American Rifle - Alexander Rose [270]
65. Many governments had attended in the first place only in order to placate their pacifist constituencies and to show off their “good citizen” badges to an admiring world, but compared to the cynicism of the American and European governments, the honest attitude of the Afghans was refreshing. On the first day of the conference, desperate to distract himself from an interminable speech by its president about “the number of committees that had been formed,” Sir Samuel Hoare (a senior British politician) asked the Afghans sitting near him why they were attending. They told him “that they were short of arms, and that they thought at a Disarmament Conference there would be a chance of picking up second-hand munitions cheap.” Hoare to R. MacDonald, February 4, 1932, quoted in S. Hoare [Viscount Templewood], Nine Troubled Years (London: Collins, 1954), pp. 123–25. For more details on the subjects of future war and the Disarmament Conference, see A. Rose, Radar Strategy: The Air Dilemma and British Politics, 1932–1937 (Unpub. Ph.D. diss., Cambridge [U.K.] Cambridge University, 1996), esp. chaps. 1 and 2.
Return to text.
66. See the section on budgets in Hatcher, Book of Garand, pp. 106–8.
Return to text.
67. Perret, Old Soldiers, p. 170. The famous gold-braided cap was actually acquired a little later, when MacArthur was appointed a field marshal by the Filipino government. See Manchester, American Caesar, p. 172.
Return to text.
68. Quoted in Perret, Old Soldiers, p. 173.
Return to text.
69. Ibid., pp. 163–65; Manchester, American Caesar, p. 157.
Return to text.
70. On this process, see Hatcher, Book of Garand, pp. 111–14.
Return to text.
71. Quoted in Weigley, History of United States Army, p. 417.
Return to text.
72. Roosevelt’s views on guns had shifted considerably. In 1932, as governor of New York, he had vetoed bills to repeal two measures enacted in October 1931 to require the photographing and fingerprinting of all applicants for permits to carry pistols. The thinking at the time was that such laws would curb gang activity and racketeering, though as it turned out, relatively few felons consented to being photographed and fingerprinted by the police and so continued to acquire guns illegally. During his presidency the National Firearms Act of 1934 and the Federal Firearms Act of 1938 became law. Both acts were primarily concerned with collecting excise taxes and regulating interstate commerce of certain types of weapons. Editorial, “How FDR Really Felt About Guns,” American Rifleman 114, no. 11 (November 1966), p. 36; see also General Omar Bradley’s endorsement in “A Message to the Members of the National Rifle Association,” American Rifleman 99, no. 6 (June 1951).
Return to text.
73. The preceding section based on Colonel James Hatcher’s lecture to the Army Industrial College on February 20, 1939, printed in his brother’s Book of Garand, pp. 115–18. On the process of making a cartridge, see V. C. Royster, “How Long Will Defense Take?” Wall Street Journal, July 18, 1940, p. 11.
Return to text.
74. D. Wilhelm, “What ‘on Order’ Means,” Reader’s Digest, October 1940, p. 34.This article, condensed from Forbes, differs from Hatcher’s figures in a few minor respects. I have tended to use Hatcher’s.
Return to text.
75. Based on figures taken from Hatcher, Book of Garand, pp. 119, 153;Wilhelm, “What ‘on Order’ Means,” p. 35; Royster, “How Long Will Defense Take?” p. 11; “Rifle and Submachine Gun Output Now at 1,500 Daily,” Wall Street Journal, July 18, 1941, p. 6. On Winchester, see “Report on the Garand,” Time, March 24, 1941. For references to outsourcing to Winchester, Remington, and Savage, see “U.S. Reported Placing Orders with Private Firms for New Rifle,” Wall Street Journal, April 6, 1939, p. 4.
Return to text.
76. J. A. McWethy, “Machine Tool Makers Work Night and Day to Meet Defense Demand but Unfilled Orders Continue to Pile Up,” Wall Street Journal, May 16, 1941, p. 8.
Return to text.
77. Hatcher, Book of Garand, covers this episode on pp. 128–29.
Return to text.
78. “Battle Efficiency