When Books Went to War (38 page)

[>]
“
Thanks—
thanks
—[for] your letter”:
Letter from “Robinson” to Betty Smith, December 10, 1944, Betty Smith Papers.

[>]
“
When I received [your] letter”:
Letter from L. W. to “Betty,” undated, Betty Smith Papers.

[>]
“
I am going to need another”:
Letter from L. W. to “Betty,” February 18, 1945, Betty Smith Papers.

[>]
“
You helped inspire me”:
Letter from J. W. P. to Betty Smith, April 11, 1945, Betty Smith Papers.

[>]
Months later:
Letter from J. W. P. to Betty Smith, June 27, 1945, Betty Smith Papers.

[>]
“
I think it's wonderful”:
Letter to “Elizabeth” from Betty Smith, May 5, 1944, Betty Smith Papers.

[>]
“
thanks for the joy”:
Letter from J. C. E. to Rosemary Taylor, undated, “somewhere in New Guinea,” Council Records.

[>]
“cooking without measuring”:
Letter from Capt. E. B. to Rosemary Taylor, July 17, 1944, Council Records.

[>]
“
resist the temptation”:
Letter from B. B. to Rosemary Taylor, January 19, 1944, Council Records.

[>]
“
remind[ed] them of”:
Jamieson, “Armed Services Editions and GI Fan Mail,” 149.

[>]
“
Books are often”:
Letter from H. V. A. to Archibald Ogden, December 10, 1944, Council Records.

[>]
“
printed matter”:
Lieut. Col. Raymond L. Trautman, “Books and the Soldier,” in
Books and Libraries in Wartime
, edited by Pierce Butler (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1945), 53.

 

7. Like Rain in the Desert

 

[>]
“
For days I've been hunting”:
Sgt. B. S. to the Armed Services Editions, Inc. (undated), Council Records.

[>]
“
a steaming, malarial”:
“Pacific Attack,”
New York Times
, July 4, 1943.

[>]
Incessant bombings:
“Guadalcanal: A Crucial Battle,”
New York Times
, October 18, 1942.

[>]
“
The nights are passed”:
T. Tillman Durdin, “It's Never Dull on Guadalcanal,”
New York Times
, September 18, 1942.

[>]
“
worst defeat in a fair”:
Admiral Samuel Eliot Morison, “Guadalcanal— 1942,” in
Battle: True Stories of Combat in World War II
(New York: Curtis Books, 1965), 181, 183–88.

[>]
Pacific's most extreme:
Sgt. Larry McManus, “Saipan Was Worse Than Tarawa,”
Yank, the Army Weekly
, August 6, 1944, p. 22.

[>]
“
It was a case of”:
“We Take Saipan,”
New York Times
, July 10, 1944.

[>]
Over fifteen thousand:
“American Losses on Saipan 15,053,”
New York Times
, July 13, 1944.

[>]
Within four days:
“Books March in Army's Front Lines—Even to Tiny Atolls of Pacific,”
Christian Science Monitor
, March 13, 1945.

[>]
“
The morning after”:
Ballou and Rakosky,
A History of the Council on Books in Wartime
, 82–83.

[>]
Turning to
Stars: “Mail Call,”
Stars and Stripes
, July 14, 1944.

[>]
“
not an uncommon sight”:
Letter from a field director for the American Red Cross, dated “Tuesday the 23rd,” Council Records.

[>]
“
Soldiers carry your books”:
Letter from “a Major in the South Pacific,” Council Records.

[>]
“
so popular that one is”:
B. T. C. to the “Armed Services Editions,” October 17, 1944, Council Records.

[>]
“
From the Airborne”:
Letter “From an Army Hospital in England,” Council Records.

[>]
“
Proof at last”:
Letter from 2nd Lt. R. R. R. to Council on Books in Wartime, January 30, 1945, Council Records.

[>]
“
I do not know who”:
Letter from Sgt. E. S. to the Council on Books in Wartime (undated), Council Records.

[>]
“
damned sincere thanks”:
Letter from T. C. to the Council on Books in Wartime (undated), Council Records.

[>]
“
rain in the desert”:
V-Mail from S. F. to the Armed Services Editions, July 17, 1944, Council Records.

[>]
“
six long tiresome”:
Letter from J. C. to “Gentleman,” undated, Council Records.

[>]
“
Since I have been”:
Letter from J. B. to Chairman, January 4, 1945, Council Records.

[>]
“
gratifyingly pleased”:
Letter from R. W. W. to the Armed Services Editions, July 21, 1944, Council Records.

[>]
“
worthy of a medal”:
V-Mail from S. F. to the Armed Services Editions, July 17, 1944, Council Records.

[>]
“
For days I've been hunting”:
Letter from Sgt. B. S. to the Armed Services Editions, Inc. (undated), Council Records.

[>]
“
You have no idea”:
Letter from Pfc. J. M. N. to Sirs, July 8, 1944, Council Records.

[>]
“
would like to get hold of”:
Letter from J. B. to the Chairman of the Council on Books in Wartime, January 4, 1945, Council Record.

[>]
a dictionary:
“Editions for the Armed Services, Inc.,” signed by entire unit (undated), Council Records.

[>]
“
requires little ‘sales talk'”:
Letter from Sgt. G. F. to Editions for the Armed Services, Inc., August 13, 1945, Council Records.

[>]
a request came in for more plays:
Letter from D. B. to “Sirs,” August 4, 1945, Council Records.

[>]
“
There is just one bit”:
V-Mail from Sgt. H. H. to the Editions for the Armed Forces, December 21, 1944, Council Records.

[>]
not enough sports books:
Letter from Cpl. W. C. G., July 9, 1944, Council Records.

[>]
“
My personal preference”:
Letter from R. A. B. to the Editions for the Armed Services, Inc. (undated), Council Records.

[>]
“
recent history and people”:
Letter from Pfc. D. M. L. to Philip Van Doren Stern, August 23, 1944, Council Records.

[>]
wife of an American POW:
Letter from H. E. A. to the Editions for the Armed Services, Inc., September 25, 1944, Council Records.

[>]
A Navy nurse:
Letter from E. G. to the Editions for the Armed Services, Inc. (undated), Council Records.

[>]
“
He says that I couldn't”:
Letter from Dr. A. C. K. to Council on Books in Wartime, February 26, 1946, Council Records.

[>]
contractually obligated:
Letter to M. P. S. from Philip Van Doren Stern, August 15, 1944; Minutes of the Executive Committee Meeting, January 24, 1945, Council Records.

[>]
“
Next month he will have”:
Letter from W. A. to Editions for the Armed Services, Inc., September 16, 1945, Council Records.

[>]
“
Being an ardent baseballer”:
Letter from K. W. R. to the Secretary of the Editions for the Armed Services, Inc., February 14, 1946, Council Records.

[>]
exceptions were made:
Note to “Phil” handsigned (unreadable), (undated), Council Records.

[>]
“
The books that are most”:
Letter from Pvt. D. S. to Editions for the Armed Services, Inc., March 23, 1945, Council Archives.

[>]
“fellas have a fever”:
Letter from B. N. to Editions for the Armed Services, Inc., September 7, 1945, Council Archives.

[>]
“
If you've ever seen books”:
Paul Fussell,
Wartime
, 107.

[>]
Boston had banned:
Neil Miller,
Banned in Boston: The Watch and Ward Society's Crusade Against Books, Burlesque, and the Social Evil
(Boston: Beacon Press, 2010).

[>]
“We're all looking forward”:
Excerpt from Letter from Capt. M. C., December 23, 1944, Council Records.

[>]
Eleanor Roosevelt had praised:
“Boston Bans a Novel,”
New York Times
, March 21, 1944.

[>]
While
Forever Amber: Kathleen Winsor,
Forever Amber
(New York: Armed Services Editions, No. T-39 [1945]).

[>]
“
objected to having to give”:
Minutes of the Executive Committee Meeting, October 11, 1944, Council Records.

[>]
“Forever Amber
and
Strange
”:
Letter to Pvt. D. S. from Philip Van Doren Stern, April 1945, Council Records.

[>]
“
Pay no attention”:
Letter from R. W. W. to the Armed Services Editions, July 21, 1944, Council Records.

[>]
“
It's beginning to look”:
“Boston's Sons in Service Reading Those Awful Books,”
Boston Traveler
, January 12, 1945.

[>]
man wrote from:
Letter from Pvt. G. G. to Thomas Y. Crowell, Co., September 20, 1944, Council Records.

[>]
“
light ack ack battalion”:
Letter from F. M. E. to Harper and Bros., September 21, 1944, Council Records.

[>]
through heavy artillery fire:
Letter from L. D. J. to the Council on Books in Wartime (quoting a September 10, 1944, letter to L. D. J. from Pvt. C. T. J.), Council Records.

[>]
“
only to discover”:
Letter from Cpl. R. C. J. to The Macmillan Company, March 11, 1945, Council Records.

[>]
“
If it is your mission”:
Letter from M. S. T. to “Gentlemen,” August 27, 1944, Council Records.

[>]
“
out here time hangs”:
Letter from M. S. T. to “Mr. Stern,” September 27, Council Records.

[>]
“
many happy and contented”:
Letter from B. A. to the Editions for the Armed Services, Inc., June 26, 1945, Council Records.

[>]
“
to discover the names of”:
Letter from H. A. B. to the “Council on Books in Wartime (or whatever!),” May 11, 1944, Council Records.

[>]
“
there is no question of any”:
Letter from William Sloane to Private H. A.  B., July 18, 1944, Council Records.

[>]
“
Don't you think”:
Letter from E. J. to the Council on Books in Wartime, March 12, 1945, Council Records.

[>]
“
Next to penicillin”:
Ballou and Rakosky,
A History of the Council on Books in Wartime
, 81.

[>]
“
bet dollars to GI Spam”:
Letter from “Sidney” from “somewhere at sea” (undated), Council Records.

 

8. Censorship and FDR's F---th T--m

 

[>]
“
If it is to be left”:
“Army Censor,”
Lynchburg (VA) Daily Advance
, June 22, 1944.

[>]
As accolades for:
Jamieson,
Books for the Army
, 213.

[>]
After the original law:
C. P. Trussell, “Both Sides Press Bids for 1944 Service Vote,”
New York Times
, November 21, 1943.

[>]
“
the Services are unable”:
“The Nation: Votes for Soldiers,”
Time
(Pony Ed.), January 17, 1944, p. 1.

[>]
As this legislation began:
Leary, “Books, Soldiers and Censorship”; William S. White,
The Taft Story
(New York: Harper & Row, 1954), 43–45; Joseph B. Treaster, “Charles P. Taft, Former Mayor of Cincinnati,”
New York Times
, June 25, 1983.

[>]
Acknowledging that it:
90 Cong. Rec. 2404-2410 (1944).

[>]
A February 1944 poll:
“What They Think,”
Time
(Pony Ed.), February 7, 1944, p. 25.

[>]
“
bobtailed ballot”:
90 Cong. Rec. 2621–22 (1944).

[>]
“
In order to get a ballot”:
Ibid., 2637–38.

[>]
“
wholly inadequate”:
Leary, “Books, Soldiers and Censorship,” 240.

[>]
if those in the services wanted:
58 Stat. 141 (Title III at Sec. 303(a) [“Official War Ballot”]); Title III at Sec. 306 (providing that the states would furnish lists of candidates).

[>]
“
magazine .
 . 
. newspaper”:
See 58 Stat. 136, Title V, §§ 22(2)(b), 24 (April 1, 1944).

[>]
“
uses the broadest terms”:
War Department Memorandum, April 27, 1944, “Subject: Restrictions in new ‘Federal Voting Law' on dissemination to members of the armed forces of political argument or political propaganda,” 3, Council Records.

[>]
“
law is quite clear”:
“Draft Letter to Be Sent to Publishers,” April 28, 1944, Council Records.

[>]
“
I hope you didn't send the”:
Letter to Philip Van Doren Stern from “Dick,” Simon & Schuster, May 1, 1944, Council Records.

[>]
Army .
 . 
. opposed editing:
Letter to Philip Van Doren Stern from Ray Trautman, June 7, 1944, Council Records.

[>]
“
almost certainly result in”:
Letter to Philip Van Doren Stern from Randall Jacobs, June 7, 1944, Council Records.