 Words at War tonight presents Assignment USA. Atlanta, Mobile, San Antonio, Los Angeles, Seattle, Spirit Lake, Iowa, Minneapolis, Detroit, and all points don't sell east and west. You made it all right. And you're glad. Well, this is the train you had to make. Your name is Selden Menafee. You're a reporter. You're making a 15,000-mile pilgrimage to America trying to picture honestly and dispassionately what is happening in this native land of yours. And what do you see? Plenty. You're soon aware that all of America is at war, but not up to its neck and well above its knees. And that's true of every region from Maine to San Diego and from Seattle to Polatka, Florida. You swell with pride at every evidence of an America armored against adversity. But your heart sinks at every crack that's visible in that armor. And there are cracks. You know if you reveal them, you're going to make enemies. But you know, too, that you'd hurt the many if you tried to save the few. And so, with renewed determination to keep an open mind and to tell the truth no matter whom it hurts, you speed onward to finish your wartime assignment, Assignment USA. This is another of the Words at War programs presented by the National Broadcasting Company in cooperation with the Council on Books and Wartime. Tonight's script written by Richard McDonough is based on one of the most talked about books of recent months, Selden Menaphy's Assignment USA. Later on in the program, Mr. Menaphy himself will speak to you. This is your assignment. This is America. When you travel its length and breadth, your mind is a jumble of impressions, a mural of scenes reflecting the spirit of a nation girded for war. Look at that old Vermont farmer. Stooped and bent. Came out of retirement at the age of 75, and now he's back in the field. A bunch of waxed, light-hearted kids on their way from Texas to Des Moines for induction. Me? I'm 16. I live in Fairfax, Virginia. But I come over to Arlington to work in the machine shop. Oh, sure I had to quit high school to do it, but I'm making 70 cents an hour. Seven days a week. A tiny plantation cabin near Natchez, Mississippi. Five service stalls in the wind. A worker at Willow Run. What does Rick and Backer mean, saying we won't work? There's nothing I'd like better than a chance to put in eight hours of good, solid work a day. A coal miner near Hazard, Kentucky with tears in his eyes. I don't want no strike. My son is in the Army, and I'm afraid it might hurt him if we close down the mines for one day even. But if there is a strike, I'll go out with the majority. Yes, I'll go out with the majority. Yes, a jumble of impressions. A mural of scenes reflecting the spirit of a nation girded for war. But you remind yourself that murals appeal most to the art critic and the idly curious. It's all you resolve to present your observations as simply as possible. This is by region, town by town. Brattleboro, Vermont, population 10,000. A large village sprawled on the west bank of the Connecticut River. For the most part, the people live in large, old-fashioned white-frame houses, are cagey with their money, attend church regularly, and vote Republican every November. But apart from its voting habits, Brattleboro is more typical of Yankee, New England than is Boston. If you were going to write a melodrama around Brattleboro, it might be one of your most effective scenes. How could you be so heartless? He has won my heart. He is my own, my true love. It is my wish to be a dutiful daughter to you, but I insist upon my right to marry the man I love. How dare you! If you persist in this way, I shall cast you from me door forever to think that you could must treat your dear old father. Upstairs to your room, you heedless wench. Upstairs, I say. An Irishman! An Irishman! No daughter of mine will ever sink that low. Yes, in New England you find a well-established social caste system unparalleled in America, except by the white-negro relationship of the South. At the top of the social structure are the original Yankee families, now outnumbered by Americans of more recent vintage. Next are the Irish Americans, who predominate among skilled workers and have cornered much of the political power. And at the base of the social pyramid are the recent immigrants, French Canadians, Italians, Poles and Slavs. The Yankees own the plant, the Irish are the foremen, the French Canadians and others do the work. This is old line Yankee, New England. Brattleboro is no boom town, yet you get the feeling of all-out war. In the local bank you meet Alphonse Ratté, he's a teller, but he also compiles the town's honour list of servicemen. It numbers over 1,000, more than 10% of our population. He tells you proudly that... Every night after my regular work, I put in four hours in a small machine shop. I'm a veteran of the last war, and I want to do all I can to help win this one fast. But he's even prouder when he's talking about his neighbours. Everyone here is doing all he can. Air-rate drills are taken seriously. Women are mobilized in Red Cross. And nearly every family has a victory garden. A school principal tells you... The children of Brattleboro work in as hard as their parents. Many are putting in a full shift in the local factories after school, from 2 to 10 p.m. These boys are sleepy in their classes, and discipline is hard for teachers to maintain. Vermont farmers tell you... We work like all get-out because of the war. We can't get no hired hands, so it's 12, 14, 16 hours of work a day for us and our families. We don't mind that so much. The thing that gets our dander up is what goes on in Washington. The sooner them fellas wake up to what's what, the better off they'll be. Remember, Vermont is still in the Union. You come into Boston feeling good. There's a grin on your face. You stride blithely down the street, repeating an old rhyme more or less accurately to yourself. Dear old Boston, the home of the bean and the cod, where the loaves speak only to the cabbets, and the cabbets speak only to... Yes, you have to stop. You're startled. Across the way is a large patriotic poster. It has been mutilated. The word united has been changed to... united. An intelligent-looking fellow approaches. You ask him to explain the mutilation of the sign. You want to know what effect seeing it will have on him. He looks at it, grins, and shrugs as if to say, so what? And he stops grinning. A suspicious look comes into his narrowed eyes, and he says... Say, where do you come from? New York. Oh, yeah? I thought so. Now, wait a minute. My name is Menefee. Maybe I haven't got as much Irish blood in my veins as you have, but I still have the right to wear the green on St. Patrick's. Then if you have me, Bocco, you'll do two things. You'll mind your business. You'll watch out for the codfish aristocracy, which is cut and Irish, and the united brethren. Good day to you, sir. You shake your head to clear it, and you mosey around, Boston. Outwardly, the war has come here as to other American cities. There's a large victory garden in the common, directly in front of the statehouse. The worn-out sections of the papers are filled with appeals for shipyard and industrial workers. The stores are crowded. Yet nearly every Bostonian you speak to, those who will open up at all, is conscious that something is radically wrong behind the scenes. Isolationism, anti-Semitism, pro-appeasement are more rampant in Boston than in any city in the land. And the role played in this disunity by your own beloved Irish is particularly disheartening. This is not your own impression. You get it in the cold turkey talk of responsible Irish Americans. You jot down what these people tell you. The Irish are an absolute majority and run the city from top to bottom. They are predominantly anti-British, anti-Russian, anti-Semitic and anti-New Deal. Why? Tell me why. Well, most of it goes back to Father Coglan's paper, Social Justice, which was sold every Sunday in front of the churches and subway stations till it was suppressed. Then the Irish are anti almost everything. They're brought up to think that all the controlling powers are against them. They hate the codfish aristocracy who look down their blue noses at the upstart Irish as long as they could. They don't even trust members of their own group who have become successful, the lace curtain Irish. Their religious teaching, after all, glorifies poverty and simplicity. And their pride makes them resent all attempts at reform as attacks on their way of life. All of this is too much to believe. In order to disprove it, they're willing to fight it out on Boston Common if it takes all summer. But you're up against it, for facts won't be denied. You find that isolationism is strong and democracy weak in the ruling circles of Massachusetts. You learn, for instance, that an overwhelming majority of Bay Staters instructed their state representatives to cast their ballots in favor of our federal world government. That was what the people wanted. They proved it by a vote of three to one. And what they later do, they simply refused to obey the people. At the hearings, Francis P. Moran, former head of the Christian Front in Boston, showed up to proclaim, This country was doing all right until it started mixing in other people's affairs. And Boston City Councilman Michael Kinsella added, I would ring this country with steel from the Canadian border to the Mexican border from ocean to ocean. And say to the others, work out your own destiny. We will not fight for you, nor will we feed you. And you mark that down in your little notebook as a classic statement of the pre-war isolationist position, especially when you realize it was made in 1943. But your overall impression of Boston is summed up by a Bostonian in the uniform of this country when he says, Well, first we need to get America into some sort of permanent United Nations government. Then, and this will be the much harder job, we'll have to set about getting Boston into the United States. City! New York, closer to the war than many cities, due to a large percentage of European stock. New York, a city of problems, Harlem, high taxes, not enough war jobs to say nothing of Brooklyn and its Christian Front. But New Yorkers are doing their share and when things get dull, there's always LaGuardia and the Brooklyn Dodgers. City! Washington, one vast telephone exchange, overcrowded living quarters, high rent and food costs, low wages, not enough taxicab, more than a little vice, but a surprising amount of efficiency for all that. Are we war-conscious in Mobile? Heck, mister, take a look at those boomin' shipyards, try to get a furnished room or a house, spot those young girls solicitin' on the streets. Notice the dirt, the filth, the boys stillin' cars, robin' stores and go to school drunk. War-conscious in Mobile, I should say we are. And poor, wide-conscious too. The sooner the war's over, the sooner we'll get them out of the shipyard, out of the town, and back to their pee patches in their swamps, where they belong. Mobile ain't fit to live in. You've looked and seen for yourself. There's something to be said for Mobile's way of thinking, but there's a lot wrong with the two. Whose fault is it that the poor whites have no education? That there's a housing shortage? That little or no supervision is made for war workers' children? Whose fault is it? You've kept your eyes peeled coming through, Dixie, and honesty compels you to make a note in your little book. A note reads as follows. Southerners are by all odds the most belligerent of Americans. They are ready to fight at the drop of a hat and off and due. Their patriotism and support of the war is open and enthusiastic. That's fact. Nevertheless, the South is fighting the war much harder abroad than at home. You can talk all you like, mister, but truth is truth. Many of our southern towns have been unfairly passed by in the allocation of war industries and army camps. That too is fact. But again, you see daily proof of another fact that large segments of the population are more interested in keeping the Negro in his place than in keeping Hitler and Tojo in their place. They seem to feel, too, that the rest of the country is ganging up on them to keep the South in its place. The resulting dissension must be very gratifying to Dr. Goebbels. You think of all this, get hot under the collar, and then you say, whoa, get ahold of yourself, bell. Try to find out if the South has a case. It's easy, too easy for the northerner to condemn the South for its sectionalism and prejudices. But this solves no problems. Speak to enlightened Southerners. See what they think. You do. You speak to industrialists, editors, labor leaders, and you find the Southerner has a lot of facts on his side. These are the proven facts you find. The South has been held in economic bondage by the North ever since the Industrial Revolution. Northern capital has milked the region of its resources and given little in return except low wage. Yes, sir. And the South's main economic grievances are, is criminatory if they agree. I'd like to add, too, unequal federal expenditures under the matching provisions of many government agencies. And third, failure to develop southern harbors and industries. Absolutely. I tell you, sir, the South will bolt the Democratic Party in 1944 if these grievances are not relieved. You smile a little. That last statement is by a politician. Actually, you know that a poll of southern Democrats in mid-1943 showed that 80% favored Roosevelt for a fourth term. Actually, you know that a Gallup poll showed three Southerners out of five in favor of a two-party system for the South. And actually, you know that this almost scared the pants off the southern politicos who find the one-party system very cozy indeed. But what are these economic grievances afflicting the South? What, for instance, is the truth about these discriminatory freight rates? I'll tell you, mister. For the past 70 years or so, the South has been prevented from shipping goods to northern markets on equal terms with the north and northeast, mile for mile. For instance, it costs a dollar and 69 cents to ship 100 pounds of goods from Boston to Chicago. But it costs $2.68 to ship the same amount from Lake Charles, Louisiana. Although the latter distance is shorter by 25 miles. That's interesting. Interesting. It's criminal saw. These discriminatory freight rates operate to give an unfair advantage to northern industry while holding the South back. By hampering industrialization, they have kept wages down, and this in turn has kept the South poor and unable to help itself. I tell you, sir, we'll bolt the Democratic Party Next you ask, what's this about unequal matching of federal funds? We object to the system of matching state and local funds with federal funds for social security and other programs. Does it make sense? Wait, wait, wait. The matching system is one way of decentralizing control over our government programs. I would say it's thoroughly consistent with the Southern theory of states' rights, or is the South giving up that theory? We are not, sir. I tell you, sir, we'll bolt the Democratic Party if state rights are in danger. Oh, for heaven's sake, shut up for once. Now, look, mister, we're for the theory of states' rights, yes. But theories go out the window when the pocketbook begins to suffer, as it does here in the South. For remember, the Southern states are full of needy persons and therefore low in tax receipts, so they can't always raise funds for matching purposes. Here's the result. In California, an old-age pensioner gets $30 a month, with the federal government matching the state's contribution of $15. But in Georgia, the pensioner gets only $8 a month. The state can afford only $4, and the federal government won't do more than match it. In short, them that has gets. Them that hasn't, doesn't. Obviously, what's needed is some minimum federal standard of social security, health, and education, with more money going to the South if necessary to raise it to the level of the rest of the country. Now, you're talking. But tell me, tell me, how would all of these things, if you got them, how would they affect the most burning question of all down here, the racial question? Sir, there's no racial question down here. There is white supremacy, and there always will be white supremacy. We have no patience with these fellows in Washington with their anti-lynching bills, their anti-poll tax bills. I tell you, sir, if Washington doesn't watch itself, the South will bolt a democratic party. One of the others gives you the wink, and you get the feeling that views such as the professional politician just expressed are finding less and less favor with intelligent southerners. You've already seen how the old anti-negro feeling has been met in many southern areas, South Carolina, for example, by a counter-trend toward greater unity. And this typical intelligent southerner has a terrible sincerity in his voice when he says, I promise you, Mr. Menethy, we'll make the South a good place to live in before we're through. St. Louis, Detroit. This is it, the Midwest, the famous home of isolationism. Does it still deserve the name? Chicago. The black market flourishes high-white in Hanson. Detroit. Race riots worse than most the South has seen. Still, Detroit's knocking out a wonderful production record. St. Louis. City of slums and dry rot, but the spirit of St. Louis is still one of democracy. War bonds sail zooming all the time. Minneapolis. Don't point the finger at New England. Minneapolis, too, goes in for anti-Semitism. In fact, it is one of the hotspots for it in the Middle West. Yes, this is the Midwest, famous home of pre-war isolationism. Does it still deserve the name? No. Pre-war isolationism has gone from the Midwest replaced by indifference. But again, you hasten to remind yourself, not 100%. A Midwestern farmwife rides with you for an hour. She talks all the time. What she says summarizes the feelings of the common people of that area. The power of talk is this. My son Johnny joined the army. I didn't want him to, but I wouldn't stop him. Now I'm alone, I have more work to do, more chores. Folks say there's got to be a war ever so often. I hope that ain't so. I wish they'd get busy and do something to stop all this from ever happening again. I'd hate to think of my grandson strapsing off to war too. Shortages, housing shortages, absenteeism, labor turnover, poor management, strikes. Yes, there are clouds darkening the western skies, clouds that add up to low morale in war plants and shipyards, clouds that dim the prospect of 100% production for victory. You know this is true. You've seen it. Not that you're too downhearted. They're still doing ten times better than Hitler and Tojo would like, but not as well as the rest of us want them to. Who's to blame? Management says... It's the workers. They're shiftless, disillute. They're not accustomed to hard work or prosperity. That's the reason for absenteeism. The workers say... Absenteeism, absenteeism. It's all you hear. And I've missed two days in seven months. The only absenteeism I've noticed is due to management. Why, they've kept me standing around two days at a stretch on a hull without so much as letting me like my welding torch. That's enough to make a man stay home. We'll go find another job. That's what comes of the cost-plus system. Absenteeism, they say. He gets every eighth day off. Do you ever try cramming eight days of chores into one? We have to file our income tax to see the ration board and fix a car. Clean the house and plant our victory gardens all in one day. Shipyards are crowded and hard to get home from. We don't have long evenings like our old jobs. We try hard to stay on a job and most of us do, but it ain't easy. Who's right? Management or labor. You come to the conclusion that both are. Yes, both are right, but the trouble goes on. Waste and inefficiency are far from uncommon. Ships and planes and guns and tanks often cost more to build, than they should. You take counsel with people who should know. With industrialists, union men, government officials and you arrive at some correctives. Government agencies should quickly provide more community facilities, not only housing and transportation, but also shopping, rationing, banking, recreation. And nursery and daycare facilities near yards and plants. Cost-plus contracts should be done away with whatever possible. Whether it is not possible, a penalty clause should be included in all contracts so that the operator's profits will be lowered as construction costs increase. Labor and operators should both participate more heartily in employee management plans. Labor should adopt more democratic methods within the unions and abandon craft union disputes for the duration. Incentive pay plans would speed up production in lower costs throughout the nation wherever it is possible to apply them. Do these things say the people who should know and we'll win a quicker, less expensive victory. Whether or not they will be done, just as whether or not we're going to drift back after victory to the old head in the sand isolationist ways, depends on the greatest aggregation of free men any reporter ever surveyed. The people of the United States of America. Now here is the author of Assignment USA, the book which provided the facts you've just heard presented. Mr. Selden Menafee. Thank you. Every statement made in this broadcast is absolutely true. I have documentary proof of every event described. But should you by any chance be burdened with a heavy heart due to what you've heard, perhaps it will help if I who made the trip around America give you my overall impression. It's this. Our people are doing a wonderful job of fighting this war despite the mistakes that some of them are making. We're building more weapons, buying more bonds and thinking straighter and clearer than ever before in our history. And that last point is very important. The public opinion polls show that we Americans know pretty well what we're fighting for. They show we are determined in our blundering vague way to win the peace as well as the war. We may not be well informed on every issue or always consistent in our opinions. But we are basically in agreement on the major democratic aims of the war and for the peace to come. This is in a very real sense a people's war. And our citizens are determined that it shall be followed by a people's peace both at home and abroad. Thank you. Thank you, Selden Menafee. You've just heard a radio play based on the important new book, Assignment USA by Selden Menafee. The book was adapted for radio by Richard McDonough of the NBC script staff. Walter Vaughn was the narrator and participating players were Mildred Clinton, Zama Cunningham, G. Swayne Gordon, John Griggs, Joseph Boland, Joseph Latham and Norman Lloyd. The music was arranged and played by William Meader and the entire production was under the direction of Anton M. Leader. Next week, Words at War will present Miss Tallulah Bankhead in a program based on the book, I Served on Baton by Lieutenant Juanita Redmond. Words at War is brought to you in cooperation with the Council on Books in Wartime by the National Broadcasting Company and its affiliated independent stations. Jack Costello speaking, this is the National Broadcasting Company.