World War II Chronicle: January 7, 1943
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The Roosevelt Administration is ordering police departments to round up Americans who are guilty of using their vehicles for pleasure and not business. Sounds Orwellian — and it is. But from an objective standpoint it is also understandable, given the vast amount of oil it takes to drive our warplanes, ships, and military vehicles… The president visited the Capital to address the incoming 78th Congress (text of the State of the Union on page 11). Pictured by the president’s side is Maj. Gen. Edwin M. Watson, his military adviser and secretary. Watson is the 1943 equivalent to today’s White House Chief of Staff. When Pres. Roosevelt stands, he is usually supported by his son James or Gen. Watson, in addition to his steel braces.
Watson attended the U.S. Military Academy and, as you can see from his yearbook entry above, he was there for a long time. He would have graduated with the Class of 1906 but he dropped out due to poor mathematics. He re-entered the next year, but dropped out. Allowed back a third time, Watson graduates with the Class of ’08. After service in the Philippines and Mexico, he earned two Silver Stars while serving in France in World War I. Roosevelt occasionally stayed at Watson’s estate near Monticello (on land that formerly belonged to Thomas Jefferson) in a house designed by the president’s cousin. Watson’s wife was a concert pianist that played in a trio along with the queen of Belgium and famous physicist Albert Einstein..
Also on the front page, Lt. Col. Boyd D. “Buzz” Wagner’s body has been found near Eglin Field, Florida. The Army Air Force’s first ace was lost on Nov. 29, 1942 on a flight to Alabama (more on page 35)… The Roosevelt Administration has fixed the price of milk at 12 cents per quart, which has forced an Idaho dairy service to halt delivery saying the Office of Price Administration can come and run the operation themselves. That’s over eight dollars for a gallon of milk today…
On page eight, Adm. Chester Nimitz is explaining to the public just how disgusted he is with the Japanese, calling them “monkeys.” While that sounds terribly racist nearly a century later, remember that Nimitz is constantly dealing with a brutally vicious enemy that we only read bits and pieces about. Surely he is briefed about grisly torture and execution on a scale most readers can’t even wrap their minds around. Thousands of Nimitz’ sailors and Marines that have been killed, wounded, or lost so far. He knows that Japanese soldiers routinely pretend to surrender, only to lure in unsuspecting Americans so they can be killed. Nimitz was at Pearl Harbor just after the attack, where he reportedly said “Before we’re through with them, the Japanese language will be spoken only in hell…”
George Fielding Eliot column on page 12… Sports page begins on page 22. With the government ban on recreational driving, baseball clubs now have to find a spring training site that is close to home, but warm enough to play.
Also on page 44, Joe DiMaggio’s baseball future remains uncertain as he is about to be reclassified 1-A… The Touchdown Club awarded the nation’s best college football players at their seventh-annual event (see page 45).
Evening star. (Washington, D.C.), 7 January 1943. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress.
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045462/1943-01-07/ed-1/
