The Post-War World: We Interrupt This Program

We Interrupt This Program

As war gripped the world, events unfolding on distant shores seemed as unbelievable as they were terrifying, and Americans relied more and more on radio to stay informed. Newspapers gave way to radio as the preferred news source, and broadcasters responded, patching together foreign news bureaus, enlisting an army of reporters and technicians, and pushing the limits of technology. In the process, the rules of reporting were rewritten. Providing context along with information, and allowing time for in-depth commentary - enduring newsroom fundamentals - slowly gave way to the on-the-spot coverage and hit-and-run reporting that pass for journalism today. By war's end, the pace of news had subsided, but the pace of information consumption was rising. As a result, news in the post-war world became synonymous with information rather than understanding.

The four radio broadcasts presented here come from original studio transcription disc recordings in the Arthur B. Church - KMBC Radio Collection in the Marr Sound Archives.

Broadcast #1
Accustomed to years of news updates and special reports, listeners were also used to the war ruling the airwaves, and having reporters silence a favorite singer or diminish the drama of their favorite soap opera. So when the news finally came, listeners weren't surprised to have war's end dominate the airwaves, as with this original flash announcement interrupting a musical program on August 14, 1945.

Broadcast #2
Word of Japan's surrender came slowly at first, as the world, fooled by false reports since the Munich Crisis, waited and listened. When the previous evening's rumors became the next morning's reality, the end of World War II was the story of the century, and no shred of data was too insignificant for broadcast. As if to check and double check the validity of Allied victory, Emperor Hirohito's message of surrender to the Japanese people was read, reread, proclaimed, and analyzed. In this broadcast from August 14, 1945, Hirohito's message is being fed to the announcer as quickly as it is monitored on Tokyo radio, translated, and sent to the world's news bureaus, with alternate translations and additional paragraphs coming in up to the minute.

Broadcast #3
With war officially over, the Allied nations sought to form an international governing body to promote world peace and security, much as the League of Nations had been chartered following World War I. In April 1945, all nations that had been at war with Germany or Japan by March 1, 1945, were invited to San Francisco to establish the United Nations, a term originally coined by President Roosevelt. One of the attendees of the San Francisco conference and an original Chair of the Association of the United Nations was Clark N. Eichelberger, a World War I veteran, onetime Chautauqua lecturer, and former American director of the League of Nations Association. In this account from August 14, 1945, in the wake of Allied victory, Eichelberger's United Nations report seems as apprehensive as it is optimistic.

Broadcast #4
For the victorious nations, exhilaration soon gave way to the stark reality of how to rebuild a shattered world. Among the Allies' post-war questions was what to do with Germany and how to deal the Axis leaders. Though the full extent of the Holocaust was not known until after the war, Nazi atrocities had been well documented since the 1930s, and the Allies had signed a declaration to bring German leaders to trial in November 1943. At Potsdam in May 1945, Churchill, Stalin, Truman, and De Gaulle agreed to try Nazi leaders on four counts: war crimes (responsibility for crimes during war); crimes against peace (planning and making war); crimes against humanity (racial persecution); and conspiracy to commit other crimes. On November 20, 1945, at the Palace of Justice in Nuremberg, Germany, war crimes charges were filed against 21 Nazi defendants. Nearly a year later, on October 15, 1946, the sentences, including 11 executions, seven imprisonments, and three acquittals, were handed out. Two defendants, Robert Ley and Hermann Goering, committed suicide during trial. Martin Bormann, the 22nd defendant, was believed dead and was tried and sentenced to death in absentia. This message from August 18, 1945, announcing the trial carried breaking-news status, and was one of the final news flashes of World War II.

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

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	Voices of World War II: Experiences From the Front and at Home
	A project in partnership with the Truman Presidential Museum and Library. Audio from the collections of the Marr Sound Archives - Department of Special Collections. Miller Nichols Library - University of Missouri - Kansas City.