Walter Lippmann and the American Century — 29 The Phony Peace

1. 1. Lippmann saw the logic of appeasement but did not admire Chamberlain's strategy, calling it an expedient yielding to superior force, not high morals.
2. 2. Lippmann believed that if the Czechs resisted invasion, Britain and France would be forced by public opinion to come to their aid.
3. 3. The Munich accords were a great defeat equivalent to a major military disaster, according to Lippmann.
4. 4. Lippmann later saw Munich not as appeasement but as a deliberate decision by Britain and France to turn Hitler toward the East, sacrificing their alliance with Russia.
5. 5. Lippmann broke a five-year silence on the persecution of Jews in November 1938, but only to propose sending 'surplus' Jews to Africa, not to advocate for changing U.S. immigration laws.
6. 6. Lippmann never wrote about the death camps or the St. Louis incident, despite knowing about the Holocaust as early as 1942.
7. 7. Lippmann argued that the United States could remain aloof from Europe only as long as Britain and France could successfully resist Hitler; if they were defeated, America would become vulnerable.
8. 8. After Hitler invaded Prague in March 1939, Lippmann urged Congress to amend the Neutrality Acts to allow Britain and France to buy American arms on a cash-and-carry basis.
9. 9. Joseph Kennedy told Lippmann that Britain had no chance against Hitler and that the sensible course was to give Nazi Germany a free hand in eastern Europe.
10. 10. Winston Churchill told Lippmann that even if Britain were defeated, the Americans must continue the struggle and hold the torch of liberty.
11. 11. French Premier Daladier told Lippmann that France would stand firm on its commitment to Poland and that France and the Soviet Union would sign a formal alliance within days.
12. 12. Lippmann became bored with his thrice-weekly column in 1939, feeling it was superficial and second-rate, but he continued it for another 28 years.