Interview outtakes from THE WAR:
"President Roosevelt was really the binding force for the United States. When he would come on and give his fireside chats, we all gathered around the radio and everyone looked to him for leadership. He had led us out of the Depression, so we felt that certainly he could lead us through a war. And when the news came in April that he had died, it was a terrible blow to the entire country. Then we got President Truman, who had a very high voice. Roosevelt had a marvelous speaking voice, and you could cling to what Roosevelt said. Truman was much more abrupt and quick, and we had a real adjustment to Truman's voice, because, remember, we didn't have television. We lived completely through the sound of their voices. We had the newsreel. We could go see what they looked like, but when Roosevelt spoke to us over the radio, it just united all of us." |