`New York Times' Coverage of 1932 to 1948 History Revisited; Part 7

Between 1932 and 1948, the New York Times newspaper claimed to always be providing its readers with accurate information about what was going on during the 1932 to 1948 period of world history. But between 1932 and 1948, the New York Times sometimes printed articles that turned out to be historically accurate; and sometimes also printed articles that turned out to be historically inaccurate.

In a June 13, 1942 article, for example, headlined "Gandhi Seeks To Oust U.S.-British Forces," the New York Times reported from New Delhi, India that "Mohandas K. Gandhi is about to unleash a large-scale `quit India' campaign in which American as well as British forces will be urged to get out of India immediately." And in an August 9, 1942 article, headlined "21 Seized In India," the New York Times reported that "Mohandas K. Gandhi and other Indian Nationalist leaders were arrested today within a few hours after the All-India Congress party had approved a resolution authorizing a mass campaign of civil disobedience to support its demands for immediate Indian independence."

Then, in a November 25, 1942 article by Jame MacDonald, a London-based reporter (that may not have been emphasized on the front page of the New York City-based newspaper), headlined "Himmler Program Kills Polish Jews: Slaughter Of 250,000 In Plan To Wipe Out Half In Country This Year Is Reported," the New York Times stated:

"...Polish authorities gave out statistics showing that up to Oct. 1 [1942] about 250,000 Polish Jews had been killed under the Himmler program, put into effect this year...Declaring that the Nazi program to reduce the number of Jews in Poland by 50 per cent this year was a `first-step toward complete liquidation,' the report said:

"`...The Germans have mobilized a special battalion under the command of S.S. men...The victims when caught are driven to a square where old people and cripples are selected, taken to a cemetery and shot there...The remainder are loaded into goods trucks [freight cars] at a rate of 150 to a truck that normally holds 40...The doors are sealed...

"`Whenever the trains arrive half the people are dead. Those surviving are sent to special camps at Treblinka, Belzec and Sobibar [in Southeastern Poland]. Once there the so-called settlers are mass-murdered...'"

And on December 18, 1942 the New York Times published an article headlined "11 Allies Condemn Nazi War On Jews: United Nations Issue Joint Declaration Of Protest On `Cold-Blooded Extermination;'" while on February 11, 1943 the New York Times pushed an article headlined "Gandhi Starts Fast To Protest Arrest."

On March 2, 1943, the New York Times then published an article, headlined "Save Doomed Jews, Huge Rally Pleads: 21,000 Filled Madison Square Garden Rally, in which it reported that a message was read from Chief Rabbi J.H. Hertz of Great Britain at this rally which said:

"It is appalling to think that whole of mid-European Jewry stands on brink of annihilation and that millions of Jewish men, women and children have already been slaughtered with fiendish cruelties which baffle belief, but equally appalling is the fact that those who proclaim the Four Freedoms have so far done very little to secure even the freedom to live for 6,000,000 of their Jewish fellow  men by readiness to rescue those who might still escape Nazi torture and butchery..."

Then March 3, 1943, the New York Times published an article headlined "Gandhi Fast Ends, Aim Not Achieved;" and on July 26, 1943 the New York Times published an article headlined "Mussolini Ousted With Fascist Cabinet." (and of part 7)