j^k-UNQCQ.SbjPT^Hniri 1940. -
ft
GOOD EViiWIWG EVi!iK¥r$ODY:
I oft jn get a thrill out of the day^s news, and a
o.ii i-i_L
oul
of pc.osing it on to you. But, tonight, not
'niy am I getting a thrill but some young people sitting
beside me are getting one, and I hope you will share in it.
What1 s it all about? Well, just this:-
I am sitting in a
banquet hall)'&Tthe New York World1 s tfair, and in just a
moment I am going to tell three young people that they are
the winners of some glorious prizes. In fact, one is to be
given a ticket for an airplane flight, by China. Clipper, half
v.ay round the world, and back again, or perhaps all tne way
round the world if the war shou-Li end in time • A flight from
taxiixaxxkmxlsxiiB
America to inner-most China. And, three
other magnificent prizes. The three young people sitting
beside me know that they have been lucky. But, not one of the
three knows who is to get that airplane flight across the world




INTRO - 2
An.., i
'
jii i
ing to continue the suspense for a few minutes
longer^ until I have given yu the highlights of the world’s
■s.
i£j?
nev;
First in importance comes the new s from the
war in Europe.




WAR
The strangest part of the war news today comes from Norway*
and it sounds indeed strange. It is vouched for as quite authentic
/
...rid *iere is. travelers who reached London flying by way of
/
Stockholm, report tnat Hitler is giving back all the Norwegian ,
s^ips that he commandeered for the invasion of Britainy The Nazis
had seized practically everything that would float an4 sent it
south to Dutch, Belgian and French harbors. That is, they sent all
that th^y did not uss in Norway itself; for training purposes.
For months. Hitler’s generals had their men practicing embarkation
and disembarkation, rehearsing their attempted onslaught on Britain.
The Norwegians report that they were even practicing the
disembarkation of cavalry. Eye-witnesses, for instance, describe
landing drills in which cavalry soldiers swam their horses from
ship to shore.
But now those people from Norway, who are described
i
in the dispatches as reliable and responsible persons, report
t
that Hitler has returned all those vessels to their Norwegian
owners
or a
, hundreds of
them.frhe
inference is that he has abandoned,
t least postponed^his invasion plans.
This follows on the heels of reports that the gale which






ra^ed through the Channel for thirty-six hours had raised havoc
with Hitler’s intended armada, and the waves have scattered his
huge concentrations of ships in Channel ports. And it was also
made known today that the pilots of the Royal Air Force have
distributed huge fields of mines in all harbors occupied by the
Nazis, all the way c±ea* from Norway dowi to the Bay of Biscay.
vu
The itraxsim Air Ministry states formally: "It is known that
thousands of tons of enemy shipping have been destroyed by these
mine fields, some of which were laid within a stone’s throw of the
docks
juu
L
xjus

in some enemy harbors.” And the Air Ministry adds that
the enemy were unable to prevent those mines being laid even in
strictly preserved and thickly defended waters.
Some observers in Britain are venturing the statement
that Hitler’s plans for an invasion will have to be
somebody invents a tank capable of swimming the Channel.
until
A££ of
11
a... TI— iff
th
a statement issued by
Sir Alan Brooke, Commander-in-Chief of the Home Force in Great
Britain, he issued an open invitation to Hitler, and said he would
actually welcome an invasion, welcome the opportunity to throw the


Nazis back into the sea. Then Sir Alan Brooke remarked wryly:-
"They did it twice to us, in Norway and at Dunkirk, and it is
about time we got some of our own back."
Of course this is highly optimistic news. But it is
being taken seriously even in Washington*
Official cirlces
in touch with the latest and most dependable information from
/
Europe are^asrfipltt^that the Fuehrer has run into a stalemate and
that his ambitions for an invasion are hopeless, for the winter
at any rate.
However, the Britishers are still on their guard.
They are say g that this news from Norway may be just another
ruse of the Nazis. So the people of the island are taking no
chances: they are still watching ,thds« coasta,keeping their eyes
open, and oa^heir toe* to fight off any invaders.
; /v I
h






LONDON
—
)
Air Mar^harl Goerin^ sent his raiders over southern
tn^land today in one constant stream. The alarm sounded in
I I II IT I—
11

1
■'
r j
^
Vc-Sv^cr v\-e>
London with almost the regularity of a clockft sounded nc
fewtr than eight times. Just an hour and a i^al^-ago word came
across the sea of the eighth alarm and probably right at this
moment the people of the great
are undergoing another raid.
All this followed on a night wrhich was virtually one
long
The most spectacular feature of the night!s performance
oAc
was the bomb dropped on the American embassy, and others which
v.reciied some
<f
the stores in the West End, shops well known to
all American tourists, 2(ome of them
awe
old established
I
institutions
But during the day the British aerial defense was fcdo
X
strong for the attackers* The Nazi raiders failed to get through
x
^ x^ X^ /
and no bombs dropped on London during the day. That!s the British
X
X
claim, but Berlin declares that Tilbury Docks were heavily
bombed and there were huge outbreaks of fire. Railroad Junctions
X
/
/
X
x
were also destroyed according to the Nazi accounts
/
There were some spectacular maneuveringjln the air


EGV?T
Mussolini*s bombers made a successful attack on British
warsnips in tne eastern Mediterraneanj so says Rome.
Add tne Italians also claim to have bombed British land
forces in Egypt, particularly at Iviarsa Matruh, railhead of the line
running along tne African coast to Alexandria. The Italians declare
their raids were successful in suite of anti-aircraft fire.
Here’s the other side of that Egyptian story. The Royal Air
Force heavily bombed Graziani’s forces.


ADD i^GYPT
Later news from Cairo brings word that two of
Graziani1s motorized columns are pushing aheid over the
sonds. riut the progress of the
Italian Expeditionary Force
do9snft seem to have the Egyptians worried. Newspapers in
Cairo are prophesying that the desert of V/estern Egypt will
be the burying ground of Fascism. Another Cairo newspaper
says the Italian advance canTt seriously be described as an
attack as it hasnTt yet encountered any opposition. The
Italians contradiet this and say they met determined opposition,
but broke it up.






RIBBhNTROP FOLLOW V>’M
The next--most important bit of war news concep<
44
«the--^
<iipl<«aats^ HitierTs Foreign Minister, von Ribbentrop,^made a sudden.
*uite uncrxpecttfd* journey to Ronie# owners h®
v
L^L
with-Musseiini^s Count-^laiw, There was no official explanation of
tne
except one wciiaa played it down as being merely a part
A
A
of t5f» routine in' 'tiw relations between the two Axis powers. How'ever,
the Nazis press played it up as
a conference
of the utmost importance, from which most vital results are expected.
What makes it all the more significant is that General
Franco1s Foreign Minister^ Suneiv was in Berlin conferring with
Ribbentrop. Ribbentrop cut short his consultation with the
Spaniard for this hurried and most mysterious visit to Ciano.
The deduction, therefore, is that the principal topic which
Ribbentrop and Ciano will discuss is the destiny of Spain.
It»s no secret that General Franco1 s country is in a bad way.
. „
A
A
He needs money badly and has tried to get it in the U.S.A. (Ifcte-
)
there it -was a ease of no diee* Franco and Suner, therefore,
cd
have to-throw themselves on^ the mercy of the Axis. So, it may be


RIBBENTROP FOLLOW ttAfi - 2
that the Nazis, bai fled in their plans for ^a.
toil! try to strike at the British Lion through Spain


ADD jgBi^.NTKOP
Later reports from Rome tend to confirm the idea that
the dictators are planning an an attack on Gibraltar in
concert with Franco. Franco^ Foreign Minister today was
loud in announcing that Spain demands the restitution of
A
Spanish territory, including Gibraltar.
Rumors in Rome tonight are that Franco is all \
set to join in a general attack on Great Britain.


MEXICO
Trouble In Mexico, and it sounds like serious trouble.
There
was
a report in El t'aso, Texas, today of an uprising in the
southwestern part of the State of Chihuahua. The rebels are the
partisans of General Almazan, the unsuccessful candidate for the
job of President of Mexico. The story is that a band of armed men
are approaching a city ninety miles southwest of Chihuahua City,
the capital of the state. Whether the rumor is true or not,
has not been sufficiently established. But General Guerrero,
Commander of the Fifth Military Zone of Mexico, confirms the story
that he has sent troops to southwestern Chihuahua, Jwo hundred
cavalrymen, and fifty infantry. The g#neral~-say6 tne ru«or~of-
confirmed*- but he’s tafclng no«oiuaiees^



;rLuG
ihere vras trouble at St. Paul, Minnesota, where the
State leheration of Labor is holoin^; a Convention. One of the
delegates on the floor saw something red in the visitors* gallery.
LsJt'
So the delegate got
up

on his
^nd shouted to the Chairman,
demandingthat the person waving a reo flag in the galleries should
be kicked out of the hall. The Chairman granted the reo.uest, and
the Sergeant-at-Arns was on his way to the gallery to throw out
lO*- JoL* (Luzt
but before he got there an indignant
woman stood up in the gallery, waving her hand. And she cried
"that do you mean, red flag?" Then she e)?iained:- ’’This ain t a
flag, it’s a sock I’m knitting for my husband.”





CHIJMA bbSAY COljTKvST
V/hen I went on the air a few moments ago X mentioned
that I was speaking from a banquet table at the Worldfs Fair.
A
9
and tha t there were x> some young people with me who were about
to get a thrill. Briefly, the story is this:- Some time ago
an axxazy essay contest was announced, open to all the college
students in America. Students from Kixxi coast to coast have
<fVU
7

S%Mu>
ivv
been taking part, writing essays on the subject ^America! s°
Sta):e-in->Xhe Far East,--and the importance--to - us of-e—strough
Chinas
The judges announced were a most distinguished group:-
Secretary of the Navy Colonel Frank Knox, famous author Pearl
Buck, Dr. Angell, former President of Yale and now one
at
of the
moguls of the N.B.C.; Editor William Allen White, Explorer
Dr. Hoy Chapman Andrews, Colonelv<Ted Roosevelt, Mrs. William
A- ^
Brown Meloney, kdttya Editor of This Week Magazine; Colonel
U/vu&d} ^
Gil Hodges of the New York Sun, Alexander Woollcott, S .nator
Elbert Thomas of Utah, Admiral Yarnell, Dr. James T. Shotwell
A
if
and Publisher Henry Luce; Amsqpcmjcxixiqtsi And, myself. For
months essays poured in. And then, for weeks they were read
and the Judges did their work. Tonight, the three first
-


CHINA i&uAY CONTIj^ST -
winnei’s have been brought from different parts of the United
States to attend a dinner^to^e given their prizes and to be
toi-. Ah.ich of the three is to get the trip by plane, around
the globe, to China. By plane far up the Yangtze, beyond the
gorges to Chung King, the capital of Chang Eftawtfaj
ShaKkxiaS Kai-^fhek.
All along there has been a mystery about this
tremendous essay contest:- Who could the sponsor be? It
sounded like the sort of thing the Government of China might
do. The Japanese, hardlyl
Well, the sponsor, the man who is giving the prizes
also sits beside me. And he is an American. Albeit the ^
I \
most unusual one. He is one of the world»s.aviation pz pioneers.
He has built airlines in North America,^South America, and is
responsible for most of the airlines in the i*'ar hast. His
name is William D. Parley, x known on five continents as
"Bill" Pawley.
The ap clause you have just heard came from a most
7T il
distinguished gathering of people. ^Secretary-Havjv
Colonel
4tnox is sitting her^neaiwc^^..; Over^ t4ere in gorgeous
i


CHINA ESSAY CONTEST - 3
Chinese costume is Anna Mae Wong. Here-also is_X^ VT Socmtt
Explorer
Roy Chapman Andrews, Colonel Rooaeveit, Pearl Buck, Admiral
Yarnell, fc>eT!PtTn—Thomas from Utah*, Geoi-ge Rxiti i'itch another
extraordinary American who has been building roads all over
China. Bill Pawley has mapped out the Asiatic roads of the sky
And, the room is full of other notables.^ Oh'-yes^ my sister ^
"fP gtdr
Pherbia Thornburg who conducted the essay content. ^WTio are
the winners? To continue the suspense a little longer 1*11
give the names alphabetically:- Helen Averitt, who has been
flown hare from California, by Bill Pawley, just to
this dinner. She says the prize money, no matter whether
she gets first, second or third will enable her to go on
with her college work which she feared she would have to
give up, for lack of funds. Richard Curl from Ohio State.
Jdik Dick Is going on to Princeton Graduate College to get his
/\
Doctor's degree in Political Science. So far he has earned
his way both through coll go and graduate ^1 school. And,
Minerva Desing, from the University of Pennsylvania, who
in Jurijus year got her doctor's degree and was praised


CHIN
k
^SaAY CONTf^T-
4
highly by President Gates of Penn.^ for her research v/ork
concaer^Lng the Far East.
Am nov,, they, and you, x and everybody will hear
for the first time who gets first prize, who gets that
flight by Clipper, to China and back, or x to China and
beyond. Pm getting a thrill out of this;‘Cat^novv the
greatest tiirill of all goes to: yvu^
now the
greatest tiirill of all goes to:
-What ao yph.
V^hat do you say to that
;,INN.di:
l»m so thrilled ITm speechless. A check for One
Thousand Two Hundred Dollars and also a trip to China and back
by Clipper, airi all expenses 1 Pinch me, Mr. Thomas, pinch me.
Surely there never was anything in the Arabian Knights
more wonderful than this I I think 1*11 faint in Mr. Pawley* s
arms.
L.T.:
If there is anything to be done, I hope you’ll faint
in mine. At any rate, don't faint in the arms of Hugh James


CHINA i^SSAY CONTEST - 4
becdose right at this moment Hugh has something to do.
haven11 yon Hugh?