I consider it to be one of the most important functions I have—to have the Navy adequately and accurately portrayed to the public. This Navy of ours belongs to the public, and what it is doing for the defense of the public, with a very few reservations, should be made known to the public.
IN these words the Secretary of the Navy, Colonel Frank Knox, addressed the conference of Navy Public Relations officers in Washington recently. He also stated that there are but four things about which secrecy must be maintained— ship movements, new inventions and techniques, strength of military disposition, and our productive capacity for certain items in the list of manufactures or products used in the Navy. Addressing himself to the Public Relations men, he added: “Everything else is available to you. And may I try to impress upon you how vitally important it is that we get information which is available into current discussion and reading.”
It is the job of the Office of Public Relations to co-operate with the press, radio and photographic services in making available for public discussion and reading all permissible news of the Navy. The job is being done better now than at any other time in the history of the Navy. In this connection it may be interesting to see what kind of an organization the Office of Public Relations has been since the outbreak of World War I.
When American participation in World War I became an actuality, Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels practically conducted the public relations of the Navy from his own office. His method of operation was to conduct two press conferences daily.
On April 17, 1917, eleven days after our entry into the war, Secretary Daniels asked John Wilbur Jenkins to come to Washington immediately as Civilian Director of Information. He began his duties three days later. Jenkins was at that time Washington correspondent for the Raleigh News and Observer. He is now Director of Public Relations for the Federal Power Commission. A few days later the same arrangement was made with Marvin Hunter McIntyre, then City Editor of the Washington Herald. Though having no other connection with George Creel’s work, their salaries were paid by the Committee on Public Information until after the Armistice, when they were both transferred to the Navy pay roll. After the Armistice Jenkins became “Special Assistant to the Secretary,” remaining with the Navy until April, 1919. McIntyre was made Director of the Navy News Bureau, as the Public Relations Office was then designated, and remained in this position until August, 1921. During 1920 McIntyre took a 3- month leave of absence to further Franklin D. Roosevelt’s campaign for Vice-President. Secretary Daniels remained in office until early in 1920, when he was succeeded by Edwin Denby.
During the war Jenkins was the principal liaison channel, with respect to public relations matters, to the Committee on Public Information, to the Army, the State Department, and other government agencies.
According to Jenkins, affairs were conducted with great informality, and simplifications was the guiding principal. He advocated speed in the relay of information and felt that a large organization would only choke things up.
In September, 1921, the name Navy News Bureau was changed to Navy Press Room. In February, 1922, it became the Information Section of the Office of Naval Intelligence, which it remained until May 1, 1941. During this period, or rather up until about 1938, what is now the Office of Public Relations was staffed by the director, an assistant, and a press officer.
World War I was to have been the war to end all wars. Public feeling was for peace, regardless. The Washington naval conference came and went. We were never to need a strong navy again. In concert with other nations we scrapped some of the most valuable units of our fleet. The function of public relations for the Navy was practically eliminated. Congress even went so far as to place stipulations in appropriations bills that no part of the money being appropriated was to be used for publicity functions or experts of any kind. As a nation we were no longer interested, and the best salesmanship in the nation could not sell the idea of security through strength to a people who had decided that their future security would derive from isolation and a refusal to have any part in the affairs of the rest of the world. We had participated in the war but we would not participate in the peace.
Misgivings as to the wisdom of our postwar naval policy began to be felt when the Japanese initiated and carried out a program of building an unlimited number of auxiliary vessels for their Navy. President Coolidge called a naval conference at Geneva in 1927, and again in 1930 a conference was held in London. Neither brought forth any tangible results. We could not yet see it, but the seeds for a second world conflict were rapidly beginning to germinate. At the end of 1934 the Japanese denounced the naval limitation treaty of 1922. All legal barriers to naval construction and an international arms race were thus swept aside. By this act the whole principle of arms limitations by international agreement was sentenced to death. Since that time there have been no limitations of any kind other than the ability to meet the cost. Like it or not, it began to be clear that if we wished to be safe, it was necessary to be strong on the seas.
The public and Congress were slow to see the danger that was soon to confront America, but, seeing the way the wind was blowing, and the need for an active, effective Office of Public Relations, in 1938 the Navy quietly increased its personnel to 5 officers, 2 enlisted men, and 6 civilians, who handled press relations, features, photos, radio, etc., in two small rooms. Today the Office of Public Relations, in addition to the Director, includes a staff of 37 officers, 30 civilians (civil service), and 10 enlisted men. It is divided into 7 sections with a chief for each section and occupies 11 rooms.
Early in 1940 Congress was still debating an 11 per cent increase of the naval establishment, but world events raced past them and before the debate on an 11 per cent increase could be completed they were ready to pass, and did pass, measures for a 70 per cent increase. And additions have been made to this amount.
The First Supplemental Appropriation was passed on June 28, 1940. The organization of the present setup of the Office of Public Relations got under way immediately after that. July 1, 1940, may be said to be the turning point in organization from a peace-time basis to a basis where any emergency can be handled.
As a part of the Office of Naval Intelligence the Office of Public Relations functioned under the Chief of Naval Operations. On May 1, 1941, it was placed directly under the Secretary of the Navy. Thus all activities of the Office of Public Relations have been completely removed from the Office of Naval Intelligence both in Washington and in the naval districts.
Rear Admiral Arthur J. Hepburn, Chief of the Office of Public Relations said, when he took over his present duties, “We shall be as liberal with information for the press and public as the law and the situation allow.” Admiral Hepburn has had broad experience both at sea and ashore. He commanded the U. S. S. Chicago in the World War, has held various executive positions, participated in working out the naval terms of the Armistice, attended both the 1927 and 1930 naval conferences and was Commander in Chief of the United States Fleet from 1936 to 1938. Since then he has been Commandant of the Twelfth Naval District and Naval Operating Base at San Francisco. It can readily be seen that Admiral Hepburn is no stranger to the demands of his present job. In this connection it is also interesting to recall that back in 1936 he initiated a broader and more liberal press policy in his capacity as Commander in Chief of the Fleet.
Admiral Hepburn has three assistants working directly under him. Lieutenant Commander H. W. Gordon is administrative officer. He has charge of personnel, space, equipment, and all the detail which is involved in the office as a whole. The other two assistants are Lieutenant Commander Hal O’Flaherty, who was formerly managing editor of the Chicago Daily News, and Mr. Frank Mason, a dollar-a- year man and vice-president of the National Broadcasting Company. The sections and functions of each section are:
Press Section. —The Press Section, headed by Commander R. W. Berry, is the section which in itself, in the past, has practically constituted the Office of Public Relations.
The staff of the Press Section includes a considerable number of newspaper men. Six press watch officers are on a 24-hour schedule to answer any and all legitimate requests for information regarding the Navy, while 5 officer reporters gather news from the numerous bureaus and divisions of the Navy Department. In this connection an official memorandum has ordered:
Officers of the several Bureaus and activities of the Navy Department designated as liaison officers with the Navy Department Public Relations Branch will maintain close contact with the Press Section and furnish such items as are suitable for publication. . . .
In case of deviation from this rule, which circumstances occasionally necessitate, the substance of the information released is communicated to the Office of Public Relations.
All news from the Department in Washington, with occasional exceptions as indicated, is released by the Press Section, while the Press Officer in each of the naval districts handles all local and regional news without reference to the Washington office. Matters of policy are determined in Washington but otherwise the naval districts carry on their own press activities.
Members of the Press Section staff write the press releases. Biographical and background data are also compiled and kept along with back press releases, ready for immediate reference, in what corresponds to a newspaper morgue.
News releases are mimeographed and placed on a rack in the press room for newspaper reporters who cover the Department. They are also placed on a rack in the lobby at the main entrance. Three hundred copies is the usual number printed but 750-1,000 copies may occasionally be run off when an announcement of unusual importance is made. The Navy maintains no mailing list. News is relayed to newspapers in this country and all over the world by the Washington correspondents and by the regular press services—Associated Press, United Press, and International News Service.
All mimeographing for the Office of Public Relations is done here, that is, speeches of the Secretary and other navy officials as well as material used or distributed by the other sections.
Every night, through Naval Radio, the Press Section sends out 3,000-4,000 words of news to the men on United States ships all over the world. Anything which may be of interest to officers and enlisted men is included. This service constitutes a regular seagoing newspaper.
Press conferences with the Secretary are held every Wednesday. In order to give both morning and evening papers a break they are held in the morning one week and in the afternoon the next. Reporters of accredited newspapers and the news services attend regularly. Arrangements are also made for reporters of magazines and for feature writers who come in only on certain occasions. Commander Berry is always present at press conferences while Admiral Hepburn’s attendance is generally determined by the nature of the subjects to be discussed. Other ranking officers and experts in various fields may also be called in when the discussion makes their presence desirable. Releases are passed out before the conference begins. The Secretary is thoroughly frank and gives out all the information possible. When a question is asked regarding confidential or restricted information, he states without hesitation that that is a matter which he is not at liberty to discuss.
The Naval District Section. —Lieutenant Commander James Stahlman, owner and publisher of the Nashville Banner, keeps his finger on everything in the 15 naval districts which has any relationship whatever to what is going on in Washington. If they want photographs they ask Stahlman, who then sends the request to the Photo Section. If they want a national radio hookup the Naval District Section clears it and then calls in the Radio Section to find and arrange a spot on the program of one of the national networks. In matters of purely local interest, that is local publicity, local radio programs, etc., the districts work independently though they keep the section informed. The Naval District Section is the clearing house.
When the Office of Public Relations of a naval district wants additional personnel, it gets the approval of the district commandant. The request is sent on to the Naval District Section and then may or may not be approved by Admiral Hepburn.
A conference of Public Relations officers from the naval districts was held in Washington from July 29-31. They were taken behind the scenes in the Navy Department, visited Annapolis and the Naval Gun Factory, and went for a cruise on the destroyer Noa. The conference was addressed by the Secretary of the Navy, Admiral Hepburn, Arthur H. Sulzberger, publisher of the New York Times, Neville Miller, president of the National Association of Broadcasters, Francis S. Harmon of Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America, Lieutenant Colonel R. Ernest Dupuy, U. S. Army, Brigadier General Robert Denig, Director of Public Relations, U. S. Marine Corps, Captain F. E. M. Whiting, Navy Recruiting Director, William S. Knudsen, and Fiorello H. LaGuardia. The work of the Office of Public Relations was outlined by the officer in charge of each section.
The Radio Section. —In the Radio Section Lieutenant Commander Norvelle W. Sharpe is assisted, among others, by John C. Hartley, a former National Broadcasting Company special events expert and a former radio engineer for WJSV.
The radio section supervises everything having to do with broadcasting or sound reproduction and transmission of any kind. They make recordings of either short or long wave programs from anywhere in the world and also arrange direct reception of important broadcasts for the Secretary or groups of officials when this is desired.
All radio programs are cleared through the Scripts Section when other than of a purely local nature. Arrangements for programs are made by the Radio Section. The section maintains a large wall chart of the programs of all the national networks, with sustaining programs prominently indicated. When time is needed for an address of the Secretary or Admiral Kimmel, Commander in Chief of the Pacific Fleet and U. S. Fleet, for instance, they attempt to fit the address into some available spot in the programs of the networks. Some juggling is sometimes necessary, but the broadcasting companies and sponsors of commercial programs are always willing to co-operate to the fullest possible extent.
This section co-operates in such programs as that recently put on by the Mutual Broadcasting System from the deck of a destroyer, and records sound effects and events of all sorts for use in many kinds of public and nonpublic programs.
Photograph Section. —The Photograph Section under Lieutenant Commander E. J. Long has supervision of still pictures and advertising. The greatest co-operation is accorded to advertisers, magazines, publishers of books and pamphlets, and others. They are ready to help whenever navy pictures are needed for illustrative purposes. Advertisers frequently use pictures or sketches of ships, planes, motor torpedo boats, and other craft. These are all checked by the Photograph Section to make sure that secret or confidential features of new vessels are not revealed, or that movements of vessels are not inadvertently divulged by the background of a vessel, and for other reasons. Captions and text accompanying pictures are also scanned.
The Photograph Section releases about 2,000 pictures per week to newspapers, magazines, house organs, book publishers, advertisers, and many others. These are all taken by navy photographers. In addition, from 500 to 1,000 pictures taken by outside individuals or organizations are cleared each week. A national magazine, for instance, is planning a feature and needs pictures. After outlining just what they want the matter is cleared with the persons involved and all arrangements are made and facilities provided for them to take the desired shots. Before being released the completed pictures are submitted to the Photograph Section for review.
Motion Picture Section. —This section, under Ensign Alan Brown, does for newsreels and motion pictures what the Photograph Section does for still pictures and advertisements. Motion pictures of any kind, to be exhibited publicly, are cleared here. The same kind of co-operation is extended to all motion picture outlets as the Photograph Section extends on the matter of still pictures. All navy “takes” are reviewed by the Navy Motion Picture Board of Review before being finally released.
Analysis Section. —The work of this section is carried on by Lieutenant Commander William Galvin, assisted by two lieutenants and an ensign. Everything that is considered to be an indication of public opinion is read, analyzed, and reported upon in the Navy News Bulletin, 65 copies of which are mimeographed and distributed to department officials. Newspaper columns, editorials, letters to the editor, public opinion polls, newspaper and magazine articles, reports of the Institute of Propaganda Analysis, the Committee on Morale, international broadcasts recorded by the Federal Communications Commission, the Department of Justice analyses of foreign language newspapers in the United States, the Office of Government Reports which indexes pertinent material in 375 newspapers, radio programs, newsreels, and Secretary Knox’s fan mail, are all studied for the state of the public pulse. Radio listening and newsreel viewing are done by the Army for both the Army and Navy.
Script Section. —The Script Section under Lieutenant Victor F. Blakeslee is the clearing house for all written matter concerning the Navy which is to be used in movies, radio programs, magazine articles, or features of any kind. In other words, it clears all written material except the news releases handled by the Press Section, and it originates information concerning the Navy and its activities other than information contained in press releases. Information of all kinds is supplied to writers, and the section originates speeches, slogans, posters, magazine and newspaper articles, pamphlets and booklets of various kinds. Books and articles are frequently placed with publishers both here and in South America. Contact is also maintained with writers and writers’ agents. By this means the services of established writers of known capabilities and interests can be called upon as occasion arises.
In addition to Lieutenant Blakeslee the section is staffed by 5 men of wide writing and radio experience.
The organization and the activities of the Office of Public Relations are both well-rounded and efficient, and the job is being done with delay and red tape reduced to the vanishing point.
Secretary Knox said, “This Navy of ours belongs to the public.” Every effort is being made to let the public know what their Navy is doing. An equal effort is being made to determine what the public thinks about its Navy. It is thus through the Office of Public Relations that the Navy is translated to the public, and the public is translated to the Navy. The result should be a better mutual understanding than has existed at any time in the past.
LOYALTY
By COMMANDER WILLIAM N. THORNTON, U. S. Navy
Loyalty is the soul of character, the essence of spirit, the secret of achievement, and the elixir from which success and happiness are brewed.
One may be loyal to country, to his commander, to his ship, to his division, to himself, to a person, to an ideal, and if he is loyal to any one of these things, he is inherently loyal to the others.
Loyalty is greater than patriotism, for it contains patriotism, it is greater than religion, pride, honor, glory, ambition, courage, or ability, for it is the force of this driving determinant which crystallizes and creates these things.
It is greater than knowledge, for education must be properly directed to be useful. It is greater than love, since it is the thread from which that is woven. It is greater than friendship, as loyalty requires that friendship may not be broken without a hearing.
Loyalty is a requiring mistress. It requires that one fail not in performing the humble chores of daily routine; that one face the enemy and attack with might in battle; and that one’s fondest theories be willingly subordinated to those of his superior in command. It should be faithful, intelligent, unswerving, undying, perpetual.
When loyalty is given, the energy to do the task pours forth. The decisions are correct, the mistakes are removed; the action is anticipated; the plans fit and weld together as molten iron, and the program goes forward with the rush of a torrent.
Whatever attributes we may possess, to our masters—be they mental, moral, or physical—and to our friends, we need offer but one quality: and our subordinates—we can only ask that they—be loyal.