Crystal Ball

Incomplete. Wendell Willkie will be the Republicans' 1944 nominee, predicted Teamster Boss Dan Tobin. "Uncle Dan," who was chairman of the Democratic labor committee in Franklin Roosevelt's first three terms, was less certain about the Democratic nominee. In an 1,800-word article on 1944 in his house organ, The International Teamster, not once did he mention Franklin Roosevelt's name. Said he: "The Democrats do not have a great number of very strong men who would appeal to the people."

Qualified. Cordell Hull last week endorsed General Dwight D. Eisenhower's flat prediction of European victory in 1944. But by the time the Secretary added his characteristic, cautious circumlocutions, the forecast was refined toward nothingness.

Said Cordell Hull: Yes, if all the peoples in the United Nations (and particularly those behind the front lines) redouble their support, and if they promote a greater state of unity in their cooperative efforts, the European war might end at some such stage as General Eisenhower had suggested. But even so, concluded the Secretary, we should not become too optimistic.

Faster. Thin, shy Sergio Osmena, vice president of the Philippines, dismissed talk of a long war in the Pacific. Said he: "I don't believe the Japs can last long after Germany is defeated. The combined might of the United Nations will be more than Japan can withstand."

Unfulfilled. Year's end reddened the faces of these seers:

Andrew Jackson May, chairman of the House Military Affairs Committee, who said: "The war will end probably in 1942, and unquestionably in 1943."

Al Smith, who prophesied on the eve of 1943: "I think we will be close to the end before the year is out. I don't think those fellows can take another year of it."

Those U.S. citizens (50% of those queried) who told Gallup questioners six weeks after Pearl Harbor that the war would be over by the end of 1943.

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