excerpts from 'fools, drunks, and the united states': august 12 1941

8/2/2019 Excerpts from 'Fools, Drunks, and the United States': August 12 1941

1/36

(Excerpts from:)

Fools, Drunks, and theUnited StatesAuust !", !#$!

%arkham Sha& 'le

A apton ooks *istor Selection


2/36

Foreword

In Plain Tales from the Hills, in the story A Germ Destroyer,

Kipling wrote,

Once in every five years, as you know, we indent for a new

iceroy! and each iceroy imports, with the rest of his

"aggage, a #rivate $ecretary, who may or may not "e the

real iceroy, %ust as &ate ordains' &ate looks after the Indian

(mpire "ecause it is so "ig and so helpless'

)hat was in *+++' &or some forty years "efore that, the remark that

God or a special #rovidence- looks after fools, drunk.ard/s,

.children,/ and the 0nited $tates had "een, in one or another form,

common currency' It had "een attri"uted to all sorts of people, from

the #ortuguese diplomat and statesman the A""1 2orrea 3os1

2orreia da $erra- to, eventually, 4ismarck'

5one of the distinguished men on whom that 6uotation has "een

fathered ever said it' 5o one knows who first did' 4ut the point is

the same as the point of this work7 that it was "elieved to

encapsulate a profound truth, uttered "y some great statesman, and

it was treated as "eing "oth well8sourced and worth repeating'

#erception, not for the first time, drove reality7 especially political

reality'

&or that reason, it furnishes, I think aptly, "oth a theme, and the

title, of this "ook'


3/36

Theres good news tonight

August *9, *:;*, was a )uesday'

It was the feast of $t' 2lare, and, in Auschwitimilian Kol"e, was less than forty8eighthours from eternity, in the last days of his martyrdom'

?is life "efore the war had included a mission to 3apan' In

5agasaki, he had erected a monastery, on a site that was considered

"y the locals to "e geomantically inauspicious7 "ad feng shui,

fsui hsui- in 3apanese.

5one of this was in the American mind on August *9, *:;*'

On August *9, *:;*, Americans were "eing pulled slowly out of the

Great Depression' )he 5ew Dealers attri"uted this to government

programs and Keynesian economics' =en and women who had left

the ruins of Dust 4owl farms! the %erkwater, one8horse towns ofrural America in all sections and regions! the Appalachian


4/36

mountains! and the narrow, somnolent $outh, had a shrewd

suspicion, as they went to their saving swing8shifts at the factories

that were supplying the Allies with war materials, that there might

"e another reason' 5o"ody ever got rich working for the 222! "ut

@ockheed, say, was another thing entirely'

On August *9, *:;*, ?uey #' @ong had "een in his grave for

almost si> years' )he minister whod taken his funeral, Gerald @' K'

$mith, was striving mightily to take up Governor @ongs mantle,

and was in "ed with the $ilver $hirts and any other fascists and

white supremacists he could find' ?is taste for disloyalty and

sedition had already proved too stout even for the America &irst

2ommittee'

Badio had helped make ?uey #' @ong a national figure' )he days

of the Atwater Kent radio, with its elegance and higher prices, had

passed, and the 5ew Cork tone of national radio "roadcasts had

passed with it' )he )e>as 2ompany )e>aco sponsored the

"roadcasts of the =etropolitan Opera 2ompany, certainly, and

found them pulling a surprisingly large and varied audience' 4ut

grand opera and sophisticated "ig "and %a


5/36

physician to #riapus, Doctor 3ohn B' 4rinkley, 6uack,

demagogue, and all8around huckster, had "egun the era of the

"order "lasters, =e>ican "order radio, transmitting into the 0$

and clear to 2anada, at (BA, 2uidad AcuHa' Imitators had

followed #appy @ee ODaniel had "ecome governor of )e>as

"ased on folksiness, a career as the front man for a Eestern $wing

"and, flour8mill advertising, and the cunning use of "order radio

"ut (BA ruled the airwaves thanks to its having the 2arter &amily

as its lead act' Displaced and dispossessed Americans, lost in the

cities, uprooted, Eildwood &lowers taken from their native soil to

wither and die, could hear =other =ay"elle on the autoharp with

the turn of a dial, and go home again in memory' )o this day, the

=e>ican trumpets in Bing of &ire carry on the tradition that 3une

2arter 2ash im"i"ed as a young girl in Del Bio'

)he "ig "ands and Eestern swing Aw8haw, cried 4o" Eills,

and )ommy Duncan laid down a solo-, and country8and8western

music, were the demotic of American entertainment! and the radio

"rought to the smallest town the deeds and doings of sports heroes,

and the comedy of 4urns and Allen, 3ack 4enny, 4o" ?ope, =ilton

4erle, and deplora"ly Amos n Andy' #laces that had never seen

a vaudeville show or had a theater to host one could now hear the

old routines7 the train was now "oarding for Anaheim, A


6/36

)he 4igs, the $how, =a%or @eague 4ase"all, ended in those

years at the =ississippi7 $t' @ouis, home to the 2ardinals and the

hapless 4rowns, was as far west and south as "ase"all went' 4eyond

$portsmans #ark there was no "ig league "all' )he #acific 2oast

@eague was all "ut the 4igs, "ut it wasnt the 4igs, and any player

in the #2@ would take a pay8cut to have a cup of coffee in the 4igs'

)hree Di=aggios did and stayed' 4ut the inter8mountain Eest and

the $outh were 2ardinals 2ountry, thanks to the powerful signal of

K=O in $t' @ouis and the acumen of 4ranch Bickey7 these were

the days when, it was said, every small town had an AF# and a

2ardinals farm clu"'

Badio had come of age' It was "roader now in its appeal! and,

too, a wary government had seen to it that its rough edges were

smoothed off' &ather 2oughlin was off the air! &DB was

"roadcasting fireside chats instead'

)here were the movies, too! the movies, the shorts =errie

=elodies and @ooney )unes and the newsreels, with @owell

)homas mellifluence in full play' 4ut it was the radio that gave you

the news, As It ?appened7 scandal from Einchell and #earson,

gravitas from =urrow in @ondon and $hirer in 4erlin, and pep and

%ollity from Ga"e ?eatter' Ehy, you could go to church with those

crystals lined up %ust right, listening to =onsignor $heen, say, or

you could hear the sounds of @ondon as 4ritain stood alone and

"attle raged in the skies of Kent, you could listen oohhhhh,

Doctor to the Dodgers tearin up the pea8patch as Bed 4ar"er

called the gameJ'

)hat was somnolent, searing August in *:;*, with the rest of the

world at war, and that war very far away and as near as the signal


7/36

on the radio'


8/36

(from) Play ball!August *9, *:;*, was a tense day for "ase"all, as the standings

tightened or didnt in the last stretch' @efty Grove and Ga""y

?artnett were retiring' $tan =usial was a month from "eing called

up' ?al =anders made his de"ut as a reliever in the )igers loss to

?appy =ilnar and the 2leveland Indians, ; * at 4riggs $tadium!

=anders pitched one inning and gave up one hit and no runs'

Detroit and 2leveland would end the season tied in the middle of

the %unior circuits standings, 9 games "ack'

#hillies pitcher ?ugh =ulcahy had "een an All8$tar in *:;L' ?e

wasnt pitching now7 hed "ecome the first "ig league "allplayer to

"e drafted, on =arch +, *:;*' It was a different kind of call8up than

the call from the minors to the 4igs, and in the ne>t few years, a

heck of a lot of "allplayers would find that out' )ypically, the first

American @eague player to "e drafted having appealed his ;8&

classification was ?ank Green"erg, who refused to sit out a fight'

4ostons )ed Eilliams had raised his "atting average to over


9/36

;LL, "ack in =ay' &DBs average was dropping, as war fears and

isolationism "attled it out in the pu"lic mind'

On 3uly *M, 3oe Di=aggios hitting streak had ended at N

consecutive games' On August , the 2lippers streak of reaching

"ase safely in M; consecutive games was impro"a"ly ended "y

3ohnny 5iggeling of the Beverend 2harles hapless hometown

4rowns'

@ou Gehrig had died in 3une' )he 4a"e was dying "y inches'

4ut "ase"all went on' On August *9, *:;*, at (""ets &ield, the 5ew

Cork Giants "eat the 4rooklyn Dodgers 9 L in the second game of

a dou"leheader, having won the first game + N' 2liff =ountain

=usic =elton pitched a complete game win, giving up only three

hits7 one to the e>82ardinal Ducky =edwick and his famous "iceps,

two to scrappy 2ookie @avagetto' =ountain =usics fellow )arheel,

4urgess 0r6uhart Ehitey Ehitehead, the Giants second8sacker,

and Giants catcher Ga""y ?artnett, forty and playing his last

season, contri"uted the runs' )he Dodgers "ig hitters including

Beiser and 2amilli went hitless'

It didnt matter' Dem 4ums had lost their opener to the Giants

on April *N, too' On August *9, *:;*, the Dodgers were : : 9

at the end of play! the Giants, N* N9 9' )he Dodgers would go

on to win the pennant! the Giants would end the season 9NP games

out' #istol #ete Beiser would lead the league in "atting average,

triples, runs, slugging percentage, and total "ases, and "e tied with

2ardinal 3ohnny =i


10/36

In Eashington D2, the "ase"all $enators were on the road, out oftown, notching a rare win against the even more woeful

#hiladelphia Athletics, "eating them : ' )he Athletics were so

hopeless that even the $t' @ouis 4rowns finished a"ove them in the

A@ standings'

)he other senators, and their counterparts in the ?ouse, were

playing at home' It was the #resident of the 0nited $tates who was

wrapping up an away series, in the Atlantic waters off 2anada,

where he was in conference with the 4ritish #rime =inister'

)he Bight ?onora"le Einston 2hurchill the 4rits perversely

spelled that funny, with a u in honoura"le haunted the dreams

of certain mem"ers of 2ongress and their constituents, the way 4o"

&eller haunted the nightmares of "atters facing the Indians'

(very"ody knew who he was, had heard that incredi"le voice over

the ether, had read a"out him since the 4oer Ear' Depending on

where you stood, he was either the shining knight of freedom, or the

cunning @imey "astard who was going to get the 0$ with )hat

=an Boosevelts happy assistance into a foreign war that would

plow8under every fourth American "oy'

)here was a lot of inside "ase"all going on in Eashington'

)he fact was, in the year and a half since the 4ritish ?ouse of

2ommons had risen up against 5eville 2ham"erlain and there

was a man who, if he were a "ase"all team, would "e the 4rowns or

the Athletics or the Eoeful #hillies #hiladelphia really didnt have

much in the way of "allclu"s, come to think of it- in the year and a

half since #arliament had torn 2ham"erlain from his seat and put


11/36

2hurchill in charge, thered "een a right smart of oratory from the

4rits and their prime minister, and not a hell of a lot of success in

the field, so far as America could see' )he 5a


12/36

when you got down to it, nice, honest, democratically8inclined folks

a man could work with and trust' Its the same sort of attitude that

kept them out of Eorld Ear One until Germany tried to get =e>ico

to sta" them in the "ack, and out of Eorld Ear )wo until they were

attacked themselves' )he American icon is a Quaker painting of the

#eacea"le Kingdom "y (dward ?icks, and its always "een for the

sake of that vision that Americans have gone to war' )hese are

people, after all, who named first a pistol and then a missile the

peacemaker' Eithout irony' )he American capacity for self8

deception is endless'-

)he )welfth of August, *:;*, in the &rench $tate ichy &rance

was a grave day, according to =arshal #etain' ?e addressed the

nation and announced the program for what was to "e his fifth

government since the s6ualid collapse %ust fifteen months "efore'

.J/ @ong live &ranceR )his was a funeral oration, not a re"irth' And

it was the speech of, if not the murderer, surely an accessory, over

the corpse'

.J/ )he fact was, the $econd Eorld Ear "roke out at different

times in different places for different people' )he $oviet 0nion had

"een the )hird Beichs partner in the rape and dismem"erment of

#oland' )he German war machine would not have e>isted had the

$oviets not "een hand in glove with the revanchist Germans all

through the *:9Ls, "efore ?itler came to power, and the *:Ls

afterwards' )he 5$DA# and the KD# had tactically allied in the

Beichstag to kill off the Eeimar Bepu"lic! and the secret police of


13/36

the two totalitarian regimes had cooperated afterwards to kill off

Karl Badek, Eilli =Sn


14/36

(from) Whoops, Mr. Moto, Im a coee pot

4y August *9, *:;*, it was a staple of the American pu"lic

imagination that cunning little 3apanese were swarming like ants

all over Asia and $outh America and the #acific 2oast, "ent upon

serving their )ennT, their (mperor, "y fair means or foul' 3ohn #'

=ar6uands royalties were proof enough of the popularity of that

conviction, and his =r' =oto was referenced even in the always

popular 3ava 3ive that so pepped up a nation of coffee drinkers'

Eell, outside the iced8tea $outh' Its too damned hot for coffee in

Di>ie'-

4y August *9, *:;*, it was likewise a staple of the American

pu"lic imagination that the 3apanese couldnt put together a toy that

didnt fall apart, let alone "uild a fighter airplane, and were all so

"lind and "espectacled they couldnt see to fly one anyway'

Beality, as might "e e>pected, was entirely different' 2io82io

$an, =adame 4utterfly, wasnt waiting for @ieutenant #inkerton0$5 in 5agasaki' As for #ooh84ah, Ko8Ko and his little list, and


15/36

that most humane =ikado, well, the five ragged 2hinese infants of

$hanghai rendered homeless "y a 3apanese "om"ing, a haunting

photograph of whom is now in the photo archives of Cad ashem,

werent humming along with a smile'

)he (mperor ?irohito intended that his regnal name, the name

that would define his era, "e $hTwa' It meant, more or less,

enlightened peace' 4y *:;*, the $hTwa (ra, a time of war and

horror, had "rought criminal disaster to Asia and ena"led the end of

the (nlightenment in 2entral (urope J and would ena"le also the

$hoah'

(ven as the regent for his father, after his return from his Grand

)our of the =ysterious Occident, the young ?irohito had "een, in

his twenties, a modern "oy, in the model of (dward III, with a

Boaring )wenties style' )hat hadnt lasted! he was fundamentally

diffident, easily influenced, a shy fish8pesterer again like the

flaccid and inverte"rate future Duke of Eindsor, "ar the interest in

marine "iology the Duke of Eindsors intellectual interests stopped

at doing the 2harleston and lapping up deference-'

$tate $hinto and the 3apanese 2onstitution regarded ?irohito, as

his su"%ects regarded him, as a @iving God which didnt mean that

hed "e o"eyed, as there were any num"er of imperial military

officers who felt it the (mperors duty to "e a figurehead and not to

interfere in what was "eing done ostensi"ly to and for his greater

glory, as in the days of the $hogunate and its bakufu, camp

government "y the military' In one or two cases, it was very camp

government' Wakashud is nothing new in 5ippon'-

In 3apan, on August *9, *:;*, war and preparation for war and

rumors of war had "een a way of life for a decade' )hings had come


16/36

to this pass heres a how8de8do in 3apan as they had done in

Germany' )he worst, as Ceats might have put it, were full of

passionate intensity, and the "est were spineless' )he (mperor

might not "e a @iving God, "ut he incarnated his people and their

politicians pretty closely7 unwilling to accept the wider influence

and wilder claims of the nationalists and militarists, e6ually

unwilling to risk anything "y opposing them, and deeply unwilling

to miss a chance of "acking a winner if the militarists did manage to

run the ta"le'

.J/ And then, too, there was the undou"ted fact that Americans had

a mite of trou"le getting too lathered up a"out one yellow race

"eating up on another yellow race' )he Americans of August,

*:;*, were %ust a"out as >enopho"ic and casually racist as J the

3apanese' Anyone who thinks theres a dimes worth of difference

"etween the historic attitudes of Americans, Bussians, 2hinese, and

3apanese, could do worse than ask a Korean, whose people have had

to deal with all four'- $ure, lots of Americans regarded 2hina with a

sort of 6uasi8paternal affection, mostly conceived from a missionary

position, "ut 2hina wasnt the 0$, or Guam, or the #hilippines,

after all'

And that was another thing' ery few Americans who so much

as dwelt on the #acific and Asian fighting could credit the idea that

any "elligerent, let alone the 3apanese, would "e stupid enough to

get the 0$ into a shooting war' (ven the people who suspected that

&DB was shading American neutrality pretty far towards the Allies,

realiis "est "et was to keep that neutrality in place,

and not have to face American power overtly' ?eck, werent the

Germans, said )hose In the Know in official Eashington, "usting


17/36

their guts to keep the 0$ out of the warR And the 3apanese wouldnt

move without the Germans, would theyR .'''/


18/36

(from) This is "ondon4y August *9, *:;*, Americans had contracted the ha"it of listening

to the war news from a"road not least in hopes of keeping it news

from abroad.

(dward B' =urrow was "roadcasting from a @ondon at war! 4ill

$hirer had, until the end of *:;L, "roadcast from 4erlin' )he war

correspondents were glamorous, they were evocative and affecting,

everyone listened in J "ut "y August *9, *:;*, the war a"road had

"ecome, almost, a gripping, long8running, "ut ultimately distant

)hrilling Badio $erial for a goodly num"er of Americans'

Americans remem"ered the Great Ear sometimes all too well'

And they remem"ered what came out of it'

And there was this, too' &or several centuries now, Americans

had "een self8selecting' Immigrants in a nation of immigrants, they

tended to "e as they had "een since Kit 5ewport landed his

irginians8to8"e in the 5ew Eorld, a people composed of those


19/36

who, in the old country, had not "een so tied to the (sta"lishment as

to have no reason to leave, and not so feckless as not to dare to seek

and strive and find'

=ore recently, however, improvements in communications and

transport had meant that Americans could take their innocence

a"road and stay there if they liked' =any of those who, even half

a century "efore, would have provided the political center of gravity

for the pro8Allied cause, were already overseas'

$t' @ouis is where the 5orth and the $outh, the (ast and the

Eest, the settlement and the frontier, face one another, upon the

shores of =ark )wains "ig river' It was the land of the hapless

4rowns and the con6uerant 2ardinals, "ar"ecue and %a 4aer &uller, a place where the Grand @eader was a

department store, not a fuehrer! it was contradiction and conformity'

It was the "irthplace of 3osephine 4aker, who was now the toast of

#aris and committed to the Besistance! and of )' $' (liot, who was

now a 4ritish su"%ect "y choice, taking to its logical conclusion the

cultivated tourism of a ?enry 3ames'

And it was the namesake of the most famous airplane in the

world, that had "een flown from the 5ew Eorld to the Old "y the

most famous of aviators'


20/36

(liot had gone a"road and "ecome an (nglishman' 3osephine

4aker had "ecome &rench' And 2harles A' @ind"ergh, who shed his

cele"ritys luster on America &irst, had "ecome a worshipper at the

shrine of mystic Germanness,euts!htum'

It ran in the @ind"ergh family'

)he first @ind"ergh to arrive in America had "een a mem"er of the

$wedish parliament, evading an em"e


21/36

cover to America &irst in recasting the great struggle as one of the

Beich against 4olshevism-' Cet the American press, in newsreels

and newspapers and a"ove all in nightly "roadcasts, did not slack or

falter in "ringing home the desperate nature of the fight and the

incalcula"le importance of the stakes for which 4ritain and the

Allies were fighting'

On August *L, *:;*, the @uftwaffe had "om"ed =oscow in a

night raid, a 4lit


22/36

(from) The #arlem Fresh$%ir Ta&icab

'ompany

On August *9, *:;*, ?uey #' @ong, the Kingfish, had "een in his

grave for almost si> years' 4ut the Kingfish that lived in the pu"lic

mind was the character on 24$ "lackface comedy, the long8

running Amos n Andy'

@a &ayette, Ala"ama, on the Georgia @ine, is the county seat of

2ham"ers 2ounty' #at Garrett, the Old Eest lawman, had "een "orn

in 2ham"ers 2ounty ninety8one years "efore' )he arch8

segregationist former $enator from Ala"ama, 2otton )om ?eflin,

claimed @a &ayette as his hometown, although hed "een "orn in

@ouina, in Bandolph 2ounty, one county to the north of 2ham"ers'

It was the actual hometown, the "irthplace, of 3oe @ouis, the 4rown

4om"er, who had done his growing8up in Detroit, in no small part

"ecause of the sort of folks who voted for 2otton )om ?eflin' @a

&ayette was also the "irthplace of 2ongressman Arthur E' =itchell,

Democrat, who represented the &irst District of Illinois' ?e was

representing Illinois rather than Ala"ama in 2ongress "ecause he,


23/36

like 3oe @ouis, was an African8American, a term not yet really

coined and current in *:;*'

2ongressman =itchell was the second 5egro =em"er of the

?ouse of Bepresentatives to "e elected in the post8Beconstruction

era' )he first was 2ongressman Oscar De #riest, who had

represented the same district from *:9: to *:N as 2ongressman

=itchells immediate predecessor' 2ongressman De #riest had lived

to "ecome a =em"er of 2ongress had, very possi"ly, lived to

grow up and "ecome anything "ecause his family had had the

good sense to get the hell out of @auderdale 2ounty, Ala"ama, on

the )ennessee and =ississippi lines, when young Oscar had "een

a"out seven years old'

.'''/ After George ?enry Ehite, Bepu"lican of 5orth 2arolina,

left the ?ouse in *:L* as the last of the 5egro congressmen

elected in the Beconstruction (ra, it was twenty8eight years

fourteen ?ouse election cycles "efore another 4lack congressman

would serve' )hat he represented an Illinois district the @and of

@incoln was no surprise' )hat he was a mem"er of the GO# was

also no surprise7 Bepu"licans of "oth races referred with pride and

white $outherners referred with disdain- to the Bepu"lican #arty as

)he #arty of @incoln'

A depression, particularly a Great Depression, has "een known,

though, to wake folks up' 4lack Americans had "een, since their

enfranchisement, loyal to the Bepu"lican #arty7 if a 4lack man, or,

later, woman, could vote at all, that vote was an all8"ut lead pipe

cinch for the GO#' 4ut 4lack Americans werent fools' (conomic

hardship and &ranklin Boosevelts personal magic had worked on

4lack voters as well as upon whites! "ut it was more than that' Once


24/36

the spell was "roken, and the "loody shirt no longer waved, 4lack

voters acted on something theyd long noticed and they would

have had to have "een "igger fools than even the Klan thought

them, not to have noticed namely, that "etween *++ and *:L*,

thered "een two African8American 0$ $enators and twenty8one

4lack 0$ Bepresentatives, all of them Bepu"lican and every last

one of them from a $outhern state that was "eing Beconstructed'

)he Bepu"licans in the states that had not seceded had talked "ig

during and after )he Ear and during Beconstruction J "ut theyd

elected delegations to 2ongress from their own states that were

whiter than a "owl of grits' (very' Damn' )ime'

$o when Oscar De #riest came to 2ongress representing a

district in A"e @incolns Illinois, he was the first African8American

0$ Bepresentative since Beconstruction! he was the first African8

American 0$ Bepresentative from a state that hadnt "een part of

the old 2onfederacy! there wouldnt "e another African8American

0$ Bepresentative from Di>ie until *:M! and 2ongressman De

#riest was to "e the last Bepu"lican ?ouse mem"er who wasnt lily8

white until *::*'

.'''/ On August *9, *:;*, 2ongress was a"out to decide whether or

not to e>tend the term of the military draft' 5o one on the ?ill was

a"out to decide, de"ate, or if possi"le to think a"out, the

desegregation of the military'

4lack Americans who had left a $outhland where strange fruit

hung from the trees, who had sought the warmth of other suns, were

e>pected to fight for their country' 4lack Americans who had stayed


25/36

in the $outh were e>pected to fight for their country, also' Ehether

or not that country stood up and fought for them'

)he miracle is that they did' 4ut in August of *:;*, Eashington

was almost afraid to contemplate what might happen if they didnt,

and the slipshod intelligence services of the 0nited $tates were

waking up in a cold sweat over 5a


26/36

3oseph, and an editor of the Washington Post, "efore moving to

Eashington $tate and "ecoming the Bepu"lican Bepresentative for

the )hird 2ongressional District' Bepresentative 3ohnson had

com"ined in his person presidency of an overtly racist eugenics

association with the 2hairmanship of the ?ouse 2ommittee on

Immigration and 5aturali


27/36

(from) 'haplain (imIn August of *:;*, it was hardly possi"le to imagine that there could

"e, within the year, an Office of Ear Information, censoring here

and scripting there and assisting the 4lue 5etwork of 542 in

spooning out soap8opera pa"ulum for the ?ome &ront with advice

for service families from 2haplain 3im! yet there was already an

America eager for marshmallow uplift without too much of that old8

time religion'

In *:*M, most of the #rotestant mainline churches had "een

against American entry into war, at least until the Uimmerman

)elegram had %olted them into the sort of shocked and mournful

affront so common to the overly pious and 0nco Guid when they

reali


28/36

@eonidas K' #olk, 2onfederate $tates Army, 4ishop of @ouisiana,

and of the Beverend 4rigadier General Eilliam 5elson #endleton,

2onfederate $tates Army, rector of Grace 2hurch, @e>ington,

irginia now B' (' @ee =emorial (piscopal 2hurch, otherwise $t'

4o"s-' And 4ishop #olks and the Beverend General #endletons

old communion, the #rotestant (piscopal 2hurch in the 0nited

$tates of America, was pro8Allied in *:*M and indeed from *:*;

on7 and still the blood is strong, the heart is High #hur!h, and we in

dreams remain the # of $.

4y August *9, *:;*, the mainline churches as a whole were less

important in influencing whether or not their mem"ers were pushing

America &irst or 4undling for 4ritain' 4y August *9, *:;*, the

mainline churches as a whole were less important, period or for

Anglophile Anglicans, full stop' )heological li"eralism and the

elevation of social work over, well, the (levation of the ?ost, had

had their effects' An increasing num"er of Americans were

unchurched! an increasing num"er of Americans who werent, were

finding the post8Great8Ear @aodiceanism of the general uplift,

milk8and8water, lukewarm mainline denominations, insufficient'

America is always poised "etween apostasy and revivalism, "urning

out on religion or "eing set a"la


29/36

were going to find that Dr' $euss, &ri< &releng, and 2huck 3ones

were a little too accurate to "e funny when #rivate $nafu gets the

clap, loses all his pay, drinks himself to death, and passes

information to the A>is' All in a five minute short'

.J/ )here has never "een a port city, naval "ase, or army

encampment in human history that was not for that very reason a

center of gam"ling, whoring, and "oo


30/36

actual shooting war on' Its another thing entirely when the troops

are overseas, with no home to slip off to, to see $ally and the

children or check on the harvest' 4ut the American peacetime

draftee, stateside, is as independent as a hog on ice' &or one thing,

he is a citias, "eing $peaker of the ?ouse and the ?onora"le

2arter Glass of irginia "eing #resident #ro )em of the $enate, now

confronted that same pro"lem'


31/36

(from) Taint )nny, Mc*ee!On August *9, *:;*, every American citi


32/36

eugenics, that respecta"le form of racism'

On August *9, *:;*, in the land of li"erty where every American

citi


33/36

(from) The March TimeOn August *9, *:;*, sunrise came to Eashington D2 at 7*: A='

)he sun set at 7; #= local time in ?onolulu, ?awaiian )erritory7

*97; A=, August *, in Eashington'

On the (astern &ront, in #oland and the 0kraine, and in 4erlin,

the advance of German arms remained swift enough to create

annoyances for those engaged in cleansing the territories of $lavs

and 3ews and Boma' )hey were groping for a &inal $olution

already'

At day"reak, farmers were already rising and setting to their

August tasks from sea to shining American sea' On @ong Island,

potato farmers and spinach farmers were hard at work' In irginia,

to"acco planters were walking the fields as dawn "roke' In Georgia,

cotton and peanuts were carefully e>amined "y those whose

fortunes would "e made or "roken "y the years harvest'

)he swing shift in the factories had given way to the early day

shift'


34/36

And in Eashington D2, clerks and "ureaucrats were shaving

and having "reakfast and preparing to head in to work'

=r' $am, the $peaker of the ?ouse, Bepresentative $am Bay"urn of

4onham, )e>as, was an early riser7 a farming "oyhood marks a

man' ?am and eggs and "iscuits with cotton8"lossom honey, and

coffee all "ut straight from the pot, set him up for the long day

ahead' ?e left his rooms at the Anchorage 4uilding on Q $treet and

headed for the 2apitol'

)he summer recess, in a Eashington not yet generally air8

conditioned, no longer lingered even in the capacious 2ongressional

memory' )he day looked to "e hot and humid! inside the ?ouse of

Bepresentatives, and in the temper of the ?ouse, it looked to "e

hotter than the fires of ?ell'

Ehen =r' $am had "een a "oy, the 2


35/36

$elective )raining and $ervice Act of *:;L7 not "y much, "ut they

had managed to pass it, "arely, a few days "efore' 5ow it was up to

the ?ouse! which meant it was up to =r' $am'

.J/ 2ongressman 3ack U' Anderson, Bepu"lican of the (ighth

2ongressional District of 2alifornia, was one of the ma%or fruit8

growers and canners of the #acific 2oast! he would later "e one of

the firmest and fieriest advocates of 3apanese8American internment'

)he road to =anas delegation to swing

into line, and march to the sound of the guns like ?oods men at

$harps"urg' ?e felt, with less assurance, that most of the $outh was

solid' 4ut it was going to "e as close an engagement as any of those

in which the $peakers Bevolutionary great8great8grandfather,

2olonel George Ealler of the irginia militia, had fought at

Guilford 2ourthouse and then at George Eashingtons side, and

there was no assurance it would "e a victory to rank with that of

Corktown'

Draftees were still chalking O?IO in "arracks, "urning draft

notices, and, "y all accounts, inciting to riot and mutiny' )he

America &irsters and the 4undists were afoot' Isolation still gripped

many congressional districts, even where it might not grip those

districts 0$ Bepresentatives'

=r' $am cast his eye upon the ?ouse' )here was un6uestiona"ly

a 6uorum! and some of the leading doves were a"sent' It was time


36/36

to call the roll and count the votes, "efore the opponents of

e>tending the draft reali

excerpts from 'fools, drunks, and the united states': august 12 1941

Documents