Atlantis and Other Places (15 page)

April 25, 1942—
New York Times

“Gentlemen do not read each other’s mail.” So goes an ancient precept of diplomacy. But for some time now, the United States and Britain have been monitoring Germany and Japan’s most secret codes.

War Department and Navy Department sources confirm that the U.S. and the U.K., with help from Polish experts, have defeated the German Enigma machine and the Japanese Type B diplomatic cipher machine.

The most important code-breaking center is at Bletchley Park, a manor 50 miles north of London. Other cryptographers work in the British capital, in Ceylon, and in Australia. American efforts are based in Washington, D.C., and in Hawaii.

Purple is the name of the device that deciphers the Type B code. It is not prepossessing. It looks like two typewriters and a spaghetti bowl’s worth of fancy wiring. But the people who use it say it does the job.

Getting an Enigma machine to Britain was pure cloak-and-dagger. One was found by the Poles aboard a U-boat sunk in shallow water (not, obviously, anywhere near our own ravaged East Coast) and spirited out of Poland one jump ahead of the Germans at the beginning of the war.

Why better use has not been made of these broken codes is a pressing question. No administration official will speak on the record. No administration official will even admit on the record that we are engaged in code-breaking activity.

Only one thing makes administration claims tempting to believe. If the United States and Britain are reading Germany and Japan’s codes, they have little to show for it. Roosevelt dragged this country into war by a series of misconceptions, deceptions, and outright lies. Now we are in serious danger of losing it.

April 26, 1942—
Chicago Tribune

In a news conference yesterday afternoon, Franklin D. Roosevelt lashed out at critics in the press and on the radio. “Every time sensitive intelligence is leaked, it hurts our ability to defeat the enemy,” Roosevelt claimed.

As he has before, he seeks to hide his own failings behind the veil of censorship. If the press cannot tell the American people the truth, who can? The administration? FDR sure wants you to think so. But the press and radio newscasters have exposed so many falsehoods and so much bungling that no one in his right mind is likely to trust this White House as far as he can throw it.

May 1, 1942—
Los Angeles Times

Franklin D. Roosevelt’s popularity is sinking faster than freighters off the East Coast. In the latest Gallup survey, his overall approval rating is at 29%, while only 32% approve of his handling of the war. The poll, conducted yesterday, was of 1,191 “likely” or “very likely” voters, and has an error margin of ±5%.

Poll takers also recorded several significant comments. “He doesn’t know what he’s doing,” said one 58-year-old man.

“Why doesn’t he bring the troops home? Who wants to die for England?” remarked a 31-year-old woman.

“We can’t win this stupid war, so why fight it?” said another woman, who declined to give her age.

Roosevelt’s approval ratings are as low as those of President Hoover shortly before he was turned out of office in a landslide. Even Warren G. Harding retained more personal popularity than the embattled current President.

May 3, 1942—
Washington Post

In the first public rift in the Roosevelt administration, Vice President Henry Wallace called on FDR to establish a timetable for victory. “If we can’t win this war within 18 months, we should pack it in,” Wallace said, speaking in Des Moines yesterday. “It is causing too many casualties and disrupting the civilian economy.”

Wallace, an agricultural expert, also said, “Even if by some chance we should win, we would probably have to try to feed the whole world afterwards. No country can do that.”

Support for Wallace’s statement came quickly from both sides of the partisan aisle. Even Senators and Representatives who supported Roosevelt’s war initiative seemed glad of the chance to distance themselves from it. “If I’d known things would go this badly, I never would have voted for [the declaration of war],” said a prominent Senator.

White House reaction was surprisingly restrained. “We will not set a timetable,” said an administration spokesman. “That would be the same as admitting defeat.”

Another official, speaking anonymously, said FDR had known Wallace was “off the reservation” for some time. He added, “When the ship sinks, the rats jump off.” Then he tried to retract the remark, denying that the ship was sinking. But the evidence speaks for itself.

May 9, 1942—
Miami Herald

The toll of ships torpedoed in Florida waters in recent days has only grown worse. On May 6, a U-boat sank the freighter
Amazon
near Jupiter Inlet. She sank in 80 feet of water.

That same day, also under the smiling sun, the tanker
Halsey
went to the bottom not far away. Then, yesterday, the freighter
Ohioan
was sunk. So was the tanker
Esquire
. That ship broke apart, spilling out 92,000 barrels of oil close to shore. No environmental-impact statement has yet been released.

There is still no proof that the U.S. Navy has sunk even a single German submarine, despite increasingly strident claims to the contrary.

May 11, 1942—
Washington Post

Mothers of war victims killed in the Pacific and Atlantic marched in front of the White House to protest the continued fighting. “What does Roosevelt think he’s doing?” asked Louise Heffernan, 47, of Altoona, Pennsylvania. Her son Richard was slain in a tanker sinking three weeks ago. “How many more have to die before we admit his policy isn’t working?”

A mother who refused to give her name—“Who knows what the FBI would do to me?”—said she lost two sons at Pearl Harbor. “It’s a heartache no one who hasn’t gone through it can ever understand,” she said. “I don’t think anyone else should have to suffer the way I have.”

Placards read END THE WAR NOW!, NO BLOOD FOR BRITAIN!, and ANOTHER MOTHER FOR PEACE. Passersby whistled and cheered for the demonstrators.

March 12, 1942—
Los Angeles Times

The Navy Department has clamped a tight lid of secrecy over the battle in the Coral Sea (see map) last week. Correspondents in Hawaii and Australia have had to work hard to piece together an accurate picture of what happened. The Navy’s reluctance to talk shows that it considers the engagement yet another defeat.

One U.S. fleet carrier, the
Lexington
, was sunk. Another, the
Yorktown
, was severely damaged, and is limping toward Hawaii for repair. American casualties in the battle were heavy: 543 dead and a number of wounded the Navy still refuses to admit.