Radio: The Voice That Failed

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The little-known story of the first U.S. Presidential radio broadcast was told last week in Movie-Radio Guide.

President Wilson was aboard the liner George Washington, returning from the Versailles Peace Conference. It had been announced that on the Fourth of July (1919) he would address the crews of all the convoying ships. The significance of this communication was noted by only a handful of newfangled thinkers — radio men. Most U.S. newspaper editors, buried the news among their gall bladder ads.

Engineers John H. Payne and Harold H. Beverage (now of General Electric and RCA respectively) rigged up the equipment. President Wilson's advisers insisted that the microphone be concealed: they were afraid it would make the President nervous. The engineers therefore hid the device in a cluster of flags.

Woodrow Wilson said in part : "We told our fellow men throughout the world, when we set up the free state of America, that we wanted to serve liberty everywhere and be friends of men. . . ." No one but those within earshot heard more than an occasional word. No one had told Woodrow Wilson about the hookup.

He had spoken, not from the stand, but from a hatchway 20 feet away.

The Presidential radio debut had been a flop. But four days later Woodrow Wilson used the contraption to talk to his Assistant Secretary of the Navy in Washington — a gentleman who was to become the most celebrated radio figure in history.