Rumors of War: The War before Pearl Harbor

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Caught between the lingering Great Depression and newfound international responsibilities, the late 1940s found America quickly and awkwardly developing into a genuine world power. Similarly, the nation's broadcasters evolved from what were essentially domestic news gatherers into true global journalists. However, even in the face of this maturation, not to mention the grim world events being reported, sensationalism and exploitation remained broadcasting basics.

The five radio broadcasts presented here come from original studio transcription disc recordings in the Arthur B. Church - KMBC Radio collection and the J. David Goldin collection in the Marr Sound Archives.

Broadcast #1
William Paley fell in love with broadcasting when his family began advertising cigars on a local radio station. In 1929 Paley bought the young 22-affiliate Columbia Phonograph Broadcasting Company for $400,000, changed the name to the Columbia Broadcasting System, and began building a radio powerhouse. Wanting to construct a solid news team, Paley hired former New York Times editor Edward Klauber and veteran United Press reporter Paul White in 1931. When world events interceded, Columbia's young news division found itself witnessing history in action. As a result Columbia developed an extensive international news bureau almost overnight, and pioneered broadcast journalism.

On March 7, 1936, Hitler reoccupied the Rhineland, beginning the Anschluss, Germany's expansion to its pre-World War I boundaries. That same year a young reporter named Edward R. Murrow moved to London and became Columbia's European news director. As the war unfolded Murrow, along with ex-newspaperman William L. Shirer, assembled one of the finest news teams in radio. The crew became known as "Murrow's Boys," and included Howard K. Smith, Eric Sevareid, Richard C. Hottelet, Larry LeSueur, Charles Collingwood, and others. Witnessing the war firsthand from the frontlines, the reporters then sent transcribed reports to Columbia's New York headquarters via shortwave transmission. To many Americans, these dispatches were the definitive eyewitness accounts of the world at war. One of Columbia's groundbreaking news programs was "The World Today," which debuted in 1940. In this January 31, 1941 broadcast, with America just a year from war, correspondent Harry W. Flannery reports on developments from Berlin.

Broadcast #2
Through the 1930s, CBS and NBC were the nation's two leading networks with their total affiliates fluctuating at around 90 to 100 each. By contrast, the next largest network, Mutual, counted 39 affiliated stations in 1937. Though small, Mutual still made its voice heard, thanks in large part to its franchise commentator, John B. Hughes. Never afraid to speak his mind, Hughes gained notoriety by being one of the earliest and loudest proponents of internment for Japanese Americans following Pearl Harbor. In this broadcast of "News and Views By John B. Hughes" from July 14, 1941, Hughes eerily predicts something ominous from Japan, five months before the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Link below to the Truman Presidential Library's Student Research File on the
War Relocation Authority & The Incarceration of Japanese-Americans During World War II

Broadcast #3
Along with Edward R. Murrow at Columbia, another unmistakable voice was heard over NBC's Blue Network. Walter Winchell, an ex-vaudevillian-turned gossip columnist, broke into radio in 1932. His breathless delivery and vitriolic prose, delivered over news wire sound effects and staged Morse code dispatches, remains a radio icon. The fact that Winchell approached world events as he would any other tawdry scandal made his reporting fast and furious, and a listener favorite for two decades as millions of Americans tuned in to his "Jergens Journal" every Sunday evening. As controversial as he was popular, Winchell never avoided stepping on toes (including those of his sponsor, Jergens Lotion) or engaging in sensationalism, as is evidenced by this report from the October 19, 1941, "Jergens Journal" in which the names of Americans lost at sea are recited like so many bit players in a B-movie.

Broadcast #4
In radio's early days, an announcer simply reading the news would have seemed unthinkably dull, while reporting live from actual news sites would have been outrageously expensive, if not technically impossible. Instead, broadcasters used "audio newsreels" similar to the filmed variety moviegoers watched before the main feature. One of the earliest and most popular was "The March of Time," produced by Time magazine, which first aired on Columbia in 1931. This Friday night favorite used acting, sound effects, and musical cues to reenact news reports, which were introduced by announcer Westbrook Van Voorhis (another of radio's classic voices). Though the program combined exhaustive research with top talent (Orson Welles and Agnes Moorhead were a few of the program's reenactors), some of its stories favored entertainment over journalism. This broadcast from November 20, 1941, is a prime example: The show offers news of the U.S. Pacific fleet, dramatic reports of the Russian front, and a report on Japanese ambassador Kurusu's visit to Washington, which mixes farce with fact.

Broadcast #5
As 1941 drew to a close, the nation faced as much uncertainty as when world hostilities first arose five years earlier: Americans were dying in an undeclared naval war, our allies were under siege around the world, and the nation's interests were threatened on both coasts. This uneasiness is evident in this radio address by democratic Senator Tom Connally of Texas from the evening of December 5, 1941. Known for his long-winded hyperbole, and sounding as much like a stump preacher as a member of the Senate, Connally reminds the aggressors that we have a mighty navy in the Pacific. The fact that Japan was well aware of our Pacific fleet would become painfully obvious in less than 48 hours, as their attack on Pearl Harbor would plunge America into World War II.

Text by Scott O'Kelley, Marr Sound Archives
Digital Audio by Scott Middleton, Marr Sound Archives

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