Cardinals meet in conclave today to begin selection of a new pope. At 6:17 this evening the conclave door closed, immuring sixty-two Cardinals in the Vatican, where they will remain severed from the world and all worldly influences until they have elected a successor to Pope Pius XI. Having performed this task, sixty-one will leave the Vatican in the course of the next few days. The sixty-second will remain to give the Catholic Church the leadership of which it has never, perhaps, stood in greater need than in the present troubled times. William Henry Cardinal O’Connell, who reached Naples at 8 o’clock this morning aboard the Neptunia, together with Sebastiano Cardinal Leme da Silveira Cintra and Jaime Luis Cardinal Copello, arrived in Rome by automobile at 2 o’clock. He was the last to enter the conclave.
The announcement of the Pope will be made in the traditional way, not through a broadcast at the Sistine Chapel.
A communiqué tonight announced that Diego Martinez Barrio had assumed his duties as head of the Republican Government of Spain following the resignation of President Manuel Azaña, Señor Martinez Barrio had been President of the Cortes. The communiqué, issued after a Cabinet meeting held in a small unmapped village near Alicante in Eastern Spain, said the Republican Government had been officially notified that Señor Azaña had quit the Presidency. It added that the Constitution provided that “the President of the Cortes shall assume the duties pertaining to the Presidency of the Republic in event the office becomes vacant.”
“In accordance with the Constitution, Señor Martinez Barrio has taken over the executive post,” it added. Officials announced that Premier Juan Negrín would soon broadcast an address to all Spain. Observers speculated that he might announce the government’s decision to hold a new election for the Presidency. Under the Constitution the election must be held within thirty-eight days. Señor Martinez Barrio now is in France, arranging for the return of a huge number of Catalans to the Spanish central zone. He acted as President from April 7 to May 10, 1936, when President Niceto Alcala Zamora was dismissed by the Cortes. Until 1935 he was deputy leader of the Radical party, headed by Alejandro Lerroux, who left Spain on the eve of the Franco revolt. Disagreeing with Señor Lerroux, he resigned and founded the Union Republican party.
Generalissimo Francisco Franco kept his troops ready for quick action near Madrid today while receiving constant reports of a threatened rebellion in that Republican capital. These reports said Madrid authorities feared trouble from elements that were demanding “bread or surrender,” that the entire Madrid front was in “a state of decomposition” and that anarchists in Cuenca, Guadalajara and Toledo Provinces had started a reign of terror. A dispatch from Madrid quoted Republican Premier Juan Negrín as saying that the morale of the Republican troops and civil population was high.
General Franco’s plans were guarded carefully, but Nationalist sources said the feeling was general that Madrid would fall soon. Nationalist newspapers said that Premier Negrín and his Foreign Minister, Julio Alverez del Vayo, alone were holding out for resistance. A campaign here to raise food for Madrid assumed broad proportions. Civil Governors, banks, business establishments and theaters in Nationalist Spain were acting as collection centers. An especially formed organization, the Social Auxiliary for Liberated Cities, expected to send 10,000 tons of food into the Republican capital within forty-eight hours after its fall. Huge supplies of food already have been concentrated within easy distance of Madrid.
Spanish newspapers call Manuel Azaña cowardly for resigning the office of president. Newspapers in Nationalist Spain, which formerly placed under their banner “For God, Spain and King” and which now print “For God, Spain and Franco,’ comment at length today on the “cowardly” resignation of Manuel Azaña as President of the Spanish Republic. Passages in Señor Azaña’s letter of resignation have provoked considerable indignation in the Nationalist center of Burgos. Señor Azaña’s assertion that he had failed to convince Premier Juan Negrín some time ago that the war was lost for the Republicans, and they should negotiate for peace then, is being criticized with the utmost severity. It is observed that Señor Azaña had not the courage to resign while he remained on Spanish soil.
Recognition of the Franco government by France and Great Britain, although expected in Moscow, is deeply deplored as the climax of a short-sighted and weak-kneed policy that not only has brought disaster to Republican Spain, but threatens to have dire consequences for France and Britain themselves. This gloomy view is expressed today in strongly worded editorials in Pravda and the Journal de Moscou, the French-language newspaper whose editorials on foreign policy reflect the opinion of the Soviet Foreign Office. Pravda’s editorial is headed “A Shameful Capitulation,” and the Journal de Moscou’s “A Second Munich.”
Brazil, Greece, and Lithuania formally recognized Franco’s regime today, bringing that total to 37.
Generalissimo Francisco Franco has asked for the prompt withdrawal of Italian troops from Spain, according to members of the Chamber of Deputies who today. heard Foreign Minister Georges Bonnet’s declarations to the Foreign Affairs Commission. As told by these Deputies, it was related at today’s meeting that this suggestion was first made by General Franco to General Gastone Gambara, leader of Italian troops in Spain, on the day General Franco made his entry into Barcelona. The Spanish leader suggested that the parade of Italian soldiers on that day be regarded as a farewell demonstration of Nationalist Spain’s gratitude for Italy’s aid in the civil war. General Gambara, it was reported, flew to Rome to consult Premier Benito Mussolini.
M. Bonnet gave the commission a detailed report of Senator Léon Bérard’s recent negotiations at Burgos with Count Francisco-Gomez Jordana, the Spanish Nationalist Foreign Minister. He stressed particularly the assurances given to the British and French Governments with regard to the Nationalist government’s intention to establish an independent Spain. He said that during the Burgos conversations France had received a formal promise of withdrawal of Italian forces on cessation of the hostilities. He read a note addressed to the British Government declaring that General Franco would safeguard the dignity and independence of his territory.
With German expansion to the east, French Premier Édouard Daladier asked for, and received, power to govern by decree without express reservations from the French Chamber of Deputies. This transfer of power was unprecedented in the history of the Third Republic. Premier Daladier used his new political power to speed up the country’s rearmament program and to begin partial mobilization of reserves. The French government supported Britain’s new anti-fascist front foreign policy and negotiated non-aggression pacts with Poland, Greece, Romania, and Turkey in an effort to bolster Eastern Europe from German demands.
The guarantee of Czecho-Slovak frontiers promised by Germany still has not materialized. Prague is endeavoring to fulfill Germany’s preliminary condition that the political and economic position of the country must be consolidated. Negotiations are now going on with the Ukrainian and Slovak governments here aiming at settlement of the problems blocking the way to normal cooperation between the provinces of the federalized republic, among which the principal one is how the central Parliament should be constituted and another is how the huge budgetary deficit should be apportioned to the three provinces. Whereas Carpatho-Ukraine still strongly supports the principle of a united federalized republic, prominent Slovak parliamentarians are openly toying with the idea of an independent Slovakia.
[Ed: Hitler’s plans for Czecho-Slovakia include no guarantees, only conquest. Czecho-Slovakia has two weeks left before the hammer falls.]
Immigration aid is urged for the 500,000 Catholics who face exile from Germany.
Rumania announces that 43,000 Jews have been denationalized.
Vienna punishes Jews who did not leave the country, sending them to concentration camps. Jews in Vienna who received exit papers and could not find a country which would accept them within six weeks are being sent to Dachau for “failure to emigrate.”
The Academy of Medicine urges France to store blood for war injury treatment.
Renewing the warnings that British statesmen have addressed to Germany in recent months, the Marquess of Zetland, Secretary of State for India, tonight called on the Nazi rulers to halt the world armaments race. “Germany has it within her power,” he told the Liverpool Chamber of Commerce, “to bring this insane race in armaments to an end by the simple expedient of crying a halt to her own feverish concentration on rearmament.
British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain attends his first-ever party at the Soviet Embassy.
Experts see London finishing battleships much faster than its rivals.
613 “City of Manchester” Squadron RAF is formed.
British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain will discuss a new offer with Jewish delegates. Political parity in Palestine is the focus. A 24-hour curfew is set up in the Jewish section of Jerusalem. Disorder does not abate. Some Jews are now calling for armed resistance to any British plan which negates the Balfour commitment.
The House, by a vote of 137 to 93, took from Secretary Perkins today supervision over funds for the Wages and Hours Division of the Department of Labor and placed it in the hands of her subordinate, Elmer F. Andrews, Wages and Hours Administrator. In doing this it ignored warnings by the majority leader that its action would be construed as a vote of lack of confidence in Miss Perkins. The House, by agreeing to the conference report on the Independent Offices Bill, voted by rollcall, 184 to 174, to restore the $17,206,000 appropriation for the Tennessee Valley Authority which the Senate ordered in after the House had stricken the item from the bill.
The fight over the TVA matter was bitter, but it was mild in comparison with that which was evoked by consideration of the conference report on the First Deficiency Bill. A motion by Representative Cochran, Missouri Democrat, to give Mr. Andrews complete control over funds for his division, involving concurrence in a Senate amendment to the bill which had been strenuously opposed by the House conferees, brought forth a show of anger such as is rarely observed in the chamber.
Through choppy seas churned by trade winds, the heavy cruiser USS Houston, with President Roosevelt on board, was proceeding today to Charleston, where the Chief Executive will disembark Friday. Returning after a two weeks’ vacation trip incidental to the naval maneuvers in the Atlantic, Mr. Roosevelt worked on the speech which he is to deliver on Saturday before a joint Congressional session marking the 150th anniversary of the first Congress under the Constitution, a program in which the Chief Justice, Charles Evans Hughes, also will speak. The brief communication received today from the Houston at temporary White House headquarters here made no mention of the subject of the President’s address, but it was generally supposed that Mr. Roosevelt would address himself to international affairs and the vastly changed picture of world conditions since he took office in 1933.
According to present plans, the Houston will dock at Charleston in the early afternoon of Friday. However, the President is not expected to board his train until nightfall, after an informal press conference at which he may disclose the outcome of the naval war game. Early tomorrow the temporary White House offices will be transferred from a hotel in Miami to the President’s special train, which will remain at Charleston until Mr. Roosevelt boards it Friday evening.
The Attorney General urges taxation of federal employees.
The order of President Roosevelt to have the ashes of Hirosi Saito, former Japanese Ambassador in Washington, taken home to Japan on an American Navy cruiser is regarded in diplomatic circles as a gesture that will be deeply appreciated in Japan. It is a tribute also to the Ambassador who was a firm friend of the United States. In addition, it returns the courtesy extended by Japan when she sent back on a Japanese cruiser the body of Edgar A. Bancroft, United States Ambassador in Tokyo, who died in 1925. The tribute ordered by President Roosevelt is unusual in that Mr. Saito was not an ambassador when he died on Sunday, having relinquished the post in October because of poor health. His illness had precluded his leaving Washington.
The 150th anniversary of the U.S. constitution is celebrated.
A censorship issue causes an FCC clash. The FCC commissioner insists on preservation of free speech, but is overruled.
A refugee expert says Jewish refugees will not displace U.S. workers.
Thomas Dewey avoids political factions and declines offers to boost him as the 1940 presidential candidate.
Dewey has two men arrested for trying to influence the Hines jury in New York.
The Senate advances an “anti-Red” bill that would ban public jobs for Communists.
The Army asks plane manufacturers to move operations away from the coast, and to protect themselves by an interior location. The nation’s airplane manufacturers, now concentrated on the Pacific and Atlantic coasts, are being urged by the War Department to establish themselves in the interior of the nation, where they will be protected by the Eastern and Western mountain ranges, Louis A. Johnson, Assistant Secretary of War, declared here today. Mr. Johnson made this disclosure in an interview before making an address before the Chicago Association of Commerce, in which he said that the army had selected 10,000 American manufacturing plants “where munitions will be made whenever the necessity arises.” Mr. Johnson asserted in the interview that the airplane and engine manufacturers who formed 90 percent of the country’s productive sources in those fields now had their plants in places that would be exposed to possible air raids along the coast in time of war.
The U.S. Army reorganizes the entire air corps, and anticipates an increase of 5,000–6,000 new fighter planes.
The Army plans to increase intelligence in Latin American countries.
The Navy Department signs a contract for $24 million in armor materials for battleships.
The Secretary of the Navy says the Army needs protection from work of subversive agents.
Explorer Lincoln Ellsworth plans to spend the winter of 1941 in an Antarctic camp.
Spencer Tracy gives his Academy Award to Father Flanagan, whom he portrays in an award-winning movie, “Boys Town.”
Hindus and Muslim Indians rioted again today in Rangoon, Burma. Five people were killed and some ninety injured. The native Burmese are largely uninvolved.
A shifting of forces in China indicates a shortage of Japanese troops. Japanese gendarmes from Manchukuo are being employed in military operations in China, according to the Chinese military spokesman. He said today that this indicated a shortage of Japanese troops. The spokesman said that a force of several thousand, which recently was repulsed in an attack on Sanyingchi, about 100 miles south of Kaifeng in Honan Province, was made up of Manchukuoan gendarmes. The force was said to have been part of the Twenty-first Division.
Chinese units that defeated the Japanese last year at Taierhchwang were said to have been responsible for a notable victory at Sanyingchi. The Japanese were alleged to have suffered 1,000 casualties and to have lost large supplies. The spokesman said the Japanese were continuing their efforts to press westward from Hankow. The Central News Agency reported the invaders had failed in three attempts to cross the Han River at Yuehkow. Heavy fighting was reported between Chinshan and Shayang. Shasi and Ichang, up the Yangtze beyond Hankow, appear to be the objectives of the Japanese offensive. Chinese planes raided the Japanese base at Yuncheng in Shansi Province last week. Considerable damage was done according to reports just received here.
Foreign military observers believe Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek is making headway in rebuilding his air force. They estimate the Chinese have 150 planes based at a dozen airdromes. The Chinese Government is trying to build the force up to 500 planes and maintain that level. Chinese say they had 300 first-line craft when the war broke out July 7, 1937, and an aviation personnel of 1,200.
China is believed to be receiving most plane replacements at Lanchow, recently the target of Japanese raids in which the attackers said they had destroyed seventy-eight planes. Lanchow, capital of the Northwestern Province of Kansu, is on the supply route from Soviet Russia. The Chinese also are importing planes over other routes. An assembly plant in Yunnan Province in Southwestern China near the British Burma border has escaped Japanese detection and is said to be turning out a few planes each week.
Japan creates new rules for foreigners visiting the country.
An Japanese Imperial Army ammunition dump exploded near Hirakata, Osaka, Japan, killing 94. Hundreds more are injured, and some 8,000 are homeless. AAn entire village has been destroyed.
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 147.15 (-0.15).
Born:
Warren Davis, American doo-wop singer (The Monotones – “The Book of Love”), in Newark, New Jersey (d. 2016).
Bill Baird, AFL cornerback and safety (NFL Champions, Super Bowl III-Jets, 1968; New York Jets), in Lindsay, California.
Don Talbert, NFL tackle (NFL Champions, Super Bowl VI-Cowboys, 1971; Dallas Cowboys, Atlanta Falcons, New Orleans Saints), in Louisville, Mississippi.
Pete Perreault, AFL and NFL guard and defensive end (New York Jets, Cincinnati Bengals, Minnesota Vikings), in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts (d. 2001).
Naval Construction:
The Regia Marina (Royal Italian Navy) Marconi-class submarines Maggiore Baracca and Alessandro Malaspina are laid down by Odero-Terni-Orlando, Muggiano, La Spezia, Italy.
The U.S. Navy Tambor-class submarine USS Tautog (SS-199) is laid down by Electric Boat Co. (Groton, Connecticut, U.S.A.).
The Nihon Kaigun (Imperial Japanese Navy) Shimushu-class kaibōkan (escort ship) HIJMS Kunashiri (国後) is laid down by Nihon Kokan, Tsurumi, Japan.
The Royal Navy “L”-class destroyers HMS Laforey (G 99, flotilla leader) and Lance (G 87) are laid down by Yarrow Shipbuilders Ltd. (Scotstoun, Scotland).
The U.S. Navy Benson-class destroyers Plunkett (DD-431) and USS Kearny (DD-432) are laid down by the Federal Shipbuilding & Drydock Co. (Kearny, New Jersey, U.S.A.).
The Kriegsmarine (German Navy) Type 35 torpedo boat T11 is launched by DeSchiMAG, Bremen (werk 938).
The U.S. Navy Sargo-class submarine USS Squalus (SS-192) is commissioned. Her first commanding officer is Lieutenant Oliver Francis Naquin, USN. Squalus will be sunk on trials in May; she will be salvaged and re-commissioned as USS Sailfish (SS-192) on 15 May 1940.
History Diaries 