LINDA MCMAKEN
CRACKLE of static causes them to wince. The radio’s volume is turned low, the broadcast barely audible in the small room. The family members know that if they are caught listening to the broadcast they will be sent to jail, or worse. A lone voice spills into the room from the small radio, a voice telling them the truth that their government does not: “Germany is losing the war.” From outside they hear tanks and artillery fire. They exchange fright- ened, anxious glances across the dimly lit room. The year is 1944. The voice is speaking in German and it is coming all the way from America. Starting in World War II, shortwave broadcasts like the one described came from the Voice of America (VOA), a US
government radio program produced in New York City and Washington, DC, and broadcast at first from New York City and San Francisco and then from Bethany Station in West Chester, Ohio, near Cincinnati. The broadcasts caused such consternation in the Third Reich that Hitler referred to the voices from the radio as the “Cincinnati Liars.” From the small town of West Chester, Bethany Station, the largest broadcasting relay station in the world, sent the voice of a free press into the darkest corners of a world at war. Beginning with the broadcasts into Germany during World War II and later behind the Iron Curtain during the Cold War, the station transmitted the VOA around the globe for more than fifty years.
When the Voice of America’s Bethany Station was built in 1944, near West Chester, Ohio, it was the largest broadcasting relay station in the world.
The very first broadcast in German began: “Here speaks a voice from America. Every day at this time we will bring you news of the war. The news may be good. The news may be bad. We shall tell you the truth.” The small voice coming from a crackling radio was a powerful weapon during both World War II and the Cold War. VOA has been more effective in spreading information about democ- racy throughout the world than nearly any other weapon in America’s arsenal. The weapon was the truth, and it was wielded by citizen soldiers.
The Beginning The Voice of America went on the air on February 24, 1942, just seventy- nine days after the Japanese attack on
42
F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 1
PHOTO: ASSOCIATED PRESS
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80