Chapter One
The Biggest Story of My Life
Washington
December 8, 1941
About 1:00 A.M.
Edward R. Murrow couldn't sleep. His wife, Janet, watched him pace in their hotel
room. He was chain-smoking. Murrow, the CBS radio newsman, had just returned from a
midnight meeting with President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the White House. Japan's
carrier and submarine raid on Pearl Harbor had taken place twelve hours earlier, and
the full impact of the military disaster was slowly sinking in for FDR and the
American people.
During their twenty-five-minute discussion in the second-floor Oval Study, the
President provided Murrow with something we will never know exactly what that
any reporter would kill for. That night he told his wife, "It's the biggest story of
my life, but I don't know if it's my duty to tell it or forget it." Long after the
war ended, Murrow was asked about this meeting by author-journalist John Gunther.
After a long pause, Murrow replied: "That story would send Casey Murrow through
college, and if you think I'm going to give it to you, you're out of your mind."
Earlier in the week, the Murrows had accepted ... read full excerpt from: Day of Deceit: The Truth about FDR and Pearl Harbor ebook