THE NATION: Storm Warnings

U.S. citizens were only faintly interested in the conference in London which was beginning to write the peace (see INTERNATIONAL). They had at least one eye on Japan and the progress of the occupation, but what really caught their eye from that quarter was a statement from General Eichelberger that it might all be over in a year. Mainly, they had just begun to think in earnest of uninhibited peacetime pursuits, of shiny new gadgets and shiny new cars.

Throughout the week there were storm warnings. Army flyers had spotted a Caribbean hurricane veering toward Florida. For days, the nation had almost minute-by-minute reports on its progress. When it finally struck, along the Florida keys and the lush resort towns, it hit at 143 miles an hour. The toll in lives was low (three), in damage high ($50 millions). Then the hurricane veered out to sea again.

Across the land, there were other storm warnings and winds of another kind. As industrial strife in the automotive industry rose to gale force, it focused the nation’s attention on Detroit.