Wars and Rumors of Wars

THE WORLD SINCE 1945—The world has been in global conflict—using the term to include political, economic, psychological and military strife—ever since 1945, and there have been about 30 limited or small shooting affrays since World War II. Some of the present ones—notably in Vietnam and on the Indian-Chinese frontier—are sizable campaigns.… The current crisis could add other shooting episodes to this list. There are already points of extreme tension, unsolved political problems, divided countries all over the world. There are any number of scenarios that could be imagined that might raise the curtain on battle of one sort or another.—HANSON W. BALDWIN, The New York Times.

RECENT HEADLINES—“Soviets Rush Cuba Bases; U.S. Warns of War”—The Detroit Free Press. “Soviet Ships With Missiles; K’s Choice—War or Peace”—New York Herald Tribune. “Chinese Batter India in ‘Undeclared War’ ”—The Boston Herald. “The Congo: Again the Bombs Fall”—New York Herald Tribune. “India: The Undeclared War Becomes Hotter”—Los Angeles Times.

REPORT FROM SOUTHEAST ASIA—The grim, “unofficial” war in Viet Nam is opening up and will soon become more like a full scale military operation. Both sides will be wheeling heavier weapons into the area. American soldiers will be getting more and more involved in the actual fighting.—PETER ANDREWS, Los Angeles Herald Examiner.

NO PEACE PRIZE—There will be no Nobel Peace Prize for 1962. In making this announcement, the Norwegian parliamentary committee in charge of the award has refrained from offering any explanation, but none is really necessary. After all, one has only to take a quick look around the world to find reason in abundance for the committee’s decision to wait for a more propitious time to bestow the honor on a person worthy of it. Certainly, as far as 1962 is concerned, wars and rumors of wars, big and little, actual and potential, continue to abound throughout the globe.—The Sunday Star (Washington, D.C.).

STATISTICS ON VETERANS—The United States has about 22½ million veterans, of which 15.2 million served in World War II.—Topeka Sunday Capital-Journal. About 40 per cent of the population is made up of veterans’ families.… Since World War II, one out of every five Americans 18 years or older has served in the armed forces.—Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

THE END OF WAR—Once upon a time it was called Armistice Day.… And then the word “Armistice” became a mockery.… The holiday became Veterans Day, as if we had finally gotten around to believing something Plato wrote three centuries before the birth of Christ: “Only the dead have seen the end of war.”—Columnist BOB CONSIDINE.

AN INDISTINCT LINE—The line between war and peace grows somewhat confused in these times. Technically we remain at peace. But what is the meaning of peace to more than 30 Americans killed by Communist gunfire in Southeast Asia, or to a U-2 pilot shot down over Cuba, or to a rifleman on duty at the Berlin Wall?—Boston Traveler.

FADING MEMORIES—Veterans’ Day, its deep meaning long since lost in the continuity of wars, will be generally “business as usual”.… This trend away from the necessary solemn observance of a day of tribute to the nation’s heroic war dead is regrettable.—The Idaho Sunday Statesman.

HEROES AND HORSES—Some have asked whether the Armistice of November 11, 1918, that was to end wars, is still a valid occasion for a holiday. Others have questioned the advisability of another holiday in November. But no one could quarrel with yesterday … a three-day, post-seasonal vacation. Summer came back.… What’s more [it] was the occasion of the eleventh running of the Washington D.C. International at Laurel.… The band played that stirring national anthem, the Marseillaise, and the crowd which had lost its money on the three American horses came through with a resounding cheer.—Columnist GEORGE KENNEDY, The Evening Star (Washington, D.C.).

POSSIBILITY AMIDST PERIL—These are, as recent events have again reminded us, perilous times—more perilous, perhaps, than any since the Black Death of the Middle Ages.… In such peril there is also hope. The agony of the A-bomb menace is that it comes at a time when it is technologically possible for humanity to build a world of security, plenty and justice. It is such a world that wise and well-governed states must seek; and this is the central task of the United Nations.—The New York Times.

AN IMPERFECT WORLD—In the past 17 years, with varying degrees of success, the U.N. moral and physical presence has achieved at least five other important separations among the powers that might well have meant general war.… We would like to live unafraid and give our children a chance. But it is a risky thing even to be born these days and the prognosis is dangerous. We live in an imperfect world perfectly equipped for self-destruction, and the U.N. is an imperfect instrument in protecting us from this.—HENRY J. TAYLOR, New York World-Telegram.

THE ROAD AHEAD—Now we have got in front of us a long time of great danger. The removal of missiles from Cuba is a tactical victory, but only a tactical victory—perhaps even a strategic defeat.… We are almost certainly heading for a series of international crises, any one of which can be worse than the one before it. We must school our nerves and hearts for whatever is to come. We must prepare ourselves to live with deep trouble, and to live with frustration, and to live with despair. If we do that well enough, we cannot be defeated finally.—NICK B. WILLIAMS, Editor, Los Angeles Times.

ANY MOMENT POSSIBILITY—Nuclear war may start “at any moment by accident, miscalculation, or madness.”—President JOHN F. KENNEDY to United Nations in 1961.

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