A SPECTATOR'S NOTEBOOK
THE Hauptmann trial proceedings in the United States provide an astonishing picture of national psycho- logy. Col. Lindbergh admittedly is *a national figure. The kidnapping and subsequent death of his baby made a national sensation. But all that happened, nearly three years ago, and the opening of the belated trial at Flemington, New Jersey, last week happened to synchro- nize with the first sittings of a new Congress whose proceedings• may well be as momentous as any in the history of the Union. No matter. Flemington, not Washington, was the magnet for public attention. Newspapers carried up to 50,000 words a day—much more than would fill an average issue of The Spectator— and news agencies let the President's message to Congress get crowded out altogether by the trial reports. As for the conduct of the case itself, if you can imagine Mr. Birkett, after the first day of a sensational murder case in which he appeared for the defence, going down to Broadcasting House to tell the world how his case would be fought and what charges he was going to bring against various persons so far unnamed, you begin to get some idea of how they do things in America.
Previous page
