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j ' THE OREQON STATESMAN. SALEM. OREGON
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CHURCHILL was Britain's
sideline propktt of ' disaster
until war blazed; he emerged
mi prim minister, savior.
.v
EISENHOWER, a Ttxas-Kan-
san, txscuted somt of might
itt military operations and
taught the Nazis new lessons.
ft i ':
V a-
MONTGOMERY, libit toting
'blitz-master, was the first t
step the Nazis with inspired
. r. kj.it. ti.:..
Jactics across North Africa.
V
r
-si.
MOLOTOV, the mild, method
ical statesman, in war be
came Russia's No. 2 man and
' Russia became No. 1 Euro
pean power with hispid.
TtTft (Jotin Brex). the myth-
shrouded chief orYMSOsUnr
' f fiuerrUlas, mtrged from the
Balkan confusion fo confound
tht tottering Nazi uptrmen.
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Leading Nations
Heads Dominate
World Thought
By William Glover
AP Features Writer . ' v
..This has -been personalized
war in Europe. " - -
A
Through the long years leading
to the struggle and the bloody
months of battle, the destiny of
all creation has rested In the
hands of a half dozen leaders of
nations.
The dominant figures Roose
velt, Churchill, Stalin, Hitler and
Mussolini are "men of the hour,'
untouched by royal blood.
And while World war II has
been a struggle of entire peoples.
historians ' probably will ponder
the impact of the leaders' per
sonalities upon events. Each
leader, too, ' has displayed : to
marked degree the national char
acteristicj of his state or its form
of government. : :
The Sinister and the Rosy
, First of the dictators wasstri
dent, pompous, braggart Musso
lini. His stature shrank as that of
his pupil, sinister Adolf Hitler,
increased. Thwarted, brutal, the
Fuehrer played upon the in
grained militarism of his people,
still . stinging from defeat
United Nations leadership for
the European conflict was in the
hands of a trio of different stamp
Churchill, "the rosy little man,"
a master of rhetoric, looks 'like
John Bull and clinched fame by
carrying the torch for the British
Empire through the dark days of
1940-'41. Russia's fate was -en
trusted to Joseph Stalin, Inscrut
able master player In the inter
national poker game of diploma
cy, who gained, time by siding
with the Nazis at first, who let
the world think Russia could not
fight victoriously, and who drew
Hitler onto a battlefield of death.
The United States was led by
Roosevelt, a phrase - maker him
sen, a master or timing and a
leader so popular he could ask
and get for the first time in his
torya third presidential term.
He not only helped a peace-loving
complacent country reach war
tempo, but insisted on being in
fact the military head of th na
tion, as well as the political.
The Mliht Have Been
What has been the effect of
these personalities on events?
At Munich Hitler pulled a gun
on the Allied leaders of 1938,
Chamberlain and Daladier. They
quailed, and Mussolini who had
been called in to play the role of
.interlocutor decided history by
putting his chips with Hitler,
Whom he had bluffed in similar
fashion on the matter of Austria's
freedom in 1934. Churchill would
scarcely have been bluffed that
way. J
s Stalin, . ignored at Munich,
showed his disappointment. No
one trusted the USSR, he must
have thought, and the deed must
have played a part in the later
Russian policy, shifting and enig
matic as it seemed to. the outside
world.
II Duce, when the showdown
came in September, 1939, showed
his inherent weakness by pulling
aside as a non-belligerent, . then
found outlet for his braggadocio in
May, 1940, by jumping on France
when he thought the battle was
over. His action resulted In
Roosevelt's tide-changing "stab In
the back speech one day later,
The Atlantic Charter
-Personalities were transcendent
when in 1941 the Anglo-American
leaders held the first of their get-
togethers and drew up the Atlan
tic Charter. With it, generalized
as it was, the two astute leaders
silenced many skeptics of Allied
war motives.
The later meetings of the lead
ers prove how their dominating
beliefs and characteristics belit
tled the : minor currents in the
stream of conflict.
In the later days of the war, as
the jsyches of Roosevelt, Chur
chill and Stalin came into per
manent dominance over the tot
tering personalities of Mussolini
and Hitler, individual differences
again shaped events.
- Hitler,' the egotist- and mystic,
during the day of German vie-1
tories, sowed the dragon's teeth
of suspicion and contempt among
the professional Prussian mili
tarists. He spumed them, recalled
them, dismissed them and cajoled
them until even the home front
suspected the omnipotence of the
Reich's man-god.
Mussolini, when war over
whelmed l Italy, found the years
of . strutting and imperiousness
could not make tip for the fact
that his regime was termite-eaten.
These five (for it is still: too
early to judge the ultimate per
sonal elements in the Pacific)
were products of the times in
which they came to power, but
more than that the deeds which
followed : .were . products of the
men. ,
I " 4""' ' ' 4fLiiM
HITLER, Nazi dictator since
1933, .released Europe's old
est bates, i newest death ma
chines; was himself engulfed.
4,
H
v
MUSSOLINI,, father of Fas
cism, dictated for 21 years;
was first of dictators to fall
('43) as Italy was invaded.
V
HEYDRICH, the Nazi hang-
man, topped the list of war
criminals for post-war trjal.
But a patriot's; bomb got him
in Pragu
in 1942.
! i
I
HESS, Hitter's! own deputy
Fuehrer, flfw to England Jin
1941 to propose peace-and
i sank into deep oblivion.1' -
VON THYSSIN. German steel
tycoon,! sponsored Hitler's
rise, theft from a jail window
law wef gobble up fortune."
'.r...i......?;i,
N.
MliPIHiilD)E DRI TOED1
.
,
.sjssasMSSslB
! GcrlainlsTit'f time'
Kvipe'd out two thirds
haturalpndeilefs
This Europeanictory
j! How clearly ve see
':tr IJ-
the'sacrifices! :Working
i . i i , 1 ' '
an ; abundance 'of things
been r a
I -: f
what "a
little"; troublesome on the borne f rbnt.r
far cry from the
ificesaur fighting men
v NowTahead Tis the finals equally tough I battle; ?
to'come. You can bet your boys will be ready; if we1
are'prepared to continue backing tliem!
There, must not be
to Tokio ! Prove' to' your boy s'our pride- i n them I byi
insuring:FlNVictoi7!Buymore
135-146 N. Commercial EL
i , Salem, Ore,
if J
15 t -.-
ACMflEWEMERITS
for smiles! Your boys have
of the Axis trio J But in our
has cost all of Jus a good!
now how worthwhile
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extra hours Jdoihg without!
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Jand sal vaging mayjhaye)
heroic life anddeathwsac
have made!
any .'dead end on this
deal i
were
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but
road