Pardon me if this has been covered as a topic on your threads already. But noticing the word “Foe” here, any chance in these PC times that the NYT has replaced the commonly used “Japs” from that era onto the archives? The wording just seems off, but maybe it’s just me.
No I don't think you could do that with microfilm. These are photos of the original print versions. The term "Japs" is frequently used in the articles, mostly as part of quotations. Besides "Foe" has fewer characters than "Japs," an important factor for the headline writers.
Printing before the digital age was much more space-restricted. The three letters of ‘foe’ may have just fit the layout better than the four letters of ‘Japs’.