U.S. At War: Not Yet

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The Big Three meeting was postponed, indefinitely. Now it looked as if it would not take place until after Term IV inaugural on Jan. 20, and perhaps not until spring. Yet only three weeks ago, Winston Churchill had said: "It is high time we had another triple conference."

To newsmen, Franklin Roosevelt had purposely vague explanations. There were, he reminded them, operational and travel problems involved. Washington heard that Stalin was perfectly willing to hold the conference any time in Moscow, but was unwilling to leave his capital: he was too busy directing Russia's armies. Franklin Roosevelt's advisers had cautioned him against a long flight to Moscow in winter.

One thing was clear: when the meeting is held, the agenda will be primarily political, not military. One question—Poland's boundary dispute with Russia—seemed already solved by default. Last week the U.S. made it clear that it would not guarantee Poland's pre-1939 borders (see FOREIGN NEWS).