In late 1948, the Women’s Club of McKeesport, Pennsylvania, decided to devote one of its programs to developments in the field of communications over the previous half-century. To secure information to facilitate that discussion, on October 19, Lucille Robb wrote to the Department of State’s Office of Transport and Communications asking for information on the … Continue reading A View of Telecommunication in 1948: Past, Present, and Future| The Text Message
An earlier post discussed the collapse of the French attempt to initiate a film festival at Cannes in 1939, due to the outbreak of World War II. Getting that festival off the ground was an early p…| The Text Message
In January 1942, shortly after the United States was thrust into World War II by the December 7, 1941, Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and the subsequent December 11 declaration of war by Germany, officials in the Department of State considered the issue of the U.S. attitude toward the Geneva Protocol for the Prohibition of … Continue reading Tell Us What You Really Think Mr. Secretary [Poison Gas Warfare], 1942| The Text Message
On November 30, 1908, Secretary of State Elihu Root and Japanese ambassador to the United States Baron Kogoro Takahira, in a process initiated by Takahira on October 26, exchanged diplomatic notes discussing the policies of the U.S. and Japan in the Far East – what has since been known as the Root-Takahira Agreement. The arrangement … Continue reading Advice from the President, 1908| The Text Message
Cannes. Glitz. Glamor. Film stars. Today, the Cannes film festival – formal title Festival de Cannes – is considered the epitome of the international motion picture world. The festival had an uncertain beginning. The first official French notification to the U.S. government of the planned festival arrived in the Department of State in the … Continue reading Calling “Cut” on the First Take at Cannes, 1939| The Text Message
In late 1943/early 1944, Humphrey Bogart and his wife Mayo Methot went on an 2-1/2 month entertainment tour of military bases in North Africa and Italy for the USO. Their party also included actor Don Cummings and accordionist Ralph Hark. In addition to giving shows, Bogart and his wife visited hospitals and undertook other morale-boosting … Continue reading Private First Class Bogart| The Text Message