World Events: Pearl Harbour

This series looks at how Toronto’s press has covered historical events. This time out: the attack on Pearl Harbour 80 years ago, which opened up the Pacific theatre of the Second World War and led to the official entry of the United States into the conflict.

Globe and Mail, December 8, 1941.

Excerpts from the Globe and Mail‘s December 8, 1941 editorial:

Yesterday was a fateful day which may well be the turning point of the war, now in truth a world conflagration. President Roosevelt has been fighting against a divided national opinion. Japan has consolidated it. The might of the world’s greatest nation is forced into the balance with that of the other free peoples. The result will not be in doubt…

Now it will be understood better how truly events shape our destiny. The United States and Canada have not established mutual defense relations without forethought. All North America is not on a war-footing heedlessly. The creation of an air route to Alaska and the establishment of air and naval nases almost to the edge of Asia have anticipated this day…

It will be a total war for every man and woman who can help. It will mean in reality a total war for Canada, whose southern boundary, for war purposes, will no longer exist.

The United States could have escaped its responsibility at a price, by sacrificing the welfare of China. But China’s valiant resistance has appealed to the inner heart of a nation which abhors injustice brutally administered. China can now be of good cheer. Japan has sealed her own doom. The day of totalitarian aggression is nearer its end.

Globe and Mail, December 8, 1941.

A sampling of reactions from missionaries and the city’s Chinese community, whose celebrations would be joyous when the Japanese surrendered four years later.

Toronto Star, December 8, 1941.

Toronto Star, December 8, 1941.

Maps of the Pacific were a key part of coverage in Toronto and elsewhere. The Star‘s was one of the simpler ones.

Toronto Star, December 8, 1941.

Toronto Star, December 8, 1941.

Photos of Allied bases in the Pacific. The picture in the bottom middle of this spread depicts Canadian soldiers entering Hong Kong a few weeks earlier. That day, the Battle of Hong Kong began.

Toronto Star, December 8, 1941.

Never mind Christmas, I imagine the switchboards were overwhelmed with calls to the West Coast once the news of the attack filtered through the city.

Star financial editor Main Johnson assessed the effects of a war with Japan on North American economies. He predicted a further increase in industrial war production and rationing of gasoline and consumer goods. On the potential of supplies being cut off from the US and UK, Johnson predicted that after some hiccups, “the eventual result will probably be an even closer economic and industrial co-operation between Canada and our southern neighbour.”

Financial Post, December 13, 1941.

Elsewhere in the local financial press, the Financial Post saw the attack as the motivation needed to implement conscription. A plebiscite held in April 1942 saw Canadians outside of Quebec vote heavily in favour of conscription. Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King, sensitive to the tensions that tore apart national unity a quarter-of-a-century earlier, took his famous stance of “not necessarily conscription, but conscription if necessary.” His delay tactics worked until 1944.

Cartoon by Les Callan, Toronto Star, December 9, 1941.

The first Star editorial cartoon about the attack and declaration of war appeared on December 9.

Honolulu Star-Bulletin, December 7, 1941.

For comparison to Toronto’s coverage, here’s a front page from Honolulu on the day of the attack…

Los Angeles Times, December 8, 1941.

…and an editorial with a snappy title from the West Coast.

World Events: Hank Aaron’s 715th Home Run

This series looks at how Toronto’s press has covered historical events. This post is presented to mark the passing of baseball hall-of-famer Hank Aaron. Due to COVID restrictions, access to the Toronto Sun’s coverage is unavailable at this time.

Toronto Star, April 9, 1974.

It was the baseball story everyone had trailed for the past year – when would Hank Aaron break Babe Ruth’s record of 714 home runs? Entering his 21st season with the Atlanta Braves in 1974, he had been forced to play the team’s opening series in Cincinnati after baseball commissioner Bowie Kuhn caught wind of plans to bench Aaron so that he could break the record at home in Atlanta.

Fate determined Aaron would hit #715 in Atlanta on April 8. Kuhn was not among those on hand.

Star columnist Milt Dunnell discussed the detours Aaron had faced over his long career:

The real measure of Aaron’s accomplishment is not that he finally eclipsed the most honored record in baseball – but that he got close. There were so many detours along the way.

When he attended high school, he played softball. The board of education at his black school had more urgent needs for its funds than the purchase of baseball gear.

He joined the Mobile Black Bears [a Negro League team] on graduation. Apparently, nobody bothered to tell him a cross-handed batter would wind up with the Indianapolis Clowns [another Negro League team whose antics bordered on those of the Harlem Globetrotters] – which was exactly what happened.

Even when he got to the Braves, you could say he was mishandled – if you want to be blunt. They used him at shortstop, second base, the outfield, and back to second. He never complained, although he did observe, somewhat wistfully, that he envied players who knew what their position was going to be.

Globe and Mail, April 9, 1974.

Compared to the Star’s staid coverage, the Globe and Mail‘s Louis Cauz tried to inject some life into his game summary.

His first swing at home in the fourth ining produced undoubtedly the most memorable moment that will occur this season. He had walked on five pitches in the second inning.

The powerful swing by the Braves’ 40-year-old slugger sent a towering drive to left centre. It was a a majestic smash.

The ball soared high through a misty Georgia sky as outfielders Jim Wynn and Bill Buckner raced back to the fence at the 385-foot sign.

But the ball was well over their heads and the fence as it bounced against a sign which said “Think of it as money – First National Bank.”

The ball Aaron smashed into a wind blowing from left to right was thrown by Los Angeles lefthander Al Downing.

Atlanta Constitution, April 9, 1974.

While small photos of Aaron celebrating his home run were printed on the front pages of the G&M and the Star, full front page coverage was provided in Atlanta.

Aaron wasn’t the only front-page sports story in Toronto that day. The Star reported that Metro Toronto chairman Paul Godfrey had failed to convince the federal government to allow a World Football League franchise to operate in the city. The feds felt the upstart league would prove a threat to the CFL. Decades on, Godfrey still occasionally muses that one of his unfulfilled dreams is to bring a professional American football franchise to Toronto. Dream on, Paul…

“Pursuing subject they share in common are Jeffrey King, this year’s Timmy, and Hank Aaron, baseball’s home run king, at Sports Celebrities Dinner at Royal York Hotel last night. Jeff, who was given baseball and bat by Aaron, is a pitcher despite loss of right arm from cancer. He also plays goal in hockey.” Photo by Dick Darrell, originally published in the February 14, 1975 edition of the Toronto Star. Toronto Star Photo Archive, Toronto Public Library, tspa_0028572f.

After the 1974 season, Aaron was traded to the Milwaukee Brewers, the city which had served as the Braves’ home during the first 12 years of Aaron’s major league career. During the offseason, he attended the Sports Celebrities Dinner in Toronto, an annual fundraiser for the Ontario Society for Crippled Children (now Easter Seals Ontario).

Aaron told Star columnist Jim Proudfoot that he found all the press attention which had surrounded the record breaker was ironic.

For 20 years, I was a mediocre player and the press never bothered with me. Suddenly, I was giving three press conferences a day. I’d remind them I didn’t start hitting home runs five years ago. I’d been hitting them since 1954. They used to speculate whether Mickey Mantle or Harmon Killebrew or somebody would break Babe Ruth’s record and then they’d say that oh, yes, that fellow in Atlanta, he may have a chance too.

Aaron also commented on the race factor in the volume of endorsements and economic benefits his record brought him. “I think it’s fair to say that if I was white and playing in New York, this record would have been worth another $5 or $6 million to me.”

Sources: the April 9, 1974 edition of the Globe and Mail, and the April 9, 1974 and February 14, 1975 editions of the Toronto Star.

World Events: The Atomic Bombings of 1945

This series looks at how Toronto’s press has covered major world events.

Toronto Star, August 7, 1945.

In the midst of a federal-provincial conference session in the House of Commons on August 7, 1945, Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King made a statement. “I believe this is the most important announcement that has ever been made,” he told his audience before relaying the role that Canada had played in developing the atomic bomb that had just been dropped on Hiroshima. He was optimistic that the terrible new weapon would finally bring the Second World War to an end.

Globe and Mail, August 7, 1945.

Much of the initial coverage of the bombing in the Globe and Mail and the Star focused on what the atomic bomb was, how Canadian research and uranium supplies had aided its development, and the federal government’s plans to expand its research and production lab in Chalk River.

There were also numerous comparisons to the most comparable wartime Canadian event that readers could relate to: the Halifax Explosion of 1917. Initial estimates compared the destructive force of the bomb to seven Halifaxes.

Headlines throughout the papers suggested the Japanese should surrender…or else. For example, one Star headline read “the atomic bomb offers the Japanese annihilation if they don’t surrender unconditionally–and quickly.”

Toronto Star, August 7, 1945.

Both papers used this diagram, which appeared across North America. The descriptions below it varied, from giving a basic description of what an atom is to providing tons of statistics.

St. Louis Globe-Democrat, August 7, 1945.

Here’s an example of how the diagram was used on an American front page.

Editorial, Globe and Mail, August 7, 1945.

Editorial, Toronto Star, August 7, 1945.

Toronto Star, August 7, 1945.

While there were concerns about the future destruction atomic weaponry could unleash, there were also many stories dedicated to depicting the potential future benefits of atomic power. “Uranium can end the war quickly by destroying Japan,” a Star headline observed, “but in peace it offers unheard of power for good.” Visions were presented of uranium-fueled cars, ocean liners, and trains providing speedier travel options. Future generations might look back to the bombing as the moment that hydroelectric generators like Hoover Dam and Niagara Falls would become obsolete in the face of Old Man Atom.

Toronto Star, August 7, 1945.

Local experts were asked for their opinions on the development and potential of atomic power.

Toronto Star, August 7, 1945.

A Star editorial provided thoughts on the situation of Japanese Canadians and attempts to “repatriate” them back to Japan. In the following years, the nature of their internment would gain greater public knowledge, leading to the federal government’s official apology in 1988.

Toronto Star, August 8, 1945.

The front pages on August 8 highlighted the extent of the damage to Hiroshima. In the Star‘s case, page one also included more fantasies about the positive potential of atomic energy in reshaping the environment of the Great Lakes.

Toronto Star, August 8, 1945.

An excerpt from a vision of warmer winters in the Great Lakes. Note the potential effects that sound frightening with the knowledge we’ve gained over the past 75 years regarding melting ice caps and climate change. Other British scientists suggested that Canada should become “the centre of the atom-smashing industry.”

Toronto Star, August 8, 1945.

In case you were curious glancing at that day’s front page, here’s the story about Mayor Robert Hood Saunders’ ire at provincial liquor officials for allowing children to deliver beer for pocket change.

I wonder if people were stocking up on as much beer as possible (and giving potential juvies plenty of booze-running gigs) in anticipation that the end of the war was inching closer to reality.

Cartoon by Jack Boothe, Globe and Mail, August 9, 1945.

While the front pages mentioned the Nagasaki bombing on August 9, the main headlines were devoted to the Soviet Union’s declaration of war against Japan.

• Cartoon by Jack Boothe, Globe and Mail, August 10, 1945.

By August 10, both papers expressed hopes in their headlines that, amid the destruction left by the bombs and the entry of the Soviet Union, that the Japanese were preparing to surrender. The city announced that there would be an official public holiday the day after the war officially ended.

Those celebrations were less than a week away…

A sampling of front pages from elsewhere:

New York Post, August 6, 1945.

Buffalo Evening News, August 6, 1945.

Brooklyn Eagle, August 7, 1945.

New York Daily News, August 7, 1945.

PM (New York), August 7, 1945.

Front page cartoon, Washington Star, August 7, 1945.

Windsor Star, August 7, 1945.

Note: Due to COVID-19 related closures, issues of the Telegram were unavailable for the post.

World Events: The Opening of the Suez Canal

This series will look at how Toronto’s press has covered major world events. First up: the opening of the Suez Canal 150 years ago.

Given the time period, with its slower pace of news delivery, limited space available in a standard four-page edition, and emphasis of local politics over most foreign events outside of the United Kingdom or United States (an average session of the Ontario legislature or Toronto city council would have received miles more print than the opening of the canal did), there wasn’t much to browse.

The Globe, November 19, 1869.

The “Darien Canal” discussed here relates to proposals for a canal through present-day Panama connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Scotland made an unsuccessful attempt at the end of the 17th century that cost over 2,000 lives and was a motivating factor behind the Acts of Union in 1707. Suez Canal developer Ferdinand de Lesseps started work on a canal in 1881 but the project was bankrupt by the end of the decade. The United States acquired the Canal Zone in 1903 and finished the Panama Canal in 1914.

The Globe‘s conservative rival, the Leader, ran a lengthy reprint of the Cincinnati Gazette‘s coverage on its front page (the Globe ran a shorter reprint the next day). Toronto’s other daily, the Telegraph, offered no coverage.

And now, a few words from your local advertisers…

The Leader, November 19, 1869.

The Leader, November 19, 1869.