Foreign correspondents in 40s

[Elizabeth]

Thanks guys. I'll try the Newseum website, as you suggest, Gary.

[Bob Kellogg]

was the epitome of war correspondents. Bill Mauldin became famous for deglamorizing war in his cartoons featuring dogfaces Willy and Joe.

I believe that correspondents in those days sent telegrams, as Glen said, 'the wire.' Western Union delivered them here in the States. WU offices had machines to type the messages and someone pasted the strips on yellow forms.

The messages contained the word "stop," which indicated the end of sentence. As in:

HAVING A WONDERFUL TIME STOP WISH YOU WERE HERE TO FEEL THE CONCUSSIONS STOP

Bob K.

[Elizabeth]

Thanks Bob. I just about remember telegrams, which we had until 15 or 20 years ago here. They were quite exciting. E-mail doesn't have quite the same drama, does it!

[Gary Kessler]

There's always the "back to basics." I was sitting in the White House situation room one evening in the early 70s when the mail bag was dragged in to reveal a report via "smuggled-over-the-border" international mail (everything else had been locked down, according to the correspondent) of a successful coup several weeks earlier in Nigeria. Times indeed have changed.