Q: What led to Bernt's decision to write an autobiography and to expose a
story of the North Pole flight.
BESS: The first time Bernt Balchen thought of exposing the truth about the
North Pole flight was, if I remember, in 1954, while he was still in the
Pentagon. And, he was so bothered by all Byrd's doings. I don't know how he
could keep his cool, I really don't. But then he discussed with me whether he
should publish it or not and then he called Francis Drake and Francis said,
don't do it, it's going to backfire. And, then I discussed it with Larry Gould
while Bernt Balchen was in a meeting and Larry said he'd think about it. He
didn't say outright, don't do it and then Bernt decided not to publish it, at
that time. And, then when his so-called autobiography was being written he
discussed it with Cory Ford because he felt that he should tell Cory who was
the ghost writer about it and Cory urged him to include it in the book, which
was being done. And when the book was just being started, Admiral Byrd died
which it sounds terrible, it was a disappointment to both Bernt Balchen and me
because we had at least hoped that we could confront him with it, in this
manner, after all the trouble he caused for Bernt Balchen.
Q: What was your role working with Bernt on his autobiography and what was
the sequence of events that led to the revised edition, general speaking.
BESS: My role in working with my husband's autobiography, was that he would
speak and I would type it. Then, we would go to the ghost writer, Cory Ford
and the first edition had the story about the North Pole flight and also some
other remarks about Admiral Byrd that apparently someone in Admiral Byrd's
family got hold of. And, when the edition was printed both the publisher and
my husband were threatened with lawsuits if that edition would come out. So,
the whole thing was shredded and then it was rewritten And, in the end, the
so-called autobiography is not an autobiography at all. It's what can I call
it, a mish-mash of things. And, both my husband and I were very unhappy with
the book.
Q: So, were all the criticisms of Byrd and anything that might have been
construed as being negative was eliminated from the book in the North Pole
flight and the book was completely rewritten?
BESS: Everything that could have the slightest criticism of Admiral Byrd was
changed, even things that didn't have that. It was just amazing.
back to Interview Transcripts
|
