If Ernie Pyle Had Worked for CNN

mensnewsdaily.com ^ | 11/10/2003 | Doug Patton

[SAMWolf]

The daily criticism of America’s “failures” in Iraq makes me wonder how World War II might have been analyzed by political leaders and the media if they had applied today’s selective scrutiny. Imagine…

Dateline London – June 3, 1944

CBS - “This is Edward R. Morrow, reporting from London for the CBS Radio Network… Rumors abound here of a massive invasion within the next few days, and this reporter has learned from sources speaking on condition of anonymity that such a plan is, in fact, going forward. The White House, the Pentagon and Gen. Eisenhower all vehemently deny these reports. Meanwhile, the latest CBS poll shows that Americans in increasing numbers are opposed to such an invasion. This is Edward R. Morrow reporting from London…”

Dateline Albany – June 4, 1944

The New York Times – In his strongest condemnation yet of President Roosevelt, New York Gov. Thomas E. Dewey today called the conflict in Europe “a senseless war.”

“This administration’s policies have been a miserable failure,” said Dewey, who is seeking this year’s GOP presidential nomination. “Germany has done nothing to us. Why have we been sacrificing American lives fighting Hitler and Mussolini? Now we hear of plans to invade France and attack the Germans at Normandy. Why?”

Asked about the attack on Pearl Harbor, Dewey said that no link has ever been conclusively established between Hitler and the Dec. 7, 1941, attack on Naval forces in Hawaii by the Japanese. “No such link has ever been proven, because no such link exists,” he said. “Roosevelt made it up.”

When asked about statements from the White House that his opposition to the war gives aid and comfort to the enemy, Dewey replied, “That is the last refuge of a scoundrel! Franklin Roosevelt wraps himself in the flag and then calls his critics unpatriotic. I am merely exercising my First Amendment rights by speaking out against his policies. That’s as American as apple pie!”

Dateline Washington – June 5, 1944

The floor of the United States Senate – Statement of the Honorable Sinclair Weeks (R-Mass.):

“I rise to protest the continued slaughter of our young men on the battlefields of Europe. This rumored invasion of France is just the latest example of the president’s exploitation of our boys in uniform to further his political career.

“First, we were told that Adolf Hitler was involved in the attack on Pearl Harbor. He wasn’t. We were told that he was an imminent threat to the United States. He wasn’t. We were told that Germany had TSWs – Terrible Secret Weapons. They didn’t. We have found no evidence of TSWs.

“Mr. President, this entire war in Europe was a lie concocted up in Hyde Park, and I say that this war has gone on long enough. I yield back the balance of my time…”

Dateline London – 6 June 1944

“This is Ernie Pyle, reporting for CNN from the front here at Omaha Beach… An unprecedented – and some say unjustified – invasion of France is under way at this hour. As you can see from the carnage behind me, American boys are dying on the beaches of Normandy – perhaps your boy, Mr. and Mrs. America. This reporter can confirm that American troops are sustaining massive casualties, here and on Utah Beach, against heavily armed German fortifications… Of course, the question that will be asked is “why?” Why did it have to come to this? Why was it necessary to sacrifice so many young men – the bright and shining future of America – in an invasion that many said didn’t need to happen… Meanwhile, on the home front, Republican members of Congress are calling for an investigation into the intelligence failures that led to the Navy’s inability to prepare for the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. This is Ernie Pyle, reporting from the front, for CNN…”

[SAMWolf]

This is exactly what is happening today and yet when applied to 1944 it reads as being "funny". How sad.

[Soaring Feather]

How sad indeed. Sam, thanks for the ping.

[radu]

This is exactly what is happening today and yet when applied to 1944 it reads as being "funny". How sad.

You're right, this is what's happening today. Not funny at all...very sad indeed. No, not sad. Disgusting. And scary when you think about the media, and the Dark Side, propaganda these days. I don't care at all for the direction they're going.

[Darksheare]

Such is the warped perceptions of the left.
And when applied to history and how we know things tohave turned out, it's funny.
But then we see what currently is, and it isn't funny.

[SAMWolf]

I think "disgusting" is just the right word for what's being done today. Our internal enemies are more dangerous than outside threats.

[snippy_about_it]

Good find SAM.

Our "news" media and the democrats today are pathetically anti-American.

[radu]

Our internal enemies are more dangerous than outside threats.

Whew! That's the truth! What they're doing almost scares me more than the threats of terrorism in this country.

[U S Army EOD]

Well Joe Kennedy WAS saying it in 1940 and it wasn't funny. There was a congressman who thought the Japanese pilots were renegades and Pearl Harbor was just a big mistake.

To bad Joe Kennedy could have children so they could create the modern democratic Party. What we have now shouldn't be much of a surprise.

[SAMWolf]

I forgot about Joe Kennedy, the Nazi sympathizer, but then you don't see it mentioned too often in any news items.

[Samwise]

Off with the talking heads. Bring back the embeds.

[Colonel_Flagg]

Interesting find, Sam. But Pyle would never have written like this, even though he saw enough of the war first-hand to be able to. His loyalty to the common soldier would never have allowed it. Allow me to elaborate in his own words:

"We have won because we have had magnificent top leadership, at home and in our Allies and in ourselves overseas. Surely America made its two perfect choices in General Eisenhower and General Bradley. They are great men - to me doubly great because they are direct and kind.

"We won because we were audacious. One could not help but be moved by the colossus of our invasion. It was a bold and mighty thing, one of the epics of all history. In the emergency of war our nation's powers are unbelievable. The strength we have spread around the world is appalling even to those who make up the individual cells of that strength. I am sure that in the past two years I have heard soldiers say a thousand times, 'If only we could have created all this energy for something good.' But we rise above our normal powers only in times of destruction.

"We have won this war because our men are brave, and because of many other things - because of Russia, and England, and the passage of time, and the gift of nature's materials. We did not win it because destiny created us better than all other peoples. I hope that in victory we are more grateful than we are proud. I hope we can rejoice in victory - but humbly. The dead men would not want us to gloat."

- Ernie Pyle, August 1944

Of course, Pyle himself did not survive the war.

[Mike Darancette]

Asked about the attack on Pearl Harbor, Dewey said that no link has ever been conclusively established between Hitler and the Dec. 7, 1941, attack on Naval forces in Hawaii by the Japanese. “No such link has ever been proven, because no such link exists,” he said. “Roosevelt made it up.”

There was no linkage - Hitler wanted Japan to attack the USSR from the East.

[Valin]

There was no linkage - Hitler wanted Japan to attack the USSR from the East.


But a similar mindset. And in the end that's what we were fighting then....and now. The idea that you can kill people because of the race, religion, nationality, or that they are in your way. It'a a war that's been going on forever, and I don't expect it to end until the King returns.

[SAMWolf]

Bring back the embeds.

Except for Geraldo!!

[SAMWolf]

I know Pyle would have never written like that, Edward R Morrow wouldn't report like that either. Pyle used words like Mauldin used his pictures. The world is a poorer place with their loss.

[SAMWolf]

Correct, the Germans were as surprised about the Pearl Harbor sneak attack as we were. Hitler was really stupid to declare war in the US when the pact between germany and Japan didi't call for it. It would only came in to effect if we had attacked Japan.

[SAMWolf]

Germany and Japan were Allies, fighting separate wars against the same enemies. The was really very little co-ordination or cooperation between them. They really didin't trust each other.

[rmlew]

Japan attacked Pearl Harbor to neutralize the US fleet. The Japanese wanted to plunder and concquer the colonies of empires conquered by or at war with Germany and Japan.
The Dutch East Indies, French InoChina, and the British colonies and Commonwealths were tempting targets.

[Colonel_Flagg]

Conservatives may have their own arguments with Ed Murrow (anyone for a discussion of "See It Now"?) but in the end I think you're right.

Pyle was accepted precisely because he didn't write that way. Mauldin's work was the same.