When Captain John G. Crommelin issued a scathing report criticizing Military politics as concentrating military authority in the hands of an elite few and that the Defense Department was scuttling Naval air power in favor of the Air Force, and that a "Prussian General staff system of the type employed by Hitler" was being imposed on the armed forces under a proposed unification of the branches of service, needless to say he was quickly and severely reprimanded by the Defense Department.

Trouble was, John G. Crommelin had more than a few mummies in his own closet to contend with. As much as he was praised as something of a whistle blower, he was also vilified when it became public that he was a virulent segregationist, white supremacist and anti-semite, known for extolling his opinion that Jews were the real enemy of "white christian Alabamans", claiming they were behind the formation of the NAACP.

On October 1, 1949, Crommelin was asked to appear on Meet The Press to answer not only his critics, but to answer his criticisms of the Defense Department. Before the interview began, Crommelin issued a statement saying in effect he had received a gag order from the Defense Department prior to his appearance on the program.

Warren Francis (Los Angeles Times): “Captain, I don’t think this is covered by your orders, you are quoted in a recent news magazine as saying that people have called you on the telephone and that your wire has been tapped. Who tapped it and why??
Crommelin: “I have no idea who tapped it.”
Francis: “Did you say that it had been tapped?”
Crommelin: “I did not say that it had been . . .I said that it probably IS tapped.”
Francis: “The statement is correct then, that you did say it’s probably tapped?”
Crommelin: “That’s correct.”
Francis: “But you have no idea why?”
Crommelin: “No, no. No particular idea, except uh . . .I had made the statement. I thought that . . .very probably it was. That . . .it’s information that I’m not going to give you Mister Francis, because I don’t want to get into any petty discussions on that . . . “
Francis: “Now Captain, just a minute, I don’t think the orders cover that. Why did you think it was tapped? Could you tell us that?”
Crommelin: “I could, but I don’t propose to Mister Francis.”

Crommelin would later be reassigned to San Francisco before being furloughed at half pay in 1950 and later retired from the Navy. After that, he would get involved in the far-right National States Rights Party and have several runs for the Senate and Governor of Alabama between 1950 and 1968.

News for this day in 1982 was preoccupied with military action.

From Lebanon came reports that the Israeli Army was making huge advances against the PLO. While PLO leader Yassar Arafat made an appeal to the Soviet Union and other Arab nations for aid in the wake of swift action by the Israeli's. As of this report, 25 Israeli soldiers were dead, and some 7 were missing.

From Capitol Hill came word there would be no sanctions placed on Israel. The U.S. Navy was re-deploying to other parts of the Mediterranean as a precaution against direct involvement.

Meanwhile, the Falkland Islands crisis was continuing with British and Argentine troops waiting to see who blinks first,

President Reagan was visiting the UK and called for Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon, but no such call for withdrawal for The Falkands.

On Capitol Hill - the fight was continuing over the 1983 Fiscal Spending Plan with some calling the same old problem with the same old answers. Others called it the continuing Economic Mess.

And Kermit the Frog made the Commencement Address to the graduating class of Harvard.

All that and a lot more for this day in June, 1982 as reported on The CBS World News Roundup, the 8:00 network news and the 9:00 network news.

More ominous news, this 3rd day of April in 1941. The War in Europe continued. News of the apparent suicide of Count Teleki of Hungary leads to speculation the suicide was helped along by the German Government. The war was taking its toll in other ways. Captured German troops reveal large quantities of sedatives and sleeping pills in their kits, suggesting stress is high everywhere.

Italy suffers numerous setbacks in the Middle East with the report of substantial air losses for the month of March and a growing amount of dissatisfaction among the Italian populace for the war. The prediction in London was that Germany would be forced to occupy much of Italy sooner or later.

The signs from Yugoslavia were ominous on this day, with the Yugoslav Army preparing for a German invasion and German diplomats packing and leaving the country, quickly.

The U.S. got drawn closer to the conflict with the seizure of several German and Italian ships in American Ports. With no plans to release the vessels, Congress was faced with the task of what to do with the ships. In the meantime, the Navy was keeping guard.

As retaliation, it was reported that several Americans living in Germany were rounded up for question in Berlin the previous night. Several students, a member of the Trade Commission and a Priest were brought in and later released via intervention of the Foreign Office. But the feeling was high that the Welcome Mat was going to be pulled at some point.

And on Capitol Hill, all the strikes going on this day were leading some members of Congress to call for a Federal curb on strikes in anticipation of increased War production. And a Congressional tour of Military bases brought about a stinging report of graft, corruption and incompetence and a call for further investigations and courts martial for the offending Military personnel and arrests for their civilian counterparts.

A nervous day, all around as reported on the NBC News Of The World for April 3, 1941.

On this March 22nd in 1941 we were already 567 days into the War in Europe. It had not officially involved us on a shooting basis and so it wasn't yet considered officially World War 2. But it was getting close.

On this particular day in 1941, the otherwise quiet town of Plymouth England was scene of the second straight night of German bombing, where damage was said to be slight, but loss of life was said to be high. The reason - much of the building in the city went back to the 1600's, long before the days of incendiary bombs and blockbusters. Military targets didn't sustain the damage the civilian targets did. And because of that, the British people felt Britain wasn't responding in kind, saying RAF raids on German cities were devoid of civilian targets and so the morale in Germany wasn't suffering as the result.

But even with criticism of the RAF, they still managed to stage successful raids on the Occupied French coast against several German submarine bases.

In other news - rumors were rife in the British press that the U.S. Navy was going to get involved in the convoy of War supplies across the Atlantic. If the rumors were true, it would be only a matter of time before Naval action would take place, and another step towards all-out war was inching closer. Also inching closer were rumors Yugoslavia would be joining the Axis. It was said to be only a matter of days.

In Berlin - it as learned that Conscientious Objectors were being dealt with harshly by the Nazi government. One church group in particular, a German arm of Jehovah's Witnesses, had five of its members stand trial on charges of sabotaging air raid protection, interfering with the War and belonging to an Anti-Military organization. One of it's members had already received a Death sentence while the others were awaiting prison sentences and other fates as-yet unknown.

On Capitol Hill - Congress passed a Military Appropriations Bill to the tune of $4Billion in less than four hours after its introduction. And a $15Billion Defense spending package was scheduled for approval in two weeks.

And that's what this day sounded like, via the NBC News Of The World for March 22, 1941.