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What
started as a "town hall" forum ended in violence as demonstrators
protesting aid to Britain confronted agitators, or something.
Hacky Sez:
Tell
the Brits to Pound Potatoes
By Hacky Carp
Ace
Columnist So all these
lily-livered liberals, not content to destroy our basic freedoms with
their crypto-Fascistic "Social Security" and "workers' rights"
programs, now want Mr. and Mrs. John Q. Public to send their
hard-earned greenbacks across the Atlantic to bail out a bunch of
limp-wristed tea-drinking aristocrats who just got chased out of France? Here's what I have to say to these
trouble-makers: Kiss my Blarney Stone. This
columnist just had the benefit of a discussion with one of greatest
businessmen and diplomats of our generation, Amb. Joseph P. Kennedy,
during which he told me that the British goose was cooked. But don't take my word for it. Ask
Irish Taoseach Eamon de Valera, who told a cheering crowd in Old
Sludgebury's Hibernian Hall just last week that the Brits "had had it."
De Valera said he had had good discussions with German
Chancellor Hitler in which he said that Herr Hitler had expressed
unequivocal support for Irish independence. That's
why it was good to see some old-fashioned American democracy at work
yesterday, running pro-British buttinskys out of town one step ahead of
the tar and feathers. We don't
need a bunch of Harvard gasbags, long-haired European crackpots, and
New York moneychangers, if you
catch my drift, to tell us to send good money after bad to bail out the
British Empire.
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Shamelessly says Red Sox, Braves both look unstoppable
American Weekly: Are
Foreign Agitators like Herman J. Mankiewicz Destroying Hollywood?
Louella Parsons asks | | By David Bloviator
Political Editor
with
A. Lawrence Lowell
Police Beat
A "town hall" forum called by Old
Sludgebury Congressman Webster Auburn "Dusty" Wales to discuss current
issues, including the controversial topic of U.S. aid to Great Britain,
devolved into an angry riot as anti-British "America First" protesters
jammed the meeting and shouted down all efforts to debate the merits of
the issue. The meeting, held at
Old Sludgebury's historic Asbestos Hall, was billed as an opportunity
to ask Rep. Wales about a range of foreign and domestic
issues, including the complexities of the recently-launched
"Social Security" program. But Rep. Wales barely stepped up
to the podium on a typically hot, humid August afternoon when he was
greeted by repeated shouts of "America First," "Democracy Not
Jewtocracy," and "No Third Term for Cripples." The Congressman, known for his loyal support of
President Franklin D. Roosevelt and his interventionist and socialistic
policies, tried in vain to be heard over the shouts of the mob.
As he was unsuccessful, we have no idea what if anything he
was trying to say. Rep. Wales had
planned to introduce a group of distinguished visitors, including
Harvard President James Conant, Hollywood movie star Cary Grant, and
Wall Street investment banker Prescott Bush, but his efforts to do so
only sent the angry crowd into paroxysms of screaming. Mrs. Kathleen T. Burke, leader of the Old
Sludgebury chapter of America First, told the Spy she was
delighted by
the turnout, which she said had been roused by the distribution of
190,000 handbills throughout the city, telling citizens to show up
unless they wanted to see every fourth American boy plowed under in
what she called "Roosevelt's War to Protect the British
Empire." She denied
claims that the turnout was stimulated by well-heeled reactionaries
with dubious foreign connections. She said she had gotten her
funding directly from Henry Ford's Dearborn Foundation "And there's
nothing more American than Henry Ford," she said. She
referred all further questions on her financial sources to her
assistant
Hans, who invited the Spy
reporters to pursue the matter further with him "und his kamerad Luger"
in the alley behind the hall. After
about a half-hour of unrelieved shouting and heckling, Rep. Wales
decided that there was no further point to prolonging the proceedings,
and asked a flying squad of Old Sludgebury police officers to stop
randomly clubbing demonstrators and escort himself and
his guests safely from the hall. On
the
way out, the dignitaries were confronted by an enraged mob of
Coughlinites who held up signs comparing Roosevelt and Wales to Stalin
and Lenin. One woman yelled at Rep. Wales that he would burn
in the fires of hell for all eternity for supporting what the beloved
radio priest Father Coughlin
calls the "Jew Deal." Finally,
the guests reached the relative sanctuary of the New Haven railroad
station, where the coach class waiting room was cleared to ensure the
safety of the notables. One
of them, Prescott Bush, a partner in the distinguished investment bank
Brown Brothers Harriman, told the Spy
that he was
sickened by the "spectacle of ordinary citizens whipped into a frenzy
by rabid radio commentators." "If
we let our political agenda be set by hate-filled ranters of the
airwaves, I fear for
the future of our democracy," he said. Bush
said his greatest regret was that he was prevented form making the case
that aiding Great Britain was vital to the safety of the United States.
"Fortunately, I know that in this great land the press will
responsibly cover the vital issues of the day and ensure the public has
the information it needs to make a knowledgeable decision." Bush told the Spy that timely
American aid to Great Britain would protect America by keeping sea
lanes open and by deterring Herr Hitler from – [That's all the space the ad
department gave us. – Ed.]
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