Victory Speaker : An Arsenal of Information for Speakers. No. 5

[Victory Speaker : An Arsenal of Information for Speakers. No. 5]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

VICTORY SPEAKER
Ah arsenal of information for speakers
Prepared Especially for Them by the Office of War Information
No. 5—issued April 30, 1943
THE UNITED NATIONS
Victory Speakers Can Perform a Valuable Service, Ex-plaining This Important Concept of World Cooperation
“Today,” said President Roosevelt in his message to Congress on January 7, 1943, “the United Nations are the mightiest military coalition in history. They represent an overwhelming majority of the population of the world.”
Yet that mighty coalition may well be thought of in simple and
Notice to Directors of Speakers Bureaus
This issue of the Victory Speaker illustrates the informational type of program in which Victory Speakers frequently will be asked to cooperate. Its purpose is not to achieve a single specific objective such as the conservation of rubber. Its purpose is the more general one of helping people to comprehend a highly important issue of the war.
It is highly desirable that the origin, development, present status, and possible future of the United Nations be fully understood. The background material on this subject presented here can be used for the next several months and will be followed by further material for use during the United Nations program planned for the middle of June. Victory Speakers may find it advisable to alternate speeches on the United Nations with speeches on the various domestic programs.
human terms. The United Nations represent a gathering of neighbors in the face of disaster. At such a time, men band together and act. They put out the forest fire. They.fight back the flood. And in the pause of this work, they may smile, each to each, with new understanding, and hope that the closer friendships, thus made, will last.
So, too, the 31 United Nations and their associates have banded together. They are fighting together for survival on the 7 continents and the 7 seas. They have created practical means of
uniting their immense resources— their raw materials, their production machinery, their manpower. And they are beginning to feel that, after the war, in President Roosevelt’s words, they “can and must remain united for the maintenance of peace.”
The United Nations came into being on January 1, 1942, when representatives of 26 nations (now 31) in Washington pledged themselves to cooperate with one another in the employment of their military ai^ reconomic resources. They also subscribed to the principles of the Atlantic Charter, announced by President. Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill on August 14, 1941.
The Atlantic Charter, so called because it was signed aboard a battleship somewhere in the Atlantic
These figures are the best estimates available.
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Ocean, “applies to all humanity,” as President Roosevelt has said. The Charter declares that Britain and the United States:
“Seek no aggrandizement, territorial or other.”
“Desire to see no territorial changes that do not accord with the freely expressed wishes of the people concerned.”
“Respect the right of all peoples to choose the form df government under which they will live.”
“Will endeavor ... to further the enjoyment by all States . . . of access, on equal terms, to the trade and to the raw materials of the world.”
“Desire . . . for all [nations] improved labor standards, economic advancement, and social security.”
“Hope to see established a peace which will afford to all nations the means of dwelling in safety within their own boundaries.”
Believe that “such a peace should enable all men to traverse the high seas and oceans without hindrance.”
Believe, finally, that all nations “must come to the abandonment of the use of force” and that “pending the establishment of a wider and permanent system of general security [the disarmament of aggressor nations] is essential.”
And so the organization of the United Nations has no lengthy and complicated constitution. It rests on an exchange of pledges, an exchange of promises to help and to fight—pledges and promises as simple as a handclasp.
It arose because it was needed, because—what American has not learned the simple aphorism?—in unity there is strength. It arose because nations united may stand when nations divided fall.
Glance at the chart on page 1. Quickly, vividly, it shows that, if the United Nations had been united in September 1939, when
the Nazis invaded Poland, Hitler never could have gone to war with any prospect of success.
But the United Nations were not united then, and all the world knows what happened—how, one by one, Poland fell, and Denmark, and Norway, and Holland, and Belgium, and Luxembourg, and France, and Yugoslavia, and Greece, until finally, at Pearl Harbor, a tremendous attack was launched at the United States itself.
That treacherous assault gave fullest expression to the Axis policy of conquering the nations of the world one at a time. Now, thanks to the long struggle of the Chinese, the resiliency of the Russian armies, the gallant doggedness of the British, and the vast growth of American industrial and military might, that policy has hit a stone wall.
Today the 31 United Nations, with ever-increasing friends, turn to take the offensive against the Axis, resolved not to lay down their arms until the war is won, until a peace has been established which, in the words of the Atlantic Charter, “will afford to all nations the means of dwelling in safety.”
THE STRENGTH OF UNITY
The strength of unity is being proved again by the United Nations. Alone, no one of them could do more than stand off the enemy’s attack. England demonstrated that in 1940, after Dunkirk, when the RAF parried the furious assaults of the Luftwaffe. But together, the United Nations can carry on the offense essential
to victory. The Russians, aided by the efforts of their allies, are proving that now in the vast regions of the Don Basin. English, American, Indian, and Australian troops are proving it in North Africa, and American and Australian troops are proving it in the jungle hells of New Guinea.
Together, the United Nations have tremendous potential power. They cover three-fifths of the earth’s land area and include two-thirds of the earth’s population. They have the greatest resources for producing raw and manufactured materials the world has ever seen under unified control. Yet the advantage held by the
Other Material On the United Nations
The Thousand Million. December 1, 1942. Brief, factual articles about the peoples of the United Nations and their countries in the common .struggle against the Axis. 50 pp. Office of War Information, Washington, D. C. Free.
Toward New Horizons: The World Beyond the War (15 pp.) and Proposals for a Free World (19 pp.). The first two in a series of collected speeches and statements defining and illuminating the developing policy of the United Nations. Office of War Information, Washington, D. C. Free.
United Nations Discussion Guide. October 1,1943. Factual summaries, discussion topics, and suggested readings on the organization and objectives of the United Nations. 14 pp. U. S. Office of Education, Washington, D. C. Free.
War and Peace Aims. January 30, 1943. A collection of official documents and extracts from official statements setting forth the basic ideas of the United Nations. 136 pp. United Nations Information Office, 610 Fifth Avenue, New York, N. Y. Price, 25 cents.
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United Nations is by no means overwhelming.
The Axis nations have spread out by treacherous attack in such a way as to secure a temporary superiority in a number of vital war materials—for example, in rubber and tin. They have gained superiority also in a strategic way. Whereas the materials and production centers available to the United Nations are scattered all over the face of the globe, the materials and production centers available to Germany, Italy, and Japan are grouped around, and centrally controlled by, each of these Axis partners.
It becomes evident, then, that the advantage held by the United Nations can be maintained only by an intelligent sharing of all their resources—their raw materials, their production machinery, their manpower. Let us consider briefly the military power of four leading United Nations and some of the ways in which they are helping each other.
What China Is Doing: China has an army of 2,000,000 or more front-line fighters, 2,000,000 to 4,000,000 reserves, at least 1,000,-000 more irregulars and guerillas, and an air force steadily growing under the tutelage of United States airmen.
She plays her part in the United Nations’ struggle by maintaining a stout land front against the Japs, by sending the United States tin and tungsten, and by supplying Russia with metals, wool, hides, and silk.
What Russia Is Doing: Russia has an army of about 2,500,000 fighting men with 12,000,000 trained reserves. Her navy, enlarged and modernized before the war, has been giving an excellent account of itself in the Baltic and the Black Sea. And her air force has done tremendously effective work in driving the Nazis out of the Caucasus and the Ukraine.
THESE ARE THE UNITED NATIONS
Nation Australia Population Area (sq. mi.)
7, 000, 000 2, 974, 581
♦Belgium 8, 386, 000 11,775
Brazil 41, 356, 000 3, 286,170
Canada 11, 419, 000 3, 694, 900
China S 457, 800, 000 4, 480, 000
Costa Rica 639,000 23,000
Cuba ____________________- 4, 228, 000 44,000
Czechoslovakia 15, 000, 000 54,000
Dominican Republic 1, 656, 000 19 , 325
El Salvador _ 1, 811, 000 13, 000
Ethiopia 5, 300, 000 303, 089
Greece 7, 013, 000 50, 270
Guatemala 3,000, 000 45, 450
Haiti U £ 3, 000,000 10, 204
Honduras . 1, 000, 000 44. 000
India - 389, 000, 000 1, 575, 000
Iraq . 3, 560, 000 116, 600
Luxembourg : . „ 297,000 999
Mexico 19, 478, 000 763, 944
♦The Netherlands 9, 000, 000 13,600
New Zealand 1, 600, 000 103, 723
Nicaragua 1, 380, 000 57, 000
Norway _L_: 2, 950,000 124, 556
Panama 600,000 34, 000
The Philippines 16, 350, 000 114, 830
Poland i 35,100, 000 150,000
Union of South Africa 9,742, 000 472, 550
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics ♦United Kingdom of Great Britain and 170, 467, 000 8,176, 010
Northern Ireland : 47, 750, 000 93, 663
♦United States of America 131, 669, 000 3, 022, 387
Yugoslavia 16, 000, 000 95, 558
1, 423, 551, 000 29, 968,184
With the United Nations are the Fighting French and the Free Danes.
♦These figures do not include certain dependencies of Belgium, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
Although Russia’s production of tanks, airplanes, antiaircraft guns, ammunition, and other war material is playing the major part in her amazing surge against the Nazis, it is insufficient for the needs of her army along a 1,000-mile front in Europe. So England and the United States are trying hard to supply these needs. And Russia in turn is sending manganese and lumber to England and the United States, and planes and guns to China.
What Great Britain Is Doing: Britain’s fighting forces, including her home guard, number an estimated 5,600,000. Her armies have fought in 10 campaigns and, together with troops from Canada, India, Australia, South Africa, and New Zealand, have gar
risoned such key bases as Iceland, Malta, Gibraltar, India, and the Middle East. Her Navy has sunk over 6,000,000 tons of enemy shipping, and convoyed more than 100,000 United Nations ships with losses of only one-half of 1 percent of those convoys. Britain’s air force won the Battle of Britain and now, together with American flying units, is bombing Nazi-occupied Europe on an increasingly stepped-up schedule.
During 1942, 80 percent of Britain’s war production was sent to battle fronts abroad. She has supplied the United States with barrage balloons, aircraft-detection devices, and other war equipment, and she is providing a good share of the housing and transportation used by American forces
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now on her shores. She has extended aid to Russia amounting to $140,000,000. She has also aided China from the common pool of the Munitions Assignments Board and has supported Chinese currency with loans.
What the United States Is Doing: The United States Army, which may exceed 8,000,000 by the end of 1943, has fighting units in 54 strategic areas all over the world, and is actively engaging all three of the Axis partners. The United States Navy, after early setbacks, has won brilliant victories against the Japs and is building enough ships to guarantee freedom of the seas on both the Atlantic and the Pacific. The United States military air forces have grown prodigiously since the war began, and they are helping to win control wherever they operate, from Europe and North Africa to the Bismarck Sea.
Between March 11, 1941, and March 11, 1943, the United States extended Lend-Lease aid amounting to $9,632,000,000—$7,831,000,-000 for supplies and $1,801,000,000 for services such as shipping and ship-repair services. Through this Lend-Lease aid, for which 44 nations are eligible, Britain and the Soviet Union are obtaining tanks, airplanes, guns, machine tools, and foodstuffs. And China, although the Burma Road has been cut, continues to receive war supplies from the United States, on a Lend-Lease basis, by air transport.
Within the limits of their resources the other United Nations are doing no less than China, Great Britain, Russia, and the United States in providing manpower and reciprocal Lend-Lease aid. For example, Czechoslovak airmen fly with the RAF. Polish soldiers help guard the Middle East. Norwegian, Greek, Danish, and Dutch ships and sailors help maintain the United Nations’ supply lines.
Yugoslav and Greek guerrillas harass the enemy who thought the Balkans were conquered. Belgian commandos serve with the British army. Filipinos serve in the armed forces of the United States.
The 11 other American republics who signed the Declaration of the United Nations—Brazil, Costa Rica, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama—are contributing ‘to the common cause in raw mate
rials and in key defensive positions for the protection of the Panama Canal, the Caribbean area, and the coast line of Brazil.
In April 1941, the Danish minister at Washington signed over to the United States for the duration the important defense post of Greenland.
All over the world the United Nations—like good, friends toiling side by side, cheering each other on in a time of peril—are waging a colossal war against a monster enemy.
THE MACHINERY OF UNITY
In the conferences between President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill in 1941 and 1942, the basic machinery for coordinating the military and economic grand strategy of the United States and the United Kingdom in close collaboration with the United Nations was developed. This basic machinery consists of six principal boards:
1. The Combined Chiefs of Staff coordinates the war programs of the United States and the United Kingdom and insures their collaboration with the United Nations. It includes the Chiefs of Staff of the American forces, representatives of the British Chiefs of Staff, and liaison officers from the Chinese and Russian armies.
2. The Munitions Assignments Board, with branches in Washington, and London, consults with the Combined Chiefs of Staff and advises on the allocation of arms to the various theaters of war.
3. The Combined Food Board considers, investigates, and formulates plans for the supply, production, transportation, and distribution of the food of the United Nations.
4. The Combined Raw Materials Board plans for the speediest development, best utilization, and purchase of raw materials for the war production of the nations interested.
5. The Combined Shipping Adjustment Board pools and directs British and American shipping. It operates closely with all other boards to see that food, materials, and arms travel continuously over the seas so that the production centers and battle fronts of the United Nations are adequately supplied at all times.
6. The Combined Production and Resources Board integrates the war-production program of the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada and assures continuous adjustment of that combined program to meet changing military requirements.
In addition to these six basic units, the organization of the United Nations has numerous other boards and councils. Outstanding among these are the Pacific War Council and the Inter-American Defense Board. The Pacific War Council keeps in constant touch with war developments in the Pacific and brings the President of the United States directly in touch with the governments of China, the United Kingdom, the Philippines, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the Netherlands. The Inter-American Defense Board advises the governments of the American Republics on defense measures for the Western Hemisphere.
The most important single agency for making materials available where they are needed is the United States Office of Lend-Lease. The transfers made under Lend-Lease are not commercial loans, but contributions to a common pool to fight a common war. In return, other United Nations are putting their resources into the pool—materials, manufactured goods, and men.
The United Nations also maintain a joint information office, supported by 19 of the member nations, at 610 Fifth Avenue, New York, N. Y.
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U. S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE: 1943