1 00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:03,320 Speaker 1: Hey, y'all, We're rerunning two episodes today, which means you 2 00:00:03,400 --> 00:00:07,480 Speaker 1: might hear two hosts. Enjoy the show. Welcome to This 3 00:00:07,560 --> 00:00:10,200 Speaker 1: Day in History Class from how Stuff Works dot com 4 00:00:10,280 --> 00:00:12,680 Speaker 1: and from the desk of Stuff you Missed in History Class. 5 00:00:12,800 --> 00:00:15,080 Speaker 1: It's the show where we explore the past, one day 6 00:00:15,120 --> 00:00:17,160 Speaker 1: at a time with a quick look at what happened 7 00:00:17,200 --> 00:00:24,320 Speaker 1: today in history. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. I'm 8 00:00:24,360 --> 00:00:27,920 Speaker 1: Tracy V. Wilson, and it's October. The War of the 9 00:00:27,960 --> 00:00:32,040 Speaker 1: World's radio broadcast took place on this day in this, 10 00:00:32,200 --> 00:00:35,960 Speaker 1: of course, was an adaptation of H. G. Wells novel 11 00:00:36,000 --> 00:00:38,680 Speaker 1: by the same name. It was put on by Mercury 12 00:00:38,800 --> 00:00:42,239 Speaker 1: Theater on the Air on Columbia Broadcasting System that was 13 00:00:42,280 --> 00:00:46,479 Speaker 1: a radio network, and it started Orson Wells, no relation 14 00:00:46,520 --> 00:00:49,760 Speaker 1: to H. G. Wells, also spelled differently in the novel, 15 00:00:50,000 --> 00:00:52,640 Speaker 1: Aliens invade Great Britain and they cause all kinds of 16 00:00:52,640 --> 00:00:57,000 Speaker 1: havoc before succumbing to earthly diseases, and the radio play 17 00:00:57,080 --> 00:00:59,840 Speaker 1: it's a little bit different. First, there's an introduction making 18 00:01:00,080 --> 00:01:02,480 Speaker 1: clear that it's the Mercury Theater on the Air on 19 00:01:02,640 --> 00:01:07,120 Speaker 1: Columbia Broadcasting System and it ends with Orson Welles saying, quote, 20 00:01:07,120 --> 00:01:11,240 Speaker 1: on this particular evening October, the Cross Lee Service estimated 21 00:01:11,280 --> 00:01:14,880 Speaker 1: that thirty two million people were listening in on radios. 22 00:01:15,800 --> 00:01:18,160 Speaker 1: That's sort of the set up. People are listening to 23 00:01:18,200 --> 00:01:21,400 Speaker 1: the radio and then it breaks into this fictional broadcast 24 00:01:21,520 --> 00:01:24,039 Speaker 1: with the weather report, and then quote, we now take 25 00:01:24,080 --> 00:01:26,760 Speaker 1: you to the Meridian Room and the Hotel Park Plaza 26 00:01:26,800 --> 00:01:31,640 Speaker 1: in downtown New York introduces a selection of music. After 27 00:01:31,880 --> 00:01:34,039 Speaker 1: a few minutes of music, there's another break from an 28 00:01:34,080 --> 00:01:37,040 Speaker 1: announcer who comes in and says, quote, Ladies and gentlemen, 29 00:01:37,080 --> 00:01:40,120 Speaker 1: we must interrupt our program of dance music to bring 30 00:01:40,200 --> 00:01:43,679 Speaker 1: you a special bulletin from the Intercontinental Radio News. At 31 00:01:43,680 --> 00:01:46,840 Speaker 1: twenty minutes before eight Central time, Professor Ferrell of the 32 00:01:46,840 --> 00:01:52,120 Speaker 1: Mount Jennings Observatory, Chicago, Illinois reports observing several explosions of 33 00:01:52,200 --> 00:01:56,680 Speaker 1: incandescent gas occurring at regular intervals on the planet Mars. 34 00:01:57,440 --> 00:02:00,560 Speaker 1: From there, the show proceeds like a news report, with 35 00:02:00,640 --> 00:02:04,760 Speaker 1: reporters on the scene talking to astronomers about Mars witnesses 36 00:02:04,840 --> 00:02:07,480 Speaker 1: at the side of an alien craft and the aliens 37 00:02:07,520 --> 00:02:11,920 Speaker 1: themselves quote wriggling out of the shadow like a gray snake. 38 00:02:12,639 --> 00:02:17,040 Speaker 1: So the way most people remember in quotation marks this 39 00:02:17,160 --> 00:02:21,120 Speaker 1: war the world broadcast is that as the broadcast went on, 40 00:02:21,200 --> 00:02:24,520 Speaker 1: the people who missed those first few moments and either 41 00:02:24,680 --> 00:02:28,440 Speaker 1: heard dance music followed by we interrupt our program of 42 00:02:28,520 --> 00:02:31,480 Speaker 1: dance music, or came in even later in the middle 43 00:02:31,520 --> 00:02:34,640 Speaker 1: of this set up news reporting thought this was a 44 00:02:34,680 --> 00:02:37,680 Speaker 1: real news report, and the popular memory this led to 45 00:02:37,800 --> 00:02:41,760 Speaker 1: a mass panic, with riots in the street, stark terror, 46 00:02:42,000 --> 00:02:45,440 Speaker 1: driving people to take their own lives. The biggest effects 47 00:02:45,560 --> 00:02:49,200 Speaker 1: were in New Jersey, which is where this invasion of 48 00:02:49,280 --> 00:02:52,639 Speaker 1: aliens is set. Headlines ran the next day that said 49 00:02:52,680 --> 00:02:57,880 Speaker 1: things like fake radio war stirs terror through us orson 50 00:02:58,000 --> 00:03:01,240 Speaker 1: Welles thought his career was over, and he had to 51 00:03:01,280 --> 00:03:03,400 Speaker 1: hold a press conference saying that he hadn't meant to 52 00:03:03,440 --> 00:03:07,600 Speaker 1: deceive anyone, but really his career was not over. He 53 00:03:07,639 --> 00:03:09,360 Speaker 1: was suddenly very famous, and he went on to have 54 00:03:09,400 --> 00:03:13,160 Speaker 1: a tremendously successful Hollywood career, including the Film's Citizen Kane, 55 00:03:13,240 --> 00:03:15,680 Speaker 1: which is on numerous lists of the best movies ever made. 56 00:03:16,160 --> 00:03:19,320 Speaker 1: As the years passed, this story has gotten bigger and bigger, 57 00:03:19,360 --> 00:03:22,160 Speaker 1: and the purported panic has gotten more and more frantic 58 00:03:22,200 --> 00:03:25,800 Speaker 1: and chaotic. But that's all really overblown. There was definitely 59 00:03:25,840 --> 00:03:29,000 Speaker 1: a lot of news reporting about panic stricken mobs and 60 00:03:29,040 --> 00:03:32,440 Speaker 1: thousands of people fleeing their homes, but the real response 61 00:03:32,680 --> 00:03:35,440 Speaker 1: was a lot smaller. The Mercury Theater on the air 62 00:03:35,560 --> 00:03:39,000 Speaker 1: wasn't a tremendously popular radio program. A lot of people 63 00:03:39,040 --> 00:03:42,880 Speaker 1: were listening to something else. One key piece of evidence 64 00:03:42,920 --> 00:03:45,880 Speaker 1: that people site in this being overblown and sometimes used 65 00:03:45,920 --> 00:03:49,000 Speaker 1: to just dismiss the whole thing entirely is that ce 66 00:03:49,120 --> 00:03:52,080 Speaker 1: Hooper Rating Service did a phone survey on the night 67 00:03:52,120 --> 00:03:54,680 Speaker 1: of the thirtieth. They called five thousand households and asked 68 00:03:54,680 --> 00:03:57,160 Speaker 1: what they were listening to on the radio. No one 69 00:03:57,240 --> 00:04:00,160 Speaker 1: said they were listening to a news broadcast. Only out 70 00:04:00,200 --> 00:04:02,800 Speaker 1: two percent of the people said a radio play or 71 00:04:02,800 --> 00:04:04,880 Speaker 1: something else that seems like they were listening to war 72 00:04:05,000 --> 00:04:08,600 Speaker 1: the worlds. Some sources have used this report to just 73 00:04:08,720 --> 00:04:11,520 Speaker 1: discount the idea of the panic entirely, saying that if 74 00:04:11,560 --> 00:04:13,800 Speaker 1: only two percent of the people of these five thousand 75 00:04:13,840 --> 00:04:16,479 Speaker 1: people were listening, then there's no way that this could 76 00:04:16,480 --> 00:04:19,120 Speaker 1: have happened at all. But something really important to keep 77 00:04:19,160 --> 00:04:22,520 Speaker 1: in mind is that somewhere between thirty five and fort 78 00:04:22,920 --> 00:04:25,640 Speaker 1: of households in the United States had a telephone but 79 00:04:25,720 --> 00:04:29,000 Speaker 1: at least seventy percent of households had a radio, and 80 00:04:29,120 --> 00:04:31,719 Speaker 1: there were at least one and a half million cars 81 00:04:31,760 --> 00:04:35,520 Speaker 1: that were equipped with radios, so a lot more people 82 00:04:35,560 --> 00:04:38,640 Speaker 1: had access to radio than phone. And the people who 83 00:04:38,680 --> 00:04:41,760 Speaker 1: had access to telephones in their homes were probably the 84 00:04:41,760 --> 00:04:44,360 Speaker 1: people who were the most affluent, living in the most 85 00:04:44,520 --> 00:04:47,320 Speaker 1: urban areas, not necessarily people who were out in the 86 00:04:47,360 --> 00:04:50,719 Speaker 1: country who did not have as ready access to baby 87 00:04:50,760 --> 00:04:52,719 Speaker 1: a neighbor to go say hey, what's going on here. 88 00:04:53,160 --> 00:04:56,760 Speaker 1: There were definitely some people who were terrified and definitely 89 00:04:56,760 --> 00:04:58,680 Speaker 1: fled their homes, and some of them wrote to the 90 00:04:58,760 --> 00:05:01,839 Speaker 1: FCC to complain about it later, but it wasn't a 91 00:05:01,920 --> 00:05:06,120 Speaker 1: massive panic that took the entire nation by storm. You 92 00:05:06,160 --> 00:05:08,200 Speaker 1: can learn a bit more about this in the September 93 00:05:08,240 --> 00:05:12,000 Speaker 1: seventeen episode of Stuffy Miss and History Class. Thanks to 94 00:05:12,040 --> 00:05:15,160 Speaker 1: Tary Harrison for all her audio work on the show, 95 00:05:15,240 --> 00:05:17,400 Speaker 1: and you can subscribe to This Day in History Class 96 00:05:17,400 --> 00:05:21,880 Speaker 1: on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, wherever else you get your podcasts. 97 00:05:22,160 --> 00:05:24,279 Speaker 1: Tune in tomorrow for something else that also was a 98 00:05:24,279 --> 00:05:35,520 Speaker 1: little bit apocryphal, but much older. Hey, everyone, welcome to 99 00:05:35,600 --> 00:05:38,680 Speaker 1: the podcast. I'm Eves and you're listening to This Day 100 00:05:38,680 --> 00:05:41,719 Speaker 1: in History Class, a podcast that really takes to heart 101 00:05:41,760 --> 00:05:50,480 Speaker 1: the phrase you learn something new every day. The day 102 00:05:50,600 --> 00:05:55,760 Speaker 1: was October thirtieth, nineteen seventy four. Former heavyweight champion Mohammed 103 00:05:55,800 --> 00:05:59,520 Speaker 1: Ali beat undefeated world heavyweight champion at George Foreman in 104 00:05:59,600 --> 00:06:02,280 Speaker 1: a fire at the twentieth of May Stadium and what 105 00:06:02,360 --> 00:06:07,200 Speaker 1: was then Kinshasa Zaire. Sixty people attended the fight and 106 00:06:07,279 --> 00:06:10,680 Speaker 1: it was the world's most watched live television broadcast at 107 00:06:10,680 --> 00:06:14,880 Speaker 1: the time. Both Ali and Foreman were Olympic gold medal winners. 108 00:06:15,320 --> 00:06:18,240 Speaker 1: Ali was known for his speed and skill, while Foreman 109 00:06:18,400 --> 00:06:22,280 Speaker 1: was known for his power. Foreman became heavyweight champion when 110 00:06:22,279 --> 00:06:26,080 Speaker 1: he beat Joe Frasier in nineteen seventy three. Ali was 111 00:06:26,240 --> 00:06:29,400 Speaker 1: once heavyweight champion two, but Ali had been fighting for 112 00:06:29,440 --> 00:06:32,080 Speaker 1: a chance to regain the title since he was stripped 113 00:06:32,080 --> 00:06:35,000 Speaker 1: of it and suspended from boxing in nineteen sixty seven 114 00:06:35,320 --> 00:06:39,560 Speaker 1: after refusing to comply with the draft. Boxing promoter Don 115 00:06:39,680 --> 00:06:42,520 Speaker 1: King arranged a fight between the two, getting them to 116 00:06:42,600 --> 00:06:47,320 Speaker 1: sign contracts. Foreman was the favorite. He had knocked down 117 00:06:47,400 --> 00:06:50,480 Speaker 1: champion Joe Frasier six times in two rounds before he 118 00:06:50,600 --> 00:06:53,760 Speaker 1: KOed him to win the championship, and he beat Ken 119 00:06:53,880 --> 00:06:56,800 Speaker 1: Norton in two rounds. Ali, on the other hand, had 120 00:06:56,839 --> 00:07:00,120 Speaker 1: lost to Frasier in Norton. The fight was one of 121 00:07:00,160 --> 00:07:04,200 Speaker 1: Don King's first ventures as a promoter. Both Ali and 122 00:07:04,240 --> 00:07:07,320 Speaker 1: Foreman wanted five million dollars for the fight, but King 123 00:07:07,440 --> 00:07:10,560 Speaker 1: did not have that much money to put up. There 124 00:07:10,600 --> 00:07:13,520 Speaker 1: wasn't much of a framework for professional boxing in Africa 125 00:07:13,640 --> 00:07:17,600 Speaker 1: until nineteen seventy three when the African Boxing Union was formed. 126 00:07:18,600 --> 00:07:23,000 Speaker 1: The president of Zayr Mabutuku, agreed to host the fight 127 00:07:23,040 --> 00:07:25,720 Speaker 1: in his country because he knew it would bring tourism 128 00:07:25,800 --> 00:07:29,960 Speaker 1: and publicity. He provided training facilities and a venue for 129 00:07:30,000 --> 00:07:33,320 Speaker 1: the fight. Ali and Foreman spent the summer training in 130 00:07:33,440 --> 00:07:37,080 Speaker 1: Zaire to adjust to the tropical climate. The fight was 131 00:07:37,120 --> 00:07:40,480 Speaker 1: scheduled for September, but when Foreman got a cut above 132 00:07:40,560 --> 00:07:42,760 Speaker 1: his right eye about a week before the fight, it 133 00:07:42,880 --> 00:07:47,320 Speaker 1: was pushed to October, but a concert series called Zaire 134 00:07:47,400 --> 00:07:49,960 Speaker 1: seventy four that was set up as a promotional event 135 00:07:50,000 --> 00:07:53,400 Speaker 1: for the fight went on. The festival took place from 136 00:07:53,400 --> 00:07:58,280 Speaker 1: September two at the twentieth of May Stadium. American and 137 00:07:58,360 --> 00:08:02,360 Speaker 1: African musicians like Celia Who's BB King, James Brown, and 138 00:08:02,480 --> 00:08:07,080 Speaker 1: Miriam Macaba performed in the series. Around eighty thou people 139 00:08:07,120 --> 00:08:11,160 Speaker 1: attended the concerts. The fight began just after four am 140 00:08:11,280 --> 00:08:14,400 Speaker 1: local time, so it would be broadcast during prime time 141 00:08:14,440 --> 00:08:17,920 Speaker 1: in the United States. Even though Foreman was favored to 142 00:08:17,920 --> 00:08:21,560 Speaker 1: win the fight, Ali was more beloved in Africa. Alice 143 00:08:21,600 --> 00:08:24,320 Speaker 1: spent more time out in the local communities and spoke 144 00:08:24,400 --> 00:08:27,640 Speaker 1: to the press. He later reflected that the fight was 145 00:08:27,760 --> 00:08:31,040 Speaker 1: also about racial issues and about the relationship between black 146 00:08:31,080 --> 00:08:35,560 Speaker 1: Americans and Africans. Ali used the strategy of leaning on 147 00:08:35,600 --> 00:08:39,280 Speaker 1: the ropes and taking Foreman's punches until Foreman tired. At 148 00:08:39,280 --> 00:08:41,920 Speaker 1: the same time, Ali took chances to punch Foreman in 149 00:08:41,960 --> 00:08:45,800 Speaker 1: the face. Alice sent combinations back at Foreman starting in 150 00:08:45,840 --> 00:08:49,880 Speaker 1: the fourth round. As Foreman tired out, Ali was taking 151 00:08:49,920 --> 00:08:52,560 Speaker 1: a lot of attacks, but he ended up defeating Foreman 152 00:08:52,600 --> 00:08:56,080 Speaker 1: in an eighth round knockout. The fight, one of the 153 00:08:56,080 --> 00:08:59,679 Speaker 1: most famous matches ever, helped confirm Ali's status as the 154 00:08:59,760 --> 00:09:03,680 Speaker 1: gray Is boxer. It attracted around fifty million viewers on 155 00:09:03,720 --> 00:09:07,280 Speaker 1: closed circuit television worldwide and pulled in around a hundred 156 00:09:07,360 --> 00:09:11,680 Speaker 1: million dollars. Foreman retired in nineteen seventy seven, though he 157 00:09:11,800 --> 00:09:15,120 Speaker 1: later regained the World Heavyweight championship at age forty five. 158 00:09:16,320 --> 00:09:18,959 Speaker 1: After losing his title in nineteen seventy eight and regaining 159 00:09:19,000 --> 00:09:24,000 Speaker 1: it again months later, Alia retired in nineteen one. I'm 160 00:09:24,040 --> 00:09:26,199 Speaker 1: Eve Steff Coote and hopefully you know a little more 161 00:09:26,200 --> 00:09:29,760 Speaker 1: about history today than you did yesterday. Looking up for 162 00:09:29,760 --> 00:09:32,960 Speaker 1: our content a little more sophisticated than cat memes in 163 00:09:33,000 --> 00:09:36,360 Speaker 1: your feed. Connect with us on social media at t 164 00:09:36,800 --> 00:09:41,640 Speaker 1: d I h C podcast. You can also email us 165 00:09:41,679 --> 00:09:46,520 Speaker 1: at this Day at i heart media dot com. I 166 00:09:46,559 --> 00:09:49,240 Speaker 1: hope you liked this show. We'll be back tomorrow with 167 00:09:49,320 --> 00:09:55,360 Speaker 1: another episode. For more podcasts from my heart Radio, vis 168 00:09:55,400 --> 00:09:57,920 Speaker 1: the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you 169 00:09:57,920 --> 00:09:59,080 Speaker 1: listen to your favorite shows.