The Battle of Britain Five Months That Changed History, May—October 1940 by James Holland (z-lib.org).epub

7
Inside the Third Reich
IT WAS TRUE THAT THE vast majority of Americans instinctively felt that the
war in Europe was no affair of theirs; after all, the war-mongering of Hitler
posed no immediate threat to them on the far side of the wide Atlantic
Ocean. Yet the United States was not entirely inward-looking in its view,
particularly not the President, Franklin D. Roosevelt, who had played his
part in trying to avert war during the previous spring and summer, and who
had, since the September, led from the front in persuading Congress to
modify the Neutrality Acts of 1935–7, which had decreed that the US
should neither export goods to any foreign belligerents nor grant them any
kind of loan or credits.
The new measures, whereby America would allow belligerents of their
choosing to procure goods on a cash-and-carry basis, became law on 4
November. It showed, at least, that the United States wanted the Allies to
win. And while polls consistently revealed that around 95 per cent of the
population was against American entry into the war, this did not mean there
was a lack of interest; on the contrary, the newspapers, magazines and
newsreels were full of it, which was why there were so many newspaper
and radio men – and women – over in Europe, including London, Paris and
Berlin.
The broadcasting company CBS was one of the biggest radio stations,
having been formed in 1928 when its owner, William S. Paley, bought a
collection of sixteen independent stations which he formed into one and
renamed the Columbia Broadcasting System. By the early 1930s it had
developed its news division and began hiring among the best journalists and
writers around. One of those was Ed Murrow, who, at twenty-nine, had
been sent to London as CBS’s Director of European Operations.
One of the first people Murrow hired in Europe was William L. Shirer,
who since 1934 had been in Berlin reporting for Hearst’s Universal News
Service. When UNS folded in 1937, Shirer was taken on by Hearst’s other
wire service, the International News Service, then promptly laid off once
more. So when Murrow called and suggested a meeting, the timing could