by Katherine McKay, CLTP, former Administrator of PLTI and Executive Vice President of PLTA
One of the few compensations of getting older is that we become more able to see current events as part of a continuously re-occurring cycle of history. New events acquire a depth and dimension that cannot be fully appreciated without knowledge and memories of the past. Today we continue to be embroiled in wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the news often gives us the latest casualties and strategies. But, of course, we have faced wars before, bigger ones that have affected our lives even more than the current hostilities.
Buried in the minutes of the Executive Committee of February 14, 1942, the Committee faced an unusual dilemma. Just two months earlier, on December 7th, 1941, Japan had attacked Pearl Harbor, sinking five battleships and seriously damaging others, flinging the country into a war already started and shocking American citizens. Meeting in Philadelphia at Commonwealth Title Insurance Company (as it was called at that time), the Committee noted in its minutes:
“Discussion was had concerning our 1942 Convention and the advisability of having a convention this year. After considerable discussion a motion moved by Mr. Byrnes [William C. Byrnes, Chairman of Publications] that we hold a Convention in 1942 and seconded by Mr. Robins was made. (Motion carried by Committee.)
Later in the Proceedings of that year, President Henry Robins opened the convention on May 28,1942 at The Claridge in Atlantic City by saying:
“Since the last meeting of the Association, momentous events have been happening throughout the world and are likely to continue for some time to come. The question ever present in all our minds is the course of the future and the effect upon our country, ourselves, and our business.
“Former precedents no longer have any weight…Changing conditions call for a change of ideas and methods, and when as at present, the changes are so violent as to raise the possibility as well as the probability of radical results, it is impossible for any of us to plot any permanent future course. All we can do is to attempt to provide for the immediate future and be prepared to adjust ourselves to whatever results may ensue.”
They and the country would endure four years of a brutal conflict fought on two fronts. And the country would survive, as would the industry.
