I think we forget what media culture was like seventy years ago, when you didn’t have thousands of channels–hell, you didn’t have any channels–of people yelling about the news. No internet videos playing the second you try to read an article in the online newspaper. Radio channels other than NPR playing press briefings and carrying prepared speeches and fireside chats.
So at FDR’s press conference on May 30th, he made favorable mention of the idea of “free ports” (though he said he didn’t like the name “free port”). On May 31st, Morgenthau hadn’t heard about the press conference, and Pehle had to call someone to verify the text of what the president had said.
