New Horizons

Out of Moscow came an agreement of such scope as few men had dared hope for. True, its terms were largely an agreement to agree (see p. 18). To put them effectively in practice would require the world's best brains and all its good will. But the fog through which the four great United Nations groped had lifted. Now--still far away but visible--could be seen the horizons of a new and brighter world.

Franklin Roosevelt, so jubilant that he forgot his lingering cold, could hardly wait to break the news. At a press conference three days before the terms of the agreement were announced, he grinned and joked, nearly popped with his happy secret, finally said: The net results of the Moscow Conference had been a tremendous success. The spirit of the whole meeting had been amazingly good. State Secretary Cordell Hull deserved a great deal of credit for that spirit, and so did the British and Russians.

Clearing the Air. No one quarreled with Franklin Roosevelt's happy forecast. Cried Minnesota's Senator Joe Ball: "More than I ever dreamed. . . . An enormous advance. . . ." Said Vermont's Senator Warren Austin: "It gives great hope that our boys are not fighting in vain."

Behind this sanguine exuberance lay some doubts: the American "scrap-of-paper" cynicism about treaties. But in & out of Washington, Americans were impressed, relieved, hopeful.

The citizenry had been anti-Fascist for a long time; but many had had grave doubts of the State Department's attitude--e.g., the Darlan situation. Now, as of November 1, 1943, good, grey Cordell Hull had placed himself and his men squarely on the record: the U.S. Government, like the U.S. people, wanted no more compromise with Fascism or with Fascists or demi-Fascists. This clearing of the air was notable.

But however much men might have been concerned with the distant future, the plain problem of the immediate present was victory. The greatest virtue of the Moscow Conference was that its first purpose was to guarantee victory. It had girded with iron the great possible weakness of the Allies. Now, engrossed in direct military cooperation, the United Nations need not concern themselves about a wartime rift in their alliance.

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