The Literary Digest

Articles from The Literary Digest

‘Soldier Man Blues from Somewhere in France” (Literary Digest, 1927)

This article is essentially a collection of lyrics from an assortment of songs sung by the Black Doughboys who were charged with the task of loading and unloading trucks far behind the front line trenches. It was written in 1927 to serve as a review for Singing Soldiersstyle=border:none by John J. Niles, who compiled the labor songs while stationed in France as a fighter pilot:


All dese colored soldiers comin’ over to France

All dese soldiers an’ me

Goin’ to help de Whites make de Kaiser dance

All dese soldiers an’ me…

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A Day in the Life of F.D.R. (Literary Digest, 1937)

The attached article presented a dusk till dawn account of one day in the life of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882 – 1945).
Written during his first term (prior to the war), the journalist recounted who the reoccurring players in his life were, the time of his rising, the preferred meals, the length of the meetings, distractions, recreations and other assorted minutia -but you’ll not read the word wheelchair once. This is a fine example of the press black-out that was in place in order to prevent the public any knowledge whatever of Roosevelt’s paralytic illness, which rendered him paralyzed from the waist down (he suffered from Guillain-Barré syndrome which he contracted in 1921).

Read a 1945 interview with FDR’s economic adviser, Bernard Baruch; click here.
Click here to read about the four inaugurations of FDR.

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U.S. Navy Fired America’s First Shot (Literary Digest, 1917)

Printed five years apart were these two articles that we’ve attached herein collectively recalling three different events by three different services within the American military, each claiming to have fired the opening salvo that served notice to Kaiser Bill and the boys that the U.S. of A. was open for business:

•The first article recalls the U.S. Merchant Marine freighter MONGOLIA that sank a German U-Boat on April 19, 1917 while cruising off the coast of England.


•The second article chuckles at the Army for insisting that the First Division fired the premiere shot on October 23, 1917 in the Luneville sector of the French front;


•following up with the absolute earliest date of American aggression being April 6, 1917 – the same day that Congress declared war – when Marine Corporal Michael Chockie fired his 1903 Springfield across the bow of the German merchant raider S.M.S COMORAN on the island of Guam.

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C.R.W. Nevinson Rants About the American Art World (Literary Digest, 1922)

Sounding a good deal like Simon Cowell (b. 1960), British painter C.R.W. Nevinson (1889 – 1946) had some nasty words for the American people and the art market they created.

Here emphatically they have lost their courage. They are afraid to buy what they like; they rely entirely on the auction-room value. To read the American art news is like reading our Financial Times. The American art critic has no use for a picture which does not tell a story…


Pegged as a Futurist, Nevinson is best remembered for his W.W. I paintings of the Western Front, which can be read about here.

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Two Governments Weigh In On The Titanic Disaster (Literary Digest, 1912)

An overview of both the British and the American reports concerning the sinking of the Titanic.

An interesting comparison of the American and British official investigations of the Titanic disaster was published…the conclusions is reached that although the American investigators were practically an ‘avenging’ body and the English a ‘vindicating’ one, the recommendations made by the two come to very nearly the same thing…[but]in the matter of responsibility, the reviewer finds marked dissimilarity.

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Titanic Obituary: Francis D. Millet (Literary Digest, 1912)

Journalist, artist and American Civil War veteran Francis D. Millet, (1846 – 1912) was also one of the doomed passengers on board Titanic. Prior to the sinking, Millet had enjoyed some success as a muralist.

Among the institutions possessing canvases by Millet are the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Detroit Museum, the Union League Club, the Duquesne Club of Pittsburg, and the National Gallery of New Zealand.

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The Bravery of the Titanic Musicians (Literary Digest, 1912)

A short excerpt from the London Standard concerning the fortitude of the Titanic musicians:

We are usually a undemonstrative people, but the incident of the string band of the Titanic, it’s members gathered together to play the hymn Nearer My God to Thee, as the great ship settled for her last plunge, left men speechless with pity. It is a great incident of history, worthy to rank with the last parade on Birkenhead

Attached you will also find the musical score and lyrics of Nearer My God to Thee.

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