Reactions to Japanese Attack - Racial Tones of Radio

The Columbia Broadcasting System, commonly shortened to CBS, served as a national radio broadcast network during World War II. The CBS headquarters in Manhattan, New York, represents the growth of the corporation and its longevity. Currently, CBS has expanded into a television network and continues to provide the public with a news outlet, much like during the War.

After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, the American people united against their common enemy. While unification against an enemy is understandable of any nation, American media outlets increasingly racialized the Japanese threat. As historian John W. Dower explained:

"the media in the West were frequently more apocalyptic in their expression of such fears [Japanese Dominance] … Hearst newspapers declared the war in Asia totally different from that in Europe, for Japan was a ‘racial menace'" (Dower 7).

Additionally, radio spokesmen adopted racially insensitive terminology to describe the Japanese military and the Japanese people themselves, reflecting decades-worth of racial prejudice and racism towards the Japanese that permeated the United States.

From the moment of its declaration, radio outlets ceaselessly covered the war. National broadcasts highlighted the unified front against Japan within the United States. As one national broadcast announced: 

"The second day of the war with Japan saw demonstration of American national unity that are almost without precedent in any previous war of our history. The surprise attack of the Japanese on Pearl Harbour roused such indignation that so unified American opinion that while it won a battle for the Japanese in the long run it may have lost them the war" (Davis, December 1941, 10s. - 30s.).

Just as news programming encouraged further unity, aired propaganda programs also promoted American unity throughout the duration of the war. Skits and talk shows, as well as daily newscasts, covered everything from the current state-of-affairs to depictions of Japan and the Japanese people. Derogatory remarks and racial slurs were appointed to the Japanese military, government, and even its people, further extending to Japanese Americans as anger increased. Radio programs did not censor offensive remarks or words towards the Japanese. In the aforementioned radio broadcast, the news anchor, Elmer Davis, declared,

"Jap planes, I don’t suppose it’s any longer necessary for me to use the more formal term, Japanese. Jap planes bombed Singapore twice but were beaten off each time” (Davis, December 1941, 7:45 - 8:15).

Taking this into consideration, broadcasts nationally condoned the use of offensive terminology when referencing Japan, the Japanese people, and Japanese Americans, "othering” the people of Japan as both a racially different group and a wartime enemy. Actions would move past simply stating offense, leading to crimes against human rights sparked by fear, anger, and racial hatred. 

Daniels, Roger. Asian America: Chinese and Japanese in the United States Since 1850. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1988. 

Davis, Elmer. “CBS Elmer Davis and the News.” Recorded December 8, 1941. CBS, digital recording. Located in the J. David Goldin collection, The Marr Sound Archives, UMKC, Kansas City, MO, Call #40112b.

Dower, John W. War without Mercy: Race and Power in the Pacific War. 1st ed. Pantheon Books, 1986.

Horten, Gerd. Radio Goes to War: The Cultural Politics of Propaganda during World War II. University of California Press, 2002. 

Jones, Alfred Haworth. “The Making of an Interventionist on the Air: Elmer Davis and CBS News, 1939-1941.” Pacific Historical Review 42, no. 1 (1973): 74–93. https://doi.org/10.2307/3637743.