Berlin Calling: American Broadcasters in the Service to the Third Reich

Expatriates posing as detached yet patriotic American commentators, and using the news-of-the-day voice of the stereotypical radio announcer, sought to turn U.S. opinion against the British and achieve the political objectives of their media-savvy employer--master propagandist Josef Goebbels. Riveting biographies in Berlin Calling put real names and faces behind the voices of The Georgia Peach, Mr. O.K., Paul Revere, and others. Were they motivated by antipathy towards New Deal programs or were they simply hucksters in search of a payroll check? This volume chronicles the careers of eight commentators who worked for the Nazis. Drawing upon a variety of documentary sources--letters written by the subjects to family, friends, and colleagues; treason trial transcripts; the contents of the BBC's wartime monitoring service; and FBI case files on the broadcasters--the author explores each broadcaster's political and personal motivations, and the influence of their broadcasts.