Before we began a quick note this episode contains World War II era recordings of offensive language

in his first fireside chat after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

Franklin Roosevelt didn't try to put a positive spin on things.

So far the news has been all bad. The casualty lists of these first few days will undoubtedly be large.

The president vowed that he would always tell the truth about the war, regardless of how troubling the reports turned out to be.

But he said that his fellow citizens would need to stick to the facts too.

Most earnestly, I urge my countrymen to reject all rumors.

These ugly little hints of complete disaster fly thick and fast in wartime.

FDR was worried that gossiping Americans might give up real valuable information to access spies.

That loose lips might sink ships. But the government also

wanted to clamp down on phony rumors, made up stories that could damage morale on

the home front.

And in 1942, that kind of misinformation was everywhere.

There were conspiracy theories about the Japanese putting glass in people's food, about a

war worker punching holes in gas masks, and about barns getting painted to make them easier

targets for Axis bombers.

Rumor-mongering could destroy unity in thinking that maybe someone is not playing their fair share, doing their part, somehow aiding the enemy.

Tracy Campbell is the author of The Year of Parole, America in 1942.

Information is critical at all times, but particularly when you're facing a common enemy.

All these rumors you can imagine had a great deal of power.

For the American people to stay united,

the Roosevelt administration needed to slow down the rumor mill.

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