No one could have believed that a simple gift — two sticks of gum — would have helped prevent World War III, so from time to time it’s good to reflect on the power of simple kindness in the face of overpowering evil.
After the Nazi defeat in 1945, Germany was fraught with peril. Official policy of the occupying Allied armies was to treat the German masses firmly and coldly. The country was carved into four sectors — American, British, French and Russian. Deep within the Russian quarter was the capital, Berlin, once the world’s third largest city, still with 2.3 million, all starving, many homeless and freezing.
Berlin had also been carved into Allied sectors, but the Russians, determined to make Germany a Soviet puppet, barricaded all of Berlin, stopping all supplies from entering the city, and hoping to force the Americans to retaliate. That would give the Soviets an excuse to roll across all of Germany and perhaps all of Western Europe, as well. The Americans had 10,000 battle-ready troops in Europe. The Soviets had 2.5 million, massed at the edge of Berlin. That set the scene for the fabled Berlin Airlift, when American military cargo planes began landing every three minutes, round the clock, for nearly a year, to supply the city, and avoid the Russians, who only grew angrier.
One of the American pilots was a 28-year-old named Gail Halvorsen, who idled up to a group of emaciated German children one day between runs. Unlike other kids he’d met in wartorn cities, these didn’t clamor for candy. He suspected that they had no concept of candy. He thought a moment, fished two sticks of gum out of his pocket, tore them in half, and changed history.
What happened next is told in captivating detail in the 2008 book The Candy Bombers, by Andrei Cherny:
Four children got pieces of gum, the rest passed around the wrapper, tearing off a sliver and sniffing it dreamily. “The expressions on their faces were incredulous, full of awe — as if they were entering a wonderland.” Halvorsen watched their eyes grow big “like it was Christmas Day.” The children who got the gum worked it over slowly … the others placed the pieces of tinfoil carefully in their pockets.
As an American, Halvorsen naturally thought bigger. Soon, he and his co-pilot began dropping candy bars and gum tied to handkerchiefs fashioned as tiny parachutes, as they flew in low to land. A reporter caught wind of the heartwarming story — the only one in that dismal time — and the ensuing wave of goodwill ended the official rule against friendliness. Soon, all the pilots were dropping candy bombs, and as the children warmed to the American pilots, so did their parents. Some saw their children happy for the first time since the war had broken out.
Frustrated by the success of the airlift, the Russians, who first tried to starve the populace, now bribed it with food, hoping the Berliners would vote in their first post-war election for Soviet dominance in all Berlin. The Soviets were resoundingly defeated. The Berliners wanted happy children and the promise of American-style freedom. Unable to gain the entire city, the Soviets sealed off their sector with what became the Berlin Wall, and dropped their barricades around all of Berlin.
This remarkable book also chronicles the mounting tension back home during the presidential election of 1948. President Harry Truman was squeezed from the Left by Henry Wallace, who wanted to appease the Soviets, and the Right by Thomas Dewey, who wanted the Americans to withdraw. All three were at each other’s throats, and all three were fearful that World War III against the Soviets was imminent.
The subtitle of this captivating book reads: “The Untold Story of the Berlin Airlift and America’s Finest Hour.” I heartily agree that it was our finest hour. Who knew what two sticks of gum could accomplish?
Tom Minnery is the senior vice president of government and public policy for Focus on the Family Action and the editor of Citizen.
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