Mark Scott Smith's Blog: Enemy in the Mirror, page 125

Are We Hard-Wired For War? – NY Times

There is a story, believed to be of Cherokee origin, in which a girl is troubled by a recurring dream in which two wolves fight viciously. Seeking an explanation, she goes to her grandfather, highly regarded for his wisdom, who explains that there are two forces within each of us, struggling for supremacy, one embodying peace and the other, war. At this, the girl is even more distressed, and asks her grandfather who wins. His answer: “The one you feed.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/29/opinion/sunday/are-we-hard-wired-for-war.html

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War Clouds Over America – November 1941

Storm clouds of war

 

“A great deal is heard these days about the “morale” of the average man. Some ardent interventionists point to the apparent lack of enthusiasm about the war and cry that something must be done to get people excited. Isolationists advertise poll results which show that only one out of every five persons wants to go into the war now, and accuse Administration leaders of dragging the great majority down a path it does not want to follow.”

Hadley Cantril, Director Office of Public Opinion Research

New York Times November 16, 1941

 

 

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Allies Out of East Asia – November 1941

 

Okinori Kaya

TOKYO – Going beyond cautious and flexible formulas employed by both Premier Hideki Tojo and Foreign Minister Shigenori Togo, to the effect that Japan’s policies aim at a successful conclusion of the “China incident” and the establishment of  “a greater East Asia co-prosperity sphere,” Finance Minister Okinori Kaya declared yesterday it was also Japan’s aim to “force Britain and the United States to retreat from East Asia.”

New York Times

November 11, 1941

 

 

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U.S.-Mexican Relations – November 1941

 

Presidents FDR and Avila Camacho

In the months leading up to American involvement in WWII, strained relations with Mexico were under repair. In November 1941 Mexican President Avila Camacho and FDR  reached an agreement in which Mexico agreed to settle American agrarian claims in return for U.S. support of the Mexican peso, purchase of Mexican silver above the world market price, and credit to Mexico for highway construction.

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U.S. Arms Merchant Ships – November 1941

Armed merchant ship

 

Prior to the U.S. entry into WWII, the U.S. Neutrality Act of 1936 prohibited  the arming of American merchant ships carrying war supplies to the Allies.  With increasing attacks by German aircraft and submarines  in war zones, Congress amended the act in November 1941 to allow arming of U.S. merchant ships.

 

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A Century of Chemical Weapons – NY Times

http://nyti.ms/1dEKKym

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USS Reuben James Sunk – October 31, 1941

 

The American convoy destroyer U.S.S. Reuben James was torpedoed and sunk off Iceland with the loss of 115 of 160 crewmen on October 31, 1941. Although other U.S. ships had been torpedoed, the Reuben James was the first one sunk by Germany.

The folk singer Woody Guthrie wrote his now famous song immediately after the incident:

The Sinking of the Reuben James  – words & music by Woody Guthrie

 

Have you heard of a ship called the good Reuben James

Manned by hard fighting men both of honor and fame?

She flew the Stars and Stripes of the land of the free

But tonight she’s in her grave at the bottom of the sea.

Tell me what were their names, tell me what were their names,

Did you have a friend on the good Reuben James?

What were their names, tell me, what were their names?

Did you have a friend on the good Reuben James

Well, a hundred men went down in that dark watery grave

When that good ship went down only forty-four were saved.

‘Twas the last day of October we saved the forty-four

From the cold ocean waters and the cold icy shore.

It was there in the dark of that uncertain night

That we watched for the U-boats and waited for a fight.

Then a whine and a rock and a great explosion roared

And they laid the Reuben James on that cold ocean floor.

Now tonight there are lights in our country so bright

In the farms and in the cities they’re telling of the fight.

And now our mighty battleships will steam the bounding main

And remember the name of that good Reuben James.

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Japan Captures Soviet Spy – October 1941

 

Richard Sorge

 

Richard Sorge, a German communist, was a WWII Soviet spy who posed as a journalist in China and Japan. In October 1941, the Kempeitai (Japanese secret military police) arrested him on suspicion of working for the German Abwehr (German military intelligence). Under torture, he confessed that he was actually an agent of the  Soviet GRU (Soviet foreign military intelligence). Although the Japanese repeatedly offered to trade Sorge for one of their own captured spies, the Soviets denied he was one of their agents and he was hanged in November 1944.

In 1964 the USSR acknowledged that Sorge had been a Soviet spy. Later it was learned that Stalin had failed to heed Sorge’s warning regarding the impending June 1941 German invasion of the USSR (Operation Barbarossa).

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The Maltese Falcon – Humphrey Bogart 1941

The Maltese Falcon – Premier October 1941

 

The Maltese Falcon, a 1941 film noir based on a novel by Dashiell Hammett is considered by many as one of the all-time great films.  Directed by John Huston, it starred Humphrey Bogart as the private investigator Sam Spade and Mary Astor as his “femme fatale” client.

 

 

 

 

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Hideko Takamine – Film Star 1941

Hideko Takamine

 

was a popular Japanese actress who began her acting career as a child .

In 1941 she appeared in Uma (Horse) as  the daughter of a poor farmer who tenderly raised a colt from birth.  When the  government orders it to be sold to the army, she struggles to prevent its sale.

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