SECRETS OF VICTORY: The Office of Censorship and the American Press and Radio in World War II

Sweeney, an assistant professor of communications at Utah State University, offers an even-paced, exhaustively researched (the endnotes and bibliography comprise 43 pages), if somewhat dry text on a paradoxical period for American media: the WWII era of voluntary media censorship as supervised by the civilian-led Office of Censorship. Neither baseball game announcements nor letters to Santa escaped scrutiny during America's involvement in the war. Heading up this largely successful government effort was former Associated Press executive editor Byron Price, whose evenhandedness, restraint and dovelike temperament persuaded journalists and broadcasters to temporarily self-censor, while at the same time allowing them to emerge from the war with their freedoms intact. With only a few exceptions, as Sweeney relates, the lids were kept sealed on such sensitive stories as the development of the atomic bomb and President Roosevelt's clandestine travels. Nonetheless, the tension between patriotic duty and the dampening of democratic ideals—not to mention the fear of being scooped by less scrupulous reporters—was always palpable. Price didn't hide his distaste for the job, either. "It should be understood that no one who does not like censorship should ever be permitted to exercise censorship," Price wrote to President Truman as he began dismantling his office shortly after V-J Day. While Sweeney's scope is limited to WWII, readers may find themselves wishing for commentary, if only in conclusion, on wartime censorship during later military conflicts such as Vietnam and the Persian Gulf, and perhaps even a nod to the debate over Internet regulation. As it stands, this text may best serve as a reference tool for media historians and students of the First Amendment. (Mar. 12)