The diary of radio correspondent James Cassidy presents a unique view
of World War II as this reporter followed the Allied armies into Nazi
Germany.
James Joseph Cassidy was one of 362 American journalists accredited to
cover the European Theater of Operations between June 7, 1944, and the
war's end. Radio was relatively new, and World War II was its first war.
Among the difficulties facing historians examining radio reporters
during that period is that many potential primary documents--their live
broadcasts--were not recorded. In NBC Goes to War, Cassidy's censored
scripts alongside his personal diary capture a front-line view during
some of the nastiest fighting in World War II as told by a seasoned NBC
reporter.
James Cassidy was ambitious and young, and his coverage of World War II
for the NBC radio network notched some notable firsts, including being
the first to broadcast live from German soil and arranging the broadcast
of a live Jewish religious service from inside Nazi Germany while
incoming mortar and artillery shells fell 200 yards away. His diary
describes how he gathered news, how it was censored, and how it was sent
from the battle zone to the United States. As radio had no pictures,
reporters quickly developed a descriptive visual style to augment dry
facts. All of Cassidy's stories, from the panic he felt while being
targeted by German planes to his shock at the deaths of colleagues, he
told with grace and a reporter's lean and engaging prose.
Providing valuable eyewitness material not previously available to
historians, NBC Goes to War tells a "bottom-up" narrative that
provides insight into war as fought and chronicled by ordinary men and
women. Cassidy skillfully placed listeners alongside him in the ruins of
Aachen, on icy back roads crawling with spies, and in a Belgian bar
where a little girl wailed "Les Américains partent!" when Allied troops
retreated to safety, leaving the town open to German re-occupation. With
a journalistic eye for detail, NBC Goes to War unforgettably portrays
life in the press corps. This newly uncovered perspective also helps
balance the CBS-heavy radio scholarship about the war, which has always
focused heavily on Edward R. Murrow and his "Murrow's Boys."
