t into e f fec t . That' s a treme ndous amount of mone y to sink into a forei gn war t h a t doesn ' t concern us ! Lindsay . But Kay , you ' re fo r getting t h a t wars cost a lot of mone y , and that , f urth ermore , ver y little of the ·ood s pr ovided for in t h e qct h s y e t been delivered . Lack of p lann i~g , strikes , sh or t age s and bot tle -necks h ere a n d t h ere , and so forth , h a ve s lowed down ou r d e f en se ~r ovram cons i ~erab ly . elger . at can we do to speed up t h e flow of t h is mate rial aid to Britain a nd he r a llies , notably Greece and Yugoslavia , wh ich ri gh t n ow n eed every b it o f aid they can p oss i bl y g et? Lind say . ell , for one thing , we can outlaw strikes and lo ckouts . S t . lair . Hold on , Peggy ! I f we don ' t watch out h ere , isn ' t t h e re a chanc e t ha t labor mi gh t l ose a l l t he g ains it has made in the · ast ten ye a r s . Lindsay . Perhaps , but I w~nt to add that management too mu st be b rou gh t to l ine , and , I would say , see t h at labor ge t s a fair wag e to enable them t o stand t h e increase in the c o"'t of l ivin g . Labor and manag ement must , h owever , simply g ive u p t heir petty squabbles and buc k le d own to work , or t h ey mi ght both lose eve r y t h ing . St . Clair . Yes, Peg y , we must s p eed up our production of war g oods as fast as pos sible if Eng land , Yugos l a via, Greece , and Ch ina will not g o down , but I t h ink we must do more too . We must either send some of the GOOds in our own ships , convoyed by our warsh i ps , or else we simply must g ive En6 land more of ou r n a vy and merchant marine . Th e rate of submarine sinking of Br itish g oods is ap palling . I ~ Br i tain ' s ... 1 0 i 'I 1 1 • • , . . )• t t • • • - 10-~ • I cer t ainly d o agree with ou t he re , ,1a r y He l e n . ~ e I ve cormni t ted our selv es t o help i ng r i t a in , and I don ' t pos s i b l y 0 e e h ow we can af f or d t o l et ritain g o down with ou t dra stic consequence s for ourselves . Ander son . You d on ' t mean to say you d go s o fa r as t o ~u~p~~ advi s e u s t o g o t o war if t ha t ' s n e cessar y to k e e p En gland f r om losing . Felger . I ' m af r a i d I have to to be consis ten t , Kay . Bu t, a s wa s said be f ore , I think i f we giv e Br itain a +l our naval and e conomic aid , we -won 't have to g o t o wa r . Hitl er will cra ck up . Lindsay . I t h ink so too , but , gosh , we ' r e taking an awf u l chance , Dot t y . St . Cla ir e Yes, I know we a re , but I t hink that cons i der ing all the awful consequences t h at may possibly h a ppen , we 1 ve s ot t o take t hat chance . nderson . I t hink war is so h or r ible we s hou l d try anything , even a ppease Hitler rath e r than to run a risk of g etting into the t h i ck of t h e fi ght . ' Estes . ( exc itedlJ and suddenly) hy , Ka: .flaer son , ~ onestly , that ·µ. ') A ~ _, -1Weks me .- Tha t ' s j u st positively terrio le - - those i d eas . fuy--I --St . -Clair . Hold-;;· your hor ses , fauri t a . ~ i3-~~*iHtrt-~-~ Shucks , her i d eas and our i d eas won' t get us anywhe re an ,ow. r guing like this is a lot of fun , but my ·osh , kids , I ' ve g ot t o wr ite an Eng lish paper . I 1m leavin . Fe l ger . So am I . Anyhow , I ' ve ot to study my reli ious p s ch course . I h aven ' t crack ed a book i n the re f or we eks . Goodby . "R tes . Guessve ' l l al l have t o be oing . oodby . 11 . Go odby , eve ryb dy . 

What Part Should the United States Play in the War?

https://digitalcommons.lindenwood.edu/context/university_docs/article/1074/viewcontent/1941_radio_transcript_of_student_debate_regarding_Nazi_Germany.pdf

What Part Should the United States Play in the War?

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