This was the AP flash December 7, 1941.

[Joe for Clark]

Best I can type - this was all the country saw - no TV no internet - interesting to think about these days.

FLASH

WASHINGTOM---WHITE HOUSE SAYS JAPS ATTACK PEARL HARROB

222PES

BULLETIN

WASHINTON, DEC. 7 (AP) PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT SAID IN A STATEMENT TODAY THAT THE JAPANESE HAD ATTACKED PEARL HARBOR, HAWAII, FROM THE AIR.
THE ATTACK OF THE JAPANESE ALSO MADE ON ALL NAVAL AND MILITARY "ACTIVITIES" ON THE ISLAND OF OAHU.
THE PRESIDENTS BRIEF STATEMENT WAS READ TO REPORTERS BY STEPHEN EARLY, PRESIDENTIAL SECRETARY. NO FURTHER DETAILS WERE GIVEN IMMEDIATELY.
AT THE TIME OF THE WHITE HOUSE ANNOUNCEMENT, THE JAPANESE AMBASSADORS KIURISABORO NOMURA AND SABURO KURUSU, WERE AT THE STATE DEPARTMENT.


FLASH

WASHINGTON--SECOND AIR ATTACK REPORTED ON ARMY AND NAVY BASES IN MANILA.


About two hours later that is ALL the country saw - no TV --no internet---no nothing else.

It is interesting in perspective, isn't it??

Joe

[MadMaddie]

1. It is Joe....that AP communication was more effective than the

communication the NYPD firefighters and NY Cops had on Sept 11th....

[Joe for Clark]

3. Yes,

I think it so sad.

How is it we have so much more technology and so much less understanding.

That telegram gives me chills to this day - not just because of the ramifications - we were in a big war after that day. I keep a copy of it in my library. Really -
I think we, the country, believed him (FDR)- I think that is the difference.

Believed in him. I don't think the country has believed in a man so much to this day.

I think that is saddest of all.

Joe

[jwirr]

2. I was only 3 months old but my parents remembered that message

till the day they died. It came from a man they knew they could trust. What a difference today when we have *ss the liar for a leader.

[Joe for Clark]

5. I really think ALL of our parents remembered that message.

Could never forget it.

And I think the difference now is who do we trust?

Really, isn't that what it comes down to??

End of the day, I vote with them - I trust our parents generations decisions, totally in this respect.

Maybe we don't have an FDR speaking for us yet, but I bet we will soon.

One is going to rise to fill that role- that is our history as a country.

I think it is a good bet.

Best to you jwirr,

Joe

[SheilaT]

4. In a similar vein,

I recall reading about the AP (I think) wire bulletin when JFK was shot. Someone who was in a newsroom said that the teletype chimed something like six times -- there was some sort of a code about the number of chimes indicating how serious a story it was -- and he'd NEVER heard that many chimes before.

Teletypewriters were still in use in the airline industry when I first started working in 1969 at National Airport. However, we didn't get news stuff from them, just weather info or other stuff connected to our flight operations. They were difficult to type on, because the keys actually moved a long distance, and since you were creating a punch tape, you couldn't see what you were typing, and errors were easily made, and not easily corrected, unlike what I've just gone through typing this.

[Joe for Clark]

6. I was really young when JFK was assasinated.

I have never heard about the teletype chimes.

We're watching on TV - and when it happened - the town shut down - the whole town.

In retrospect - those vets (our parents generation) they REALLY stuck together, and the day JFK was killed, one of their own was killed - and that is the way they saw it.

You did fine typing Sheila, better than I type.

Joe

[Forrest Greene]

8. I Was Ten

...& in the Fifth Grade. Our school bus ride was always mayhem, kids playing laughing, fighting, joking. That day it was totally silent. I don't remember that ever happening on any other day.

[longship]

7. There *was* radio.

The following links are to actual air checks from 7 Dec 1941. These are what people are actually heard on that day. Right click and "Save as..." on each to download. They are all MP3 files.

Live from KGU in Hawaii (report interrupted by telephone company)
Misc NBC Bulletins from 7-8 Dec
CBS - The World Today (Complete evening news broadcast)