The Evening Star THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 1940. ROOSEVELT’S VICTORY.

Evening Star, Issue 23727, 7 November 1940, Page 8

The Evening Star THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 1940. ROOSEVELT’S VICTORY.

After a campaign fought with great vigour and even bitterness, Mr h ranklin Roosevelt's star is in the ascendant. For the third time, breaking an historic tradition, he Iras been elected President of the United States. His victory was decisive, and it appears that he carries to Congress with him a majority in both the Senate and the House of Representatives. The result will be regarded with satisfaction throughout the British Empire. There was no reason to doubt Mr Willkie’s goodwill in the great struggle against Nazi tyranny. Promises were made by him, as in the case of his opponent, that every aid would be given to Britain short of active participation in tho war. Still, it was felt that as a statesman he was Jacking in that experience that is so essential for successful leadership in a time of great stress and anxiety. With Mr Roosevelt there were no misgivings. Before the outbreak of war ho strove mightily for peace, and since the blow fell he has been emphatic in his condemnation of the aggressor nations. More than that, he has shown his sympathy with Great Britain in a practical way by placing America’s resources at her disposal to the , full extent of his administrative opportunities. His purpose was strengthened as the war proceeded by shocking examples of Nazi tyranny and brutality that accompanied the invasion of.small States. Tho ties of his Dutch ancestry would make him especially sympathetic in the case of Holland.

America’s decision will be a disappointment to the Axis. There are in the United States many millions of people ot Italian and German origin, from whom active support for its cause was expected to be forthcoming, but there i» reason to believe that only a small portion of them, who are affected by Nazi and Fascist intrigues, approve of the methods employed by the Axis. It would appear that the President’s international policy has been endorsed by the country, and that the domestic sins charged against him, particularly on the third term and New Deal issues, failed to shake the confidence that the electors reposed in him. Mr Willkie, in his campaign, was emphatic in his condemnation of th'e attempt to break the third-term tradition. He appealed to American democracy, regardless of party or partisanship, to repudiate the doctrine of indispensabjlity —the doctrine of continuance in office of one man—and he claimed that American democracy must defeat the third-term plea in self-defence. Mr Willkie was unsparing in his criticism of the New Deal, and complained generally of the Administration’s sometimes concealed, sometimes openly provocative foreign policies, its unbridled waste and extravagance, its unwarranted attacks on legitimate business, the piling up of a national debt of inconceivable (proportions, the failure to solve the unemployment problem and to provide adequately for the nation’s defence. These are a few of the grievous deficiencies of the Roosevelt Administration, according to Mr Willkie. On behalf of Mr Roosevelt, it was contended that with problems of unemployment such as America had never experienced before, he and his Administration conceived and effectively 7 operated a relief and works programme which had saved the lives of thousands of men, women, and children, and had at the same time created great and useful improvements throughout tiic country on sound and progressive lines. It 1 was pointed out that to-day the people

of the United States faced a situation in which the last great democracy on earth, except their own, was in desperate straits, fighting heroically for existence, needing America’s help, encouragement, and co-operation. Democrats claimed that the real issue hinged on the danger of passing the helm over from ono who had served his country so well for eight years, and who was wiso in experience and of outstanding ability, to a business man, untried and unversed in statesmanship. The result of tho election is -a remarkable tribute to Mr Roosevelt, for after eight years in office tho Government of any democratic country, inevitably charged with many sins of omission and commission, finds it difficult to hold the confidence of tho people.