Sunday, September 09, 2012
Unheeded advice
This 1946 radio news program includes an interesting bit of accurate prophecy. The commentator is Tony Morse, who seems to have been a well-known Los Angeles broadcaster, but has been lost to history. Google doesn't find any references, presumably because he was not an orthodox Stalinist. (Non-Commies were effectively purged from radio and TV after the Soviet victory in the Army-McCarthy show trial of 1954.)
Morse discusses the placement of the UN Headquarters. At that time the organization had decided to put its offices somewhere in America, but hadn't picked New York. The expected Communist cities were eagerly competing for the location. Morse makes a different suggestion: The UN really should be in Moscow.It was already clear that Russia had a strong voice in the UN, though it hadn't yet become a pure Soviet device. Morse called the UN a "penetrating tool", and suggested that Russia needed to be penetrated by Western influence much more than America needed to be penetrated by Russian influence.
Very smart. Too bad they didn't take his advice. ¶ 3:14 AM
Morse discusses the placement of the UN Headquarters. At that time the organization had decided to put its offices somewhere in America, but hadn't picked New York. The expected Communist cities were eagerly competing for the location. Morse makes a different suggestion: The UN really should be in Moscow.It was already clear that Russia had a strong voice in the UN, though it hadn't yet become a pure Soviet device. Morse called the UN a "penetrating tool", and suggested that Russia needed to be penetrated by Western influence much more than America needed to be penetrated by Russian influence.
Very smart. Too bad they didn't take his advice. ¶ 3:14 AM
