Reply #22: Great links [View All]

[Frances]

I chose the words "in use" because I was trying to say that although TV may have been invented, it was not yet available to the American public as a group.

You are right that most Americans got their nightly news from the radio, and Americans were hungry for nightly news in World War II.

You are also right that many, many Americans saw images on newsreels when they went to the "picture show," usually once or twice a week.

I'm old enough to remember those reels. I was only 3 years old when FDR died, so I don't remember seeing FDR on the reels while he was alive. When I was about 5, however, one of the newsreels showed a "re-run" of FDR's speech, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself." I thought FDR had said, "The only thing we have to fear is beer itself." I puzzled over that statement for a very long time before someone gave me the correct word!