Excerpts from the Press Conference

MR. EARLY: Tremendous conference.

Q. How are you, Mr. President?

THE PRESIDENT: Well, fine. There's darn little news, except that I haven't finished my speech.

Q. It's going to be pretty late?

THE PRESIDENT: Pretty nearly finished though. That's old stuff (indicating typed sheets be/ore him). That's the third draft. I am now completing the fifth copy.

MR. DONALDSON: All in.

THE PRESIDENT: I don't think I have anything on operations. I think—I don't know whether you have had this before. There was an attack this morning on Clark Field in the Philippines, resulting in some officer and soldier casualties; and General MacArthur is trying to get further information. That was early this morning.

Q. Have you talked with General MacArthur, sir?

THE PRESIDENT: Not personally on the telephone. He has been telephoning two or three times to the Chief of Staff. . . .

Q. Mr. President, can you tell us of your discussions with S.P.A.B. this morning?

THE PRESIDENT: Yes. I think I can. It was a conference—of course O.P.M. was there also, and several other agencies. I should say that there were, you might say, two concurrent policies that were agreed on. The first was, on the present program, which is now getting into full production, to go ahead with a speed-up of it. Well, that involves, of course, probably working seven days a week, and pushing the speed of the existing program to such an extent that we will get a great many more actual deliveries in the calendar year 1942 than the present program calls for.

Then the other policy that comes with it is to enter into a still greater expansion of plants, which means new plants and additions to old plants, thereby increasing the total volume of production as fast as that can be attained. In other words, a speeding up, and an increase of totals, working toward an all-out effort. Of course, a great many other things will form a component part of that phrase—an "all-out effort."

Q. (interposing) Mr. President—

THE PRESIDENT: (continuing) We also talked about certain things called priorities, and as you will see from what I say tonight, there is not at this time any shortage in foodstuffs. In other words, there is enough for all of us, and enough left over to help the food situation among those who are fighting against the same evil that we are fighting against.

On a very large number of articles in normal civilian use, there is also no shortage at the present time for civilian use, or for defense purposes.

There is, however, for this new program, a very great shortage in most metals, and it seems clear that in putting the program into effect we shall have to do two things. The first is to increase the original output of the raw material or metals, and the second is to divert from civilian use to defense needs at least 50 percent—at least half—of all metals which during this past year have been going to civilian and not defense purposes. It means that people will have to do without a great many metal things, which they have been able to get up to this time.

Q. Mr. President, this speed-up thing in production will about eliminate any unemployment in the automobile industry, will it not?

THE PRESIDENT: Oh, I don't think you can put it that way, because after all, if I said it would end it, then you would come back at me a month or two from now and say, "How about these people that have been thrown out of work temporarily while they were retooling the factory?" You see?

Q. I was thinking—

THE PRESIDENT: (interposing) Not permanent. It's just like the usual slump in the automobile business, you know. About every summer they stop working for a month to get the tools for the new models out. Well, there may be something like that occurring in various plants, not only automobile but lots of other things, where they are retooling for defense purposes ....

Q. Mr. President, you have had a number of discussions with labor leaders in the last couple of weeks. A number of them have suggested the calling of a conference of labor and industry, to see if they couldn't sit down together and work out some kind of a voluntary program, in the place of anti-strike legislation. Are you giving any consideration to calling such a conference?

THE PRESIDENT: I am. And that is all I can say. Whether it would be an unofficial off-the-record, or an official conference, I haven't got the slightest idea. I am giving it consideration. Don't write it up as meaning this, that, or the other thing, because frankly I don't know ....

Q. Mr. President, this is not an impudent question, sir, but it might clear up things. Do you intend to give the public the benefit of all of the reports you get?

THE PRESIDENT: I would say this: I am going to give, all of us are going to give everything to the public, on two conditions. All information has to conform with two obvious conditions before it can be given out.

The first is that it is accurate. Well, I should think that would seem fairly obvious.

And the second is that in giving it out it does not give aid and comfort to the enemy. And I should think that those two conditions ought to be put up in every office in Washington.

Q. Where?

THE PRESIDENT: In Washington. That includes newspaper offices as well as department offices.

Q. There is no use to have that put up in department offices, because it is impossible to get any information from any department now, on the material that is a matter of record.

THE PRESIDENT: Oh, but are you sure that it conforms to both conditions?

Q. To both of them, yes.

THE PRESIDENT: Who told you that?

Q. What? They give you the run-around.

THE PRESIDENT: Well, then, you can't assume that the information has conformed to the two conditions.

Q. You ought to have someone there who can say whether it does conform, and we are not—

THE PRESIDENT: (interposing) Oh, that has got to be determined by the higher officers—the Army and Navy.

Q. But we have been told that these officers have no information—have instructions not to talk on any subject.

THE PRESIDENT: I think that is probably correct.

Q. Where does that put us? (Laughter)

THE PRESIDENT: It means that you have got to wait—sit and wait on this information, because you can't determine whether certain information conforms to those two principles. We can't leave that determination in the hands of a third assistant—what—Captain or Major in the Army, or a Lieutenant Commander in the Navy, who is a third or fourth assistant to the officer. It has got to come from the top.

Q. I am talking about what is already a matter of record. It is a question of saving us time. We spent four hours getting some information which was a matter of record.

THE PRESIDENT: Oh, but lots of these things may be matters of record. It does not mean that they conform.

Q. Can we print that then?

THE PRESIDENT: Certainly not. You are going to get it as soon as the information conforms to those two principles. Just as soon. Now that is perfectly easy. That is a very simple rule to go by. It has got to be accurate. In other words, it has got to have been proved. It can't be a flash of what somebody thinks in the matter. I want it to be an accurate record. Now that is the first thing.

Now the mere fact that one bureau in one Department gets a flash, for example—I should think as a matter of fact mind you, this is war—this ought to be checked before that one bureau gets it out. It should be checked by somebody in authority.

And then the second thing is that it will not be information that will help the enemy. Now you fellows can't determine that. The papers are not running the war. The Army and Navy have got to determine that. . . .

Q. (interposing) Well, Mr. President, there have been a lot of reports which I think you might help us clear up, if possible, to the effect that one reason why the Japs were able to get over Pearl Harbor was that there were a lot of leaves granted -someone slept—let everybody go to Honolulu for the week end. That is the report. I think that if it could be cleared up, I think it would help.

THE PRESIDENT: How do I know? How do you know? How does the person reporting it know?

Q. I am sure I don't know.

THE PRESIDENT: And neither does the person starting the report.

Q. What's that?

THE PRESIDENT: And neither does the person starting the report have any information. You have to remember that.

Q. They they might have some information, mightn't they, for —

Q. Mr. President, returning to your two conditions, I wonder if you could, for our guidance, define that second condition "giving aid and comfort to the enemy"? The thing that troubles me—does that mean that no bad news is going to be given out?

THE PRESIDENT: No, no. It depends on whether the giving out is of aid and comfort to the enemy.

Q. Mr. President, who will determine that as the over-all judgment? Will you determine it?

THE PRESIDENT: No. Army and Navy.

Q. Are they going to operate individually on this?

THE PRESIDENT: No. They work together very closely.

Q. But the Secretary of War and the Secretary of the Navy will each determine what should come from his Department?

THE PRESIDENT: Yes— or jointly.

Q. But there isn't to be one give-out of news then, under this setup?

THE PRESIDENT: Well, there isn't in London, for instance. They have consultations first, and they give out in London war communiques to the public. It is divided, as I remember it, into three different kinds of communiques. One is Army, one is Air, and one is Navy. And I think in London the way they have worked it out, to apparently the satisfaction of everybody-the press too—those are, each one of them, broken down into general fields.

For instance, on the Navy end, it's- there is a field called the Mediterranean field, another one called the Atlantic, and I suppose now there will be another- the Far East. And in the Air end, there are three fields there at the present time. There is the Libyan field, the Mediterranean, and the German field; and the domestic field. It seems to work out all right. Then of course, before they are all given out, the three fighting arms over there- we have only two- talk it over between them, and see that they don't clash in what they give out ....

Q. Will there eventually be a censor that we can get our teeth into?

THE PRESIDENT: It is awfully hard to answer it. Talk to Steve [Early] about this .... What we want is to get the news out as soon as we can, subject to the two qualifications, and do it in the most convenient way. In other words, our objectives are exactly alike. It is going to work all right.