Re: Atlantic Crossing on electoral-vote.com

[robert <http://dummy.us.eu.org/robert>]

 > From: Noelle <noelle>
 > Date: Sat, 1 May 2021 08:16:14 -0700 (PDT)
 >
 > Q: I have been watching with fascination and shock the current 
 > series "Atlantic Crossing" on PBS's Masterpiece Theater. The story 
 > of Norwegian Princess Martha's sojourn in the Washington DC area 
 > while her country was occupied by Nazi Germany and her intricate 
 > relationship with FDR is compelling. But there are anachronisms and 
 > mistakes that boggle the mind and pose questions for an historian.
 > 
 > First and biggest, the series shows Roosevelt making his "garden 
 > hose" speech on lend-lease in early 1941 on television! I have read 
 > that FDR appeared in a crude video broadcast, local to the New York 
 > City area, shortly before his death in 1945. The idea of widespread 
 > TV in the United States before Pearl Harbor is fantasy.
 > 
 > It also shows Roosevelt chewing on Churchillian cigars. In all the 
 > photographs that I have seen, he smoked only cigarettes through the 
 > famous holder. I have never seen any picture of him with a cigar. 
 > Did FDR ever smoke cigars?
 > 
 > The series also shows Roosevelt drinking whiskey from an 
 > "old-fashioned" glass. I have read that his drink of choice was a 
 > traditional martini, and that he loved to shake a full tumbler of 
 > them. Is there any record of FDR drinking straight whiskey?
 > 
 > Is someone on the creative end of this Anglo-American-Norwegian 
 > production in need of an urgent history lesson? M.M., Plano, TX
 > 
 > A: We haven't seen the series, and so we can only go based on your 
 > description. They're not completely wrong on any of these things, 
 > but they are taking some rather substantial dramatic license.
 > 
 > Beginning with the cigars, men of that era customarily smoked them 
 > on celebratory occasions, even if it was not their normal means of 
 > ingesting tobacco. And so, FDR certainly smoked the occasional cigar 
 > to commemorate the birth of someone's child, or perhaps an important 
 > political or military victory. But he did not do so regularly; as 
 > you point out, his preference was for cigarettes in his signature 
 > holder.
 > 
 > As to whiskey, he did drink it straight sometimes. He was famous for 
 > being a connoisseur of fine liquors and of cocktails. So, when he 
 > was presented with a more-than-100-year-old bottle of bourbon, he 
 > might well have cracked it open and had a snort. However, his 
 > preference was generally for the mixed drinks. In addition to 
 > martinis, he often ordered Bermuda rum swizzles and Manhattans made 
 > with whiskey.
 > 
 > As to TV, the technology was actually developed in the 1920s. The 
 > big radio conglomerates, fearing competition from the new medium, 
 > persuaded Congress to pass a law making it illegal to air television 
 > commercials. With no viable way to make money, TV was largely a 
 > hobby/project for amateur and professional scientists. And the only 
 > city who had enough sets to make TV broadcasts worthwhile was New 
 > York City (which had maybe 10,000 of them by 1930). So, many of the 
 > "firsts" in TV history (first sporting event on TV, first concert on 
 > TV, etc.) happened in the 1930s, and were broadcast from and to New 
 > York City. On April 30, 1939, FDR became the first president to 
 > appear on TV when he opened and dedicated the New York World's Fair 
 > (you can see it here, but this is the newsreel footage shown in 
 > theaters and not the TV broadcast as there was no way to preserve TV 
 > broadcasts back then). That is, as far as we know, his only 
 > appearance on TV. He most certainly did not give the Lend-Lease 
 > address on TV. The first president who is regarded as having given a 
 > formal speech on TV (as opposed to a brief dedication, like FDR) is 
 > Harry S. Truman, who did so from the White House on October 5, 1947.

Wait.  That "War At Home II" documentary had FDR talking about a second
first amendment on TV!