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‘The March of Time’, Time Inc. and the Berlinblockade, 1948–1949: selling Americans on the “new”Democratic GermanyK.R.M. Short aa University of HoustonPublished online: 15 Sep 2006.

To cite this article: K.R.M. Short (1993) ‘The March of Time’, Time Inc. and the Berlin blockade, 1948–1949: sellingAmericans on the “new” Democratic Germany , Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, 13:4, 451-468, DOI:10.1080/01439689300260361

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Hiswrical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, Vol. 13, No. 4, 1993 451

"The March of Time" Time Inc. and the Berlin blockade, 1948-1949: selling Americans on the "new" Democratic Germany

K. R. M. SHORT, University of Houston

The joint response by the United States, Great Britain and France to the Soviet blockade of Berlin, 31 March 1948 to 12 May 1949, has attracted a great deal of interest by scholars, popular authors and novelists alike [1]. There has been no parallel scholarly effort to assess how the facts and issues of this confrontation were communi- cated to the American public. This article explores the news-gathering and editorial role of Time Inc.'s weeny news magazines Time and Life, along with its monthly movie feature The March of Time (MOT). Additionally the article delves into the informational practice of the United States Military Government United States (OMGUS), especially the role of General Lucius D. Clay, Commander of United States Forces in Europe and United States Military Governor in Germany.

Walter LaFeber's 1977 study of United States policy-makers found that by the spring of 1945 President Harry S. Truman and a small number of his advisers controlled foreign policy "allowing their final decisions to be determined by neither public opinion nor Congress" [2]. Their's was a calculated position articulated by Dean Acheson in 1952: "If you truly had a democracy and did what the people wanted, you'd go wrong every time" [3]. Throughout 1946 public opinion "followed, not shaped, American policy", but that opinion shifted from a majority believing that the USSR could be trusted to cooperate after the war to one of seeing the Soviets, in the words of Acheson, as "aggressive and expanding" intent on destroying freedom world-wide. Truman's administration effectively had set the agenda for foreign policy debate by focusing on Communist expansionism and by January 1947 the State Department's Public Affairs Division recorded that 72% of Americans polled approved of the rebuilding of a de-Nazified and demilitarized Germany, the linchpin of the administration's European policy [4]. Lacking a Soviet-inspired crisis, Truman, in a rare attempt to influence public opinion, worked systematically to convince radio spokespeople and newspaper editors of the necessity for the nonmilitary parts of the Truman Doctrine and later the Marshall Plan [5]. The administration's anti-Communist stance was given additional credence by Stalin's belligerent response to the doctrine and the Marshall Plan, as well as Tito's achievement of independence from Moscow. Knowledgeable press and radio commentators (as distinct from mass or public opinion), increasingly supported the application of American counterforce as the result of the Communist take-over of Czechoslovakia, viewed by some commentators as a "deadly parallel" with the 1938 Munich sell-out. The dropping of the Iron Curtain and the subsequent blockading of Berlin removed any lingering doubt about post-war Soviet intentions. Stalin eventually provided Truman with the Berlin crisis. That in turn contributed to the hardening of

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an anti-Soviet consensus which was reflected during the blockade's initial weeks. Eighty-six percent of those polled, according to the State Department's Fortnightly Survey of International Affairs, believed that the United States should force its way through the blockade if necessary to get food and coal to the beleaguered city. Only 8% hesitated. LaFeber concluded: "The Truman Doctrine is a landmark in American post-war history. It publicly redefined the administration's view of the world crisis, led to a global military commitment by the United States and greatly augmented presiden- tial power at the expense of Congress. It also created a broad American consensus on the need to fight the cold war aggressively" [6].

The information policy of the Departments of Army, War and State, as well as the American military government in Germany, undoubtedly played an important role in providing that consensus-building information and interpretation, along with the even- tual shaping of the story and its implications in the nation's newspapers, magazines, radio broadcasts and newsreels. One point of access for examining the creation of public opinion is the multi-media empire of Henry Luce's Time Incorporated which controlled Time, Life, Fortune and MoT. Time Inc.'s reporting and interpretation of the news, foreign and domestic, played an increasingly important role in shaping American public opinion in the 1930s and 1940s. Luce's widespread influence had begun with the creation of Time. The Weekly Newsmagazine, the first of its kind, in 1923. It's success was followed up seven years later with his founding of Fortune, an expensive monthly magazine for the business sector. As early as 1924, Luce had turned to radio to publicize Time. Roy E. Larsen, originally circulation manager and later president of Time, created a 15-minute quiz program called "Pop Question". This experiment lasted only a year, but Larsen returned to radio in 1928 with a series of 10-minute, later expanding to 15-minute, news summaries and vignettes featuring actors dramatizing events ("news-acting") for which there were no live recordings. The program was pro- vided free with its built-in Time promotions to more than 100 stations. Larsen, creator of the term "newscasting", turned his mind, obviously with Luce's support, to challeng- ing NBC's network news commentator Lowell Thomas's popularity. Time's program was revamped by adopting Harold Arlen's song "The March of Time" for its logo music, as well as its title. The 15-minute Mo T made "radio history" when it premiered on CBS 6 March 1931 with its "stirring re-enactments of memorable scenes from the world's news", but was taken off the air later that year. It returned to CBS on 9 September 1932 sponsored by CBS to the end of October when Time picked up the sponsorship for the weekly prime-time Friday broadcast between 8.30 and 9 p.m. Eastern Time. "The Voice of Time" began as Ted Husing, followed by Harry Von Zell and later Westbrook Van Voorhis, who also provided the voice for the filmed March of Time [7].

The success of the radio show and the unexploited potential of the movies led Larsen to join forces with Louis de Rochemont, a producer of short subjects for Fox Movietone News. The Larsen-de Rochemont (both Harvard educated) partnership created MoT which premiered in New York at the Capital Theater on 1 February 1935 and shortly opened at some 70 first run theaters across the United States. The goal of this controversial 20 or so minute news magazine was to become a powerful editorial medium; its credits of proclaimed:

THE EDITORS OF LIFE join with the Editors of TIME in presenting A NEW KIND OF PICTORIAL JOURNALISM.

Larsen and de Rochemont set out to identify and address the key social, economic and political issues of the day, rather than reflecting the calculated superficiality of Amer-

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ica's five bi-weekly newsreels. MoT, unlike four of the five major newsreels, was not a subsidiary of a major Hollywood studio. Located in the same Manhattan building as Fox Movietone News and distributed by Twentieth Century Fox, by March the MoTwas being shown in 417 movie theaters in 168 cities and rapidly expanded its national coverage and influence. Larsen's vision was justified within two years when the M o T received a special Academy Award in 1936 "for its significance to motion pictures and for having revolutionized one of the most important branches of the industry--the newsreel" [8].

In 1936 Luce, driven by what he termed "picture-magic", took another step towards realizing the journalistic power of photography with the inauguration of the weekly large format photojournalism magazine Life, headed, not unexpectedly, by Roy Larsen. By the end of the 1930s Luce, one of the first multi-media barons, had national audiences in print, on radio and in the movies. Men and women who might never buy or subscribe to Time (it had a weekly circulation of over 500,000 in the 1930s) or one of its several imitators, now were kept current with selective domestic and foreign issues through the movies. The news-gathering, reporting and editorializing of Luce's media was an important component in the American's view of the world. In October of 1941, the MoTradio show returned to the air after a break of some months in response to the growing crisis. Luce's proclamation of the 'American Century' in Life (Vol. 10, No. 7, 17 February 1941) had articulated a few months earlier Time Inc.'s new found commitment to America's self-interested international intervention, marking Luce as a target for widespread criticism from both the ends of the political spectrum. Indepen- dent film producer Walter Wanger, a leading west coast interventionist, wrote to 'Harry' at the beginning of October 1941 congratulating him on the 'wonderful job' he had done with his "March of Time film, the radio and your papers". Acknowledging Luce's enormous influence on public opinion, Vc'anger concluded: "You are my number one candidate for Ministry of Enlightenment in the United States". Luce's immediate reply was one of delight, however adding "if you have any regard for me, for God's sake forget about that candidacy!" [9].

MoT should not be though of simply in terms of an editorial page on film; its interests were far broader. Victory in Europe in May 1945 opened up a new range of issues for the editors of the MoT including 'The Returning Veteran' (April), 'Spotlight on Congress' (May), 'Teen-Age Girls' (15 June), and a serious look at the shortage of meat supplies in July with the question 'Where's the Meat?' (13 July). By August, the war in the Pacific had almost ended and 'The New US Frontier', released 10 August, showed in profile the American responsibility in the Pacific, contrasting old style colonialism with new style United States imperialism. Deep concerns about Europe's Jewish survivors and the British restrictions on immigration to the Palestine Mandate appeared in September ('Palestine Problem', 17 September); another depressing report on '18 Million Orphans' was released on 2 November. Despite de Rochemont's impassioned crusade for news and information, entertainment, in common with the newsreels, was an important component in the MoT. For October 1945 a touch of finesse: audiences were not to be depressed two month's running. The 'Palestine Problem' was replaced with 'American Beauty' on 5 October to raise the spirits of audiences.

The M o T was unique in terms of audience exposure. A theater which carried the M o T would show it with its main program night after night for the period of its release which ran normally for four weeks, regardless of the changing feature presentation. Whereas the newsreels, running 10 minutes, were changed twice weekly, the M o T simply ran on and on. Throughout October 1945 the Twentieth Century Fox feature

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presentation changed like clockwork each week at the art deco Century movie theater in Haddon Heights, New Jersey. Not so for MoT, which ran 'American Beauty' for the month. The Century's audiehces, severely limited by gasoline rationing, ended up the month having seen four different feature films, a minimum of four Fox Movietone newsreels, cartoons, trailers for coming features and the same issue of the M o T four times. It is easy to imagine that many of the regular patrons, headed for the lobby during '18 Million Orphans' during that November's run. The Century exhibited the M o T 'Justice Comes to Germany' (30 November) just before the Christmas season as the theater's management distributed gifts to the patron's children. 'Challenge to Hollywood' (28 December) closed out the year 1945.

Between the opening of 1946 (12, No. 6) and the demise of M o T in August 1951 (17, No. 6), De Rochemont's staff produced 65 issues, 34 of which dealt with wide-ranging issues in American Society, including 'Life with Baby', 'Night Club Boom', 'Problem Drinkers', 'The American Cop', 'Fashion Means Business', 'The Teacher Crisis', 'Your Doctor, 1947', 'Its in the Groove', 'Stop Heavy Traffic', 'Beauty at Work' and 'The Nation's Mental Health'. The remaining issues focused on Amer- ica's post-war problems with the world. The early years of the cold war were defined in MoT~s series of three issues opening in January 1948: 'The Cold War: Act I--France ' (14. No. 6); March-- 'The Cold War: Act II--Crisis in Italy' (14. No. 8); and May-- 'The Cold War: Act III: Battle for Greece' (14. No. 10). 'Marriage and Divorce', released in February, and 'Life with Junior' in April, proved that MoT's editorial policy precluded serious programs in sequence.

The cold war was an essential component of the news agenda which drove editors of Life, Time, and M o T (the radio program had ended in 1945). In 1948 Henry Luce was editor-in-chief of Time, Roy Larsen was now president Time, editorial director was John Shaw Billings, and Manfred Gottfried was chief of correspondents for Time's large foreign news service. Time had begun by repackaging The New York Times each week, but soon developed its own extensive news-gathering network, which by 1948 included bureaus in London, Paris, Berlin, Rome, Moscow, Istanbul, Cairo, New Delhi, Shang- hai, Nanking, Tokyo, Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro, Mexico City, Santiago and Central America. Whereas the majority of the bureaus had one or two correspondents, London had five and Paris and Berlin had three correspondents each. The editors of both Time and Life inevitably focused on the Berlin blockade and airlift in early July 1948. Time's 12 July issue featured General Lucius Clay on its cover with his quote 'I will not be bluffed' [10]. In its section 'International: The Nations', headlined 'The Siege', Time dealt with "the crucial battle for Berlin . . . being fought in the hearts and minds of Berliners--but first and foremost in their bellies"; the Soviet's threat to starve the allies and the 2.5 millions Berliners was challenged that summer. Harold Macmillan, speak- ing for the Conservative opposition in the House of Commons was quoted as saying: "We must . . . face the risk of war . . . The alternative policy--to shrink from the issue--involves not merely the risk but the almost certainty of war". United States Secretary of State George Marshall added simply: 'We intend to stay'. The article characterised Clay as "a general from Georgia with sad brown eyes, courtly manners and a steel-trap will". The writers, reviewing the wartime allied agreements of Teheran and Yalta, explained in almost Biblical terms how "one general [Clay] and 4,000 GIs were supposed to hold an outpost deep inside a Red sea of Russian power". Time urged that Prophet Clay and America's allies 'cross' this new Red Sea into a new democratic Germany:

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T h e US stake in Berlin is faith. Withdrawal would lead to d e s p a i r - - a n d to Soviet pe r secu t ion- - t ens of thousands of an t i -Communis t s whom the US encouraged to speak their minds against the Reds. It would mean the retreat of an army, which, however small, is the symbol of Amer ica ' s commi tmen t to Western European safety. I t would give the Russians a chance to rally all Germans around their old capital: that might wreck Amer ica ' s plans for a Wes te rn G e r m a n state and a heal thy Ruhr, on which the Marshal l Plan depends. Last week's ruthless siege of Berlin was a siege of all Ge rmany and Europe as well.

The article, while showing enormous confidence in Clay, also reflected a critical concern, expressed in a s ta tement by a Frankfur t barber , that the Amer ican Govern- ment lacked a definite policy:

I feel sorry for General Clay. Every Russian from Marshal Sokolovsky down to the last sentry seems to know what his government ' s policy is and what he 's supposed to do about it. Wi th the Amer ican Government I sometimes wonder whether it knows itself what i t 's doing.

Clay, the son of a three- t ime Georgia senator Alexander Stephens Clay and the great-greatnephew of 19th century Amer ican s ta tesman Henry Clay, was profiled as eating well, walking in his flower garden (43 Im Dol , Dahlem, "a pleasant Berlin suburb") , being contemptuous of insomniacs, drinking coffee endlessly and smoking two packs of cigarettes a day. The article followed a day in the life of Clay which began at 6.30 a.m., and included Washington visitors, his polit ical advisor from the State Depar tment , Rober t Murphy , "onet ime Philadelphia adman" Colonel (later Brigadier General) Frank Howley, " tough c o m m a n d e r of the US Sector" , reviewing his "Negro Color G u a r d " [11] and ending only after an 11 p.m. trip to the office for the last cable to the W a r Depar tment . The article under l ined the irony of the Marshal Sokolovski 's specious claim that he could not keep the railway to Berlin repaired, when the Weste rn powers were supplying two mill ion people by air. The Soviet 's , while increasingly alienating an already hostile Ge rman populat ion, was "beat ing against the West ' s weakest salient to win either its su r r e nde r - -o r the even bigger prize of a new confer- ence, with Ruhr coal on the table" suggesting what the Amer ican diplomatic counterat tack might be. The Allied success in remaining in Berlin and not precipi tat ing war (despite reference to photographs of Britain 's General Sir Brian Rober tson and France ' s General Piere Koenig) was found to be wholly the achievement of General Lucius Clay. Currency reform in the Western sectors might well have pu t the G e r m a n economy on an optimist ic t rack but unabashed sent imental i ty concluded the article. "The roar of planes cont inued . . . over soggy Berlin"; a roar heard and feared by children whose memories were stirred of "bombings not so long ago". T h e n came an English prayer learned by 12-year-old Max in his G e r m a n school:

Fa ther , we thank Thee for the night And for the pleasant morn ing light,

F o r rest and food and loving care, And all that makes the world so fair . . .

"Overhead, the roar of the plans cont inued day and night". Life produced its Berlin b lockade photo-essay a week later, an issue whose appealing

cover featured a wind- tossed bathing beauty "On the Beach" [12]. Wri t ten by Time's Berlin bureau chief E m m e t Hughes, "Berlin under Siege" featured a heading procla im-

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s ME

KLY N E ' ~ V S M A G A Z I N E

FIG. 1. �9 Time Inc. Reprinted by permission.

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'The March of Time" Time lnc. and the Berlin Blockade 457

ing that "out of the city's ruin and frustration a strong new spirit rises and challenges the West to hold its military and moral position". The story's opening two page spread (pp. 26-27) featured a photograph of Berliners watching a C-47 laden with supplies landing at Tempelhof Airport in the American sector. The following two page layout (pp. 70 and 71) of this segmented article featured Siegfried--a teenage 'Child of Ruin' and a map of Berlin with the Western sectors enclosed by 'an imaginary wall'. Other illustrations included General and Mrs Clay walking their Scotty George home in view of well-dressed Americans and ill-clad Berliners, Socialist Jeanette Wolff of the Berlin Assembly and Annedore Leber a member of Berlin's Stadtparlament. The story's format distinctively focused on the effect of the airlift, Operation Vittles, on individuals beginning with a 19-year old "typical German teen-ager" who wants to "get away to America", Franz Korb, "an ex-Nazi" beguiled by fascism, and Friedrich Niemann, architect who, although never a Nazi (he said), hates the British, the French and the Americans who evict Germans from their homes, put them on a starvation diet and then ask: "Let us unite to save Europe". Also profiled was movie producer and ex-Communist Franz Trauberg, Soviet Marshal Vasily Sokolovsky (accurately de- scribed as "a genial h o s t . . . He is a man you would like to have as your friend"), Berlin Police Chief Paul Markgraf, converted to Communism after his capture at Stalingrad (a Berliner's ironic example of "bicyclists"--pressing down with their heels and strain- ing their necks upwards). The most important part of the article was subtitled "There are good Germans" which lauded the courage of more than 100 Socialist and Demo- cratic representatives of the Berlin Assembly (on Parochialstrasse), including Frau Wolff, who defied 2,000 Communist rioters when they invaded the assembly. The good Germans also included the head of Berlin's transport Union Heinrich Droms, law student Peter Lorenz, head of the Christian Democratic youth group in Berlin, and Annedore Leber, the wife of Julius Leber "one of the German labor movement's few great foes of Nazism". Hughes noted that on both sides of the Atlantic people might well ask: "Berlin! We just finished pulverizing it. Now are we supposed to get excited about saving it?" He replied in the affirmative because of the "binding moral commit- ment" made on the bloody road from the Normandy beaches, over the Rhine and the Elbe and ending in Berlin. The victors judged the Germans for their "mass failure to fight tyranny until it was too late":

Surrender would be a confession that in July 1945 we did not really have the dignity and moral purpose we boasted. It would be a confession that we simply had a gun. We had more than that. We carried with us the integrity of the West. We may have to prove it again, in Berlin.

M o T released The Battle for Germany on 1 October 1948 [13]. Battle for Germany copied the Time format of a day in the life of General Clay by opening with footage of the Headquarters, Office of Military Government for Germany, United States and moving on into Clay's office where he was in consultation with Robert Murphy "carrying out US foreign policy in the face of grave difficulties and dangers". The M o T commentary discussed the currency reform which precipitated the blockade because the Russians "realized that a sound currency would do much to unify all Germany outside Soviet control". The British were given some credit for their important role in the airlift and footage shows not only United States Army Air Force C-47 transports landing at Tempelhof in the American sector, but also RAF Dakotas at Gatow airfield. The French were ignored:

The great success of the airlift which impressed and won over the people of

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FIG. 2. American C-47 transports being unloaded at Tempelhof airbase in the American sector during the blockade sometime in 1948. (Courtesy Landesbildstelle, Berlin.)

Berlin more than any other event since the end of the war infuriated the Russians who decided to strike for control of the city by direct means.

F i lm footage and commentary il lustrated the invasion of the Berlin City Hall by Communi s t demonst ra tors and the consequent disrupt ion of the Assembly. Tha t did not stop the airlift and the commenta ry makes much of the fact that all shipments of Ruhr coal, iron and steel to the eastern sector and the Soviets had ceased as a result of the blockade. This provided a transit ion to the section on the Ruhr using the Krupp Essen works, the Opel p lant at Rfisselsheim, a clock factory, and Ruhr coal product ion to suggest the steady recovery of the economy under Allied direction. T h e major p rob lem facing economic revival was labor unrest created by the Soviet domina ted Communi s t labor unions led by Max Reinmann. The Russians knew that "the greatest obstacle to dominat ion of Ge rma ny was the economic revival". Currency reform ended the blackmarket and brought goods back to the stores. Wi th this background in place, the MoT turned to the center piece of the story, a classic ploy to engage the interest of the movie audience:

T o document improving condit ions in the Weste rn Zone of Germany, The March of Time in recent weeks has recorded the every day life of a middle class Ge rman family, the family of Herr Hans Bfickner, No. 27 Schwarzburgstrasse, Frankfurt .

Bfickner is an office manager at Cassella Farbwerke for 4 5 0 D M per mon th who, we are told, fears that " the Russians will force the Americans out of G e rma ny and he will lose what little security he has got". Mos t of his savings were gone and he had to eat with the factory workers in the cafeteria: "He accepts this blow to his G e r m a n pr ide

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FIG. 3. Herr Btickner on a Frankfurt tram: "When he thinks of the war he shares with most of his friends the feeling that the German people were not responsible for it." (Frame reproduction)

reluctantly". F rau Bfickner could only window shop but at least the windows had products ranging from clothing to pots and pans. The most overtly didact ic section was the commenta ry laid over Han ' s trip on the No. 7 Tram:

On the way home from the factory Her r Biickner has t ime to do a little thinking and his thoughts are those of most men his age in Germany. When he thinks of the war he shares with most of his friends the feeling that the G e r m a n people were not responsible for it. He still believes that Nat ional Socialism under Hit ler was a good idea but one poorly carried out. Germany , he feels sure, would have won the war if the Allies had fought fairly, bu t the Allies had more airplanes, more gasoline and more mechanized equipment than the Germans and this give them an unfair advantage. Though Hans Biickner still prefers a state control led economy to the guarantee of free elections, free speech and f reedom of religion, he wants no par t of the dreaded Bolsheviks and however much he may resent the presence of the Americans in Frankfurt , the thought that they might one day pull out and leave Germany to the Russians is a recurrent n ightmare to him.

Family food rations are discussed as the family eats boi led potatoes , and the commen- tary laments that there is little appreciat ion amongst Germans that British and American citizens were "digging in their pockets" to provide the hundreds of mill ions of dollars needed to feed their "former enemies".

On Sunday the family went to a local R o m a n Cathol ic Church. T h e churches were active, not only in the people ' s spiritual welfare, but also "social rehabi l i ta t ion" in the western zone. T h e family cont inued on to the Frankfur t Zoo and music in the park. The Btickner son was studying at Heide lberg Universi ty whose faculty, al though cleared by de-Nazif icat ion panels, still reflected the old Nazi viewpoint:

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FIG. 4. Grandfather Btickner and Constanza Btickner worshipping in a Frankfurt Roman Catholic Church. The boy is unidentified. (Frame reproduction)

A m o n g the students at Heide lberg is Her r Bfickner 's son Hugo, After four years in the Hit ler Youth and three in the army, he 's too busy making up for lost t ime to think much about politics. But he can never forget the lessons learned under the Nazi banners nor the exci tement he shared with his companions. F o r Hugo life today seems pre t ty tame and the less colorful ways of democracy have small attraction. H e looks back on the Nazi regime as the only worthwhile par t of his life.

Finally, the MoT turned to the youngest m e m b e r of the family, "small b lond Con- stanza," sport ing pigtails. To her Hit ler was "only a name out of the past;" she accepted the current world far more easily than the rest of the family. Mos t important ly , she had not developed the family's "s trong sense of racial superiori ty and ant i -Semit ism". Constanza and her classmates are shown in school, but as the commenta ry praised new textbooks free from Nazi indoctr inat ion it warned of a lack of paper undermin ing these efforts [14]. The commentary noted that educat ion was being removed from state direction and pu t into that of local governments "as in the Uni ted States". Such a development , the commenta ry cont inued, would be difficult because "Germans are a de te rmined people who stick tenaciously to t radi t ional ways of bringing up the young". T h e footage showed young people a rm- in-arm on a woodland hike.

This part icular MoT issue proc la imed that the chief aim of the Uni ted States mili tary government was to teach democracy to the G e r m a n people in prepar ing them for a democrat ic world by offsetting Communi s t p ropaganda . Overall, the mood appeared to be pessimistic, bu t no t unrealistic. The MoT finally re turned to breakfast with General Clay and his wife Marjor ie i l lustrating the resolve with which Americans, both the military and their dependents , were facing the threat of a Soviet at tack [15]. According to the MoT, General Clay 's knowledge of the G e r m a n people and range of experience

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FIG. 5. Hugo Biickner in a Heidelberg classroom: "He looks back on the Nazi regime as the only worthwhile part of his life". (Frame reproduction)

in dea l ing w i t h t he R u s s i a n s m a d e h i m the t h e m a n to h a n d l e the m a n y a n d c o m p l e x

p r o b l e m s o f G e r m a n y . T h e s tory c o n c l u d e d w i t h C lay s m o k i n g at h is desk:

FIG, 6. Constanza B/ickner in a Frankfurt elementary school classroom: "Hitler is only a name out of the past". (Frame reproduction)

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Whether these problems can be solved without an enforced resort to war is the number one question facing the world today. T I M E M A R C H E S ON.

These three Time Inc. studies of the Berlin crisis were published within a few weeks of each other (keeping in mind that the two articles are mid-July and the MoT release would have been finished at the end of September). The stylistic differences are to be expected. It is interesting to note that the MoT adopted an approach identical to Time's day in the life of General Clay. The Time article itself was not primarily concerned with the Berliners, but focused rather on the key Americans defending Berlin, as well as the important economic improvements relative to rebuilding Europe as a whole. Berlin Mayoress "tough little" Louise Schroeder was not identified as a Socialist but only as one who defied the Russians. Correctly, Clay is portrayed, as he is by the MoT, as the man of the hour for it was on his own initiative that the airlift was begun. Another interesting point of contrast is that the MoT treated the extra privileges of Ruhr miners (schnapps, cigarettes and increased rations) as a pragmatic necessity, while Time characterized the soaring Ruhr coal production figures as "unfortunately" achieved only through various forms of "bribery" (section cabled from Time's Berlin bureau). The overall mood of the Time article relative to the Berliners was (despite the Ruhr miners reference) positive, as Clay was quoted saying: "The courage of the people of Berlin is a source of great hope".

An even more positive mood dominates Life's photo-essay as author Hughes seem- ingly allowed the various people that he profiled to speak for themselves, a right denied them by MoT producers. Hughes 's article began with the old Nazis, as well as the Nazi- turned-Communis t such as Berlin's 'bicyclist' Polizeiprasident Paul Markgraf. Hughes 's heroes are Socialist leader Franz Neumann and the other politically active "good Germans" whose profiles conclude the article. Perhaps most telling is the positioning of a photograph of Frau Annedore Leber, whose husband was executed by the Nazis for his part in the plot against Hitler's life in 1944. Set at the very end of the articles column's the caption read:

F R A U L E B E R lost her husband to Hitler's headsman. Now she is fighting what she calls 'a moral battle' for a free Berlin at the heart of a united Germany.

The pro-Democrat ic Germany was already in place and those men and women deserved the integrity of the West 's support. The plea was well calculated to achieve reader support.

Conversely, MoT leaves one with a negative impression. Frau Bfickner seemed to be interested in nothing beyond boiled potatoes and (futile) window shopping in Frank- furt, while Berlin is under siege by the Russians. The unemployed grandfather sits at home and eats short rations. Herr Bfickner is an unsympathetic figure; the handsome son at Heidelberg looks all-too-likely to be fresh from a Nazi poster, while his professors have not forgotten Hitler. Only pigtailed Constanza offered hope for a democratic and free Germany, if only sufficient paper were available to produce democracy-laden school textbooks. The message was a bleaker one for the achievement of democracy in Germany, in comparison to Life's by-lined article. Economically, things had improved significantly, but that was all. What the Bfickner family members would have said given a chance, is impossible to say. It is worth speculating that the reason that the blockade and airlift received relatively little emphasis in the MoT is the direct result of editorial "coordination", however informal, with the editor of Fox Movietone Newsreel. Fox Movietone by providing as it did bi-weeldy coverage of the blockade and airlift,

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would have removed any obligation for the M o T to cover the same ground. Additionally, the M o T sought to place events in the wider context of a divided Ger- many and the progress of economic recovery and political change in western-occupied zones.

Although Clay and Robert Murphy have little if anything in their autobiographies to say about the press (and nothing about Time Inc.), Clay's published reports to the War Department and the Department of the Army are illuminating [16]. It is also clear from coded cables he received that Washington was concerned occasionally with reports appearing in The New York Times, The New York HeraM Tribune, The Washington Post, as well as The Saturday Evening Post [17]. Clay did not fully share Washington's concern and explained in a teleconference on 13 May 1947 that he did not censor any newspaper personnel or American personnel working for military government. His reasoning was that he did not believe that such censorship would work and that on balance the "unrestricted press policy" produced more good than harm [18]. He did however show grave concern on 28 October 1947 concerning a Washington Post 'leak' over a controversy between the State and War Departments relative to his authority as military governor. Clay suggested that the relevant papers be destroyed and a "gentleman's agreement and understanding" be reached in Washington [19]. A few days later he held a press conference which led the New York HeraM Tribune to announce that he predicted the formation of Western Germany. Clay reported to Washington that this "required considerable imagination as my actual answers deliber- ately avoided any such answer". He continued: "Hope it is not embarrassing. It becomes increasingly difficult to meet with press and avoid their interpretations made by reading between the lines. However, it is even worse not to meet them". Jean Edward Smith testified that Clay, "an old-fashioned liberal", "firmly believed in the beneficial force of public opinion" and held "regular, open, no-holds-barred press conferences" with representatives of the German press encouraging the democratic growth of journalists and politicians alike. There is little doubt that he treated the American press similarly [20].

Clay was prepared, as demonstrated by the Time and M o T stories, to invite the press into his home, office and daily routine in support of his informational objectives. Nor was he above attempting to manipulate the press. Wes Gallagher, one of Associated Press's Berlin correspondents, was invited by Clay to discuss a leak concerning the escape of the Mikolajczyk party from Poland late in 1947. Pressed by Clay to issue a denial of the report, Gallagher refused unless he had an official press release in hand. Clay, unable to find the source and unwilling to have "undesirable and provocat ive. . . additional publicity" let it drop. Clay pointed out the difficulty of maintaining security, despite their best efforts because "fishing expeditions" were mounted by newspaper personnel with access to the military government's personnel both in and out of the office. Clay was certain that the AP report was such a fishing expedition seeking leads as to how the Polish group did escape [21]. On the other hand, journalistic imagination and speculative stories seemed an essential component in the cables being fired back to the United States. Clay cabled General Omar Bradley on 20 December 1948 complain- ing of reading in the 20 November issue of the Saturday Evening Post an article by D. Robinson ("They Fight the Cold War Under Cover") on the Central Intelligence Agency containing a paraphrased but direct reference to his "TOP SECRET--EYES ONLY" cable suggesting that there had been a change in the Soviet psychology. Concerned about not having been notified of the declassification of this document, Clay found it "unhelpful" in a tense situation; or was it, he asked, a violation of security

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regulations? [22] Two days later he cabled the Department of the Army for clearance on his proposed answers for questions put to him by CBS's Larry Leseuer relating to a pending CBS broadcast which had been arranged by the Public Information Division. The questions ranged from the possibility of a general peace settlement, the airlift's chances that winter, prospects of western Allied cooperation on West Germany, the arming of the German police faced with the danger of war, the morale of the United States Army, German recovery, democratization and demilitarization of Germany, prospects for the coming year and finally his accomplishments of the past year [23].

Every major world news agency, radio network, newspaper, magazine and newsreel maintained bureaus in Berlin. Those journalists scoured the city 24 hours a day attempting to meet their editors' demands and they freely mixed fact with speculation. General Clay was on record as to his high regard for the number of "excellent" reports in Berlin who possessed considerable knowledge and experience and had strong views of their own, right or wrong, on how to solve the Berlin crisis. These journalists created difficulties by implicitly suggesting that their views were those of the military govern- ment lobbying for a particular solution. Clay particularly avoided off the record interviews which could influence events [24]. A general who preferred to conduct policy "in a goldfish bowl" where everyone could observe what was happening, nevertheless had a major information problem; it was not in supplying information, but maintaining security in a city ringed with Soviet tanks. While the journalist dug, cabled stories and published, sensitive top-secret negotiations were proceeding about which not even Clay was aware until the lifting of the siege. While Washington had to be the source for diplomatic news, Clay sought to kill disconcerting stories concerning allied military strength, morale or justice. Back in 1946, Newsweek's bureau chief James P. O'Donnell had been taken task by Clay for a story filed from Berlin in the bureau chiefs absence claiming that there had been a serious case of looting involving a high ranking American officer. O'Donnell agreed that the facts of the published story entitled 'Operation Grabbag' were incorrect and that a retraction would be filed. Choosing not to make a public denial, the general recommended that the War Department consult with Newsweek to ensure the printing of a denial in its next issue [25]. OMGUS, Clay's military government, had three major information responsibili- ties. The first was maintaining military and diplomatic security against both the Russians and the assembled press corps lacking, as it did, censorship on postal, telegraphic and telephonic communication out of Berlin. Second, providing sufficient factual information to inhibit widespread rumor and speculation, so-called fishing expeditions, and inaccurate information which could bring the military government into disrepute or undermine on-going negotiations. Finally, OMGUS had to counteract Communist propaganda from the "long dreaded Russians" [26].

C o n c l u s i o n

This article has specifically focused on three Time Inc. 'publications', Time, Life and M o T [27], dealing with the future of Germany during the Berlin blockade, while also looking, in a preliminary way, at information control in Berlin. These stories from Time's Berlin bureau, two of which, Time and Life, focused specifically on "The Siege" and M o T on the broader German issues, did an exceptional job of supporting the overall need for the United States, at any cost, to create a new Germany, democratic and demilitarized. This study has only scratched the surface of documenting the process by which news was created, transmitted, edited and communicated to the

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American people during this crisis. These three T ime Inc. stories are sufficiently

different in tone to suggest that restrictive editorial control did not exist on this

particular issue. What we also see in these examples is diversity, a diversity which reflected the complexity of the issues and the enormous risks involved in the defense of Berlin. Dur ing 1948-1949 American public o p i n i o n - - o n whether a city and nat ion recently pulverized needed to be saved from the Russians--was formed not by a single

media source but many, and the vast majority of those outlets were not controlled by Henry Luce's T ime Inc. Americans got their news and opinion from unedited reports in the press from Uni ted Press International and Associated Press, editorials and

by-lined news reports in widely quoted newspapers-of-record like The N e w York Times,

along with influential nationally-syndicated columnists and radio commentators, in- cluding Walter Winchell, Drew Pearson and Lowell Thomas. Americans were also avid

readers of The Saturday Evening Post, as well as other weekly news and feature magazines. The impact of CBS, NBC, ABC and Mutua l radio news and commentary programs cannot be underestimated, anymore than that of the five weekly newsreels. Recent research also underl ines the importance of the views of an individual 's family

and peer group in the creation of personal opinions. In retrospect, one admires General Clay's efforts to avoid censorship and provide for press access, despite the critical situation. Clay never lost sight of his primary task to facilitate the demilitarization and democratization of Germany. Raised on First Amendmen t ' s guarantee of the freedom of the press, he doubtless saw it as a key to a new Germany 's defense of its freedom.

Correspondence: Professor K. R. M. Short, School of Communica t ion , University of Houston, Houston, Texas 77204-3786. FAX No. (713) 743-2876

N O T E S

[1] Berlin blockade/airlift literature includes the recollections of military commanders Lucius CLAY (1950) Decision in Germany (New York) and FRANK L. HOWLEY (1950), Berlin Command (New York) and State Department political advisor ROBERT D. MURPHY (1964), Diplomat Among Warriors (Garden City). Murphy remained convinced that the United States lost more than they gained in the process and should have militarily forced the issue of occupational rights in June/July 1948 (chapter 22 "Deceptive victory of the Berlin Airlift (1949)", pp. 298-323). Amongst scholarly studies, see in particular AvI SHLAIM'S (1983) definitive The United States and the Berlin Blockade, 1948-1949: a study in crisis decision-making (Los Angeles)--an extensive bibliography is provided by Dr Shlaim. Book length studies include (in order of publication) W. PHILLIPS DAMSON (1958), The Berlin Blockade (Princeton); MAX CHARLES (1959), Berlin Blockade (Lon- don); JEAN EDWARD SMITH (1963), The Defense of Berlin (Baltimore); FRANK DONOVAN (1968), Bridge in the Sky (New York); ERIC MORRIS (1973), Blockade: Berlin and the Cold War (London); RICHARD COLLIER (1978), Bridge Across the Sky: the Berlin Blockade and Airlift, 1948-1949 (New York); MARK ARNOLD-FoSTER (1979), The Siege of Berlin (London); and ANN TUSA and JOHN TUSA (1988), The Berlin Airlift (New York). Useful articles include ROBERT SPENCER (1967--1968) Berlin, the Blockade, and the cold war, International Journal, 29, ORION (1949) The Berlin Airlift, Journal of the Royal United Service Institute, 94 (573) MAJoR-GENERAL E. O. HERBERT (1949) The cold war in Berlin, Journal of the Royal United Service Institute, 94 (574) JOACHIM BENTZIEN (1961) Die Luftkorridore von und nach Berlin, Aussenpolitik, 12; PHILIP C. JESSUP (1972) The Berlin Blockade and the use of the United Nations, Foreign Affairs, 50 (1) and (1972) Park Avenue diplomacy--ending the Berlin Blockade, Political Science Quarterly, 87, ARI SHLALM (1983/4) Britain, the Berlin Blockade and the cold war, International Affairs, 60 (1).

[2] WALTER LAFEBER (1977) American policy-makers, public opinion and the outbreak of the cold war, in: YONOSUKE NAGAI & AKIRA IRIYE (eds) The On~'ns of the Cold War in Asia (New York) pp. 43-44. Also see GABRIEL A. ALMOND (1950) The American People and Foreign Policy (New York) for a discussion of the various public opinion polls and their results during this period,

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particularly pp. 87-115, 120-112, It should not be forgotten that Time Inc. had a major commitment to public opinion polls (including the Fortune polls) ever since the success of Elmo Roper in predicting the results of the 1936 presidential election; an election often remembered for The Literary Digest's failure to predict the winner. Other relevant public opinion studies include ERNEST R. MAY (1964) An American tradition in foreign policy: the role of public opinion, in: W/LLIAM H. NELSON (ed.) Theory and Practice in American Politics (Chicago); BERNARD C. COHEN (1973) The Public's Impact on Foreign Policy (Boston); D. C, WA~'r (1965) Britain Looks to Germany,. a study of British opinion andpolicy (London); J. SAMUEL WALKER (1981) 'No more cold war': American foreign policy and the 1948 Soviet peace offensive, Diplomatic History, 5 (1). The Berlin Crisis also spawned an extensive literature in crisis management, particularly by Israeli scholars.

[3] Former Secretary of State Dean Acheson quoted in LaFeber, p. 60. Also see Acheson's 1965 quote dismissing "world opinion" in LaFeber, p. 49.

[4] Ibid,, pp. 50-53. LaFeber suggests (p. 51) that "if national opinion had any effect at all on administration policy, Truman's political need for support from such liberals as [Henry] Wallace and leading radio and newspaper commentators may actually have restrained the administration from moving into as strong an anti-Soviet position as Truman wished".

[5] Ibid., p. 54. [6] Ibid., pp. 54--58. Professor LaFeber found virtually nothing in the Truman Presidential Library

files on public Opinion polls. [7] A solid study of the early development of the Luce empire is found in ROBERT T. ELSON (1968)

Time Inc.: the intimate history of a publishing enterprise, 1923-1941; The World of Time Inc., 1941-1960 (New York). The March of Time radio program ran on and off from 1931 to 1945 with such sponsors as Servell Electrolux, Remington Rand and Wrigley's Gum. One hiatus ended in October 1941--see infra note 9. Agnes Moorehead, Art Carney, Arlene Francis and Orson Welles were amongst the actors that appeared on the first MoT radio program. Lowell Thomas, at that time, was sponsored by Literary Digest.

[8] RAYMOND FIELD/NG (1978) The March of Time, 1935-1951 (New York) is the standard study for the MoT; also see his The American Newsreel, 1911-1967 (1972, Norman, Oklahoma), as well as THOMAS W. BOHN & LA-~'P, ENCE W. I~CtiTu (1973) 'The March of Time': news as drama, in: ffournal of Popular Film, 2, pp. 373-387; WILLIAM ALEXANDER (1977), 'The March of Time' and 'The World Today', American Quarterly, 29, pp. 182-193. A biographical entry for Louis de Rochemont is found in EPHRAIM KATZ (1979) The International Film Encyclopedia (New York, p. 331).

[9] Walter Wanger to Henry Luce, 13 October 1941; Henry Luce to Walter Wanger, 15 October 1941; Walter Wanger Papers, Wisconsin Historical Society, Box 11/16. Frank Norris was the Managing Editor of the revived radio series. For the background to The March of Time's international coverage and its shift to interventionism see DONALD DUNLOP (1985) 'The March of Time' and 'The Ramparts We Watch" (1940), Historical ~ournal of Film, Radio and Television, 5 (2) pp. 149-164.

[10] Time, 12 July 1948, pp. 17-20. The map of occupied Germany on p. 17 shows Berlin as a divided pie encircled by the clawed paws of the Soviet bear. During 1947-1948 Time-Life Inc. had made a well-regarded contribution to informing the German people about American democracy in its special picturama, American Today (CLAY, Decision in Germany, p. 286). A major part of the American democratic informational effort was carried by the 24 Amerika H~iuser (libraries of information) with 126 branch libraries, with monthly attendance close to 2,700,000. The 'overt' publication program included a German edition of the Reader's l~gest. Also see Fortune's coverage of the airlift in its November 1948 issue.

[11] Both Time and The March of Time picked up Clay's prominent use of black troops in Germany, but without comment. Clay had arrived in Berlin to find the black troops, mostly in service units, in a state of low morale and in discipline. He transferred them into three Negro infantry battalions, later incorporated into the Constabulary, and transformed them into excellent soldiers by his account. (CLAY, Decision in Germany, pp. 230-231.) The Georgian Clay also called his black cocker spaniel, "Sambo". Amongst several philanthropic commitments, Clay later served on budget committee of Tuskegee Institute.

[12] Life, 19 July 1948 pp. 26-27, 70-78, 80. Emmet John Hughes later published The Living Presidency (New York, 1972).

[13] The March of Time, "Battle for Germany" (14, No. 15, 1 October 1948). This issue was followed

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"The March of Time" Time Inc. and the Berlin Blockade 4 6 7

by "America's New Air Power" (14. No. 16, 29 October 1948) and "Answer to Stalin" (14. No. 17, 26 November 1948). Europe tended to dominate foreign coverage of the closing years. Audiences saw "Sweden Looks Ahead", "As Russia Sees It", "The Gathering Storm", "Tito--- New Ally?", "Strategy for Victory", "Flight Plan for Freedom", "Moroccan Outpost" and "Crisis in Iran". On balance, Germany did not receive an inordinate amount of interest from MoT editors. "Justice Comes to Germany" (30 November) had been released at the end of 1945, followed a year and a half later (January 1947) with "Germany--Handle With Care" and then finally "Battle for Germany". Asia was not forgotten with "Asia's New Voice", "MacArthur 's Japan" and the MoV"s very last issue "Formosa, Island of Promise".

[14] Clay (Decision in Germany, pp. 299-300) recalled the acute shortage of paper for the new textbooks. For a contemporary assessment of German education see: United States Office of High Commissioner for Germany, Education and Cultural Relations Division (1951) Postwar changes in German education, US Zone and US Sector Berlin (Frankfurt).

[15] When the crisis broke the British and French began to evacuate their dependents but Clay told his staff that signs of 'nervousness' were unbecoming and that if anyone wanted to evacuate his dependents, he had to go with them but without discredit. Clay wired the Depar tment of the Army: "Our women and children can take it, and they appreciate import. There are few here who have any thought of leaving unless required to do so" (CLAY, Decision in Germany, p. 360). Washington sought to evacuate the dependents six times but Clay, who correctly surmised that the Russian intent fell short of war, refused to comply. He also had a habit of complying with orders but then resigning; he did this total of 11 times during his military governorship. Fortunately, the resignations were not accepted.

[16] JEAN EDWARD SMITH (ed.) (1974) The Papers of General Lucius D. Clay, Germany 1945-1949 (two volumes, Bloomington, Indiana). This is an invaluable publication of the Institute of German Studies at the University of Indiana and was funded by the Volkswagen Foundation. Dr Smith provides a fine biographical note of Clay in her Foreword. See also Smith's (1990) Lucius D. Clay: An American Life (New York).

[17] Ibid., I, p. 316. From Clay for Eisenhower (Letter), 15 March 1947. The Saturday Evening Post had carried a story by A. STRINGER & L. BAggY (eds) Army wife lives very soft life in Germany, 15 February 1947. Clay described the article as being in many ways "accurate", but it was "most unbalanced" in that it pointed out none of the considerable inconveniences. See the index to Papers for reactions to various press reports.

[18] Ibid., I, 356. Teleconference, 13 May 1947. CLAY Decision in German, p. 58 describes how the coded teleconference operated.

[19] Ibid., I, p. 449. Top Secret: Clay to Draper (Eyes Only), 28 October 1947. Major General William H. Draper Jr, formerly O M G U S chief Economics Division, was assistant secretary of war and Clay's direct link to Washington.

[20] Ibid., I, pp. 461f. Confidential: Clay to Draper (Eyes Only), 31 October 1947. Clay was not the only general to be misquoted. At an infamous 1945 Bavarian press conference General George S. Patton was quoted by the American press as saying: "the Nazis are just like Republicans and Democrats". Patton was immediately relived of command and transferred by Eisenhower to Army headquarters in Frankfurt on a historical assignment. In ROBERT D. Mtn~hW (1964) Diplomat Among Warriors (New York) pp 294f. Also see Papers, I, xxv, xxix.

[21] Ibid., I, pp. 493f. Top Secret: From Clay Eyes Only Draper, 7 November 1947. [22] Ibid., II, pp. 961s Top Secret: From Clay for Bradley (Eyes Only), 20 December 1948. [23] Ibid., II, pp. 963-67. Confidential: From Clay to Depar tment of the Army, 22 December 1948. [24] Ibid., 1I, pp. 807s Top Secret: From Clay Personal for Draper, 2 September 1948. [25] Ibid., I, pp. 2321". From Clay Personal for Parks, 13 July 1946. Maj. Gen. Floyd C. Parks was

Chief of Information, War Department; see Newsweek, 3 June 1946, p. 39. Research into the M o d e m Military Records at the National Archives for both the Information Division and its O M G U S counterpart in Berlin should make it possible to define the military's policies and practice of information control relative to the Berlin crisis. O M G U S Information Control Division was primarily responsible for the rebuilding of the American sector's communication infrastruc- ture. See CLAY, Decision in Germany, chapter 15, The way to democracy: the appeal to the German mind (pp. 281-305).

[26] Ibid., II, p. 1015. Secret: From Clay for Depar tment of the Army, 14 February 1949. "Soviet propaganda is now attacking us for the alleged needless bombing of Dresden as it was about to fall to Red Army. As I remember it, Dresden was bombed at specific request of Red Army. Is there any record of this request which could be published?" See the index to Papers (p. 1200) for other propaganda issues.

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[27] The March of Time closed down in August I951 (see BOSLEY CROWTHER (1951) Time marches off, New York Times, 15 July, Sec. 2, p. 1, cols 7-8), well before the full impact of television was felt on movie attendance. The newsreels continued to be an important information source into the mid-l'960s. They had the advantage of being packaged with their studio's feature films: Warners' Path~ did not close until 1957, along with Paramount. Fox Movietone continued until 1963. MGM/Hearst Metrotone News News of the Day and Universal terminated production in 1967, Despite its popularity, the MoT consistently lost large sums of money for Time Inc. and the fact that it remained in production as long as it did is attributed largely to Roy Larsen's continued commitment: see RAYMOND FIELDING (1957) Time flickers out; notes on the passing of 'The March of Time', Quarterly of Film, Radio and Television. It is well to remember that radio as an information medium also fell prey to television at this time. Finished sound prints of the MoT are held by the National Archive and Records Service in Washington, DC (1935-1951) and the Museum of Modern Art in New York (1935-1938). The National Archive also holds the M o T stock-shot library, its complete production files, and stock film card catalog. The Library of Congress holds the detailed, final, editing-continuity scripts of monthly releases and feature films. Raymond Fielding (The March of Time, 1935-1951) provides a comprehensive list of research resources and M o T issues. The Louis de Rochemont Papers are held by the University of Wyoming. Copies of The March of Time can be purchased from Nelson Entertainment Inc, 355 North Maple Drive, Beverly Hills, California 90210. The sets are categorized according to topics, rather than reproducing the series in order of release. The March of Time Presents--The Cold War 1946-1951 is composed of four tapes ('Changing Attitudes--1946-1948', 88 minutes; 'Hostility Grows--1948-1949', 90 minutes; 'Peace or War? 1949-1950', 83 minutes; 'Time Marches On 1950-1951', 105 minutes) containing 21 issues. Suggested price is 880. Also see Flashback Productions (London/Channel 4) The March of Time--on the March (1986).

Kenneth Short is the founding editor of the Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, Professor of Communication and Adjunct Professor of History and Head of the Radio Television program at the University of Houston. Along with Garth Jowert, he is co-editor of the Cambridge University Press se~qes on The History of Mass Communication.

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