NAB reports (Jan-Dec 1942)

To build out of these varied groups a homogeneity that in this crisis will think alike, appreciate alike, and act alike is a task for the great. Surely a means of communication like radio broadcasting with a near ninety percent saturation our country over has a real op¬ portunity to serve in building the unity sought by our great President. Now fellow-broadcasters, the most dangerous epochs in history are those in which mind out-distances spirit. We are confronted with such an epoch right now — a time when the whole world is concentrating on the making of machinery and equipment for destroying the human race. Vital as is this important technologi¬ cal effort, at the same time more consideration can also be given to what are usually termed the higher consecrations. We can be better Americans in so doing. We can turn out more equipment for the war effort at the same time. In fact, in the new America which is being born in this hour of travail, if we are to know the glorious freedoms which have made life here so vital, ours must indeed be the interests and the loyalties of a citizenship at its best. The quality of that citizenship depends on four sets of reactions, as I see it. The first set embraces. The way we deal with things. It has now dawned on us that no matter what their form, things have almost a sacred character, these very things the radio has made us want so utterly. Already our attitude toward thern is appreciably changed. We are beginning to realize what things represent in energy and material expenditure. A loaf of bread, a fountain pen, a transmitter tube, some copper wire, a suit of cloth¬ ing, a radio set, and most certainly an automobile tire. The way we deal with these and other things will indicate, in part, the quality of our Americanism. The care we give our auto¬ mobile is a part of us; the way I treat a book or read a news¬ paper ; the manner in which I keep my desk, pay my bills, tune my radio, care for my lawn, drive my car, is an extension of my personality. It is a mark of my Americanism. Now, in the days ahead, waste and extravagance will be a mark of disloyalty because there will be the greatest dearth of, and hunger for things that the human race has ever known. Millions will need and want, but at least, at first, there will be little available to meet those needs and those wants. The second set of traits that will function vitally in building the American of tomorrow is: The way we deal with people. That is our social sense. With seven million men in our armed forces and a hundred million backing them up on the industrial front, every home in America will be touched. Although our folk are resolute and courageous, they are also sensitive. Our children have not been reared to become cannon fodder. They know the love of family life and the joys of the American home. There will be much sensitivity in our great land. We must respect it. That is one of the reasons for the great pre¬ cautions we are taking in our handling of radio news. When we see a man on the street, we don’t know the burden he is carrying. Last Monday on entering the Salt Lake City Chamber of Com¬ merce, I ran onto the president of the National Ski Tournament. Noticing that he looked depressed, I inquired how he was. He reluctantly responded by saying he had just received word that his father had been shot by the Gestapo in Norway and that his brother was lost on a Norwegian freighter off the coast of Florida. Yet, I doubt he would ever have told me had I not borne down. We just don’t know the burden men are carrying. Mr. President, we must also be careful in our own businesses. For instance, ponder for a moment the cost American industry pays needlessly because, too often, it carelessly puts uneasiness and worry into the hearts of people. One sociologist has suggested such unnecessary failings on the part of all of us as: 1. Brusque assertiveness. 2. Not giving people enough time to present a point. 3. Making people feel guilty. 4. Judging people by externals. 5. Sanctifying prejudices. 6. Choosing the wrong moment to mention something. 7. Finding fault with half expressed ideas. 8. Shouting to convince, and a hundred others. Yes. my friends, if the race survives, a lot of high-handedness and selfish covetousness, both in the capital and labor groups, will have to disappear. Hard-boiled, unfair dicta from self-seeking pressure groups can spell finis to the United States, that we have known. What will it take to teach us that the most deep-seated of human needs is the need to collaborate with other men? 288 — May 29, 1942 When our chief engineer, with whom I have been associated for the past fifteen years, on leaving for the United States army serv¬ ice a short time ago, reached out his hand to me and said tear¬ fully, ‘T like you not only for what you are, but also for what I am when I am with you. I like you not only for what you have made of yourself, but also for what you have made of me,” he helped me to know the real humility. I did not realize he felt that way. Such are, indeed, the lasting compensations. Some day, pos¬ sibly, we shall learn that in the long run, we keep only what we share. In the words of the ancient epitaph: “What I spent, I had; what I kept, I lost; what I shared, I have.” Leadership in the new America will know the power of this concept. It will exemplify that bit of sentiment in the phrase; “When I met him, I w'as looking dow’n ; when I left him, I was looking up.” The third set of traits that wall characterize the new American will have to do w'ith: The way we deal with ideas. That is our intelligence. It is generally recognized that the most potent thing in the world is an idea w'hose time has come. At this moment, we are in the center of the greatest technological era in history. A magnificent new day is emerging and with it the crystallizing of a hundred thousand new concepts. The radio in¬ dustry, I declare, is one of the most provocative influences in it all. Today’s rationing, with all of its heartaches and headaches, is really a tremendous motivating power. It reaches out a daring challenge to American skill, resourcefulness and ingenuity. The future of the United States is still ahead of us, regardless of what the skeptics, cynics, defeatists and agnostics declare. We of radio are anchored to an industry so new and so freighted with possibilities that it fits perfectly into the millennium of achievement toward which we are heading. Leadership need not be afraid of enthusiasm. There will alw'ays be enough apathy on the part of the people to apply such brakes as are necessary. Remember, as we have been so frequently re¬ minded, people won’t take the initiative if they can avoid doing so. People won’t act unless prodded. People won’t give up their prejudices without a struggle. People won’t concentrate unless sternly disciplined. People won't work without continually re¬ newed incentives. People won’t readily forsake the old for the untried. People will fight for freedom, but too often they won’t vote to sustain it. There is always inertia to overcome. Now, the fourth and the last set of traits covers: The way that we deal with ourselves. This reaction makes up our character. To fit times like these, we must be hard of body, hard of mind and hard of purpose. We must be adaptable or we perish. The relevations of the Selective Service indicate that if we are to survive as a nation, we must face a severe physical challenge. The vaunted American citrus fruits, vitamins, bathtubs, and airconditioning for some reason are not achieving what they should. We should show far more respect than we do for the American physical machine. If you question that, try in your neighborhood to find one hundred men who can pass the examination of a battery of army doctors. The mental American, in large part, is a product of our schools. He must show predominantly those qualities that have built our great leadership. Radio, too, has helped him tremendously. Here are these mental qualities that wall prove so necessary in the years ahead: enthusiasm, observation, initiative, tact, courtesy, persever¬ ance, concentration, decision, judgment and purpose. The spiritual American will function mightily as the great new era comes rolling in. His must be a galaxy of positive spiritual qualities such as courage, truthfulness, confidence, loyalty, faith and honesty. So then, my friends, the way we deal wdth things, people, ideas and ourselves, will indicate the character of our worth to humanity. America needs much of us. America expects much of us. We must not let her down. It is my humble thesis that the miracle of radio broadcasting in its varied enthusiasms and exaltations will help men to set for themselves the great renewdng ideals so vital in the interesting world in which we are to live. Our first assignment is to exert every foot-ton of energy the radio industry can develop to win the war. Our second assign¬ ment is to call upon every resource vve possess in helping our beloved America, and right thinking men the world over, to win the peace. I thank you.