Realization

It was nearly 3 p.m. The President sat alone at his desk, cleaning up his day's work, glancing now & again into the gloomy afternoon. A storm was rolling up, and he had a date to meet President Prado of Peru at Boiling Field. Thunderheads stood darkly over the Potomac; soon the big cool raindrops would spatter down. The President watched the clock.

Into the office strode handsome, hefty Captain John L. McCrea, the President's Naval aide. He handed the President a sheaf of papers. Franklin Roosevelt read the news: the great Battle of the Coral Sea had begun; the U.S. Navy had already sunk seven Japanese warships (see p. 18).

President Roosevelt, who loves good news, went beaming to his meeting with Good Neighbor Prado. The less optimistic might wait and wonder, but Franklin Roosevelt was confident of a victory won. The thunderheads broke; the rain poured down. The skies brightened. Said the first Navy communique: "Very excellent news has been received. . . ."

The nation, sore and grim over the fall of Corregidor, dared not be so sure. Nobody knew the U.S. losses; commentators reserved comment; the public waited, they would patiently wait all this year, for further news.

By week's end their doubts were gone. The Navy and the Army Air Forces had sunk or disabled 21 ships. U.S. losses were light; the Jap was in retreat. The Jap might be back, might win another battle, but this time the U.S. had won.

The U.S. went on about its home affairs, without jubilee or rejoicing. The U.S. had begun to learn some things about the war--one of them was that no great victory yet on either side has been great enough. The news from the War Department, giving the first details of the bombing of Tokyo, was another reason to cheer, ring bells, tie down whistles. But no one did. And thus, significantly, the U.S. revealed the depth of its realization that the U.S. is now deep in war.

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