The Foote Files: Memorial Day
We are coming up on the Memorial Day weekend in a couple of days. Now many people today think of it as just a long weekend to get away from work. But for others, like myself, it is a time to remember those men and women who gave the ultimate sacrifice for this great country of ours so that we can enjoy the American way of life that we have treasured for over 200 years.
Radio and TV have played major roles in covering wars and the human sacrifice that comes with it. World War II was the first war covered by radio. In 1938, CBS started an extended radio newscast called the CBS World News Roundup as a response to increased tensions in Europe. If you listened to CBS Radio back then, you heard correspondents like Edward R. Murrow, Robert Trout, Winston Burdett, Eric Severeid, and John Daly covering the events in Europe. CBS Chairman and Founder William S. Paley was a colonel in the Army on General Dwight D. Eisenhower's staff in the SHEAF command, which was responsible for the psychological warfare efforts of the Allies. As a side note, Paley remained close friends with Eisenhower.
By the time the Korean War started in 1950, radio still was the predominant electronic medium that covered it but TV was beginning to get involved. But Vietnam was the first war Americans saw on their TV sets night after night. CBS News had a fabulous team of correspondents that covered Vietnam for the network: Walter Cronkite, Dan Rather, Charles Collingwood, Ed Bradley, Mike Wallace, Morley Safer, and many others. Back in that day, all war coverage footage was shot on film because satellite transmission was not available. The film was then flown back to New York for processing and then aired on the evening news. So it could take up to 1-2 days to see on the spot news coverage of a very unpopular war. I remember on Fridays that Cronkite would give the statistics on those servicemen and women who died during the week, those injured, and those missing in action, as well as the same for the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong.
By 1968, 500,000 troops were in Vietnam. If you had signed up under Selective Service and received your draft card, you were very interested in knowing what might happen to you. The country had a draft for young men then and I remember all the networks televising the draft live. It was done on a lottery system whereby a date was matched randomly with a number. In 1972, I turned 18 years of age and had a Class 1-A designation on my draft card. My number in the 1972 draft was 48! However, President Nixon was not having the military draft for Vietnam by then because we were pulling troops out. But if you were a young man back then, you probably tuned in to the draft on live network television.
Today, with technology the way it is, war coverage is provided live on the spot anywhere on the face of the Earth, provided that there is a uplink to a satellite to get a signal out.
Radio and TV have also done a magnificent job in covering Memorial Day events to remind us all of the extraordinary sacrifice that our fine men and women in uniform have made for us over the years. We shall never forget those who gave their lives so we could live.
Have a great weekend. See you next time.
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