Presbyfruit's History Bits

McNamara

2009-07-12T11:07:00.002-04:00

Last week Robert McNamara died. He was the Secretary of Defense during the Vietnam War era and is sometimes credited as the architect of that war. I was surprised by the continuing vilification of this man, in spite of his acknowledgment that the War was a mistake. Here's an excerpt from an interview he did with Fresh Air's Terry Gross, in 1995:

"You have to understand where we came form . Many of the protesters had not. President Kennedy, Dean Rusk and I and many others of us had fought in World War 2. Three years, 4 years, 5 years. Churchill said millions of men lost their lives in that War because the West acted too late to Hitler's menace to the security of Western Europe. And, by God, says Churchill, we should never do that again. Just after that War, the Soviet Union took control of Hungary, Poland and Czechoslovakia. After that, in my period, in August of 1961, the Soviet Union sought to take Berlin. This was a dangerous world. A year later, Khrushchev put nuclear missiles into Cuba. To this day, the American public doesn't know how close we came to nuclear war. It was a dangerous world that was driving us to our action in the Vietnam War. We were wrong. The protesters turned out with hindsight to be right. We didn't believe it at the time."

The Little Stranger

2009-06-22T21:30:00.005-04:00

I just finished reading Sarah Waters’ latest book, The Little Stranger. I unreservedly recommend anything she’s written. Her latest yarn takes place just after the second World War, in Warwickshire, England. Ostensibly a haunted house story, its subtext chronicles the deterioration of the once-immutable class system.

As I was reading the book (on my new Kindle!), I came across an interesting comment from Dennis Healey, the former Chancellor of the Exchequer. "Woman’s Hour," a BBC radio show I listen to in podcast form, was doing a story on the rise of nonagenarians. One of them was Healey, who said that one of the reasons he had lost interest in

politics was the end of the “class war:”

“The class war, which was very alive in my time, has completely disappeared. If you ask a young person what class they belong to, they don’t know what the hell you’re talking about. They say, ‘Oh, I left school ages ago.’”

The Little Stranger wonderfully details class differences in a society recently battered and broken by a grueling 7-year war.

Chicken Soup Radio Spot

2009-06-12T19:59:00.000-04:00

I was listening to an episode of The Campbell Playhouse, the radio show Orson Welles and John Houseman produced just after the infamous "War of the Worlds" Mercury Theatre debacle. The Playhouse ran from 1938-1940 and was sponsored by Campbell's Soup. This is an example of an ad that ran in the middle of the show. Imagine the 30's diction and cadence of the speaker. My own editorial comments are in brackets.

"The time was, and it was not so long away, when chicken was a rare and special treat [chicken? rare?]. What magic the words "chicken for dinner" conjured up in our young minds and how we looked forward to these great events. With proud gusto Father [his work never ended] would dexterously separate wings and legs and then carve tender white slices from the breast, while each of us silently prayed to be granted his special favorite part. And then on the second day there came another treat. The remaining meat in the carcass [ewww] went into Mother's soup kettle to be simmered slowly, seasoned gently and served forth as a supper-time delight. Today if you have wistful memories of that glorious home chicken soup, then Campbell's chicken soup is just made for you. Because Campbells' chefs follow faithfully the good home recipe, only changing it to made an even better soup. They use, for example, all the good meat of the chickens, fine plump chickens they are too, such as you'd choose proudly for your own table [again, ewww]. Such chicken soup with snowy rice and tender chicken pieces is a special treat indeed, but one you may enjoy on any day. Your grocer has Campbell's Chicken Soup and it's yours for the asking. Remember Campbell's Chicken Soup."

Herbert Marshall

2009-06-09T19:48:00.000-04:00

I caught a Bette Davis movie the other day, "The Letter." Davis' co-star was Herbert Marshall (1890-1866), an accomplished stage, film and radio actor. Marshall lost his leg in the first World War and used a wooden leg. Interestingly, he cultivated a walk meant to hide his disability. The camera, at least in this movie, helped: he was never shown walking from a distance.

Photos from D-Day Anniversary observance

2009-06-07T09:12:00.002-04:00

65th Anniversay Observances of Normandy Landings

2009-06-06T08:30:00.002-04:00

This weekend President Obama will join French President Sarkozy and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown to mark the 65th anniversary of D-Day in France. There's been some scuttlebutt in the press because of the failure to invite Queen Elizabeth II. She, after all, is the only head of state who actually served in uniform during the war. Sarkozy denied that the Queen had been deliberately snubbed, and Brown said it never occurred to him to invite her. It was announced yesterday that Prince Charles will attend the ceremonies. Queen Elizabeth served in the Auxiliary Territorial Service during the War.

I'm hoping to catch some of the coverage on television. Assuming there will be coverage. I haven't seen very much this week. I remember Bill Clinton, in what must have been the 50th Anniversary, giving a speech in which he said (and I'm paraphrasing and hoping I'm remembering this correctly) that we should never forget that when the veterans of the War were young, they literally saved the world.

Official Word

2009-06-04T19:30:00.000-04:00

After hours of speculation, a report is broadcast from London:

"This is Supreme Headquarters, Allied Expeditionary Forces. The text of Communique Number 1 will be released to the press in 10 seconds, repeat 10 seconds from now...Under the command of General Eisenhower, Allied Naval Forces, supported by strong Air Forces, began landing Allied Armies this morning on the northern coast of France."

Bob Trout says, "This means invasion. Ladies and gentlemen, here we are back at Columbia's news headquarters, the newsroom in New York. Everything to this point has been German reports and Communique Number 1 now says it is now official. The landings have begun."

Side Note about Washington and the dearth of information

2009-05-30T18:36:00.000-04:00

Trout goes on, "Washington, like the rest of the nation is momentarily waiting for official word from our side about those German claims [that the invasion of the continent had begun]. The city of Washington awoke rapidly after the first broadcast more than 3 hours ago. Lights flashed on and radios were tuned in. You may have had the same experience. Newsman hurried to their offices, and there was just one question on everyone's lips, 'was it official?' So far, as we've told you repeatedly, it is not official. If the White House knows anything about the report, there is no sign. Only a few lights glow here and there..."

Trout continues, still no confirmation from the Allies

2009-05-24T14:59:00.004-04:00

Trout goes on, still with no official word from Allied headquarters: "That is about the entire story as far as we know it at the moment. At this point, there's no way in which any of us can know whether there's even a faint spark of truth behind this German story. We don't know . But there are several bits of evidence suggesting that the Germans are trying some kind of trick." At this point, Trout takes the listener on a tour of the CBS studios, trailing his microphone cable. He stops at a Brown teletype printer and reads a report from Reuter, the British news agency, about a directive issued from Allied Supreme Command specially addressed to all Frenchmen living at least within 35 km of the coast: "The air war has entered upon a new phase. You will be warned an hour before an attack. Leaflets will be dropped by Allied planes. As soon as you get the warning, go to your domicile and go at least 2 kilometers from it in to the open country. 2) Take along only what you can easily carry. 3) Keep off all roads, railways lines and bridges. 4) Do not form groups which could be mistaken for troop concentrations."

More early reports

2009-05-21T06:30:00.001-04:00

Trout continues broadcasting what little information American news agencies had in the early morning hours of June 6:

"The German-controlled Calais radio came on the air today with this announcement in the English language: 'This is D-Day. We shall now bring music for the Allied Invasion Forces.'

Up to this time, almost an hour and a half from the first German broadcast, the United States Office of War Information, whose facilities will be used by American press organizations when Allied Armies enter western Europe, has not transmitted any information at all to support the German claims. Director Elmer Davis of the OWI rushed to his headquarters immediately when OWI officials advised him of the broadcast from Germany. He told the United Press: 'We have no more information than you have. I'll stay here until I find out whether the story is true or not.'"

Early, unconfirmed D-Day announcements continued

2009-05-19T08:01:00.001-04:00

"Now here’s what Trans Ocean, one of the German news agencies, says: ‘Early this morning landing craft and light warships were observed in the area between the mouth of the Somme* and Eastern coast of Normandy.’ The Trans Ocean broadcast, still unconfirmed, concludes this way: ‘the long-expected Anglo-American invasion appears to have begun.’

The German broadcast on the long-expected invasion by the Allies were [sic] relayed both to North America and to Germans in the Homeland. Germans at home were told by DMB's domestic broadcast at dawn in Europe."

*later corrected, without comment, to "Seine."

Trout, continued

2009-05-17T16:24:00.004-04:00

"It's now almost 2 and a half hours since the Germans first broadcast their claims that what they called the Allied invasion had begun. There's no confirmation from any Allied source and the Germans are not telling this story to their own people; that's very important. General Eisenhower's spokesman has made no official statement. The War Department in Washington says it has no information about any invasion operations. The Office of War Information is silent. In short, there's no reason to believe the continuing German reports of an Allied invasion. Continuing reports from the Berlin Radio say that heavy fleets of Allied bombers are attacking Dunkirk and Calais. The Oslo Radio Network appears to have gone off the air. And the Luxembourg Radio claims that Allied aircraft are approaching Southern Germany. Meanwhile, in Great Britain, the British Radio has broadcast a warning to the peoples of the occupied countries that a new phase of the air war has started. The British announcement says that occupants of coastal towns will be notified by the leaflets dropped from planes when they are to be attacked. The notices may come as little as an hour before the attack and the inhabitants are warned to leave their towns instantly without waiting to take baggage or any possessions. In addition the inhabitants of the 22-mile belt along the invasion coast have been warned to leave as soon as possible in preparation for this new and drastic phase of the aerial bombardment. Butt, as yet, there is no word that any warning leaflets have been dropped on any towns within the so-called invasion area. This is merely an advance warning of things to come."

Still no confirmation

2009-05-17T16:18:00.006-04:00

"Now it should be remembered of course that Germans are quite capable of faking this entire series of reports. Their main reason for doing so in addition to trying to smoke out Allied plans, would be to try to start a premature uprising by the Resistance movement along the Channel coast. But the French and the Belgians and the Dutch have all been warned about this possibility repeatedly and you will recall that Prime Minister Winston Churchill some time ago warned that we could expect false alarms or diversionary tactics before the Big Show began.

There is, as yet, no reason to believe the German story. Nevertheless, because of high public interest in this country, Columbia is planning to continue overtime operations tonight to all of its affiliate stations until such time as the enemy accounts are proved false or official word from Allied sources is forthcoming."

D-Day Begins: first reports

2009-05-16T15:01:00.006-04:00

I'm working my way through the complete broadcast day of D-Day, June, 6 1944. I found the mp3's for this at the Old Time Radio Catalog site (otrcat.com). Most of my podcasts are free downloads from iTunes, but otrcat.com is an inexpensive way to feed my history podcast addiction. There's a huge variety of old radio broadcasts, in both CD and MP3 formats.

The first reports were unclear as to the veracity of the German broadcasts proclaiming the beginning of the invasion. Bob Trout (1909-2000) anchored Columbia's early-morning broadcast. Here's his verbatim report:

"CBS World News, Bob Trout speaking and again we bring you the available report, all of them from German sources, of what the Berlin Radio calls, 'The Invasion.' There is still no Allied confirmation from any source. The correspondents who rushed to the War Department in Washington soon after the first German broadcast was heard were told that our War Department had no information on the German report. There's been no announcement of any sort from Allied headquarters in London. The first news of the German announcement reached this country at 12:37 a.m. Eastern War Time. The Associated Press recorded this broadcast and immediately pointed out that it could be one which Allied leaders have warned us to expect from the Germans. Shortly after 1:00 a.m. Eastern War Time the Berlin Radio opened its news program with a so-called "Invasion Announcement." Columbia Shortwave Listening Station here in New York heard the Berlin Radio say, and I quote, 'Here is a special bulletin. Early this morning, the long-awaited British and American invasion began when paratroops landed in the area of the Somme estuary. The harbor of Le Havre is being fiercely bombarded at the present moment. Naval forces of the German Navy are off the coast fighting with enemy landing vessels. We just brought you a special bulletin.' That is the invasion announcement as heard from the Berlin Radio by Columbia Shortwave Listening Station.