Controversy and Other Essays in Journalism, 1950-1975

The author's death gives rise to another look at his collection of essays. The late William Manchester wrote history interestingly. He wrote the longest Presidential obituary in history. Jacqueline Kennedy preferred that Manchester write the history of her husband. At the time William Manchester was working on the Krupp project. Surrogates of the family read the manuscript when completed. There had been some overwriting and revisions and rewriting were undertaken. There was anxiety over Johnson's reaction. The book was to be serialized in LOOK MAGAZINE. The essay "Controversy" details the travails of the historian as Manchester sought to guard the text from frivolous editorial changes. Manchester found being a celebrity difficult business. He puts to rest the popular assumption that newspapers were responsible for the Spanish American War. Manchester contends the newspapers reflected the times. The irregular forces in the war included aristocrats and journalists. There were thousands of casualities at San Juan. When the Spanish surrendered reporters wanted the honor of running up the American flag. There had not been any real fighting in Manila. Cuba was free, Guam and Puerto Rico were ceded to the United States. Later the US got the Philippines for twenty million dollars. The war against the Filipinos seeking independence lasted for three years. Death from disease reached an horrendous level. In the Great War the Americans joined forces in England and France on the verge of collapse. The world was perched between Victorian times and the machine age. There were military cliques, stodgy officers. The tank, airplane, submarine and poison gas were deplored. The great armies squatted on the Western front year after year. After Nivelle and Passchendaele American reserves were welcomed. US Marines took Belleau Wood. Camouflaged transports were ferrying American troops across the Atlantic. German hopes faded with the summer poppies in 1918. At Amiens a corner was turned toward allied victory. The Treasury Department has seven different police forces. During World War II the Treasury Department basement was President Roosevelt's air raid shelter. The Customs Bureau is older than the department. Smuggling still exists. Persons turning in tips are rewarded by twenty five percent of the value of goods seized up to fifty thousand dollars. The Federal Reserve System is not part of the Treasury. In 1863 a third of all American money was bogus. The Great Bank Holiday was an idea of at least a year's duration. Arthur Krock thought that Washington was like a capital in wartime at the time of the Hoover-Roosevelt transition. As the week of the holiday wore on, the absence of change became crippling. People used credit, barter, and improvised scrip. Everyone assumed that at the end of the holiday there would be the formal adoption of scrip. To the Treasury Secretary the idea was appalling. New legislation was enacted. Ho