Hans von Kaltenborn
Encyclopedia
Hans von Kaltenborn generally known as H. V. Kaltenborn, was an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 radio
Radio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...

 commentator. He was heard regularly on the radio for over 30 years, beginning with CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...

 in 1928. He was known for his highly precise diction, his ability to ad lib and his depth of knowledge of world affairs.

Early life

Kaltenborn was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Milwaukee is the largest city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin, the 28th most populous city in the United States and 39th most populous region in the United States. It is the county seat of Milwaukee County and is located on the southwestern shore of Lake Michigan. According to 2010 census data, the...

, and grew up in Merrill, Wisconsin
Merrill, Wisconsin
Merrill is a city in Lincoln County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 10,728 at the 2010 census. The city is located to the south of and adjacent to the Town of Merrill....

. He began his career as a newspaper reporter, but moved to radio when it began to establish itself as a bona fide source of news. When he was 19, he ran away from home and joined up to fight in the Spanish-American War
Spanish-American War
The Spanish–American War was a conflict in 1898 between Spain and the United States, effectively the result of American intervention in the ongoing Cuban War of Independence...

. After that he spent some time in Europe, returning to take a job with the Brooklyn Daily Eagle. At 24, he went to college, enrolling as a special student at Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...

. When he finished, he returned to the Eagle, traveling during summers to distant locales.

CBS

Kaltenborn was one of the first news readers to provide analysis and insight into current news stories. His vast knowledge of foreign affairs and international politics amply equipped him for covering crises in Europe and the Far East
Far East
The Far East is an English term mostly describing East Asia and Southeast Asia, with South Asia sometimes also included for economic and cultural reasons.The term came into use in European geopolitical discourse in the 19th century,...

 in the 1930s. His vivid reporting of the Spanish Civil War
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil WarAlso known as The Crusade among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, and The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans. was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939...

 and the Czech crisis of 1938
Munich Agreement
The Munich Pact was an agreement permitting the Nazi German annexation of Czechoslovakia's Sudetenland. The Sudetenland were areas along Czech borders, mainly inhabited by ethnic Germans. The agreement was negotiated at a conference held in Munich, Germany, among the major powers of Europe without...

 helped established the credibility of radio news in the public mind and helped to overcome the nation's isolationist sensibilities. As authors Christopher H. Sterling and John M. Kittross wrote, Kaltenborn reported on the Spanish Civil War "while hiding in a haystack between the two armies. Listeners in America could hear bullets hitting the hay above him while he spoke."

Radio historian James F. Widner described Kaltenborn's skill as a news analyst:
Kaltenborn was known as a commentator who never read from a script. His "talks" were extemporaneous created from notes he had previously written. His analysis was welcome into homes especially during the war and the time leading up to America's entry into it. He had an international reputation and was able to speak intelligently about events because he had interviewed many of those involved. From the contacts he developed in his travels and his ability to speak fluent German and French, Kaltenborn seemed chosen for the role he developed at CBS. One of his most famous periods was during the Munich crisis in 1938. Much of what listeners heard was Kaltenborn speaking without script even after sometimes having been up for most of a night covering the breaking news. Some claimed that when Kaltenborn was awakened during the Munich vigil, one merely had to utter Munich and Kaltenborn could talk for hours on the subject.

NBC

Kaltenborn joined NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...

 in 1940. On election night in 1948, he and Bob Trout
Robert Trout
Robert "Bob" Trout was an American broadcast news reporter, best known for his radio work before and during World War II...

, a former CBS colleague, were at the NBC news desk to broadcast the returns of the White House race between President Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman was the 33rd President of the United States . As President Franklin D. Roosevelt's third vice president and the 34th Vice President of the United States , he succeeded to the presidency on April 12, 1945, when President Roosevelt died less than three months after beginning his...

 and challenger Thomas E. Dewey. Throughout the evening, the returns were too close to call. As the evening progressed, Kaltenborn could see a swing in Dewey’s favor. It was enough for him to project Dewey the winner, although the returns were still close. What Kaltenborn didn’t foresee was another swing in the votes going to Truman. As evening turned to early morning, Kaltenborn retracted his original projection and announced Truman as the winner.

On his newscast, Kaltenborn described how Truman did an impersonation of the journalist describing how he (Truman) was losing the election. Kaltenborn took the President’s comments with class as he stated, “We can all be human with Truman. Beware of that man in power who has no sense of humor.” Kaltenborn laughed at himself as everyone else laughed with him.

Another incident of embarrassment came when Dizzy Dean
Dizzy Dean
Jay Hanna "Dizzy" Dean was an American Major League Baseball pitcher. He was the last National League pitcher to win 30 games in one season. Dean was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1953....

 was Kaltenborn's guest on the program. Exasperated by Dean mispronouncing his name—various sources say "Cattlinbomb," "Cottonborn," etc.--Kaltenborn decided to throw the pitcher a curve and asked him what he would do about Russia
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

. Dean didn't miss a beat. He said, "I'd take some bats and balls and gloves and sneak them behind the Iron Curtain
Iron Curtain
The concept of the Iron Curtain symbolized the ideological fighting and physical boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1989...

 and teach them Rooshin
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

 kids how to play baseball. Why if Joe Stallion
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...

 knowed how much money there was in concessions, he'd get out of politics and into an honest business."

Though Kaltenborn left full-time broadcasting in 1953, he provided memorable analyses during NBC's television coverage of the Republican and Democratic conventions in 1956. Those live newscasts were anchored by Chet Huntley
Chet Huntley
Chester Robert "Chet" Huntley was an American television newscaster, best known for co-anchoring NBC's evening news program, The Huntley-Brinkley Report, for 14 years beginning in 1956.-Early life:...

 and David Brinkley
David Brinkley
David McClure Brinkley was an American newscaster for NBC and ABC in a career lasting from 1943 to 1997....

 in their first on-air pairing. Kaltenborn was in his mid-seventies when the television age arrived, and some see his time in TV as a disappointment. Forever the radio newsman, Kaltenborn would report everything, including the movements of the subject he was describing, despite the fact that millions of people were watching it.

Kaltenborn was also a regular panelist on the NBC television series Who Said That?
Who Said That?
Who Said That? is a 1947-55 NBC radio-television game show, in which a panel of celebrities attempts to determine the speaker of a quotation from recent news reports. The series was first proposed and edited by Fred W. Friendly, later of CBS News....

, in which a panel of celebrities attempt to determine the speaker of a quotation from recent news reports.

Kaltenborn had very specific views about radio’s role in presenting the news. Later in life he wrote on the subject through many of his books. He was one of four journalists who portrayed themselves in the 1951 film The Day the Earth Stood Still. Kaltenborn also appears as himself in the 1939 Frank Capra film Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington is a 1939 American drama film starring Jean Arthur and James Stewart about one man's effect on American politics. It was directed by Frank Capra and written by Sidney Buchman, based on Lewis R. Foster's unpublished story. Mr...

.

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