The Wilmington morning star. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1909-1990, 1945-05-08
KENNEDY GETS
SCOOP OF YEAR
CONTINUED from Page One)


headquarters of General Eisen'
hover
Kennedy's dispatch then went
on to name the parties signing
with other details, and quoted the
chief of the German general stall
Col. Gen. Gustav Jodl, as declar'
ing in soft-spoken. German:
with this signature the Ger
man people and armed forces are
for better or worse, delivered IN
to the victors' hands,
The SHAEF suspension OF the
A.P. went into effect at 1O:4O
AEW. and for many hours it was
not even possible to learn how the
news had been transmitted.
Shortly before midnight, hoWev-
err, after all but Kennedy had been
reinstated, the Associated Press IN
London filed this account OF now
Kennedy's story was received and
sent to the Allied public:
THE London staff was sweating
out the peace news in an atmos-
phere loaded with rumor, expec-
fancy and cigarette smoke, when
one of many telephones on the
main news desk rang about 3::24
pm. London time 9:24 am,
EWT), and Russell Landstrom
looked from his job Of herding CO.
by to the cable and radio channels
to answer it.
-" This is Paris calling, came
a faint, muffled voice. Then it lad
ed and came back SO Landstrom
could catch the word Paris again
and he turned the telephone over
To Lewis Hawkins.
Every dimly the voice said that
Germany had surrendered uncon-
ditionally at Reims. Hawkins ask
ed who was calling and was told
that it was Morton Gudebrod OF
the Associated Press Paris staff.
Being unfamiliar with Guide
brod's voice, Hawkins was asking
for details and authority when
Edward Kennedy, chief of the
Paris 1ureau. broke in to say:
This IS Ed Kennedy, Lew Ger
many has surrendered uncondl-
tionally. That's official. Make the
date F ms, France, and get it
out
Hawkins, well acquainted with
Kennedy, recognized his voice,
and after jotting down the flash
called a woman traffic operator
to take the call in a dictation booth
and copy the story Kennedy had
ready.
1.-The flash moved from London
by cable and radio at 1925 pm.
(9:26 am, EWD.
"Then Hawkins found that the
operator had been unable to hear
Kennedy sufficiently clearly to get
the bulletin, so Hawkins took the
call back on the news desk and
with difficulty wrote down the first
bulletin with pencil, then hand
ed the phone over to James F.
King while he hurried the bulletin
to the wires at 1924 pm. (9:34
am, EWT).
King took the next two or three
sentences, passing pencilled sheets
across the desk to Alex Singleton
for copying before they went to
Landstrom for final editing and
filing.
"Kennedy's voice faded again
and again, and King gave way to
Dwight L. Pitkin, who continued
taking Kennedy's slow, careful but
faint dictation until ten takes
had been brought in, copied, edit
ed and cleared to New York. Then
the connection faded entirely or
was cut off, and communication
was not reestablished.
British censors had had no spe-
cial instructions on handling sur
render stories, and since Kennedy
dispatch originated abroad, and
was only being relayed through
London, under standard British
censorship practice there was no
question raised about passing it. u
When the bonbshell of the flash
reached the New YORK foreign
desk, it was held up for eight min
utes pending receipt of sufficient
of Kennedy's datelined and de-
tailed dispatch to make certain
that there. was no possibility Of
error. There was none, and the
news was sped throughout the Al.
lied world at 9:35 am, EWT.
For four hours afterward, Off
Gals in Washington, London ano
Moscow were silent. Then the Bri
fish ministry of information an
,,o,1nnod III f Churchill 1.,n,,1d n, . U 4