Tony Snow on FoxNews Sunday mentioned this article from LIFE
Magazine, January 7th, 1946, that has been made available by
bloggerJessica’s Well. Here
is an excerpt from <a
href=”http://www.kultursmog.com/Life-Page02.htm”>the editorial
introduction:
On Germany, which plunged the Continent into its misery,
falls the blame for its own plight and the plight of all Europe. But if
this winter proves worse even than the war years, blame will fall on the
victor nations. Some Europeans blame Russia for callousness to misery in
eastern Europe. But some also blame America because they expected so
much more from her.
Here are a few excerpts from <a
href=”http://www.kultursmog.com/Life-Page01.htm”>the article by LIFE
correspondent, novelist John Dos Passos:
The troops returning home are worried. “We’ve lost the
peace,” men tell you. “We can’t make it stick.” A tour of the beaten-up
cities of Europe six months after victory is a mighty
sobering experience for anyone. Europeans. Friend and foe alike, look
you accusingly in the face and tell you how bitterly they are
disappointed in you as an American. They cite the evolution of the word
“liberation.” Before the Normandy landings it meant to be freed from the
tyranny of the Nazis. Now it stands in the minds of the civilians for
one thing, looting. . . .
When the British and American came the Viennese felt that at last they
were in the hands of civilized people. But instead of coming in with a
bold plan of relief and reconstruction we came in full of evasions and
apologies. . . .
We have swept away Hitlerism, but a great many Europeans feel that the
cure has been worse than the disease.
There’s more where
these came from.