"On the Firing Line with the Germans" Film Annotations (2017)

of states judged by Woolley to be closely contested between Charles Evans Hughes, the Republican
Party candidate, and President Woodrow Wilson. Durborough mentions opening the tour in Portland
and a few other cities in Maine, followed by Boston, New York and Ohio, with Pennsylvania skipped for
political reasons. He also hosted a showing in his native state of Delaware. He introduced each show
with his remarks concluding with an endorsement to Wilson’s policy of keeping the U.S. out of the war.
The Daily Kennebec Journal articles at the start of the film tour described Durborough only as “the
famous war correspondent on special commission by the Scripps-McCrea league of newspapers” with
no hint of any political connection. As agreed with Woolley, he was speaking out as a witness to the
human toll of war:
This interesting man said that he felt 10 years older since going to Europe and that
now there were more grey hairs in his head than in his father’s. To visit the war
hospitals and see the wounded is a sight to long be remembered. Along with the
maimed ones there are so many who have gone totally blind. Many have gone crazy
with fear, strong men all shot in pieces and human wrecks, all caused by the horrors
of war. …. 61
In his manuscript, Durborough claimed that when NEA Editor Sam Hughes sounded him out about his
views, he said he had voted for Wilson in 1912 although he and his family were traditionally Republicans
and that he planned to vote for him again. His film introductory comments reported in the newspapers
about the horrors of war appear consistent with what he witnessed and filmed. He may very well have
been entirely truthful in his comments and endorsement of Wilson. However the fact remains that it
was not made known that his film and tour were sponsored by the Democratic Campaign Committee
which tainted his appearance as an independent journalist.
In late 1917 Durborough was recruited to support George Creel’s Committee on Public Information
(CPI). After an initial two months training, Durborough accepted a First Lieutenant’s commission in the
U.S. Army Signal Corps Reserves in November. In Creel’s 1918 budget he listed Lieutenants Durborough
and Edwin F. Weigle as two of his five Road Camera Men, the other three being civilians. In August of
1918 Durborough was promoted to Captain and honorably discharged on 31 January 1919. Durborough
would later describe his army service as “photographic propaganda”.
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