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It was said that the war was a professional's war, and civilians recognized that it was their duty to keep out of the way. It was also said that not until March 15, when income taxes would write the date in red, would the people know what they were up against. Some believed, like Walter Lippmann, that most of the average man's sense of remoteness from the war was explained by the fact that the only man who could explain the war news to them—the President—was not doing it. Or it was argued that the war was so vast that individual U.S. citizens could not hope to comprehend it, and were now pondering, bemused, while their radios warned them against complacency and their spokesmen chided them for their indifference.
Whatever was wrong with the people's attitude toward the war, it was apparent that the attitude of their critics was not going to help them figure out the war for themselves. Said Edward Murrow: "Somehow, it's impossible to escape the conclusion that we do not yet understand the dominant position of the United States in world affairs. We have not yet acquired the habit of world leadership. Some of us are reluctant to accept the greatness that has been thrust upon us, but we have no choice. . . .
"Had you been with me for the last month wandering about our country, you would agree that we are prepared to make . . . sacrifices, but you might feel, as I do, that we do not fully appreciate the need for speed, that we do not quite understand that if we delay too long in winning the victory we will inherit nothing but a cold, starving embittered world. . . . Already there are signs that we're coming to accept slavery and suppression as part of the pattern of living in this year of disgrace. . . . There is the danger that we may become brutalized. . . ."
A new world was being created, and it must be the U.S. people who would have the principal hand in creating it. All they could be sure they saw at present was the chaos. And no amount of threats or tall talk would help them to see, in the need for world leadership, their inescapable opportunity.