THE AVERAGE AMERICAN

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 76, 4 August 1941, Page 6

THE AVERAGE AMERICAN

ATTITUDE TOWARDS THE WAR VIEWS OF MR COATES lßy Telegraph—Special to "The Mail"] Wellington, This Day ‘Citizens of the United States know a lot about the Anzacs and admire them as soldiers,” Mr Coates said when he returned to Wellington to-day. “Many of them do not think in terms of Australia or New Zealand, but to the Americans Anzac-s personify an empire outside America and the United King dom." Discussing the attitude of the average American towards the European conflict Mr Coates said that east of the Mississippi the outlook of the people was similar to our own in respect to aid to Britain. Isolationists had a greater say in the Middle West, but the Japanese situation was altering that. The difficulty lor the average American was to hang on to some reason why he should be interested in the Atlantic. Personally, he thought the Monroe Doctrine was the shortest answer. Another question the American asked himself was how can the United States be affected by a war in Europe? Th * position in North America was the answer to that. Control of Africa and the chain of islands across the Atlantic brought America within striking distance by air. Consequently America must look both to the Atlantic and to the Pacific. It was possible for the average New Zealander to appreciate the Middle West attitude when it was realised that the people in the middle of the United States were a long v ay from the conflict by sea and land. They asked, how can Europe touch us? That attitude had been altered by Japanese action which had tended to unify public opinion and break down barriers.