WHAT HAPPENED AT TEHERAN
SIR,—" Janus" is to be thanked for pointing out (as no other responsible writer on this side has done so far as 1 have been able to see) the very mischievous intention of the Saturday Evening Post in printing the canard about Mr. Churchill and Marshal Stalin having such a bad time at the Teheran Conference that only the tact of President Roosevelt prevented an explosion.
What is so surprising is not that the S. E. P. (notoriously anti-British, Isolationistic and caterer for the prejudices of the Middle West thick mind) published this piece of stunt-journalism, but that only your able con- tributor ventured to make a protest on behalf of truth—and Britain.
Perhaps in this connexion I may quote an extract from an editorial article in the March issue of Persuasion, an extremely interesting and well-written journal. Here it is:
" What most people over here do not realise is the complete irresponsibility of American political and newspaper life. They are not appeased by the explanation that when Senator So-and-So makes a slashing attack on Britain's oil policy he is not really attacking Britain—he is attacking President Roosevelt. They only see that millions of American citizens are given a prejudiced and inaccurate picture which prevents our understanding one another. When time and again no British Minister attempts to refute such accusations or explain the true position, a feeling of anger and frustration remains • which no amount of after-dinnei speeches can altogether erase. It would be impossible in this country for a whispering campaign to develop against General Eisenhower such as that which has developed in the U.S. against Lord Louis Mountbatten, who is said to be 'pulling his punches in Burma.' "
Anglo-American relations will continue to be poisoned so long as such magazines as the Saturday Evening Post and such newspapers as the Hearst, McCormick and Patterson groups pursue their present unscrupu- lous tactics ; and responsible-minded Americans are the first to admit this.—Yours, &c., SYDNEY HORLER. Grafjham House, Graff ham, Petworth, Sussex.
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