"You'll Find Out"

The official G.I. guide to Germany tells U.S. doughboys how to deal with skeptical Germans. When a German says: "It is all a lie, all democratic propaganda," the G.I.'s officially approved answer is: "Okay, chum, you'll find out soon enough."

Just how, and through whom, the Germans are to find out was a subject of much controversy last week. OWI's Director Elmer Davis, back from SHAEF, took the view that the free, contentious press of the U.S. and Britain would be a bad thing for the Germans to get a look at. Accordingly, said Davis, U.S., British and other Allied newspapers and magazines would be barred from Germany for "an indefinite period of military occupation." Said he: "Germany is a sick man, and right now can get only what the doctors prescribe. Later on, he will have a more ample diet."

The U.S. press cried that Nazi-like control was no way to cure Naziism. President Truman, harking to the uproar, announced that he had checked with General Eisenhower, and that both of them thought Davis was wrong. Said the President: the General has expressed the personal opinion that a free press and a free flow of information and ideas should prevail in Germany in a manner consistent with military security.

The press cheered. Actually, no great change of policy had been made. Against his own better judgment, Davis had simply announced a restrictive policy handed to him by SHAEF's Psychological Warfare Division. In effect, that policy stood: the press in Germany, whether imported or printed on the spot, would still be supervised "in a manner consistent with military security."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.