President Dewey Attempts to Cripple Japan!

8 April 1940 - Following Japan's invasion of Russia last week, President Dewey has cut all oil exports to Japan. The threat of an oil embargo was made by the president last month following a buildup of Imperial forces along the eastern Siberian border in what was perceived by many to be preparations for an invasion. This comes on the heels of Dewey's earlier Export Control Act passed in March which halted shipments of airplanes, parts, machine tools, and aviation gasoline; a move meant to slow if not halt Japan's growing militarism across the Asian continent. For the past year Congress had attempted to pass such legislation only to have it vetoed by President Garner who accused the legislature of trying to start a war. With Dewey, Congress has become much more confrontational with Imperial forces.

Since taking office in January, President Dewey had made an effort to bring Japan and China to the bargaining table to end their ongoing conflict. Rebuffed by the Japanese, who refused any negotiation that called for their retreat from Chinese territory, the president made it known he would not tolerate an expansion of Japanese military operations in Asia.

With reports of massacres and genocidal campaigns gradually emerging from China via survivors of those atrocities, America's isolationist stance has eroded. From San Francisco to New York City, many are demanding American moral action against the savage Japs.

In Washington, Senator Taft declared Dewey's act of embargo one more step forward on a path destined for war. He pointed out Dewey's immediate push for re-armament, the president's increasingly vocal attacks on the Imperial government, and now an economic blow meant to cripple the Japanese war machine. Taft went further, stating, "The president is poking at a snake. How long before it turns and bites him for it?"

Pieter Sjoerds Gerbrandy, Prime Minister of the Netherlands government in exile in the United States, has ordered the Dutch East Indies to likewise halt all oil shipments to the Japanese in a show of support for the American position.

With only eighteen months worth of oil stocks, the question is whether the Japanese will acquiesce to American demands to pull back from Russia.

SOURCE: Houston Chronicle