Newsweek

Articles from Newsweek

The World Press and the Death of FDR (Newsweek Magazine, 1945)

At 5:45 p.m. telephones rang simultaneously in the Washington bureaus of the AP, UP and [the International News Service] on a conference call from the White House. The familiar voice of Steve Early, who had retired only recently after twelve years as White House press secretary, called the roll to make sure all were listening. Then: ‘Here is a flash. The President died suddenly early this afternoon’

Swiftly the news went around the world… No president had meant quite so much to the press as Mr. Roosevelt. Few in history had been more consistently and bitterly opposed by a majority of publishers. Perhaps none had more admirers and fewer detractors among working newsmen. No president since his cousin Theodore, who coined the word ‘muckracker’, had on occasion denounced press and newsmen alike more harshly. Yet most newsmen forgave him his peevish moments. Certainly none had been more news-rich and none had ever received the voluminous coverage that President Roosevelt had. Over the years, the Roosevelt twice-a-week press conference was the Capital’s biggest newsmaker.

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The Rangers Go Public (Newsweek Magazine, 1942)

The first time the American public learned of the existence of the now famous U.S. Army Rangers was through articles like this one, that appeared during August of 1942. This article made public the fact that fewer than 100 Rangers had participated in the not-terribly-successful raid on Dieppe.

The Rangers were named after Rogers’ Rangers, the rough and crafty Indian fighters of colonial days who battled near the Canadian border under their leader, Major Robert Rogers… All Rangers are volunteers, selected for strength and ability to use such weapons as daggers, grenades, fists, tommy guns and mortars.

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Jim Crow at Newsweek (Newsweek Magazine, 1945)

What a thoroughly outrageous article this is! In my experience reading news pieces from both world wars I have never once come across one in which the journalist pinpoints a particular fighting unit and labels it as substandard – but that is exactly what happens in this article about the all-black 92nd Division. Previously, I never thought such a thing would ever happen with a censored press that sought to preserve the morale of both soldiers and home front – but I was wrong.

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Breaking Up The ‘Big Eight’ (Newsweek Magazine, 1945)

As the American effort to restructure a defeated Japan commenced, it seemed obvious to all that one of the first things to go was the Zaibatsu Family. Zaibatsu was the name given to the eight families which had held a monopoly on the manufacturing wealth and banking power in Japan since the mid-to-late Nineteenth Century. Made up of many names that you will recognize, this article goes into some detail explaining how the power structure worked and its relation with the Emperor.

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Judgment in Oslo (Newsweek Magazine, 1945)

Norwegian traitor Vidkun Quisling (1887 – 1945) insisted on his innocence throughout his trial and all the way up to the day of his firing squad. To counter his claims in the courtroom prosecutors produced the diary of Hitler’s foreign minister, Alfred Rosenberg, that clearly stated that Quisling was complicit from the very beginning in the invasion of his homeland. A pride of Norwegian military officers recalled the day of the Nazi attack when Quisling refused to give the mobilization order.


Click here to read an article about another European traitor: Pierre Laval.

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The End of the Home Front (Newsweek Magazine, 1945)

The word reconversion is a term so odd to our era that my auto-correct insists it is a misspelling – but the word appears more than a few times in the September 3, 1945 issue of Newsweek and it pertains to process of turning the economy (and society) from one centered on war to one that caters to consumers. This article encapsulates the excitement of the previous week when the war was declared over – POWs returned, rationing ended, Lend-Lease completed, nukes created, draft quotas reduced, traitors hanged and the recruits demobilized.


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End of the Road for Sgt. John Basilone (Newsweek Magazine, 1945)

The first Marine waves that stormed ashore on Iwo Jima included a stalwart young sergeant who stood out as a leader even in that picked group. Handsome, dark-haired, and purposeful, he strode through the surf seemingly oblivious to the enemy’s artillery fire. His eyes focused inland on a spot suitable for his machine-gun platoon… Suddenly, a Jap shell screamed. The sergeant fell. John Basilone, first enlisted Marine in this war to win the Congressional Medal of Honor, was dead.

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The WPA Symphony Orchestras (Newsweek Magazine, 1941)

This article lays out the enormity of the WPA Music Projects in the City of New York during 1941 – It sponsors the most extensive musical organization ever assembled in one city: two symphony and eight dance orchestras, two bands, two choral groups and three ensemble employing some 500 musicians, not to mention 96 music centers with 188 teachers instructing 22,000 students.

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