Transcripts for four of his "Talk to the People" wartime radio Addresses
Price: $650.00
New York, 1942. First Edition. Very Good.
Four distinct press releases, mechanically reproduced on legal-sized sheets, providing transcripts of La Guardia's WNYC speeches for: January 18th (7 pp.), January 25th (6 pp.), February 1st (8 pp.), and February 8th (7 pp.). Each document corner-stapled, with annotations in red to margins summarizing the themes discussed. Of the 99 such speeches digitized online by the NYPR Archive Collections (both as audio recordings and transcripts), only the fourth of the present speeches (February 8th) is archived (https://www.wnyc.org/story/february-8-1942). From 1941 through 1945, NYC Mayor Fiorello La Guardia took to the airways of WNYC on Sunday afternoons with his "Talk to the People" series, in which he summarized the weekly priorities of the war effort, and answered questions submitted by listeners. Perhaps most famously, he once read Dick Tracy comics to children who were suffering through a newspaper delivery strike. The present set of transcripts were issued as summaries to the Press, corresponding to four successive episodes of La Guardia's radio addresses from the Wartime Winter of 1942. La Guardia's focus is squarely trained on New Yorkers' role in the War effort, addressing themes including salvage patrols, air raid and evacuation procedures, the establishment of a City Guard Regiment and Messenger Corps (for boys aged 16-20), rationing, and "alien registration" (for people of Italian, German, and Japanese nationalities). Also of note are comments on burlesque theatre licensing, City sanitation, and a summary of recent work by the Department of Housing and Buildings. These documents issue from the estate of noted Joyce bibliographer and Founding President of the Folger Library, John J. Slocum, who became the press aide for La Guardia in 1938, on recommendation from his Harvard classmate David Rockefeller. Many of questions read and answered on air were related to preparation for wartime conditions: "If a bomb drops on our home, will the city arrange to move us to another home, or must we make our own plans?", "Is it true that I should buy black candles for use during a blackout?", and "Some time ago, you stated that you were having leaflets printed with instructions for air raid precautions. I've not received any." La Guardia answered this last question, "Well, that's strange. You should have received one from your Air Raid Warden. Several million leaflets were distributed through this channel. I'm going to look into this." Questions were answered plainly but La Guardia's characteristic wit was also clearly evident: "Since my attitude towards death includes normal fear, may I volunteer for the job of removing unexploded or time bombs? If such an assignment requires the knowledge of explosives, I am willing to offer all my free time to study the same." La Guardia answered, "Sure, I'll tell you what to do. Enlist as an air raid warden, and tell the captain I told you to assign you to Captain White. Only this, I want to say to you - you're not the only one who is not afraid to face death in this country, but inasmuch as you have expressed a preference for this particular service, I am sure that Captain White will be able to put you on one of the squads." "Here's an interesting one: 'Since the outbreak of the war, our singers have been wondering whether we will be permitted to continue to sing the beautiful songs of Shubert, Mozart, and others, in the original language?'" La Guardia answered, "Bless your heart - of course you will. Hitler doesn't speak the language of Shubert or Mozart, or even of Goethe, or Shiller. Mussolini doesn't speak the language of Dante, or Verdi, or Donezetti, or Bellini, or Puccini. Of course we will continue to listen to, to play, to sing, to the universal language of music. Incidentally, I hope to be able to attend the performance of the Ring operas this year, if I can only get away." Item #FLGA001
