Olympus Talks Out of Turn

The most extraordinary official statement made last week in the U.S. came from Andrew Jackson May of Prestonsburg, Ky., Chairman of the House Military Affairs Committee—a man, therefore, whose words should have weight. He predicted flatly: “We might win the war this year and, if not, we will certainly win it next year.” Even after crushing new Russian defeats, he said that he was sure of it because he had “secret military information.”

Andrew May went even further. He declared that there is no need to draft 18-to-20-year-olds, or to take married men. An Army of five million is big enough to win. Said he, “The enemy soon will be so busy abroad coping with the men we now have there, and will have there shortly, that he will be unable to give us any invasion worry.”

His words (in headlines) rang round the nation. They were in fact the most egregious example of unwarranted optimism that the U.S. had heard since Herbert Hoover said that recovery was just around the corner.

The Army & Navy could not bring themselves to Mr. May’s cocky pitch. In Russia, Africa, China and in the Battle of the Atlantic, the United Nations waited in the maw of danger.