Crystal Gazing

Predictions, 1942. Many a forecast for 1942 turned out poorly. Columnist Raymond Clapper thought the U.S. East Coast would be token-bombed, that the Nazis would loose poison gas on England. Columnist George Fielding Eliot wrote that Japs would be "swiftly and decisively beaten." Newscaster Raymond Gram Swing predicted Hitler would either retire or be ousted by the German Army. Author Fletcher Pratt said only a miracle could save Russia "from utter defeat." Foreign Correspondent John T. Whitaker limb-climbed with a flat forecast that the Nazis would invade Spain and Portugal in the spring. Ex-CBS Berlin Newscaster Harry Flannery agreed with him, added the Azores and Canary Islands. For the same year Adolf Hitler promised the German people "the greatest victory in our history."

Predictions, 1943. As the New Year bowed in, most "experts" refrained from outright prognostications. One who did not was the New York Sun's "Sun Dial" Columnist H. I. Phillips. Sample fate-proof Phillips predictions:

"January--Tommy Manville will remarry or get a divorce or something. March--Millions of Americans who always thought the income tax was something for the rich to worry about will be brought up with a jolt. April--The first robin will be reported in all New England States. The first baseball holdouts will be reported in all others. May--There will be a new ration card. June--[Ex]Senator Prentiss Brown will wonder why he ever took Henderson's job. November--Hitler will proclaim all the Russian armies annihilated."

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