Eisenhower meets the press in London
Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower’s first news conference as Supreme Allied Commander established his vision of a mutually beneficial relationship with the press.
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FDR’s ‘Four Freedoms’ speech
President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s 1941 State of the Union address is known to history as the ‘Four Freedoms’ speech, but those lofty ideals were not the focus of press coverage at the time.
Read moreThanksgiving 1942: Exporting an American holiday
Thanksgiving Day 1942 was a jarring experience, not just for the U.S. service members half a world away from home but also to the countries suddenly playing host to a wholly unfamiliar holiday.
Read moreKristallnacht: The night the world took notice
The official start of World War II was still nearly a year away the night of Nov. 9 and 10, 1938, but what occurred that evening — now known as Kristallnacht — made clear to the world the savagery of the Nazi regime.
Read morePeleliu: Hitting the beach with the Marines
Correspondents watching from offshore had an uneasy feeling as they eyed the small island of Peleliu, which seemed “too still” after a three-day bombardment. Those concerns proved valid when the 1st Marine Division went ashore to face a hellscape of dug-in Japanese defenders who would fight on for more than two months.
Read moreLiberation Day: When Paris went mad
The liberation of Paris was a day war correspondents in Europe had anticipated like no other, and the reality didn’t disappoint.
The magnitude of August 25, 1944 was such that, in Ernie Pyle’s words, “A good many of us feel we have failed in properly presenting the loveliest, brightest story of our time.”
Read moreWilliam L. Laurence witnesses the bombing of Nagasaki
New York Times science writer William L. Laurence joined the War Department as a “special consultant” to the Manhattan Project in the spring of 1945. That assignment put him in position to watch the bombing of Nagasaki firsthand from a B-29.
Read moreKilled by friendly fire: Lesley J. McNair and Bede Irvin
More than a hundred Americans were killed by bombs dropped by U.S. aircraft on July 25, 1944 — a key Army figure and beloved Associated Press photographer among them.
Read moreThe July 20 plot on Hitler’s life
On July 20, 1944, a bomb went off in a conference room at Hitler’s “Wolf’s Lair” headquarters, sending Germany into chaos and confusion. The attack was in the news almost immediately, thanks to German radio reports, and within about 12 hours Hitler himself had taken to the airwaves to address the incident.
Read moreThomas D. Howie: The Major of Saint-Lô
The story of the body of an unidentified major being borne into liberated Saint-Lô resonated with U.S. readers for days before they learned Maj. Thomas D. Howie’s name.
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World War II on Deadline 