ABSTRACT
Title of dissertation: THE MARCH OF TIME AND THE AMERICAN
CENTURY
Jonathan Stuart Setliff, Doctor of Philosophy, 2007
Dissertation directed by: Professor James B. Gilbert
Department of History
The March of Time and the American Century examines the content and
ideological orientation of The March of Time, a documentary film series produced by
Time Incorporated between 1935 and 1951.  The March of Time dealt with a vast array of
topics during its production, with nearly half of its 208 films examining foreign affairs
and the American role in the world.  In its analysis of American domestic life and society,
The March of Time proved to be moderately reformist, favoring some parts of the New
Deal, while maintaining a generally conservative view, middle class view of the nature of
American life. 
In its presentation of American life, The March of Time engaged in a roiling,
passionate ideological debate concerning the definition of America.   The 1930s in
particular saw deep divisions between left and right in the United States, resulting in a
continual effort by the politically committed to appropriate historical symbols, past
events, and to use modernist techniques to define a vision of America, both to control
interpretations of the past and to orient the American future.  
THE MARCH OF TIME AND THE AMERICAN CENTURY
by
Jonathan Stuart Setliff
Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the
University of Maryland, College Park in partial fulfillment 
of the requirements of the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy
2007
Advisory Committee:
Professor James B. Gilbert, Chair
Professor Erve Chambers
Professor Keith W. Olson
Doctor David Sicilia
Doctor Saverio Giovacchini
ii
Table of Contents
Introduction pg.1
Chapter One: The Luce Empire and Visual Modernity pg.25
Chapter Two: The March of Time pg. 63
Chapter Three: Technique and Criticism pg. 108
Chapter Four: Mr. Luce?s Century pg. 148
Chapter Five: The American Century at Home pg. 205
Conclusion pg. 261
Appendix pg. 274
Bibliography pg. 287
1
The March of Time and the American Century
This dissertation will examine the content and message of The March of Time, a
newsreel series produced by Time Incorporated between 1935 and 1951.  The years of
production of The March of Time coincided with the period of highest movie viewership
in the history of the United States.  The newsreel was seen by millions of Americans a
month, and was distributed in Europe as well.  During its life, The March of Time
examined a number of controversial issues; including American entry into World War II,
life inside Nazi Germany, the New Deal, and a variety of topics dealing with American
domestic politics.
One of the main questions to be addressed  is how The March of Time reflected
the ideology of ?The American Century.?  This term refers to an essay by Time publisher
Henry R. Luce in which Luce stated the rationale for American entry into World War II
and issued a clarion call for internationalism.  In this essay, Luce called for the United
States to assert its responsibilities and power around the globe.  Quite controversial at the
time, the ?American Century? ideal served as a blueprint for U.S. policy during the Cold
War.  In addition, the ?American Century? had deep and serious implications for
domestic politics and culture.   Luce?s American Century idea was disseminated through
all of his publications, including The March of Time.  The construction of this idea and
how it was presented to the American public is a critically important question.  
Another vital question centering on The March of Time concerns the intellectual
and cultural milieu in which it operated.  The late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries
1John Tagg, Burden of Representation: Essays on Photographies and Histories, (Minneapolis: University of
Minnesota Press, 1993); Miles Orvell, The Real Thing: Imitation and Authenticity in American Culture, 1880-1940,
(Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1989).
2
saw an increasing association of photography and cinema with modernism and a belief
that the camera could represent or document reality in ways previously unattainable.1 
How did The March of Time fit into this movement, and how did the technique and
content of The March of Time influence reflect these ideas about representing reality?  
If one accepts that a critical element of modernism is the destruction of older
aesthetics and forms, then The March of Time made a critical contribution to American
modernism in the twentieth century.  Luce?s intention was to create a new form of
pictorial journalism, a radical experiment in communication.  The March of Time planned
to combine documentary techniques, including reenactment, with journalism to give
audiences a heightened sense of reality.  The March of Time?s producers and editors
anticipated giving the viewer a more in-depth, comprehensive understanding of the news
by literally taking him or her there, to the event, to the real, by use of cinematic
techniques.  
The March of Time also engaged modernist debates regarding the mechanical
reproduction of reality via the photograph and the cinema.  The technique of reenactment,
central to The March of Time?s production, represented a modernist advance in the
mechanical reproduction of reality.  With the advent of the photograph, the public gained
a sense that graphic representations of reality could be more ?real? than actuality.  The
March of Time, using the techniques of the cinema to reproduce actual events,
3
represented a modernist step forward in graphic communication.
It is possible to see The March of Time as a product of what Theodor Adorno
called the ?culture industry,? produced by a large media corporation and then distributed
by massive Hollywood studios who controlled their own theater chains.  The March of
Time used and was a product of the techniques of industrial, mechanized production, and
had access to audiences because of its association with other components of a mass
economy.  Indeed, given the particularistic, even propgandisitic viewpoint of much of The
March of Time?s films, it is reasonable to posit that the series represented a logical step
forward in the mechanization of the spread of ideology and information. Luce?s great
journalistic innovation was the systematization and synthesis of information through his
publications, particularly Time.  This method of distilling critical information and
presenting it to the reader was a modernist invention, one that rejected traditional notions
of journalism.  Luce, through his publications, was then able to present a coherent
ideological viewpoint, reproduced on a mass scale, for dissemination to readers and
viewers, while maintaining that his offerings served older notions of journalistic
objectivity.
One of the more intriguing episodes during The March of Time?s history was its
production of a feature film, The Ramparts We Watch, released in 1940.  The filming of
The Ramparts We Watch was an extraordinary event.  An enormous media and press
empire decided that one of its component pieces, The March of Time, should release
nationally through another huge media enterprise, RKO Pictures, a feature film that took
a decisive stand on the most important political issue of the day, American intervention in
4
Europe.  The idea of journalistic objectivity, so cherished by Luce, has been turned on its
head.  Not only does the film take a particular viewpoint, it does so while employing the
techniques of a modern feature film.  In the case of The Ramparts We Watch, The March
of Time, defining itself as a news organization, has taken a political stance and used its
journalistic credibility to spread that message through a form that this is several steps
away from traditional journalism.
Also, the 1930s saw a roiling, passionate and raucous debate over the very
definition of America itself.  How America was defined (and what America believed
about itself), how that definition was created, and who constructed that definition were
vitally important questions, and The March of Time, through its spread of Luce?s ideas,
was at the center of those conflicts.   A close analysis of the content of The March of
Time reveals that the series was overwhelmingly political in its analysis; virtually every
subject taken up by The March of Time was dealt with through a political prism.  What
began to emerge early in The March of Time?s releases was a point of view which,
although muddled in its early years, cohered by the late 1930s.  The March of Time
defined America as overwhelmingly middle-class, suspicious of unions but generally
favorable to business, technological innovation and respectful of authority.  The March of
Time, at variance with Luce?s other publications, on occasion praised what they deemed
worthy New Deal programs.  By the late 1930s, The March of Time, always pro-military,
had become a leading advocate for greater American involvement in world affairs,
particularly in Asia.. With the outbreak of war in Europe in 1939, The March of Time
advocated aid to European democracies, vastly increased military spending, and
2Henry R. Luce, Recommendation to the Board of Directors, November 1934, March of Time Miscellaneous File
1934, Time Inc., Archives, Time-Life Building, New York City.
5
articulated the view that American entry into the war was increasingly likely.  
The threat of and subsequent onset of war and ensuing ?Great Debate? about
American entry caused the political and ideological message of The March of Time to
solidify.  From 1938 on, an emerging theme in the series was cultural and political unity,
a necessity in the face of overseas threats.  A number of March of Time releases,
culminating in the 1940 feature film The Ramparts We Watch, emphasized the
importance of national unity, centered around the values of the American middle class, in
preserving democracy.  It was this vision of a middle-class America that The March of
Time stressed in its analyses of immigration, cultural assimilation, the economy, political
discourse and ultimately the projection of American values overseas, a recurring theme in
Luce?s American Century.
Related to this question of a defining America is how The March of Time fits into
the history of the American press.  Luce, in his recommendation to Time Inc.,?s Board of
Directors that advocated the creation of The March of Time stated that The March of Time
would be an experiment in ?pictorial journalism? that would provide another step forward
in the evolution the process of communication.2  Luce and his chief lieutenant on the
March of Time project, Roy Larsen, both believed that the newsreel in its contemporary
format had failed artistically and journalistically.  Luce?s goal for The March of Time was
that the film series build on advances in cinema and photography to represent graphically
3Ibid.
6
the events of the day, while exploiting the prestige and resources of Time Inc.3  
The role of The March of Time as a component of the press and as an instrument
of journalism was complicated by the series? extensive use of the technique of
reenactment.   Reenactment was a technique that was widely used by contemporary
newsreels and documentary films.  It was not associated with mainstream journalism,
which purported to recount events objectively.  The very presence of reenactment within
The March of Time?s regular format led inevitably and appropriately to concerns about
bias.  Reenacting an event inherently involves editorial decisions about lighting, staging,
the position of the participants, language, backgrounds?all elements that can be
manipulated during production to emphasize a particular viewpoint.  Given the
relentlessly political presentation of The March of Time, it is not at all surprising that the
practice of reenactment led to charges of bias and even propaganda from the series? critics
and admirers.   Thus, it is difficult to assess The March of Time wholly as a journalistic
product, or to analyze it in the same manner as Time, Life and Fortune.   This leads to the
question of what, exactly, The March of Time was.
The March of Time was very much the brainchild of executive producer Louis de
Rochemont, the guiding force behind the series from its inception in 1935 to mid-1943. 
For a number of years, a variety of individuals, including Luce?s friend David O.
Selznick, suggested that Time investigate the production of newsreels.   While Luce and
Larsen had agreed that it was time to investigate film after establishing that there ?was a
lot of money to be made in it,? and that of course Time ?would attempt to change the
4Robert T. Elson, The World of Time, 2 volumes, (New York: Atheneum, 1968-1973), 1: 290.
  
6Raymond Fielding, The American Newsreel, 1911-1967, (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1972), 145-146.
7
technique.?4  Luce became involved in the project in 1934, and proposed in a prospectus
to the Time Inc., board of directors that Time Inc., take the lead in creating a new kind of
?pictorial journalism? that would harness the documentary power of the camera with the
storytelling ability of Time.  The newsreel project came together when de Rochemont
agreed to join Time Inc., in 1934.5
DeRochemont had been heavily involved in the newsreel business for years. 
After working as freelance cameraman, DeRochemont worked with the U.S. Navy during
and after World War I producing training and recruitment films.  In 1923 he resigned
from the Navy to enter the newsreel business, earning critical acclaim with his coverage
of unrest in India which culminated in a highly praised documentary titled The Cry of the
World.  While at Fox Movietone News he produced a series of well-regarded travelogues
and news shorts called The March of the Years, which centered on great news stories of
other years and eras.  These films were largely based on archival material combined with
brief reenacted scenes.  Previous proposals to start a newsreel series for Time Inc., had
been based on the assumption that all scenes would have to be reenacted, which made
costs prohibitive.  DeRochemont instead proposed that current newsreel footage be linked
with archival material thus limiting costs by reducing re-enactments.6
DeRochemont was an imaginative man, and he and Larsen were ambitious in their
7Ibid, 3-29.
8Elson 292. 
8
proposed scope for The March of Time.  Their objective was to revolutionize the newsreel
and give it a new journalistic purpose.  The newsreel business was at a low ebb, one
reason why DeRochemont wanted to leave Fox Movietone.  But it had not always been in
such poor shape.  The motion-picture camera had entered journalism with its invention. 
Since before the turn of the century, it had been recording history?President McKinley?s
inauguration, Admiral Dewey at Manila Bay, Queen Victoria?s funeral.  There were
cameramen filming the Balkan Wars and in the trenches on both sides during World War
I.  Following the war, worldwide organizations for covering news had been developed. 
One of the criticisms often leveled at the newsreels, that of recreating events and then
presenting the staged footage as reality, was a common practice among early newsreel
producers.7
The film companies that controlled the newsreels were not run by men with grand
journalistic ambitions.  Their interest was in profits to be made from feature films, and
the expenditure on newsreels to them seemed unnecessary and excessive.  There was little
or no profit in the newsreels because they were sold as part of a package, a sideline to the
features which kept customers coming to the box-office.  Moreover, the editing of most
newsreels was wretched.  They were little more than moving snapshots of disasters or
sporting events interspersed with such trivia as beauty contests and fads, prompting one
critic to characterize newsreels as ?war followed by a beauty pageant.?8
9Fielding, 88.
9
With the addition of sound in 1928, a new dimension was added to the camera?s
coverage, but sound brought added expense.  The sound cameras were costly and heavy,
and with them the cameraman lost his previous mobility.   There was more pressure to
economize.  The newsreels faced additional difficulty in getting controversial subjects
past local and industry censorship boards.  By the early 1930s, newsreel production was
concentrated among a few large producers connected with the major movie studios,
among them Fox Movietone News, Pathe News, distributed by RKO, Hearst?s News of the
Day, Paramount News, and Universal News.9 
The public liked newsreels and expected exhibitors to provide one as part of every
program.   The increasing popularity of the newsreel was largely due to technical
innovations prompted by the introduction of sound.  For the first time, the public could
actually hear and see major figures of the day at the same time.  Charles Lindbergh was
the subject of one of the earliest Hearst sound newsreels, and in another early sound
newsreel, John D. Rockefeller invoked God?s blessing on Standard Oil.  The presence of
sound allowed narration and music and increased the theatricality of the newsreel
presentation.  Another  phenomenon of the 1930s that demonstrated the popularity of
newsreels was the opening of theaters devoted solely to newsreels and other short
10Lewis Jacobs, The Documentary Tradition: From Nanook to Woodstock, (New York: Hopkinson and
Blake, 1995), 107; Fielding, 162-168. Although early newsreels were often devoid of controversial content, that is
emphatically not true of documentary films of the Depression era.  See Martin Barsam, Non-Fiction Film and
William Alexander, ?The March of Time and The World Today? American Quarterly 29 (Summer 1977):182-193
for a discussion of the political content of 1930s documentaries and Terry Christansen Reel Politics (New York:
Basil Blackwell, 1987) for an excellent account of the political content of feature films during the 1930s and 1940s.  
 
11 Jacobs, The Documentary Tradition: From Nanook to Woodstock, (New York: Hopkinson and Blake,
1995), 72-77; Paul Milkman, PM: A New Deal in Journalism (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1997). 
10
subjects.10  
This can be seen as a manifestation of the documentary impulse so often
associated with the decade.  A desire to document real life came out of the economic and
political upheaval of the Great Depression and by the end of the decade had been applied
to efforts at promoting national unity in the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany.  The initial 
boost toward documentary film with a political slant occurred in Great Britain, where
young film makers under the leadership of director John Grierson turned out pictures that
aimed at exposing the unjust living conditions of the working class.  These films had a
profound influence in the U.S., leading prominent leftists to attempt production of a
politically oriented newsreel called The World Today in 1937 and 1938.  Additionally, the
documentary impulse can be seen in such newspapers as the pro-labor, anti-fascist PM,
the New Deal photography of Dorothea Lange and others and the layout and content of
Luce?s Life.11
Larsen and DeRochemont aimed at producing each week a short film dealing with
contemporary subjects that might be found in any issue of Time and Fortune.  What they
wanted to do on the screen was what Time  did in print?tell a story with a background
and insight and in a coherent form.  They first aimed at an overall length of ten
12Fielding, 1978; Elson, 107. 
13A. Martin Bluem, Documentary in American Television, (New York: Hastings House, 1965), 36.
14Jacobs, 108. 
11
minutes?the average running time of the current newsreels?divided into five episodes
of two minutes each, the whole a blend of news clips, re-enactment and dialogue, linked
by the voice of narrator Westbrook Van Voorhis.12
 During its production, The March of Time combined newsreel, documentary and
a dramatic presentation in a new form of compelling journalism.  Television, the modern
film documentary and cinema verite owe much to its methods.  The highly praised Italian
movie The Battle of Algiers is a good example of what The March of Time achieved in a
more limited way?the re-enactment of an event so effectively that it simulates reality
itself.  Documentary historian A. William Blue wrote that The March of Time ?stretched
the limits of journalism by implicitly arguing that the picture as well as the world was,
after all, only symbolic of reality.  What mattered was not whether pictorial journalism
displayed the facts, but whether, within the conscience of the reporter, it faithfully
reflected the facts.13   Luce put it more bluntly: ?The March of Time must be fakery in
allegiance to the truth.?  The producers did not in every case use actual films of an event
or person even when available; they often used re-enactment if this served better to
dramatize the narrative.  The viewer could not in most cases distinguish re-enactment
from reality.  But every sequence was anchored in fact.  However, as The March of Time
matured and its resources expanded, the producers relied less and less on re-enactment
and more on archival and documentary resources.14
12
In fact, The March of Time in many ways served as a precursor to modern
television news production.  The series ceased production in 1951 as television was
begining to become entrenched in American culture and news was becoming a vital part
of each network?s programming.  Its style can be seen in modern magazine shows such as
60 Minutes, which explores a variety of subjects in depth each week for what is usually
an extended period of time, approximately fifteen minutes.  There are also echoes of The
March of Time in the production of each networks nightly news programs.  Each begin
with a vibrant, orchestral score that states the importance of the broadcasts, the viewer is
asked to accept the veracity of the reports presented because of the authority imparted by
the respective news organization, and there is often a stentorian anchor narrating and
directing the action, emphasizing what are judged to be key points.
In addition, the structure of individual stories within news broadcasts are
reminiscent of the manner in which subjects were treated by The March of Time.  A
problem or situation is explored, footage from a variety of sources is shown, experts are
often consulted on camera, shot from angles reminiscent of The March of Time, and a
solution is then suggested to the audience.  Also, The March of Time was political in its
analysis of virtually every issue filmed and shown to the audience.  Each subject was
examined through a political lens.  This method of examination is employed by the
broadcast networks on virtually every subject dealt with by the respective nightly news
programs.  The political implications of every story covered are considered and the
audience is informed of the politics of the issue, with its attendant impact on society, the
economy or the larger culture.
13
A corollary consideration to The March of Time?s place in the history of the
American press is its role within the Time Inc., media empire.  Luce, for a period during
the mid-1930s, was fascinated by the possibilities of using photography and the cinema
journalistically.  It was this fascination that led to the creation of The March of Time in
1935 and the emergence in 1936 of Life magazine.  Luce and his top advisors hoped that
The March of Time would provide publicity and advertising for other Time Inc.,
publications, in addition to providing a new journalistic form.  However, on several
critical issues, The March of Time held and disseminated views contrary to the staunchly
Republican Luce.  The March of Time favored certain New Deal programs, mainly
because of producer Louis de Recumbent?s fascination with technological progress.  
Luce was an opponent of the New Deal and President Roosevelt, favoring Republican
candidates and causes throughout the 1930s and 1940s.  
Also, The March of Time was far more interventionist than other Time Inc.,
publications, a stance that dated arguably from the inception of the series in 1935 but that
was certainly evident by 1938, three years prior to Luce?s publication of ?The American
Century.?  For example, The March of Time?s August 6, 1937 release ?Rehearsal for
War? was highly critical of General Francisco Franco at a time when Time Inc., was
favoring the Nationalist side during the Spanish Civil War, and releases dealing with
Hitler?s Germany were far more critical of the Nazi regime than was Time, graphically
demonstrating, through re-enactments and archival footage, the depths of Nazi repression
and sounding the alarm about Hitler?s territorial ambitions.   Luce did not embrace the
idea of intervention until 1940, with the exception of a continual interest in the American
14
role in Asia, with a particular emphasis on China.  In fact, it can be argued that once The
March of Time began to become more ideologically similar to Time, Life and Fortune the
series lost much of its early edge and bite.  
 There have been a number of studies of the technique and production of The
March of Time, the most notable of which is Raymond Fielding?s The March of Time:
1935 to 1951 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1978).  The series also receives
treatment in James Baughman?s Henry R. Luce and the Rise of the American News Media
(Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1987), Erik Barunow?s
Documentary: A History of the Non-Fiction Film (New York: Oxford University
Press,1983), Martin Barsam?s Non-Fiction Film: A Critical History (New York: E.P
Dutton, 1992), A. William Bluem?s Documentary in American Television (New York:
Hastings House, 1965), Lewis Jacobs, ed.,  The Documentary Tradition: From Nanook to
Woodstock (New York: Hopkinson and Blake,1995), and Roger Manvell, Films and the
Second World War, (New York: Delta 1974).  None of these brief analyses examine The
March of Time beyond its technical achievements or its use of creative ?re-creation?
ignoring questions of content and the integration of The March of Time into the Luce
media empire through its message.  Fielding?s book length treatment is heavily focused
on the personalities responsible for the creation and production of the newsreel series and
does an exceptional job of detailing the technical side of The March of Time story. 
However, there is relatively little consideration given to The March of Time?s content and
more importantly, the crafting and construction of that content.
In addition to studies of The March of Time, there have been several biographies
15
of Luce that deal with his ideas and stewardship of Time Inc.  John Kobler?s Luce: His
Time, Life and Fortune (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1968) and Charles Swanberg?s
Luce and His Empire (New York: Charles Scribner?s Sons, 1972) are both well-
researched, although Swanberg?s treatment is far more hostile.  John K. Jessup?s The
Ideas of Henry Luce (New York: Atheneum, 1969) is an invaluable collection of many of
Luce?s most important writings, while Luce also appears frequently in David
Halberstam?s study of the mass media, The Powers That Be (New York: Knopf, 1979). 
None of these studies pays much attention to The March of Time, treating the newsreel
series as an adjunct to what are considered far more important publications, Time, Life
and Fortune.
Time Incorporated and Luce?s role in the creation and direction of the company is
the subject of numerous books.  Robert T. Elson?s two volume The World of Time (New
York: Atheneum, 1968-1973), and Curtis Prendergast?s The World of Time Inc. (New
York: Atheneum, 1986) both commissioned by Time Inc., are on occasion critical and
well researched, as both writers had access to restricted Time Inc., documents and
archives.  Baughman?s treatment is extensive and detailed as well, particularly on Luce?s
formulation of ?The American Century.?  In addition, Robert Herzstein?s Henry R. Luce:
A Political Portrait of the Man Who Created the American Century (New York: Charles
Scribner?s Sons, 1994) is an outstanding analysis of Luce?s ideas regarding foreign
policy, his direction of his magazines regarding foreign affairs and in particular Luce?s
conception of the Cold War and communism.
What all of these works lack is a complete analysis of the content of The March of
16The March of Time, Vol. 3, #12, (New York: Time Incorporated, August 9, 1937), March of Time Collection, MT
3.12, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland.
16
Time and a thorough consideration of the film series? place in the Time Inc., ?brand? that
developed by the mid-1930s.  There are a number of reasons for historians having not
fully considered the importance of The March of Time.  Of all the Time Inc., offerings
created under Luce?s stewardship, The March of Time was the least successful in the long
term, ceasing production in 1951 after a sixteen year run.   Newsreels produced by Hearst,
Universal and other movie studios survived for much longer periods of time.  In addition,
The March of Time, although wildly popular in its heyday, never quite gained the iconic
status that Time Inc.?s other experiment in visual communication, Life, achieved during
its production between 1936 and 1972.   However, The March of Time was integral to the
culture of the 1930s for its creation of a new documentary form, what Luce called
?pictorial journalism?, its engagement in the 1930s debates over the definition of
America, and being in the forefront of the mass media, including Time Inc., in advocating
American intervention into World War II and greater American engagement in global
affairs.15                        
A number of the issues regarding ideology, presentation, and propaganda can be
profitably analyzed by examining what was a fairly typical March of Time release.  ?The
49th State? was issued by The March of Time on July 9th, 1937.16  Distributed by RKO
Pictures, the film premiered in such movie theaters as the Palace Theater in Columbus,
Ohio, the Cadillac Palace Theater in Chicago, and the RKO Hillstreet Theater in Los
17Richard B. Jewell, RKO Story, (New York: Random House, 1985), Appendix.
17
Angeles, and was paired with RKO?s 1937 release ?Living on Love,? a romantic comedy
starring James Dunn and directed by Lew Landers.17   During the period of ?The 49th
State??s release the economy was entering a recession, Asia was rocked with invasion of
China by Japan and the US Navy gunboat Panay had been seized by Japanese naval and
marine forces on China?s Yangtze River.  In addition, Europe was in turmoil, as the
Spanish Civil War continued with arms and men pouring in from Italy, Germany, the
USSR and the Western democracies.   Thus, foreign affairs and speculations about the
American role in the world were logical topics for The March of Time.   In that vein, ?The
49th State? dealt with the possibility of statehood for Hawaii, then a U.S. territory.  
Unlike prose journalism, The March of Time told the story of Hawaii in terms of
the island?s racial dynamics and strategic potential for the United States.  It did not focus
on any immediate issue or event, but rather on the large implications that statehood would
raise.  In this way The March of Time could analyze the long term importance of the
islands, their large Japanese population and importance to the U.S. mainland.  Indeed, it
was generally a trademark of The March of Time to present issues in large, long-term, and
highly ideological framwork.
The film began with a dramatic shot of a cannon being leveled directly at the
audience with The March of Time logo directly below, while the traditional March of
Time theme music was synchronized with the movement of the gun.  The opening
narration by the stentorian Westbrook Van Voorhis stated, ?During four New Deal years,
the army and navy under the command of Franklin D. Roosevelt has seen increased and
18The March of Time, Vol. 3, #12.
18
necessary spending for more men, more arms.?  Once again, The March of Time has
expressed approval for an element of President Roosevelt?s New Deal program.  The
increase in defense spending since Roosevelt took office in 1933 has been clearly
identified as important and needed, immediately establishing a critical theme for the
remainder of the film.  The narration states that the ?traditional drill ground of the U.S.
Fleet has been the Pacific from the Aleutians to the Panama Canal.?18  An animated map
shows the Central Pacific, including Hawaii, with sweeping, expanding shading showing
the extent of American control.
The film then moves to a relatively brief historical overview of Western
interaction with the islands.  Block lettering flashes up on the screen, stating ?Only forty
years ago Hawaii was considered of little importance to the U.S.; its request for
annexation were repeatedly refused.?  This emphasizes the current importance of the
islands, linked to a changed international situation.  The film then discusses the discovery
of the islands by British Captain James Cook.  A shot of a statue of Cook identifies the
Captain as the ?Forerunner of Modern Civilization.?  The implication here is obvious, an
allusion to beliefs in the ?white man?s burden? that help animate the drive for
colonization in the nineteenth century.  However, the film then notes that the islands had
existed as a ?democratic constitutional monarchy? until the ?overthrow of the ambitious
Queen Lilioukiani in 1893" by a group of planters led by the ?missionaries son Sanford B.
Dole.?  A portrait of the Queen in regal dress is shown, followed by a still photograph of
Dole and his cronies.  The music here is interesting; during the sections dealing with
19The March of Time, Vol. 3, #12.
20Ibid.
21Ibid.
19
Hawaii?s pre-colonial history and independence, a lazy island hula plays, accompanied by
a ukelele; when the scene moves to American control after Dole?s coup, a much more up-
tempo selection is played, emphasizing activity and industry.19  The sequence concludes
with Hawaii being granted territorial status, represented by an English language Honolulu
paper with the headline ?A New Flag.?  The film then discusses economic development
under territorial status.  Until 1908, the narration states, ?planters flooded the island with
cheap Oriental labor,? as these ?coolies? built fruit plantations and tended cattle.  Later,
tourism became a chief source of income for the islands.  As apparently prosperous
tourists disembark from cruise ships and are greeted by smiling Hawaiian girls, the music
switches back to slow, traditional island mele and hula music.20
?The 49th State? then moved into a discussion of the racial dynamics of the island,
having prepared the viewer for the transition with the previous discussion of annexation
and the growth of American industry on the island.  Another piece of block lettering
appears on the screen, stating ?More interesting to most visitors than the famous island
welcome is Hawaii?s polygot population, by now predominantly Oriental.?21  This
statement is fascinating to the viewer, as it places Western interest in the islands in an
anthropological context, almost as if tourists are able to view Asians in something akin to
a zoo.  The film then moves quickly into a discussion of Japanese influence on the
islands.  Those of Japanese descent make up 40% of Hawaii?s population, approximately
22The March of Time, Vol. 3, #12.
23Ibid.
24Ibid.
25Ibid.
20
100,000 of the islands? total population of 400,000.  Over traditional Japanese music that
evokes the Shinto religion, the narration states that these large numbers are the result of
?Japanese efforts at colonization in the nineteenth century, ordered by the Emperor.?22  In
spite of this ominous wording, there is relative racial harmony on the islands, according
to The March of Time.  In a discussion of politics on the islands, it is noted that ?Orientals
are eligible for the post of governor general, now held by Oregon born Joseph B.
Poindexter,? accompanied by shots of a phlegmatic Poindexter shuffling papers on his
desk.  The scene then shifts to a series of shots of the Hawaiian legislature, with each
racial group (Caucasian, Native, Japanese, Chinese) on the islands carefully represented,
in a collegial way discussing some political issue.23
Having introduced government and politics to the viewer, the film then begins a
discussion of the dynamics of statehood for Hawaii.  Block lettering yet again flashes up
on the screen, stating ?Distasteful to Hawaiians is the fact that they shoulder all the
burdens of U.S. citizenship but are denied many of its privileges.?24  This statement by
The March of Time contextualizes the debates over statehood within the realm of fairness,
equality and American historical tradition.  A shot of prosperous whites leaving a church
identifies them as the ?descendants of planters and missionaries, the island?s elite, most in
favor of statehood.?25  The business elite is also in favor of statehood, mainly because of
the tax burden of territorial status and the perceived lack of return of services for taxes
26The March of Time, Vol. 3, #12.
27Ibid.
21
paid to the federal government.  This sequence on politics is accompanied by a series of
interesting shots.  An older white gentlemen is shown talking to a well-dressed, younger
Japanese, presumably a business associate on a bench or couch.  The white man has
assumed a paternalistic pose with his arm draped behind the Japanese, who is leaning
forward listening intently to the Anglo, holding forth on some topic.  Other shots of
mixed race groups during this sequence all have whites at the center, speaking, while
Asians and Natives politely pay attention.  The image one receives is that whites are at
the center of the islands? economy and political discourse, driving the move toward
statehood.26
The film then moves into a concrete discussion of the prospects for statehood. 
Hawaii?s non-voting Congressional Delegate, Samuel Wilder King, makes an argument
for his statehood bill on the basis of ?taxation without representation.?  King is filmed
seated at a desk, holding a piece of paper, while he appears to read from a cue-card.   The
March of Time then intones that there is ?opposition from Army and Naval circles, quiet
but forceful...with $100 million already spent, full military control of the islands is
essential for American defense.?27
Having reintroduced the overarching theme of defense into the discussion of
statehood for Hawaii, the film then returns to an examination of the racial dynamics of
the islands.  With Shinto music as a backdrop, ?The 49th State? makes note of statehood
opponents referencing Japanese civilians in the islands, ?who though they live in U.S.
28The March of Time, Vol. 3, #12.
29Ibid.
30Ibid.
22
territory live in an atmosphere as oriental as Tokyo itself? with unfailing loyalty to the
Emperor.28  A series of shots shows the Japanese in traditional garb, presumably
worshiping at a Shinto shrine, then showing children in a Japanese language school.29 
The implication here by The March of Time  is obvious to the viewer; the Japanese on the
island represent the greatest threat to American security because they have not assimilated
into the larger American culture and cannot be trusted.  Thus, opponents say, the military
must remain in control of the territory.
According to The March of Time, those in favor of statehood reject the possibility
of disloyalty by the Japanese population of the islands.  As energetic, Westernized,  music
swells, a group of young Japanese girls carry a large American flag down the steps of
what appears to be an official building, while the narration states that statehood
proponents ?point to the racial amity of Hawaii? and assert that critics are wrong about
Japanese customs.  Asserting that the Japanese are ?loyal Americans at heart?, those in
favor of statehood believe that those who are suspicious of the Japanese in Hawaii are
simply ?jingoists.?30  This sequence does not carry the force of pieces earlier in the film
which cast doubt on the loyalty of the Japanese.  The views of statehood advocates on the
Japanese issue are not given much visual reinforcement, other than the shot of the
Japanese girls with the U.S. flag.  In contrast, the scenes of Japanese adults worshiping
and children studying, when combined with the Shinto music in the background, impart
31The March of Time, Vol. 3 #12.
23
an ominous tone.
The film concludes with, again, a focus on the military importance of the islands. 
As martial music provides the background, there are scenes of fortifications, railroad
guns, and massed soldiers conducting close-order drill.  The importance of Hawaii to
American defense is stressed again, as The March of Time calls the islands the ?Gibraltar
of the Pacific.?  The final shot of ?The 49th State? shows a lone soldier in silhouette
guarding a massive gun emplacement, as the narration concludes, ?Time Marches On!?31
A number of the themes inherent in The March of Time series are at work in ?The
49th State.?  The film makes extensive use of re-enactment, particularly during the
sequences on politics, racial harmony and statehood.  The March of Time sounds an
alarmist note regarding Japanese influence, mainly through the strength of visual images
showing the Japanese as a culture apart.  The loyalty of the Japanese population looms
over every aspect of Hawaiian society, according to the film.  In addition, ?The 49th State?
analyzes the issue with a particular emphasis on military necessity, a recurring theme
throughout the series? existence.  Also, every aspect of the subject is politicized,
particularly the film?s analysis of race relations.  The issue of racial harmony is only
relevant to the politics of statehood, and the racial hierarchy of Hawaiian society is
accepted because it serves the imperative of military security.
A recurrent thought that strikes the contemporary viewer of ?The 49th State? and
many other March of Time releases is the seeming strangeness of the presentation.  Some
of this discomfort is no doubt related to cultural distance.  The issues that confronted
24
America during the 1930s and 1940s are, after all, in the past and have been in some
cases resolved.  Also, the social, cultural and racial context of The March of Time?s
production has changed vastly during ensuing decades.  
However, the oddity of many March of Time releases cannot be explained away
merely by the passage of time.  In producing The March of Time, combining dramatic
cinematic techniques with elements of documentary and journalistic practice, Time Inc.,
succeeded in producing a new, modernist form of communication.  Produced within a
corporate environment, indeed, within the American culture industry, The March of Time
represents an important step in the mass dissemination of ideology, and the construction
of ideas based on the imperatives of a mass economy and society.
32Citizen Kane, (Los Angeles: RKO Studios, 1941).  This piece of narration is an excellent example of director
Orson Welles? use of ?Time-Style? in the newsreel portion of the film.
25
Chapter One: The Luce Empire and Visual Modernity
            The famed 1941 film Citizen Kane begins with an extended eulogy to the
deceased press baron Charles Foster Kane.  This eulogy is presented to the audience in a
familiar form, that of a newsreel called News on the March.  In order to structure the
newsreel account of Kane?s life, career and death, director Orson Welles imitates the
form and structure of the most prominent newsreel of the day, The March of Time, itself
the creation and property of a prominent press lord, Henry Luce.  
The newsreel sequence in Citizen Kane is in every significant way a direct copy of
the format of The March of Time.  The film features a mix of reenactment and ?actual?
footage, aged and sped up by Welles to replicate older film, techniques used by The
March of Time.  Like The March of Time, the opening presentation of News on the March
is quite dramatic.  Thunderous orchestral music swells; a News on the March logo fills
the screen, its lettering exactly the same as Luce?s The March of Time.  A deep-voiced
announcer, pausing for dramatic effect throughout the narration, proclaims that ?death, as
it must to all men, has come to Charles Foster Kane?.32  The newsreel describes various
aspects of Kane?s life; these narrative transitions are announced to the audience through
the use of superimposed graphics that break the visual flow of the newsreel, thus
26
underscoring the importance of the information to the audience, in a manner reminiscent
of The March of Time.  Welles? News on the March also employs ?time-style,? the unique
narrative format employed by the Luce publications.  For example, News on the March
states through graphics ?In Xanadu last week was held 1941?s biggest, strangest funeral.? 
As the newsreel transitions to Kane?s  colorful personal life, the News on the March states
?To forty-four million American newsbuyers, more newsworthy than the names in his
own headlines, was Kane himself, greatest newspaper tycoon of this or any other
generation.?  In fact, almost the entire script for News on the March is written in this
quirky, odd ?time-style.?
It is not particularly surprising that Welles chose to model the newsreel sequence
for Citizen Kane on The March of Time.  By 1941, The March of Time had achieved a
high level of prominence in both American cinema and in the presentation of the news in
the United States.  Its publisher, Henry Luce, founder of Time, Life and Fortune was
called the ?new American Press Lord,? the heir to Welles? subject William Randolph
Hearst.  Welles? choice is revealing; the director employed a format that would be
instantly recognizable to most Americans and one that would convey legitimacy and
authenticity to his presentation of Kanes? life.  
The historical importance of The March of Time does not so much in use of The
March of Time format as a narrative device.  Rather it lies in the ideology reflected in The
March of Time.  Luce?s publications, including The March of Time, contributed mightily
to an ongoing ideological debate throughout the 1930s that centered on to define
America.  Longtime March of Time producer Louis de Rochemont stated on numerous
33Memo from Richard DeRochemont to Louis DeRochemont, September 5, 1941, March of Time Miscellaneous File
1941, Time Incorporated Archives, Time-Life Building, New York City.  The memo concerned Louis
DeRochemont?s testimony to the United States Senate regarding the interventionist stance towards the war taken by
Time Inc., publications.
34John Tagg, Burden of Representation: Essays on Photographies and Histories, (Minneapolis: University of
Minnesota Press, 1993), 3-12.
27
occasions that the prevailing ideology of the series was that of a moderate, pro-capitalist,
reform oriented liberalism.33  However, what emerged over the course of The March of
Time?s sixteen year production was a consistent effort by the producers, writers and
editors to create and define a version of America.  This process of definition occurred
simultaneously with similar efforts at definition undertaken by Henry Luce?s other
publications, Time, Fortune, and Life.  Under the banner of Luce?s ?American Century?
idea, all of Time Inc.?s publications reflected a particular viewpoint that was very much
the creation of Luce.  The March of Time, because of its reach, high level of production
values, and visual imagery, was critical to the construction and spread of Luce?s vision
and influenced the use of the visual in Luce?s other publications, particularly Life.
Related to these ideological positions was the March of Time?s participation in the
construction of modernism and its relation to visual representations of reality through
photography and cinema.  As John Tagg wrote in The Burden of Representation,
photography enables the production of a new, specific and highly contextualized reality. 
This is because photographs and film contained the authority of reality, of being real and
directly communicating human experience.  Likewise, documentary photography 
purports to represent direct reality, wherein the photograph functions as an official
document, thus granting great authority to the producer of the photograph.34  The
ideological message present in any kind of photograph, Tagg writes, can be analyzed by
35Tagg, 157.
36Miles Orvell, The Real Thing: Imitation and Authenticity in American Culture, 1880-1940, (Chapel Hill:
University of North Carolina Press), xv-xix.
37Ibid., 73-75.
28
considering the processes and procedures used to produce the photograph, the social
utility of the photograph and the institutional framework within which the photo is
produced and consumed.35   This same kind of authority can be granted to the cinema
because of its depiction of reality.  
The authority given to the photograph dates to the late nineteenth century and is
an outgrowth of industrialization and modernization.  The scientific advances of the late
nineteenth and early twentieth centuries altered man?s conception of physical reality,
according to Tagg.  A sense of instability and discomfort about what is actually known
begins to become palpable.  Thus, one of the primary quests of this ?machine age? was to
identify what is real and authentic.36   The photograph, beginning in the 1880s, acquired a
huge amount of cultural salience because of its purported ability to represent reality.  For
a population growing more comfortable with mechanization, the photograph and camera
become a natural part of life in a industrialized and increasingly technical society.  For the
first time, a large segment of the public could replicate or recreate reality.  Middle class
Americans were able (or believed they were able) to experience different cultures,
geographic spaces and societies through the direct imagery of the camera and
photograph.37  
However, the camera offered up a seemingly contradictory experience.  As Miles
Orvell writes, Americans appreciated ?its ability to direct our close attention to ?the real
38Ibid., 77.
39Orvell, 85-95.
40Ibid., 99-101.
29
thing? and...its simultaneous capacity to estrange us from ourselves and from our reality,
to compel our entrance into the aesthetic world of the image.?38  Although photography
could literally show what was ?real?, the viewer was aware that the photograph is
mediated, that the reality it showed was dependent on a number of factors, not the least of
which is the intent of the photographer.  In Orvell?s view, the central problem for
photography is the degree to which a mechanical instrument can create a picture of
reality; in other words, was the reality presented by the photograph actually real?  One of
the most powerful uses of the photograph was as a direct historical record, literally a
recording device designed to freeze a moment of historical time.  The photographic
representations of reality so avidly consumed by the public, however, were often staged,
as in the case of Mathew Brady?s Civil War photographs, or were manipulated for
emotional effect by photographers such as Jacob Riis.39  
Orvell posits that photography in the early twentieth century became a more active
medium rather than a strictly passive and static one.  Photographers were able to take
advantage of better technology, such as increased shutter speeds, to interrupt the flow of
time and record multiple images of the same event only seconds apart, thus heightening
the sense of replication of reality through the photograph.  The increased flexibility of the
camera due to technological advance broadened the subject matter the photographer
examined.  Society itself became a spectacle worthy of capturing, rather than the unusual
or spectacular.40
41Ibid., 198.
42Ibid., 199.
43Ibid, 211.
30
By the early decades of the twentieth century, the camera became a symbol of
man?s humanity in the machine age.  Rather than being exotic because it is a machine, the
mechanical nature of the camera becomes its most important characteristic. 
Photographers such as Alfred Steiglitz were able to impose their own vision on the
camera, thus creating and synthesizing a personal reality by using the photographer?s
eye.41   In the hands of a Steiglitz, the camera and photograph became an ?instrument of
revelation? with the goal of intensifying reality.42  According to Paul Strand, Steiglitz?s
use of the camera symbolized man?s control of the machine and revealed the inner spirit
of man in the machine age.  By the 1920s, Steiglitz and Strand had pioneered the
photographic essay, telling a story through photographs.43   Photography, because of its
increased technological capabilities, was able to synthesize and compress reality.
As photography expanded its reach in the early twentieth century, the world of
journalism, another medium that claimed to present facts and reality, was undergoing a
radical transformation.  The enduring contribution of Henry Luce to American journalism
was introducing the idea of synthesizing information for public consumption.  Luce,
obsessed with facts and understanding that the middle and upper classes in America were
becoming increasingly educated, created a style of journalism that claimed to give the
reader or viewer all the information needed to understand issues of the day.  Luce,
through Time, Fortune, The March of Time and Life, gave his audience a view of reality
that he himself visualized.   In addition, all of the Time Inc., publications participated in
44 Swanberg,, 472.
31
an ongoing conversation about the true meaning of America and the American role in the
world.  Thus, Luce was highly important in giving America a definition of itself, a
definition eventually projected onto the rest of the world.   
Luce?s publications are important not only for their scope and influence but for
the fact that each of the Luce productions?Time, Fortune, Life and The March of Time
had certain similar characteristics in their presentation and analysis of the news of the
day.  There was a special feel and look to Luce?s publications that led to revolutionary
changes in journalism.  Luce explicitly presented the news as a ?product;? and audiences
came could expect similarities to Luce publications.  In a sense, Luce practiced what can
be termed ?branding,? the process of bringing disparate products under one corporate
umbrella within a set style of presentation.
Thus, information conveyed in Luce?s publications is not their only important
component.  What is critical is the manner in which it is presented and packaged.  Time,
Life, Fortune and The March of Time helped to change American journalism.  Luce and
his editors sought to create a new way of delivering information, and in so doing
permanently altered the practice of American journalism.44
The formula employed by Luce consisted mainly of summarizing the news in a
clear concise, frequently entertaining manner that was usually brief and reflected popular
tastes and expectations.  Complex stories were often simplified and information presented
to the reader limited options for independent analysis.  Time often emphasized
?personality? or the promotion of representative individuals as the voice of authority on a
45Robert T. Elson, The World of Time Inc., 2 vols.  (New York: Atheneum, 1968-1973), 1:447-448.
46Nicholas Reeves, The Power of Film Propaganda: Myth or Reality, (New York, London: Cassell,1999), 149.
32
certain topic or problem.  This presentation of one cental figure initiated each ?cover
story? that depicted what issue was deemed critical for that week or month.  The Luce
publications also presented themselves as an omniciscent authority, an authority backed
up by a barrage of  facts and detail.  Luce?s publications decided which facts were
relevant and these publications often acted as mediators for a portion of the public
desiring synthesis of news and events.45
It was Luce?s intent all along, beginning with Time and carrying over into other
publications, to rationalize and synthesize the news for a middle class audience unable to
get national and international news outside of major population centers,  most notably
New York.  Luce intended to capture a large market of educated, middle class, families
and  businessmen who he believed were ill-served by local and regional news outlets,
who needed concise information about national and international events (a perspective
reinforced by Time?s mid-1920s relocation to Cleveland from New York).  
Luce?s ideas about journalism are connected to an important shift in attitudes
toward general knowledge among educated members of American society in the 1920s
and 1930s.   Both Luce and Hadden agreed with Walter Lippmann?s assertion that most
of the public was ill-equipped to participate fully in a democratic society because of lack
of information about current affairs.46  More and more Americans attended college with
the passing of each decade in the twentieth century.  However, with the increasing
complication of business, the expansion of government and the growth of technology,
47Swanberg, 52-57.
48Raymond Wiliams, The Long Revolution, (London: Chatto and W indus, 1961); James Baughman, The Republic of
Mass Culture, (Baltimore and London: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1992).
33
most colleges and universities had begun to abandon the idea that it was possible to fully
educate an individual.  Specialization in course study became the mode, forcing
concentration on a certain discipline and often neglecting larger, more comprehensive
study.   Work itself became more focused, with people becoming less aware of the world
around them.  Luce played to this perspective in his publications; they would explain not
only business and politics but the arts and society as well.47
Eventually, Luce?s formula of information synthesis could be seen in radio and
television news, along with an increasing number of newspaper columns and analyses. 
His legacy thus concerns a transformation of American journalism from information to
synthesis, and another episode of what Raymond Williams has termed ?the long
revolution,? the centuries old struggle, beginning with literacy and then the mass media to
gain control of a increasingly complicated world.  The most successful mass media
managers devised forms that rendered a complex, diverse world understandable.48
Time magazine had, by the mid-1930s, become noted for a certain style, most
commonly associated with its unique verbal form of expression, dubbed ?time-style? by
critics.  This distinctive verbal style combined with an attention to detail and minutia that
made Time stand out among its competitors.  It also gave a certain visual aspect to Time?s
reportage that other publications lacked.  Time offered its readers ?body and color.?
Writers for Time thus paid special attention to the physical surroundings of a
setting or the appearance of a newsmaker.  They gave Time readers a visual flavor in an
49Baughman.  Examples of these ?knowing? items include sly references to a politician?s honesty and ethics or the
identification of Wallis Simpson as the King of England?s ?good friend? throughout Time?s coverage of the 1936
abdication crisis.
34
era when more and more Americans, mainly because of the spread of photography and
the popularity of the motion picture, possessed a greater visual sensibility.  Readers
became accustomed to ?seeing? the news in their minds eye, an attribute that increased
the acceptance and credibility of The March of Time.  An eye for detail also gave readers
the sometimes false impression that Time had covered an event when the writer actually
relied on wire and newspaper reports.  This same technique of recreation was prominent
in The March of Time as well.  News events were often staged or re-shot, sometimes with
actors or the aid of participants.  The inclusion of a ?knowing? item often gave Time a
level of authority that its competitors lacked.49
In addition, Time addressed the news as ?stories.?  A base-line of narrative, of
story-telling, was vital to the overall presentation of the news and the impression left on
readers. Time presented the news as complete; that is, once Time had covered a story, the
reader had all the necessary information to be completely informed about that topic or
issue.  Hadden and Luce unwittingly revived a literary style that larger newspapers and
wire services had abandoned in the late nineteenth century in favor of one that
ritualistically organized individual news items in order of the importance of the
information contained in each.  Unlike newspaper reporters, Time writers did not have to
justify to an editor or reader their entries by their first paragraph ?leads.?  Staff writers
instead adopted a linear form.  With color and facts serving to create a visual aspect and a
lively tone, Time entries came to have an eyewitness or documentary quality lacking in
50Elson, 1:121.
51Warren Susman, ??Personality? and the Making of Twentieth Century Culture,? in New Directions in American
Intellectual History, ed. John Higham and Paul Conklin, (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1979);
Swanberg, 63-66.
35
most newspaper accounts.  A Time editor remarked in 1940 that ?the basis of good Time
writing is narrative and the basis of good narrative is to tell events 1) in the order in
which they occur; 2) in the form in which an observer might have seen them?so that
readers can imagine themselves on the scene.?50
Time?s emphasis on ordering the news and emphasizing business and politics
stood in stark contrast to standard journalistic practice of the era.   The 1920s and 1930s
were a golden age for sensationalism in news reportage.  Events like the death of film star
Rudolph Valentino, the trans-Atlantic flight of Charles Lindbergh and a series of
spectacular murders all gained massive newspaper and newsreel coverage.  Time kept its
focus on national and international news, combining news coverage with a focus on
personality.51
This focus became all the more important with the advent of the Great Depression
in 1929.  Hard news became critical as readers groped for explanations of what had
befallen the seemingly strong American economy.  Mass poverty and the chaos of modern
life revealed to the reader how problematic business and politics actually were, and
necessitated changes in mainstream news coverage.   The amount of Washington news
carried by the wire services (and thus by local papers) expanded exponentially in the early
1930s.  Time  was uniquely prepared to cover the Great Depression as a news story,
especially in comparison to a daily paper.  The magazine?s blend of information and
analysis suggested an authoritative understanding.  Time?s synthesis of the news, its focus
52Curtis Pendergrast, The World of Time, (New York: Atheneum, 1986), 67-70.
53Ronald Steel, Walter Lippmann and the American Century, (New York: Random House, 1980), 130-133.
36
on government and the presidency, assumed greater importance just as the actions of
government expanded to meet an unprecedented crisis.52
Newspapers, and later in the decade, radio news attempted to follow Time?s
formula of interpretation of the news along with straight reportage.  Radio networks hired
commentators to analyze the day?s events in an understandable format.  Larger papers
allowed some reporters to interpret as well as report the news.  These developments led to
an increase in the numbers of analytical news columns and the ascendancy in the media of
the pundit.  In 1931, the New York Herald Tribune hired Walter Lippmann to write a
column which appeared three times a week.  Lippmann?s column was the first to provide
sustained analysis of events; most political columns at this time merely reported gossip. 
Others, such as Raymond Clappper and Dorothy Thompson, soon followed.  Many of
these analysts were syndicated, reaching into small and medium sized cities, thus
increasing the reader?s access to not only national news but expert analysis and opinion.  
In additon, major newspapers such as the Kansas City Star, the Richmond News Leader,
the Cincinnati Enquirer, and the New York Times published weekly segments
synthesizing the news. Some newspapers experimented with layout changes to make their
coverage more organized and comprehensible.53
Mainly by default, Time had replaced many dailies in their informational function
and reliability.  The politics of the 1930s had caused some newspapers to revert to a
nineteenth century partisanship.  Although Luce shared his rivals? disillusionment with
54Elson, 1:45-47
55Ibid, 1: 48-54.
37
Roosevelt?and his magazine could hardly be regarded as neutral toward the New Deal, 
Time?s coverage hardly displayed the tilt evident in a Hearst or McCormick paper.  The
magazine frequently criticized such reactionary publishers for their excesses, as in the
October 12, 1936 issue which dismissed the Hearst charge that Roosevelt had secret ties
to communists.54 
Luce and his publication came much closer to an objective standard that most of
his readers, whatever their anti-New Deal politics, welcomed.  Time readers wanted to be
told the ?facts,? for example, that Landon?s campaign was faltering, that Roosevelt was
likely to win the 1936 election.  Indeed many who supported Roosevelt subscribed to
Time.  Bernard DeVoto praised the magazine.  ?Time has made itself indispensible,? he
wrote in 1937.  ?Its coverage is amazing, its accuracy good, its editorializing stimulating
and frequently fair.?  ?Mr. Luce?s publications have maintained for seven years a critical
attitude towards the Roosevelt administration,? Dorothy Thompson wrote in 1940.  ?It
has not, however, been a blindly partisan attitude.  It has not been critical for the sake of
criticizing, but critical according to the views of objective reality of the editors and
readers.?55
Among journalists, Time was widely read and admired.  In April 1924, Time listed
about five hundred editors and publishers as regular readers.  Time?s extensive treatment
of the press explained some of this popularity; another factor was Time?s style and
organization.  Journalism students at the University of Minnesota found Time an
56Leo C. Rosten, The Washington Correspondents (New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1937); Elson, 1: 55-60.
38
inspiration.  ?They all wished assiduously to mimick Time?s style.?  ?Time is not only a
threatening competitor but a worthwhile stylebook,? a Springfield, Missouri editor
confessed two years later.  ?For thoroughness of detail, vividness of description and the
graphic simplicity of its literary style, Time is far ahead of most newspapers.?  ?Today the
pattern seems to be the short, crisp, comma-studded phraseology typical of Time, Variety
noted.   Chain newspaper operators a home and abroad like Frank Gannett and Lord
Beaverbrook began to encourage their staff members to read Time.  Sociologist Leo
Rosten found that 1930s Washington correspondents were more likely to take Time than
any other magazine.56
Of course, not everyone celebrated Time and its prominence in American
journalism.  For example, the same Variety article that praised Time stated ?editors avow
it is the biggest nuisance in journalism today,? a comment that revealed the disdain of
old-line journalists for Time?s perceived glibness and its synthesis of the news. In 1936
and 1937, the New Yorker and the Nation ran highly critical assessments of Luce and his
magazine.  A New Yorker profile of the publisher by Wolcott Gibbs mocked ?Time-
style?:  inverted sentences, ?knowing? descriptions, invented news titles.  ?Backward ran
the sentences until reeled the mind,? Gibbs wrote, who spoke of an ?ambitious, gimlet-
eyed Baby Tycoon Henry Robinson Luce.?  In 1937, The Nation ran a far more critical
piece by a former Time writer, Dwight Macdonald.  In what proved to be the first of
repeated criticisms, Macdonald attacked Time not for its style but for its ideology,
asserting      Time was as guilty as any daily of political distortions.  Macdonald went on
57Baughman, 59-60; Swanberg, 121.
58John Kobler, Luce: His Time, Life and Fortune, (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1968), 143-144; Swanberg, 80.
39
to compare Luce to Hearst.  The difference was that Luce believed his distortions were
backed up by evidence.57
Both attacks, however, ignored the importance of Time?s challenge to American
journalism.  Time?s rather odd prose could be abandoned.  Macdonald?s concern about
relaying prejudices as news could perhaps be better understood by recognizing the
magazine?s upper and upper-middle class audience.   Much of the bias that Macdonald
decried was also present in daily newspapers, and often more apparent there than in Time. 
The real innovation and ethical problem posed by Luce?s journalism was in its structure. 
Luce and his editors were making weekly decisions for their readers as to what was
important and why.  Readers who might earlier have sifted through more mounds of
information now had Time to do it for them.  Journalism had always involved summary,
yet Time was redirecting the process of synthesis.  Color, detail, description were added
to give Time authority.  The world was becoming more complicated and Time was
rendering it easily, some would say falsely, comprehensible.  
By the late 1920s, Time was profitable enough for Luce to begin considering other
ventures.  The first of these was Fortune, the product under the Time Inc. banner for
which Luce deserves the most credit.  Luce had the idea for Fortune and spent more time
overseeing its production than any other Time Inc. publication.  Fortune,  according to a
contemporary of Luce, was his real passion among his magazines.58
Luce had begun to think of creating a business periodical as early as 1928.  By this
59Elson, 1: 70-71
60Elson, 71-78; Swanberg, 81-93.
40
point, Luce had started to think of himself as much if not more of a businessman than a
journalist.  The economic expansion of the 1920s reinforced Luce?s belief in modern
capitalism, and it was his belief that existing journalistic practice of the era unsuited to
explaining the success of the modern economy.  Luce blamed journalists and their
subjects for this under-coverage.  Reporters were by and large ignorant of economics.  As
a result, they were often at the mercy of public relations specialists employed by firms for
explanations about complex financial transactions and business practice.  Captains of
industry, for their part, avoided publicity whenever possible.59  
The new Time Inc. magazine would focus instead on what Luce called ?the
coming tycoon.?  He was neither the founder nor the heir to a business, but its manager. 
The model would be not an inventor like Ford but an executive like Owen Young of GE,
holder of a law degree.  New corporate enterprises required executives with generalized
knowledge, not specialized expertise.60
Luce?s ideas about the changing nature of capitalism were not unique.  In The
Modern Corporation and Private Property (1932), Adolph Berle and Gardiner C. Means
described corporate managers, mostly college educated, some holders of graduate degrees
from new and prestigious schools of business administration, running increasingly large
businesses.  In comparison to an earlier generation of business leaders, they held little of
their company?s stock and had little knowledge of the production process.  A popular joke
of the era told of the president of US Steel who supposedly saw his first blast furnace
61Kobler, 143-149.
63Kobler, 150-151.
64Ibid, 149-151.
41
shortly after his death.61
The leaders of the organizational revolution that accompanied a more
interdependent and bureaucratic economy required a more comprehensive, analytical
journalism.  Walter Lippmann viewed the new corporate manager as a coordinator of
information concerning markets and resources.  Lippmann observed ?The more clearly he
realizes the nature of his position in industry, the more he tends to submit his desires to
the discipline of objective information.?62
Luce determined that the typical Fortune reader had the time to absorb a far more
in-depth journalism.  He was more likely than not a civic leader; he and his
contemporaries had gone to similar schools and had similar cultural tastes.  The ?coming
tycoon? Luce believed was ?a cultivated citizen of the world,? a likely devotee of
classical music and high art, with a broad perspective on life.63
Fortune was intended to be Time?s opposite.  The magazine would carry fewer
and longer stories, not brief summaries but lengthy expositions.  A four hundred word
story in Time was considered verbose.  The standard Fortune piece could run up to ten
thousand words.  Corporations and capitalism in general would be the focus, not
personalities.64
Fortune appeared in February 1930 after two years of planning.  Fortune cost one
dollar a copy and a subscription was ten dollars a year, in comparison to five dollars a
65Ibid., 152-154.
66Vicki Goldberg, Margaret Bourke White, (New York: Harper & Row, 1986), 98-99.
67Goldberg, 112; C. Zoe Smith, ?An Alternative View of the 30s: Hine?s and Bourke-White?s Industrial Photos,?
Journalism Quarterly 60 (Summer 1983), 305-310.
42
year for Time.  Fortune was not intended to be cheap; Luce wanted Fortune to be ?as
beautiful a magazine as exists in the United States.  If possible, the most beautiful.?  An
expensive heavy paper was employed to avoid the glare of paper used in other magazines
(Time included) and had to be sewn by hand.  The magazine was heavily illustrated with
photographs, drawings and paintings.65  Fortune readers undoubtedly noticed the heavy
use of illustration in the magazine.  Each story was illustrated, a break with common
magazine practice.  Most American newspapers had long used photographs; however,
only the tabloids had begun to try to connect pictures to stories (and most used photos in a
disorganized manner).66 Luce?s vision for Fortune was to use writing and photos
synergistically to tell a story.  One of Luce?s first hires for the magazine was a young
Cleveland photographer named Margaret Bourke-White.  Bourke-White?s photographs of
industrial facilities were begining to be recognized for their aesthetic qualities. 
Smokestacks, blast furnaces and assembly lines were turned into highly stylized
representations of modern America.  Luce believed in her vision as well, telling her ?The
camera should explore every corner of industry, showing everything?from the steam
shovel to the board of directors.  The camera would act as interpreter, recording what
modern civilization is, how it looks.?67
The photos included in a Fortune story often helped tell that story, moving it
along and giving it a sense of progress and narrative.  For example, photographs gave
68Elson, 230-231; Lewis, 10-15.
43
force to a moving 1932 story about the housing crisis; captions helped connect the photo
in ironic juxtaposition to the text.  One caption read underneath a photo of Richmond
slums: ?Back of the fashionable streets.?  In a feature on the Swift Company, Bourke-
White?s photos of a line of pigs being led to slaughter added impact to the story.  
Fortune also made extensive use of ?candid? photographs to add depth and drama
to stories.  German photographer Erich Salomon had pioneered the use of small, hidden
cameras to capture unposed, spontaneous events.  Ingersoll heard of his work and
persuaded him to come work for Fortune in 1932.  Readers discovered unexpected
images: normally staid President Hoover with a slight grin, diplomats top hats on a table
next to a conference room, investment bankers whispering to each other behind a slightly
ajar door.  A Time Inc. history written a few years later noted that Salomon?s photos
marked a fusion of photography and journalism ?getting the camera where you want it
and making it record not only a picture but also a fact.?68  These techniques also marked
the visual style of The March of Time.
Fortune?s use of photography reflected a growing belief that photography could
more effectively represent reality than any other medium.   The photography of Margaret
Bourke-White in particular was key to this dialogue.  Bourke-White?s emphasis on
machines was seen as symbolizing the alienation of humanity in mass society, a theme
with resonance during the Great Depression.  In her emphasis on the machine, Bourke-
White was carrying forward the work of photographers such as Paul Strand, who in the
1920s became interest in photographing the machine as a sign of the camera?s modernity. 
69Orvell, 218.
70Goldberg, 108-109.
71Lewis Hine, ?Social Photography? in Alan Tractenberg, ed., Classic Essays on Photography, (New Haven, CT:
Leete?s Island Books, 1980), 111.
72Siefried Kracauser, ?Photography? in Alan Tractenberg, ed., Classic Essays on Photography, (New Haven, CT:
Leete?s Island Books, 1980), 257-265.
73Orvell, 215-218.
44
Strand believed that new laws of composition based on the modern world called for
changes in photographic composition.69  In addition, Bourke-White?s work in Fortune
marked a major innovation in the history of photojournalism, establishing the first time
that a story was told primarily through photos rather than text.70
Critics began to discuss reality as represented through photography as being more
?real? than in any other form, including direct observation of an event.  Lewis Hine wrote
that ?it is often more effective than the reality would have been, because, in the picture,
the non-essential and conflicting interests have been eliminated.?71  Siegfried Kracauer,
commenting on reality and photography noted that the photographer functioned as a
?camera-eye? and had an affinity for unstaged reality.  Photography tends to stress the
fortuitous and random, and ?has an affinity for the indeterminate,? that is, it could
represent ambiguous events or scenes well because it allows the viewer to understand the
photograph based on his or her own biases.72  
Fernand Leger, in his essay ?A New Realism? wrote about the ability of
photography and cinema to give images, through closeups and enlargement, a personality. 
What Leger was referring to was a ?superrealism...a harder, rougher, heightened sense of
reality that reveals the essence of things.?73   Photography, more than other media, could
74Ibid., 222.
75Tagg, 157.
76Ibid., 172.
45
deal with the complicated nature of the modern environment of the 1920s and 1930, what
Lewis Mumford identified as an ?expansion of the vocabulary of the camera.?74
Although photographs could document what appeared to be reality in an exact
manner, they did not operate outside of a method of cultural production.  The relationship
of the photograph to the real was dependent on several things.  One: how was the
photography produced?  What technical procedures were used in procuring the image,
and how do these factors alter the meaning of the photography?  Two: what is the social
utility of the photograph?  Did the photographer have a specific intent in shooting the
picture in a particular way?  Three, what was the institutional framework in which the
photograph was produced and consumed?75   The meaning that audiences gave to the
photography in Fortune (and later Life) was dependent on the status of the producing
agent, in this case Time Inc.  Authority was granted to the photograph, creating it as an
official document.76  
The debates about photography during the 1920s and 1930s centered on
definitions of modernism versus realism, and how the two movements related to one
another.  Modernism offered a break with traditional realist and naturalist literature and
their emotional and moral frameworks.  Modernists insisted that reality could not be
known logically, systematically or objectively.  The world had to be built around the
vagaries of memory, thought and awareness rather than just direct observation. 
According to modernists, the counterpoint to changes in science, literature and the arts
77Paul Hansom, ?Introduction,? in Paul Hansom, ed., Literary Modernism and Photography, (Praeger: Westport,
CT, 2002), xiii-xiv.
78Mark Durden, ?The Limits of Modernism: Walker Evans and James Agee?s Let Us Now Praise Famous Men? in
Hansom, 25; Janet Galligani Casey, ?Focus Left: Modernist Angst and the Proletarian Camera? in Hansom, 33.
79Casey, 47-48.
80Nancy M. Shawcross, ?Counterpoints of View: The American Photo-Text, 1935-1948,? in Paul Hansom, ed.,
Literary Modernism and Photography, (Praeger: Westport, CT, 2002), 71-72.
81Susan Sontag, On Photography, (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1978),153.
46
was the photograph.  The photograph, at once commonplace and fantastic, embodied the
condition of art in the era of industrialization and also encouraged the emergence of a
totally visual understanding of the world.77  
Writers such as James Agee embraced photography as a more accurate
representation of reality than words while John Dos Passos believed that photography
could not be bested for portraying perceived actualities and had thus made realistic
painting obsolete.78  Indeed, one of the recurring characters (along with the newsreel) in
Dos Passos? trilogy USA was the all-seeing ?Camera-Eye.?  Writers saw the camera as
?virtually unrivaled as a documentary tool, but capable of adoption as a serious art
form...photography, poised between art and reportage...manages to signify
instantaneously a range of possibilities concerning the role of creator, subject and
medium,?as Nancy Shawcross wrote.79  Thus photography, a medium that holds the
power to authenticate, mediated the terrain between modernism and realism and the
conflict between observable reality and truth that is universal, metaphysical and
timeless.80  Indeed, some observers believed that the introduction of widespread
photography made America a modern society.  According to Susan Sontag, ?a society
becomes modern when one of its chief activities is producing and consuming images.?81 
82Ibid., 155-157.
83Ibid., 176.
84Lili Corbus Bezner, Photography and Politics in America: From the New Deal Into the Cold War, (Baltimore,
MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999), 1; Orvell, 226.
85Orvell, 227.
86Bezner, 5-10; Miles Orvell, American Photography, (New York, Oxford UK: Oxford University Press, 2003), 79.
47
The spread of photographic technology made the camera a tool for understanding,
predicting and interfering with human behavior, while the photo itself became a means of
gaining control over its subject.82   The camera, along with being a vehicle for
modernization, became a democratizing force, implementing ?an aesthetic view of reality
by being a machine toy that extends to everyone the possibility of making disinterested
judgments about importance, interest and beauty.?83
With the economic crisis of the 1930s, the nature of photography and the reality it
represented underwent a transformation.  Observers began to discuss photography as a
social document, evidence of the reality of the times.  Harkening back to earlier
photographers such as Jacob Riis, photographers again embraced the camera as a tool for
reform and exposing the underlying conditions of society.84  The rhetorical power of the
camera to reveal the state of things and to point to action reemerged.85   The camera
served as an instrument of truth and fact, reverting to a nineteenth century ideal where the
particular or individual represents larger groups or forces.86   This movement toward the
representation of truth and fact had a powerful and logical appeal for Luce, who had
always had a passion for representing reality.  
Several times during 1934 several intimates of Luce, including his future wife
87Memo from Henry Luce to Lem Billings, Fall 1933, Luce Correspondence, Time Inc. Archives, Time-Life
Building, New York City; Elson, 1: 270.
88Edward Steichen, ? ?News?-Photography,? in America as Americans See It, ed. Fred J. Ringel, (New York: The
Literary Guild), 290; Time,  March 4, 1929; February 15, 1933.
48
Clare Booth Brokaw, suggested to the publisher that he consider producing a picture
weekly.  Brokaw?s idea was that Luce purchase the dying humor magazine Life and
reorient it towards photography.  Luce himself was already considering such a venture. 
The commercial and artistic success of Time and Fortune respectively had satisfied his
ambitions.  In the fall of 1933, Luce considered three options: buy a newspaper, start a
ladies magazine or start a picture weekly.  ?We have practically decided to go into the
?experimental stage? on a new magazine,? Luce informed one his editors late in the year. 
The design was to be a ?weekly or fortnightly (review of) current events for large
circulation, heavily illustrated.?87
The decision to publish a picture magazine seemed a logical one for Luce.  Time
was distinctive not just for its brevity and prose but for its layout, visually appealing for
readers.  The magazine?s editors were also innovative in placing and arranging
photographs, using them as an integral part of telling a particular story.  Editors enlivened
posed photos of newsmakers with descriptive captions illustrated and drew readers to a
story.  In 1932, photographer Edward Steichen praised Time?s picture presentation as one
of the most fascinating aspects of the magazine.88  Time often moved beyond the
strictures of newspaper display, running pictures that the dailies refused to publish.  One
of the most striking examples was the nude victim of a lynching.  Time famously
published in 1934 a full page of photographs of the assassination of King Alexander of
89Elson, 1:270-271.
90Goldberg, 147; Rick Friedman, ?40 Years of Pictures, Newsmagazine Style,? Editor and Publisher, (March 23,
1963), 47-48.
91Daniel J. Boorstein, The Image: A Guide to Pseudo-Events in America, (New York: Harper and Row, 1961), 13-
14.
92John Drewry, ?A Picture-Language Magazine,? Magazine World 1 (November 1945): 19.
49
Yugoslavia; the sequencing of the photos gave the spread a newsreel feel.89
Most newspapers used illustration in a rather haphazard manner and failed to
capitalize on the public?s thirst for the visual.  In the 1920s, new tabloids owed their
success primarily to the publication of often grisly photographs.  Some, like the New York
Daily News and the New York Graphic, allowed photos to ?tell? an entire story.  A
movement towards unstaged, ?reality? photographs was reflected in some tabloids,
largely because cameras had become more portable.90   Other more respectable dailies
used photos on occasion; the Associated Press started a wire photo service in 1935.  Most
editors, however, were unfamiliar with how to use photographs or considered pictorial
journalism to be for the lower classes and the less educated.  Many associated the tabloids
with a new ?yellow journalism.?91
This association was apparently at variance with public desires.  Newspaper
readership surveys conducted by George Gallup in the 1920s for the Des Moines Register
indicated that readers wanted photos, not just alone but as integral parts of news stories. 
When the Register added a Sunday pictorial supplement, circulation rose by almost 50
percent.  Other surveys conducted by Gallup confirmed the popularity of photographs as
part of the news.   Gallup found that readers were three to four times more likely to look
at a picture as a news story and welcomed efforts to relate photographs to the news.92
93Memo from Henry Luce to Lem Billings, Fall 1933.
94Bert W. Woodrum, ?Reader Interest in Newspaper Pictures,? Journalism Quarterly 24 (September 1947): 147-
151.
50
Luce also understood this greater demand, based largely on the reaction to Time
and Fortune.  Selection of photos should not be arbitrary but suggest a ?mind-guided
camera,? he wrote, which ?can do a far better job of reporting current events than has
been done before.?  ?Photojournalism? had an audience, as the public wanted ?to see and
be shown.?  Indeed, this was the public?s expectation.93
Changes in technology supported Luce?s vision as well.  Advances in photography
made more vivid and realistic pictures possible.  During the 1920s German manufacturers
had perfected a camera far more mobile than the cumbersome models then used.  The
German Leica could take up to thirty six shots before reloading, had greater depth, and in
most indoor settings did not need a flash.  These innovations freed the photographer to
take more pictures more rapidly, while greatly increasing his or her mobility. 
Consequently, editors had more photos to choose from, and could more easily construct
?photo-essays? to inform a subject.  The small size of the camera allowed photographers
to take more intimate, candid photos, as the subjects were less aware of the presence of a
camera and photographer.94
Most newspapers, however, were slow to embrace the new technology.  Tabloids
had experimented with the photo essay and unposed shots but generally failed to adapt to
the smaller camera and the flexibility it offered.  Newspaper engravers and developers
complained that the smaller negative of the Leica required more time and precision to
develop than the plates used for standard cameras.  Thus large scale use of smaller
95Erich Salomon, Portrait of an Age, (New York: Macmillan, 1967), 217.
96James Howard Lewis, ?The Saga of Time, Life and Fortune,? Magazine World 1 (May 1945): 9-11.
97Baughman, 84-87; Time Inc., Four Hours A Year, (New York: Time Inc., 1936).
51
cameras could conceivably lead to delays in publication.  Some daily newspapers refused
to buy the enlargers needed to properly utilize film shot by smaller cameras and most
refused to allow their photographers to use Leicas.95
A magazine using this new technology to create a different kind of
photojournalism might, Luce and others suspected, find a willing and enthusiastic
audience.   The country?s most popular magazines, the Saturday Evening Post and
Collier?s, were well and even lavishly illustrated, but contained more sketches than
photography.  The photos they did run often had a soft focus or were formally posed, as
opposed to harsh, ?realistic? portraits.  Also, the success in Europe of photo-journals like
Berliner Illustierte Zeitung tempted American imitators.  Several publishers, even prior to
Luce?s November 1933 musings on a photo magazine, were considering starting a photo
magazine.  William Randolph Hearst had one under consideration until financial
difficulties forced him to abandon the project.  The Cowles brothers also considered such
a publication..96
Luce began preliminary planning for Life magazine in 1934, while at the same
time continuing to explore production of a newsreel under the Time imprimatur.   Luce?s
chief collaborator in planning a photo-journal was Daniel Longwell, and together with
Time staffer Laura Z. Hobson, Longwell assembled a picture book history of Time
magazine and The March of Time titled Four Hours A Year as a dry run in pictorial
journalism.  Photography, not prose, told Time?s story in Four Hours A Year.97  In spite of
98Lem Billings,  ?A Prospectus for a New Magazine? [1936], 1-5, March of Time Movie File 1936, Time Inc.
Archives, Time-Life Building, New York; Baughman, 86-87.
52
Longwell?s efforts, Luce was not completely convinced of  the idea of a photo-magazine.  
Some within the organization suggested Time could simply carry more photos, a solution
that Longwell, as Time?s picture editor, found unsatisfactory.  Luce?s vision for the
magazine also frustrated planning.  The magazine should be inexpensive, although at ten
cents an issue it would be twice the price of the Saturday Evening Post or Collier?s.  Luce
was also adamant that the magazine be published on shiny white paper, ideal for photos
but expensive.  By comparison, he knew, photos in newspapers would look drab and
lifeless.  However, no paper producer could give Luce and Longwell a reasonably priced
stock that adhered to their specifications.  Luce hesitated for a period of time, finally
agreeing to begin production at the urging of his new wife Clare Booth Brokaw, whom he
married at the end of 1935.  Clare Booth Luce shared Luce?s passion for journalism and
over the course of a two month honeymoon in Cuba, she was able to persuade him that a
photo-magazine would be a viable venture.  Luce?s right hand man Ralph Ingersoll
visited Luce and his bride in Havana in November 1935 and came back with orders to
begin layout and production of the new magazine.98
Luce was distracted by his new marriage and left a good deal of the planning for
the magazine to Ingersoll.  Ingersoll decided the company?s vision for the magazine in a
series of long memoranda (a process similar to the hashing out of the vision for The
March of Time) in the course of which he justified the decision to begin production.   As
he noted, pictures appealed to everyone from all walks of life.  Advances in photography
offered journalism a new way of telling stories that newspapers were reluctant to adopt;
99Hoopes, 140.
100Ralph Ingersoll, Memorandum on LIFE No. 9, October 30, 1936, March of Time Movie File 1936, Time
Incorporated Archives, Time-Life Building, New York City; Memo to Henry Luce from Dan Longwell, February
1936, March of Time Movie File 1936, Time Incorporated Archives, Time-Life Building, New York City.
101Henry Luce, The Moving Picture as Journalism, August 1934, March of Time Movie File 1934, Time
Incorporated Archives, Time-Life Building, New York City.
53
again, a theme voiced in the rationale for the creation of The March of Time.  Time Inc.
had to act, Ingersoll wrote, because ?through the next decade the movement of pictures
into journalism will be so rapid as to possibly revolutionize the journalistic machinery of
the world.?99
As Time Inc., was preparing to publish the first issue of Life, Ingersoll recalled the
experiences that Roy Larsen and Louis de Rochemont had when planning The March of
Time.  Both publications were identified by Time Inc., as ?new kinds of pictorial
journalism.?  Ingersoll, later a frequent critic of The March of Time?s content within the
corporation, admired the technical style The March of Time achieved in its early issues,
and adopted elements of its narrative style, particularly the pacing and use of frequent
cuts and edits to show an image from several different angles.100
The March of Time grew out of a radio program produced by Time Inc., of the
same name.  Luce and his top lieutenants, most notably Roy Larsen, had been discussing
a newsreel since 1931.  Luce was particularly fascinated by the possibilities of what he
termed ?pictorial journalism.?101  It is important to note that production of The March of
Time, Life, and Fortune?s continued growth all occurred at roughly the same time in the
early 1930s.  All of these productions were influential inside Time Inc., as well as
outside.  They were created (this is particularly true for The March of Time and Life) and
102Hoopes, 140-141.
103Elson, 1:295.
54
existed within the same intellectual milieu and ferment.  Time had redefined traditional
journalism; Luce now wanted to create a new kind of journalism based on the image, and
Life and The March of Time were to be the vehicles for that creation.
Luce, Ingersoll and Longwell faced numerous practical obstacles in producing the
new magazine, not the least of which was coming up with a name.  After several
suggestions were considered and discarded, Luce purchased the rights to the failing
magazine Life for the princely sum of ninety-two thousand dollars?four times what it had
cost to begin publication of Time in 1922.  The production values that Luce insisted on
proved to be a more difficult standard.  Luce wanted the magazine to be published weekly
on coated paper to give photographs the most striking reproduction quality.102
In addition, a format had to be determined for the magazine itself.  Life would
carry photos of the major newsstories of the week through agreements with major
syndicators.  This arrangement did not guarantee that the magazine would have enough
material to fill its forty to forty-eight pages every week.  Also, using exclusively
syndicated photos might make Life?s content indistinguishable from newspapers and
other magazines, and Luce was determined that Life stand out from the start.103
Time offered the model for Life?s identity.  Like the newsmagazine, Life would be
departmentalized.  For example, there would be a regular ?President?s Scrapbook? similar
to Time?s Presidency section and the weekly makeup of each department would center
around availability of photographs.  The magazine would emphasize significant news
104Elson, 1:297; Ralph Ingersoll, Memorandum on LIFE, October 30, 1936, March of Time Movie File, 1936, Time
Incorporated Archives, Time-Life Building, New York City.
105Baughman, 91; Ingersoll, Memorandum on LIFE.
55
which had been recorded by a camera but by not means all the significant events of the
week.  
Putting together a sample layout proved difficult.  None of Luce?s top lieutenants
had experience with using photos to constructl a story.  They had previously used
photographs as supplements to text and had a difficult time using them in a narrative
fashion.  Another difficulty was in the general orientation of the magazine itself.  One
prototype seemed to Ingersoll to be ?middlebrow?; another used nudes in an attempt at
sensationalism.   Difficulties over style and tone made everyone, including Luce, nervous. 
Ingersoll detailed some of these concerns in a memo, stating that ?at this point the project
appears poorly focused and scattershot.  In a word, undefined.?104
Another related problem centered on Life?s potential audience.  Should the
magazine cater to the middle and upper-middle class customer who regularly read Time
or should Life appeal to a more mass audience?  Luce denied wanting to compete with the
Saturday Evening Post or Collier?s but the prospectus for Life indicated he did not want
the magazine to appeal exclusively to the ?busy men? on Eastern commuter trains he and
Britton Haddon had identified as Time?s customers in 1922.  Luce wanted the magazine
to appeal to ?half of mankind.?105 A promising indication of the magazine?s mass
audience potential was the sale of about $1.7 million in advertising contracts prior to
publication?a reflection too of the confidence advertisers had in Luce and his products. 
Time Inc. sales representatives based Life?s rates on a circulation of two hundred fifty
106Elson, 1:329-331.
107Billings Correspondence, November 5, 1936, March of Time Movie File 1936, Time Inc. Archives, Time-Life
Building, New York City.
108Elson, 1:341-342.
56
thousand.  Advertisers could extend those rates for a full year after Life?s first number.106
After overcoming numerous production and personnel difficulties (Luce had to
replace the first editor for Life, John Martin, relatively late in the planning process) the
magazine made its debut on November 19, 1936.  After an almost frantic search for a
cover photograph, the new editor Lem Billings decided on one by Luce favorite Margaret
Bourke-White that he called ?an answer to our prayer.?107 Bourke-White had taken photos
of the new Fort Peck Dam in Montana that seemed exotic, making the massive concrete
structure look like a medieval castle.  Inside, she contributed a photo-essay on the
workers of New Deal, Montana who were building the dam.  Life also ran the first aerial
photo of the King Edward VIII?s country retreat and another of the newly constructed San
Francisco Bay Bridge.  The theater department featured the Broadway hit Victoria Regina
while the film department featured Greta Garbo?s Camille.  In addition, Life carried a
three-page spread of the paintings of contemporary artist John Steuart Curry.  The
magazine also ?went to a party? for the British ambassador to France.108
Within a few hours of Life?s arrival on newsstands, seemingly fantastic stories
began to filter back to Time Inc.?s offices.  Vendors across the country reported they had
sold out their allotments of the new magazine within hours.  The original run of two
hundred thousand had virtually disappeared.  Some customers paid vendors extra to be
placed on waiting lists for the next issues.  Reports began to circulate that some couples
109Lewis, 11.
57
were having cocktail parties where the guest of honor was the first issue of Life magazine. 
Combining newsstand and subscription sales, the new magazine had an initial circulation
of four hundred thirty five thousand, a phenomenal figure.109
After only one month the circulation figure rose to five hundred thirty three
thousand, making Life the fastest magazine to reach half a million in circulation after its
initial release.  By January 1937, Life had a circulation of seven hundred sixty thousand. 
Newsstands ran out of copies as Life?s Chicago printing plant ran out of coated paper. 
Circulation continued to climb thorough 1937, passing the million mark in the spring.  
By the end of 1937 Life had a circulation of 1.7 million, second only to Collier?s and the
Saturday Evening Post and twice that of Time.   Market surveys indicated the magazine
might achieve a circulation of 5 million.  This demand led to a crisis in production as the
company could not meet the demand for copies.  Production, including purchase of the
needed paper stock, had been planned for a weekly run of three hundred fifty thousand. 
To acquire the needed paper, Time Inc. had to pay vastly inflated sums to meet demand. 
A far more dangerous crisis centered on advertising.  The executives planning Life had
severely underestimated demand.  In order to ensure a continual revenue stream for the
fledgling magazine, Life?s sales representatives had offered ad space in the magazine at a
reduced rate and allowed advertisers to renew at those reduced rates for up to one year. 
This made Life, with its enormous reach, an ad bargain for advertisers.  This shortfall in
revenue also exacerbated the crunch on production resources.  This problem could not be
110Elson, 1: 345-348; Kobler, 276-278.
111Elson, 1: 350-356.
58
addressed until 1938 at the earliest because of the structure of the advertising contracts.110
Initially, Time Inc. was losing three million dollars a year on Life.   Advertising
cutbacks due to the 1937-38 recession added to the company?s problems.  Time Inc. had
its lowest profit for more than a decade and the value of Time Inc. stock declined by
approximately 45 percent.  The future of the magazine seemed to be at a crossroads. 
Luce demanded and got higher advertising rates but these contracts would not be
effective until November 1938.  He even considered raising the newsstand price to 15
cents, a plan that was quietly dropped.  Acting on Larson?s recommendation, he decided
to maximize circulation, a decision which ultimately ensured Life?s profitability. 
Advertisers could not ignore the vast audience the magazine acquired; by early 1939,
Life?s circulation was a staggering 2.4 million.  In addition, 80 percent of Life?s
subscribers renewed their subscriptions in 1938.  A study indicated that Life?s ?pass
along? number (the number of people who actually read or saw each magazine produced
and sold) was fourteen; this brought Life?s ?eyeball? circulation to about 17 million.   So
in spite of increased ad rates, Life was a highly valuable tool for advertisers seeking to
reach generally affluent consumers.111
In spite of its enormous readership, Life?s appeal was segmented to some degree
by social class.  Like most magazines, it appealed primarily to a middle and upper-middle
class audience.  Most surveys indicated that the magazine?s audience most closely
resembled that of Time and that its readership was the most affluent of the major
112Ibid.
113Baughman, 96.
114Transcripts of Time Inc., oral history of Daniel Longwell, January 31, 1956, Time Inc. Archives, Time-Life
Building, New York City, 5-6.
59
magazines of the era; it Life was the preferred mass magazine of top level and middle
level professionals.112
Life?s immediate success had little to do with editorial consistency, particularly in
its early years.  Layouts were often confused; pictures crowded together, and the
magazine really failed to jell until its third year of production.  Luce even conceded that
the magazine, though improving, was ?still unsatisfactory? in 1937 and 1938.   This was
not surprising, as most magazines groped for an identity in their first years.  It took Time
at least five years to achieve the tone that Luce and Hadden wanted initially.  However,
because Life seemed unique and the demand for a photo magazine so high, Life achieved
immediate public acceptance and leadership role among other, less glamorous
competitors.113
The day to day management of the magazine was occasionally chaotic, as Luce,
Billings and Longwell each had to learn how to produce a picture magazine.  Luce,
although ostensibly giving most of the responsibility for Life to Billings, often interfered;
in Billings words, the publisher ?botches details.?   Luce believed that producing a picture
magazine should be a collective enterprise, just as Time was.  Each individual of
whatever status in the hierarchy of the magazine should expect to have input in the final
product.  The selection of material for a photoessay called for a collective spirit,
according to Luce?s vision.114
115William Stott, Documentary Expression and Thirties America, (New York: Oxford University Press, 1973), 75-
92; Goldberg, 160-161; Letter from Archibald MacLeish to Henry Luce, May 29, 1936, Luce Correspondence File,
Time Incorporated Archives, Time-Life Building, New York City.
60
This tendency towards decentralization gave Life?s photographers a considerable
amount of freedom and prestige.  The news photo services were woefully inadequate for
use by Life, wedded as they were to older traditions in photography.  As a result, Life
depended on its staff of photographers, and treated photographers as equals to writers, an
action unprecedented for the time.  At Life, the photographers decided what to shoot, a
reversal of traditional roles.  Taking advantage of advances in camera technology, Life
photographers aimed for greater realism.  One advantage they had in striving for reality
was that they were not on the tight production schedules that news service photographers
labored under.  Life?s photographers had the luxury of taking multiple photos over time of
a given subject; the best would be selected to form a photoessay.  As a result, Life, over
time, perfected the photoessay as a journalistic method.  Arthur Coford Jr., Margaret
Bourke-White and Alfred Eisenstadt all contributed extensive photoessays to the
magazine in its first months of publication.  Each was distinguished by the air of realism
they gave their disparate subjects; Coford?s shots of the Hindenburg disaster were
considered quite graphic, and a January 10, 1938 story on the Japanese seizure of the
Chinese city of Nanking was unsparing in its detail.   The ?reality? portrayed on the pages
of Life was reflected in a comment made by Archibald MacLeish to Luce that ?the camera
tells...The camera shall take its place as the greatest and by all measurements the most
convincing reporter of contemporary life.115
Like Time, Life sought to synthesize the news, the obvious difference being that
116Baughman, 101-102.
117Stott, 129-130.
61
photos were the tool of storytelling as opposed to prose.  Luce wrote that Life ?will be the
complete and reliable record of all the significant events which are recorded in pictures.? 
Life would tell the story of an event with credibility, but often the story was too complex
for a safe, simple narrative tale, and not all stories lent themselves to photo-essays. 
Furthermore, how could the ?reality? shown by Life equal a complete and accurate
record?  A 1942 analysis of Life by John R. Whiting and George R. Clark which appeared
in Collier?s  noted ?Life?s greatest admirers are occasionally troubled by a quality of its
pictorial journalism which is hard to pin down, but which might be called a subtle
distortion of reality.  To some extent this seems to result from an overtone which Life
shares with the other Luce publications, an overtone of which conveys a highly conscious,
humorless certitude about them, as if they were saying, ?Here are the facts, and here is the
truth they add up to, and that?s that.?  There never seems to be any real doubt that the
Luce papers know all the answers.?116
Life, in its own defense, was definitely true to the documentary expression
movement of the 1930s in one critical aspect: It favored impact over true representation. 
The photograph, according to this theory, could convey more reality than being at an
actual event.  A photo could be more ?real than reality.?117
In addition, Life, Time and The March of Time were situated in the midst of an
ongoing debate about how to define American culture, or what ?the American Way of
Life? actually was.  This discussion, as noted by Warren Susman in Culture as History,
118Susman, 152.
119Landy, 31-39.
120Susman, 157-158.
62
was central to the ideological conflict of the 1930s.  Susman believed that although
ideology ?may indeed have been important in the Thirties...many of the most brilliant and
long lasting contributions to political analysis written in the period were distinctly anti-
ideological?.118  The Thirties were marked by efforts to find and define an American
culture, as a source of strength and continuity in contrast to the vagaries of the economy. 
Indeed, Luce?s publications were engaged in the creation of a national, popular culture
that sought to unify disparate groups around a hegemonic vision of America.  In earlier
decades, newspapers and magazines had been key to this process.119   This effort to define
America could be seen in the documentary photography of the decade and the growing
reliance on technology (for example, the practice of polling) to gauge public opinion.120 
Photographic realism, through Life, other photo-magazines and documentary
photographers, reached an enormous audience in the 1930s.  The expectations for
graphic, image based realism and immediacy laid the groundwork for cinematic
representations of reality.
121Elson, 1:289.
63
Chapter Two: The March of Time
The March of Time newsreel evolved out of a radio program titled The March of
Time produced by Time Incorporated.  This radio program was the brainchild of Henry
Luce?s right hand man, Roy Larsen.  Larsen?s innovation, which began production in
1931 and continued for fourteen years, was enormously successful.   The radio program
provided publicity for Time Inc., publications that was of great value and was consistently
rated in industry conducted polls as one of network radios most popular dramatic
programs.121
Intended as advertising for Time, the show did not make money, it cost money. 
By the end of 1931 it was reported to have cost Time $211,000.  Luce, concerned about
losses as he was contemplating expanding his print ventures, announced that the series
would be discontinued early in 1932.  To Larsen?s delight, over 22,000 listeners wrote to
CBS, the network that broadcast the March of Time, and demanded that the program
remain on the air.  This protest put Time Inc., executives in an awkward position.  In a
two-page spread in Time on February 29, 1932, Luce thanked its public for their support
and asked, given the radio series? unprofitability, whose responsibility it should be to
122Elson, 1:290; Louis De Rochemont Reminiscences, March of Time Movie File 1959, Time Incorporated Archives,
Time-Life Building, New York City, 10.
123Elson, 1:291; Memo to Henry Luce from Dan Longwell, March of Time Miscellaneous File 1934, 8-1934.
64
continue the program.122
CBS chief William Paley arranged for the network to continue airing the program
for a while, with editorial control remaining with Time.  Larsen noted that Time got credit
for the production because of the tag-line, ?Presented by the editors of Time.?   In the
years that followed, some commercial sponsors were found for the series, including
Electrolux, Remington Rand, and Wrigley, the chewing gum giant.  Wrigley?s
sponsorship came to an end in the late 1930's, according to Larsen, because of protests
from German groups who complained about Time?s growing anti-Nazi positions.  The
series was suspended in 1939, revived in 1941 and lasted until final cancellation in
1945.123
In view of Larsen?s flair for journalistic innovation, it was inevitable that he
would consider translating the March of Time into a film series.  Furthermore, ?pictorial
journalism? was a notion that interested Luce, and as discussed earlier, Luce was
considering launching a picture magazine along the lines of the Illustrated London News. 
Luce?s intention was to exploit the possibilities of the still photograph and advancing
photographic technology.   In the early 1930's, research and development on a photo-
magazine was undertaken by the corporation.  The new magazine was intended to extend
the integration of photographs and text which had already been initiated in Fortune.  In
1934, however, Luce decided that the project had not developed satisfactorily and
124Elson, 1:291-292.
5Elson., 292; DeRochemont Reminiscences, 10.
126Louis DeRochemont Reminiscences, 2-12.
65
suspended it.124
Larsen began planning a motion picture version of the March of Time as early as
1931.  A number of proposals were submitted to Time Inc., by independent contractors,
but Larsen was unimpressed with each in turn, as none explained how the series could be
put together and work.  More important, Larsen had not found the right man to produce
the series.125
In the end, the right man turned out to be a veteran newsreel cameraman and
producer named Louis de Rochemont, who had begun his film career as a teenager and by
the 1930s had risen to become head of short subjects and producer of The Magic Carpet
and Adventures of a Newsreel Cameraman series at Fox Movietone Corporation.  De
Rochemont had also introduced and produced for Columbia Pictures a novel film series
called The March of the Years.  The March of the Years re-created, with professional
actors, news events of the past, such as the Lizzie Borden murder case and the political
career of Boss Tweed.126
Larsen and de Rochemont were eventually put in contact with each other by a
mutual acquaintance.  Larsen was impressed with de Rochemont?s energy, insight and
experience.  De Rochemont had a clear idea of how The March of Time should be put
onto film.  It became obvious that if such a film series were to succeed, it would have to
integrate substantial amounts of newsreel footage with specially photographed material. 
Larsen asked de Rochemont to put together a sample issue of The March of Time so that
127Ibid., 12-13; Elson, 1:295.
128Louis DeRochemont Reminiscences, 13-14; Richard DeRochemont Reminiscences, March of Time Movie  File
1959, Time Incorporated Archives, Time-Life Building, New York City.
129Henry R. Luce, Recommendation to the Board of Directors, November 1934, March of Time Movie File 1934,
Time Incorporated Archives, Time-Life Building, New York City.
66
he could see at first hand approximately how much time and money it would cost.127
Larsen and de Rochemont set to work at once, with de Rochemont instructing
Larsen in the art and technique of film making.   Larsen worked side by side with de
Rochemont at the editing tables and eventually the two men had a finished product to
show to Luce.  Luce liked the film, but was bewildered, asking Larsen in a memo, ?It?s
terrific, but what is it?  Please spell it out for me; what is this all about??128
Larsen prepared a prospectus for Luce which Luce reedited, and then presented to
Time Inc.?s board of directors.  The board approved further experimentation so Luce
authorized expenditures of about $200,000 for research and preparation.129  The
prospectus and subsequent internal documents dealing with The March of Time revealed a
great deal about the thinking of Luce and his top lieutenants regarding what exactly Time
Inc., was attempting to accomplish in launching a newsreel.  Luce was greatly intrigued
by creating a new form of pictorial journalism, exploiting advances in film-making to
communicate in a new format.  The publisher was also acutely aware of the need to
appeal to audiences, stating that the success of The March of Time would be dependent
not just on its coverage of significant news items but its acceptance by audiences.  Luce
also stated that even if The March of Time proved a financial bust, it would still provide
invaluable promotion for Time and Fortune.  From the beginning, The March of Time was
viewed by Luce as an integral part of the Time Inc., brand.  An August 1934 press release
130Luce, Recommendation to the Board of Directors; TIME gives journalism a New Dimension, draft of press
release, 8-27-1934, March of Time Miscellaneous File 1934, Time-Incorporated Archives, Time-Life Building, New
York City.
131Henry Luce, The March of Time In Moving Pictures (draft of prospectus) 1934, March of Time Movie File 1934,
Time Incorporated Archives, Time-Life Building, New York City, 3.
132Luce, The March of Time In Moving Pictures, 1.
67
announcing the creation of the newsreel declared that Time Inc., was crossing into
?Journalism?s fourth dimension.?  The release declared that The March of Time was not a
newsreel, and would use recreation in its presentation.  According to Time Inc., what was
being produced was a ?newsdrama,? literally an entirely new brand of journalism.  With
typical hyperbole, Time Inc., declared that ?The March of Time was another step in the
process of communication, a process that stretched back to beginning of literate man.? 
The March of Time would combine words and pictures in a heretofore never seen
manner.130
The prospectus written by Luce and Larsen was a revealing document.  Drafts that
passed between Larsen and Luce demonstrate that The March of Time was considered an
integral part of the Time Incorporated empire, and that the proposed venture would ?bring
all of TIME?s proven journalistic passion, all of TIME?s proven journalistic integrity and
all of TIME?s proven journalistic zeal.?131  Larsen and Luce were also fixated on the
potentially huge audience that attended movies daily and weekly and recognized the
staying power of the traditional newsreel.132  Both men were scathing in their criticism of
the newsreel as it existed, calling it ?stupid? and having no journalistic integrity or merit. 
According to Luce, even the Hearst newsreel, which should have had some of the great
133Henry Luce, The Opportunity, August 1934, March of Time Movie File 1934, Time Incorporated Archives, Time-
Life Building, New York City, 1-2.
134Luce, The Opportunity, 2.
135Ibid.
136Ibid, 3.
137Luce, The Opportunity.
68
media mogul?s imprint on it, was devoid of character and journalistic value.133  Luce
believed that the main fault of the newsreel as it existed was that it was not produced by
real journalists.  The newsreel?s content was driven by what could be shot by cameramen
scattered throughout the globe with no direction from producers and editors versed in the
tenets of journalism.134  Luce wrote that ?the art of journalistic editing is the ability to
select stories or facts and direct how those facts or stories are to be told.?135   Most
newsreel producers were former reporters who were excessively focused on simply
getting a story and unable to provide context for the stories that they shot.   Newsreel
assignments were never thought-out in terms of providing all the angles of a story;
newsreel editors simply dispatched their cameramen to a given event and each newsreel
told roughly the same story with roughly the same pictures.136  
In addition, Luce and Larsen believed that newsreel editors and producers ?have
such a small amount of journalistic backbone and character that they have weakly allowed
a sort of self-imposed censorship to grow up and become meekly accepted.?137  The
newsreel as an institution had no self-confidence and no ability to deal with pressure from
interest groups or individuals who might be in the news.  This was due in large part,
according to Larsen and Luce, to the newsreel being simply part of the movie studios
138Ibid., 3-4.
139Henry Luce, The Moving Picture as Journalism, August 1934, March of Time Movie File 1934, Time
Incorporated Archives, Time-Life Building, New York City, 1.
140Ibid., 2.
141Ibid.
69
offerings to their theater chains, and not really independent journalistic entities.  Another
factor was the reluctance of movie exhibitors to upset audiences unused to seeing
controversial subjects in the newsreel.138
What Luce and Larsen proposed was revolutionary.  Luce believed that journalism
was not a business or even a profession but an art; ?the art of collecting varying kinds of
information (commonly called ?news?) which a few people possess and of transmitting it
to a much larger number of people who are supposed to desire to share it.?139  There was
no set of rules governing what journalism was any more, simply that when information
had been transmitted, journalism had been practiced.  Luce and Larsen also believed
modern journalism consisted of two devices for dissemination of information: words and
pictures.  With advances in technology, the picture was fast becoming more important
than words in communicating facts and information.  However, pictures had limitations. 
They could not tell every aspect of a story, even though they told with ?a force, an
explicitness, an overwhelmingness which reportorial words can rarely equal.?140  Luce
predicted that in the near future (perhaps foreshadowing the success of Life) a successful
format for a picture publication would be perfected.141
With regard to the newsreel, Luce stated that the moving picture possessed an
even greater potency than the still photograph, and that the newsreel was distinct from
142Henry Luce, Draft of prospectus sent to Roy Larsen, 1934, March of Time Movie File 1934, Time Incorporated
Archives, Time-Life Building, New York City.
143Luce, The Moving Picture as Journalism, 4-5.
70
printing-press journalism.142 Luce and Larsen believed that the newsreel could be treated
journalistically.  The fusion between motion pictures and quality journalism that Luce and
Larsen envisioned could only be accomplished by a reputable journalistic organization
with no ties to the movie industry as it existed, namely Time Incorporated.  Luce?s vision
for The March of Time was that the newsreel series would be an extension of Time
magazine.  According to the prospectus, all the resources of Time and Time Incorporated
would be available to the newsreel; all the accumulated expertise in reporting, editing,
and story-telling that Time had accumulated over the years would be part and parcel of the
new venture.  A highly organized staff of photographers, writers and editors would
approach stories in a journalistic fashion, delving deeply into each subject explored by
The March of Time.  In addition, The March of Time would have access to existing stock
footage to tell its stories.  Luce and Larsen also forthrightly advocated a continuation of
the practice of reenactments that had been part of the March of Time radio program. 
These reenactments of newsworthy events would be an integral part of filling in gaps in
individual stories.143   
Another fundamental difference between the traditional newsreel and Luce?s and
Larsen?s vision was the length of stories in each issue and the frequency of release.  Luce
proposed that instead of covering five stories in two minutes each, which was the basic
newsreel format, The March of Time cover three to four subjects in depth in each issue,
devoting at least four minutes to each story presented.  Luce?s reasoning was that the
144Ibid., 6.
25Ibid.  The March of Time remained a monthly series throughout its sixteen year run.
71
longer form would be more reflective, it could deal with trends rather than just the news
of the moment.144  By 1938, The March of Time would explore just one story per issue.  
Luce also wanted a monthly rather than weekly release for the same reasons.  A monthly
release would give audiences a more intelligent, deeper reflection of important subjects,
while remaining timely.  In the future, perhaps The March of Time could be adapted to a
weekly format, but Luce believed that initially it should, for the sake of journalistic
integrity, remain a monthly release.   The monthly format would enable The March of
Time to probe issues in greater depth and give the editors and producers time to develop
stories thematically, rather than simply reacting to daily events, a criticism Luce and
Larsen both made of the newsreel.145
One of the recurring questions that observers had about The March of Time was
what, exactly, it was.  Was it a traditional newsreel, or a new form of journalism, as
touted by Time Inc., in announcing the series?  Could The March of Time be classified as
a documentary?  
Americans, now accustomed to the variety of news, public affairs, and
documentary programming that television broadcast and cable networks offer, must be
reminded that, with the exception of the newsreel, the motion picture that was seen by the
American public prior to the introduction of The March of Time was fictional
entertainment feature fare.  If you wanted melodrama, adventure, fantasy or comedy, you
went to the movies.  If, on the other hand, you wanted information, you got it from books,
146Barsam, 63-64.  There were a number of documentary style films produced by the Workers Film and Photo
League between 1930 and 1935 that did not have mass distribution, as they had no access to studio controlled
cinema chains.  See William Alexander, Film on the Left, (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1981).
72
magazines, newspapers or radio.  Until the coming of The March of Time, there was no
documentary film movement in the United States so far as the mass cinema audience was
concerned.  The early documentary impulse and the films that resulted from it may have
had considerable influence on filmmakers around the world, but hardly any of the many
independently produced documentary features and shorts that were made during the
1920s and early 1930s were ever seen by mass audiences in America.   It was The March
of Time alone which successfully introduced and established the documentary format for
film audiences in the United States.  And all of this occurred before the films of Pare
Larentz, Joris Ivens, Willard Van Dyke, and Herbert Kline, or the wartime propaganda
films of Frank Capra and Anatole Litvak or the appearance of postwar television public
affairs programs.146   John Grierson, writing in 1937, stated ?...something more intelligent
has already arrived.  It has crashed through from the America that succeeded the slump
and learned with Roosevelt the simple braveries of the public forum.  It is called The
March of Time today, but tomorrow, so strong is the growth, so strong the need and so
different the younger generation which handles cinema, it will be called by a dozen
names?Window on the World, World Eye, Brave New World, and what not...Only three
years old, it has swept through the country, answering the thin glitter of the newsreels...In
no deep sense conscious of the higher cinematic qualities, it merely carries over from
journalism into cinema, after thirty-eight years, something of that bright and easy
tradition of free-born comment which the newspaper has won and the cinema has been
147Barunow, 33-35.
148Speech by Louis DeRochemont titled Importance of Presenting Social Problems on the Screen, February 4, 1939,
Louis DeRochemont Speeches File, Time Incorporated Archives, Time-Life Building, New York City.
73
too abject even to ask for.?147
It can be argued, of course, that The March of Time was not a documentary at all. 
What are considered documentaries have nearly always been produced as isolated, one-
shot films.  Often made on a modest budget, each have tended to be the product of a
single director?s style and vision, on which production might take months or years.
By contrast, The March of Time was a corporate product, whose title did not even
carry the names of the people who made it, fashioned by scores of people over a sixteen-
year period during which time more than 200 issues were produced and 300 subjects
explored.  The budget was substantial by conventional documentary standards, but the
length of time allowed for the completion of any single issue was minimal.  As for a
political and social point of view, The March of Time?s staff did indeed have one, and
during the 1930s it was predominantly liberal.148  Nevertheless, the expression of that
point of view was not the central thrust of the film?s production.  Released within the
context of commercial, theatrical exhibition, The March of Time was designed to vend
information and to provoke public discussion on current issues.  De Rochemont never
considered The March of Time a documentary, believing that the term documentary was
bad for box office receipts.  This concern over the commercial viability of the
documentary was shared by other members of the March of Time organization, who were
intimately familiar with the international documentary film movement and sympathetic to
149Speech by Richard DeRochemont on American documentary films given to the English Speaking Union, London,
October 7, 1937, Richard DeRochemont Speeches File, Time Incorporated Archives, Time-Life Building, New York
City.
150Three-Year Plan for March of Time; Memo on Budget and Resources, dated September 1935, March of Time
Miscellaneous File 1935, Time Incorporated Archives, Time-Life Building, New York City.
151Fielding, The American Newsreel, 82.
74
its thematic and artistic aims.149
If The March of Time was not a documentary, then what was it?  As noted
previously, Luce, De Rochemont and Larsen coined the term pictorial journalism to
describe it.   The March of Time was not a newsreel.  There are several distinctions
between The March of Time and the traditional newsreel worth noting.  The March of
Time made no attempt to report up to the minute news.  It was released once a month,
while the regular newsreel was released twice weekly.  The March of Time dealt with a
limited number of subjects in each issue; after May 1938, it contained only one subject in
each issue.  The newsreel dealt with as many as eight or ten different topics in each
release.  Each March of Time issue ran as long as twenty minutes, allowing a fairly in
depth exposition of subject matter.  The traditional newsreel rarely ran more than ten
minutes, often less.  The March of Time was an interpretive, discursive reel that
elaborated with titles, maps, narration, and supplementary archival footage upon the
subjects it treated.    The newsreel, with rare exceptions, treated the news with far less
depth.  The March of Time spent from $25,000 to $75,000 on each issue.150  During the
same period of release, the newsreel spent $8,000 to $12,000 on each of its releases.151 
Both the newsreel and The March of Time staged and recreated events, but The March of
Time did so to a far greater extent?sometimes in the early years, to the almost complete
152Time Gives Journalism a New Dimension; Jack Glenn, The March of Time Handbook For Shooting, September
1942, March of Time Movie File 1942, Time Incorporated Archives, Time-Life Building, New York City, 2-7.
153Luce, Recommendation to the Board of Directors.
154A New Time Venture (Announcement to the Readers of TIME); Luce, Recommendation to the Board of
Directors; Louis DeRochemont Memoir, 11.
75
exclusion of footage gathered in the field.  Moreover, it frequently used impersonators of
celebrities when it was found that actual footage was not available.  The March of Time
admitted and even publicized its use of reenacted scenes.152  The newsreel never admitted
publically to its own similar practices.  The intention of The March of Time was to create
and exploit controversy and to provoke discussion of politically and socially difficult
subjects.  The newsreel producers tried to avoid controversy whenever possible.  Luce
stated in the prospectus laying out the rationale for The March of Time that ?this
experiment in pictorial journalism will by necessity court notoriety.?153  The March of
Time was sometimes openly partisan, while the newsreel rarely was.        
Was The March of Time a dramatic production?  After all, the radio version of
The March of Time was classified in broadcasting circles as a dramatic show rather than a
news broadcast, and the film version sometimes also used dramatically staged
reenactments with actors.  Nonetheless, the emphasis in the film, unlike the radio version,
was clearly on journalistic rather than dramatic interpretation of the news.154  De
Rochemont?s recreations were integrated continuously with real newsreel footage, and
with the maps, diagrams and frequent title inserts that were used, the resulting style was
as much informative as dramatic.  Furthermore, as time passed and the film version of
The March of Time gained in prestige and popularity, it became feasible to replace the
professional impersonators who had been used in the early issues with the actual
155Louis DeRochemont Memoir, DeRochemont Papers, Box 2, American Heritage Center, Laramie, Wyoming, 19-
21; Louis De Rochemont Reminiscences, 13-17; Elson, 1:296.
76
celebrities they featured, playing themselves on the screen.  Certainly film reviewers of
the day never regarded The March of Time as a dramatic product.  Entertaining as it was,
The March of Time was not likely to be confused with heavyweight contemporary drama. 
Indeed, some of the more sophisticated critics referred to the series derisively as Time?s
amateur theatricals, because of the occasional stiffness of reenactments or the ham-
handedness that The March of Time used in getting its point across.  The March of Time
was neither documentary, nor newsreel, nor dramatic product, and yet it had elements of
each.
Within a month of Luce and the board?s authorization, de Rochemont and Larsen
rented the second floor of Fox Movietone News?s New York headquarters at 460 West
54th Street, took over a projection room, created studio space, installed production
equipment, and began auditing tens of thousands of feet of 35mm newsreel footage from
which they hoped to take the raw material of their series.  De Rochemont succeeded, at
this point, in securing the right to buy footage from Fox Movietone?s archives.  Access to
this material was absolutely crucial to The March of Time?s early operations.  In the years
that followed, The March of Time built up its own library until it contained more than ten
million feet, but without Fox Movietone?s footage, de Rochemont could never have made
the series work.155
Early news of the experimental work reached the public in November 1934,
through Daniel Longwell, then assistant to Henry Luce.  It was announced in the New
York Times on November 24 that, if produced, the series ?would bear the same relation to
156A New TIME Venture (Announcement to the Readers of TIME), October 1934, March of Time Movie File 1934,
Time Incorporated Archives, Time-Life Building, New York City.
157Elson, 1:296-297; Time Gives Journalism a New Dimension, August, 1934, March of Time Miscellaneous File
1934, Time Incorporated Archives, Time-Life Building.
158Memo from John Martin to Roy Larsen, October 9, 1934, March of Time Movie File 1934, Time Incorporated
Archives, Time-Life Building, New York City; Louis DeRochemont Reminiscences, 18.
159Louis DeRochemont Reminiscences, 18-20; Louis DeRochemont Memoir, 23; Richard DeRochemont
Reminiscences, 14.
77
the present newsreel as a discursive magazine bears to the newspaper.?156   At that time
the corporation had not yet decided to commit itself to production, and arrangements had
not yet been made for distribution.157
After several months? work, three experimental newsreels had been completed,
each running approximately 20 minutes long and covering such subjects as the
Indianapolis 500, the Dionne quintuplets, Admiral Tojo and the Pacific navies, the
conflict between Englebert Dollfuss and Adolf Hitler, the drought of 1934, the sinking of
the SS Morro Castle, and a profile of the Saar region of Germany.158
Each of these experimental reels incorporated both newsreel and ?re-created?
scenes, the latter of which were based upon real-life events which were performed by
impersonators who looked like the political figures, scientists, artists, military leaders and
other celebrities selected for these issues.  Some of the very earliest March of Time issues
were shot without sound and later, in the studio, the dialogue was dubbed by actors and
actresses who sounded like the celebrities on the screen.  The object was superior sound
recording quality and a saving in time and money.  This approach proved unworkable,
however, and much more expensive than on the spot sound recording, and after a short
period was abandoned.159  
160Luce, Recommendation to Board of Directors; Memo from John Martin to Roy Larsen.
161Louis DeRochemont Reminiscences, 20; Henry R. Luce, Recommendation to the Board of Directors; Memo from
Charles Stillman detailing agreement with First Division, April 2, 1936, March of Time Movie File 1936, Time
Incorporated Archives, Time-Life Building, New York City.
162Richard DeRochemont Reminiscences, 2-5.
78
Though crude and unpolished, these experimental reels showed promise as a new
type of motion picture reportage.  After extensive internal criticism, particularly from the
skeptical Ralph Ingersoll, the directors of Time Inc., approved a schedule of commercial
release, and preparations were made for the launching of the newsreel.   The experimental
shorts themselves were never released in their original form; however, several of the
sixteen sequences were later included in the commercial releases.160
The March of Time was founded in 1934, separate from but under the control and
ownership of Time, Incorporated, with business offices and general headquarters in New
York.  Roy Larsen was president and treasurer and Louis de Rochemont was vice-
president.  Contracts were signed with First Division Pictures, a small distributor in the
March of Time, Inc., had bought a controlling interest.  This proved to be a mistake, as
the undercapitalized First Division was nearly bankrupt.161
The production staff was gradually enlarged to include a permanent complement
of cameramen, researchers, writers, editors and technicians.  Production of film issues
were increased to provide for a projected distribution schedule of one issue per month. 
Richard de Rochemont, Louis de Rochemont?s brother, was hired to head European
operations.  Richard de Rochemont had a long career in the newsreel business as a
reporter, editor, and manager for France of Fox Movietone News.162
An intensive publicity campaign, through the pages of Time and Fortune
163Introducing The March of Time, March of Time Movie File 1935, Time Incorporated Archives, Time-Life
Building, New York City; Elson, 1:298.
164Memo from Dan Longwell titled The March of Time on the Screen, January 10, 1935, March of Time Movie File,
Time Incorporated Archives, Time-Life Building, New York City.
165Letter from Louis DeRochemont to Richard DeRochemont, January 7, 1935, March of Time Movie File 1935,
Time Incorporated Archives, Time-Life Building, New York City; Louis DeRochemont Memoir, 23.
79
magazines, the radio version of the March of Time, and local level advertising, prepared
the public for the coming series.  In a widely circulated publicity brochure titled
Introducing the March of Time, the corporation outlined the contents of the first issue,
revealed plans for later releases and carefully differentiated between the March of Time
on radio and on film: ?Is the March of Time a promotion scheme for Time Magazine? 
No.  The motion picture is a distinct, independent project.  A separate company, THE
MARCH OF TIME, Inc., has been formed to produce the feature.  This is sold to motion
picture exhibitors on its own entertainment value.  It must pay for itself or it will be
discontinued.?163  By January 26, 1935 some 509 theaters had booked the series in
advance.164
On February 1, 1935, the first issue of The March of Time premiered at the
Capitol Theater in New York City and opened at seventy first-run movie houses
throughout the country.  Running 22 minutes, it covered a wide variety of subjects in a
style which the film?s producers called ?pictorial journalism.?165
The first sequence of the film described the role of Prince Saionji in Japan?s
internal struggle between democratic leadership and growing militarism.  The second
sequence described the devices and ruses used by the proprietors of Manhattan?s famous
21 Club to frustrate the efforts of federal agents during the prohibition era.  The third
166The March of Time, Vol. 1, #1, (New York: Time Incorporated, February 1, 1935), March of Time Collection,
MT 1.01, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland.  The entire run of The March of
Time, including special features, is held by the National Archives in College Park, Maryland
167The March of Time Vol. 1, # 1 Production File, March of Time Collection, MT 1.01, National Archives and
Records Administration, College Park Maryland.  These production files contain drafts of scripts, ?dope sheets? with
pertinent technical information, expense reports and other material relating to the production of each March of Time
80
showed the attempts of Britain?s transport minister, Leslie Hore-Belisha, to erect traffic
lights throughout the country, despite the hostility and vandalism of British motorists.  
The fourth sequence recounted a foreign incident involving an American tourist, Moe
Buchsbaum, who refused to pay a traffic fine in France unless the payment was applied to
France?s unpaid World War I debt to the United States.  The fifth investigated the
National Recovery Administration and the conviction of Fred Perkins, a small battery
manufacturer, who had refused, as a matter of principle, to abide by NRA wage-scale
directives.  The last sequence, which incorporated the first sound pictures ever taken of
the Metropolitan Opera, described the last-night performance, resignation and retirement
of Giulio Gatti-Casazza, general manager of the Metropolitan Opera for twenty-five
years.166
The film?s continuity depended largely on the frequent use of ?re-creation.?  With
the exception of the first sequence, which dealt with Japan, the contents of the entire film
were staged by The March of Time directors and cameramen, who either persuaded the
principals to reenact the incidents shown as they had originally occurred or used
impersonators in their place.  The sequence on Japan relied heavily on newsreel stock
shots.  However, even in this episode, at least one of the scenes of Prince Saionji was
made in New York with a Japanese nonprofessional look-alike, who was paid $30 for his
brief on-camera performance.167  Even when authentic newsreel material was available,
issue.
168First Reactions to The March of Time, March of Time Movie File 1935, Time Incorporated Archives, Time-Life
Building, New York City.  These ?first reactions? are clips from critics, newspapers and magazines compiled into a
lengthy memorandum for internal Time Inc., use.
169Henry R. Luce, memo titled Very Preliminary Remarks on the Further Development of THE MARCH OF TIME,
March of Time Movie File, Time-Incorporated Archives, Time-Life Building, New York City.
170Luce, Very Preliminary Remarks.
81
impersonation was sometimes preferred by the film?s editors in the interest of dramatic
effectiveness.  Clearly, the more or less literal format of the conventional newsreel had
been abandoned for a more dynamic and dramatic motion picture treatment of current
events.
Critics generally seemed pleased with the early releases.  Alistair Cooke wrote in
the Listener on November 20, 1935, ?There are papers, and in a fainter way documentary
films, that are intelligent.  There are some that are energetic.  There are some that are
aloof.  It has been left to Time, and now ?The March of Time? to combine, for the first
time in journalism, intelligence, energy and aloofness.?168  Luce was also generally
pleased, although he had a number of concerns about editing, believing that some of the
sequences were excessively jumpy and in some cases that the action on the screen was
unclear, and ?that there are too many places in the picture where you do not instantly
understand exactly what is going on and why.?169  Luce also ruminated on whether it was
desirable to focus on one subject in each release, allowing for greater depth of exploration
and audience understanding.  In spite of these criticisms, Luce predicted that over time
the production staff would smooth out any early problems and produce a much more
effective film.170
171First Reactions to The March of Time.
172Three-Year Plan For March of Time, March of Time Miscellaneous File 1934, October 1934, Time Incorporated
Archives, Time-Life Building, New York City; Distribution Memo to Henry R. Luce, March of Time Movie File
1935, Time Incorporated Archives, Time-Life Building, New York City.
82
Worries at the home office about the newsreel?s commercial potential gradually
faded as the public endorsed the new series at the box office.  Variety, the industry trade
paper proclaimed in its February 5, 1935 issue, ?From the exhibitor angle, the cinematic
?March of Time?...is boxoffice...The same skillful news merchandising which has
distinguished the weekly news magazine finds a counterpart in the ?March of Time? reel
which may well become a No. 2 feature for the average exhib.  It?s more than a newsreel,
and even the deluxers, playing single features, first run, may well be deemed offering a
dual bill every month when the new ?March of Time? rolls around.?171  With its first
offering well-received, March of Time, Inc., released the second issue in its first year
schedule.  By now, distribution of the series was well-enough planned to ensure a fairly
wide audience for the film.172
Following each issue?s appearance in key, first-run theaters, the prints were
passed on to smaller houses throughout the country until, at the end of the first run, the
issue had appeared in 417 movie houses in 168 cities.  The cost to exhibitors varied with
the size and prestige of the house, the size of the city, and whether the release was first
run or second run.   First run rates varied from $500 to $1500 per booking for
independent houses.  Lower rates were quoted to houses belonging to large theater chains;
lower still to theaters that ran it weeks later as second and third runs.  March of Time,
Inc., optimistically predicted its average gross revenue from all 417 theaters during this
173Time gives journalism a New Dimension, August 27, 1934, March of Time Miscellaneous File 1934, Time
Incorporated Archives, Time-Life Building, New York City; Three Year Plan For March of Time; Memo titled
Production Expenses, August 1934, March of Time Movie File 1934, Time Incorporated Archives, Time-Life
Building, New York City.
174The March of Time, Vol. 1, #2, (New York: Time Incorporated, March 8, 1935), March of Time Collection, MT
1.02, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park Maryland; The March of Time, Vol. 1, #2,
Production File, March of Time Collection, MT 1.02, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park,
Maryland.
83
first year at $200,000 per issue.173
The second issue, unlike the first, was mildly controversial.  One of its episodes
was devoted to a sequence on Adolf Hitler, briefly describing his rise to power, political
maneuvers, and preparations for war.  Up to this time, photographs of Hitler had rarely
appeared on American movie screens because of the film industry?s reluctance to arouse
its audiences and create controversy.  The film contained one of the most celebrated shots
ever shown of Hitler, made late at night as the dictator sat before a fireplace staring
moodily into the fire.  The shot had been staged by The March of Time in its New York
studios, with an impersonator.  Over it, somber narrator Westbrook Van Voorhis intoned,
?To a mountain retreat in the Bavarian alps, an ultimatum from the great powers of
Europe sends a lone, strange man to brood over a bitter fact.  He has just been forced to
realize that he is the most suspected, most distrusted ruler in the world today.  In two
short years, Adolf Hitler has lost for his country what Germany had nearly regained?the
world?s sympathy.?174
From Canada, two sequences of this second issue were removed and shipped back
to New York by a Canadian theater chain.  The Ontario Board of Censors found the Hitler
sequence belligerent in its attitude, despite arguments from March of Time, Inc., that the
175First Reactions to March of Time; Louis DeRochemont Reminiscences, 24.
176Elson, 1:299.
177The March of Time, Vol. 1, # 3, (New York: Time Incorporated, April 19, 1935), March of Time Collection, MT
1.03, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland; The March of Time, Vol. 1, #3,
Production File, March of Time Collection, MT 1.02, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park,
Maryland.  Notations on the script jokingly suggest that the woman in question was barely literate.
84
sequence paralleled coverage of the Nazi dictator in newspapers and magazines. 175 Also
deleted by the Ontario board was the second sequence of the issue?a description of the
methods used by the New York Daily News in scooping its competitors with news of the
Bruno Hauptmann death sentence.  Deletion of the sequence by the Censor Board was in
line with its general ban on all newsreel clips of the Hauptmann trial as being in bad
taste.176
If de Rochemont and Larsen were disturbed by the censorship that their second
issue had provoked, it was not apparent.  The third issue, released in April 1935 was still
more controversial.  It featured, first, a satirical study of Huey P. Long, Louisiana?s famed
?Kingfish.?  The March of Time used Long?s own statements and activities in what
became a devastating portrait.177
The March of Time had managed to talk Long into appearing personally in sound
film sequences which were photographed in his Senate office.  In addition, an
impersonator was used to reenact some of Long?s more obnoxious behavior, including
receiving the captain of the German cruiser Emden in his pajamas.  March of Time
cameramen and editors also mocked Long?s personal secretary, a woman who Long had
appointed acting governor during his long absences from Louisiana.  She foolishly agreed
to appear before March of Time cameras and inarticulately stumbled through several takes
178March of Time, Vol. 1, #3; March of Time, Vol. 1, #3, Production File.  Notations on the script indicate the
woman was barely literate.
179Ibid.
180First Reactions to March of Time; Louis DeRochemont Reminiscenes, 26; ?Huey Long A Film Censor Now?
Kidding Subject Deleted From ?Time? in N.O.,? Variety, April 24, 1935, p. 1.  The Time Inc., Archives in New York
City contain numerous copies of Variety, Nation, Spectator, New Republic and other periodicals reviewing and
analyzing Time Incorporated publications.
85
for the camera crew, the worst of which were purposely incorporated into the finished
film.178
The March of Time staff also re-created an alleged true-life incident in which
Long, momentarily unprotected by his bodyguards, became involved in a brawl in the
men?s room at a private Long Island club, and ended up with a black eye.  All of this was
amusing, but it must be remembered that at this point Huey Long was a fairly powerful
figure, a demagogue who posed a threat to the reelection chances of Franklin D.
Roosevelt in 1936.179
When the film opened at the Loew?s State Theater in New Orleans on April 16,
1935, patrons found the sequence on Huey Long conspicuous by its absence; Long
appeared in all other screenings of the film and was mentioned prominently in advertising
for The March of Time?s third issue.  Whether the Kingfish, who had rushed to New
Orleans shortly before the print of the film arrived in the city, had directly ordered the
deletion of the print has never been made clear.  The management of Loew?s claimed to
have run the print as they got it and denied any pressure from Long or his minions. 
Shortly thereafter, Long introduced into the Louisiana legislature a bill, subsequently
passed, which provided for censorship of motion pictures, including newsreels, in the
state.180
181The March of Time, Vol. 1 #4, (New York: Time Incorporated,  May 31, 1935), March of Time Collection, MT
1.04, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland; The March of Time, Vol. 1, # 4
Production File, March of Time Collection, MT 1.04, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park,
Maryland.
86
The fourth and last sequence of this issue described the bridging of the Pacific
Ocean by Pan-American Airways? giant flying boats, then the height of aviation
technology.   Although inherently non-controversial, the subject had profound
geopolitical implications, as it reflected the US governments desire to maintain a
dominant presence in the Pacific, a desire contested by growing Japanese naval and air
power.  It also illuminated the economic cooperation between an American corporation,
Pan-American, and the Chinese government?a theme with resonance for Time Inc., chief
Henry Luce.  The issue was also unique operationally; most March of Time issues
contained re-enacted events, while this issue pre-enacted an event that had not yet taken
place.  The inauguration of flying boat service across the Pacific started after it was
depicted in The March of Time.181
The March of Time?s fourth issue, covering only three subjects, was surprisingly
mild in tone considering the controversial nature of it featured subject, the Soviet Union. 
Fairly simple-minded in its analysis, the film was both laudatory and sympathetic to the
Soviet experience, most of the footage having been photographed by freelance
cameraman Julien Byran.  Missing were references to political purges then in progress,
the well-known suppression of religious freedom throughout the country, the execution of
political dissidents under Stalin and the liquidation of recalcitrant peasant populations. 
Only the most skeptical viewer would have questioned that the promise of the revolution
had been fufilled, given the smiling faces, well-dressed citizens and happy children
182The March of Time, Vol. 1, #4, March of Time, Vol. 1, #4 Production File.  Notations on the dope sheet for this
issue indicate which material had been acquired from Bryan.
183Ibid.
184Variety, June 5, 1935, p. 3.
87
presented in the film.182
The March of Time did concede that 150,000 anti-communist prisoners were
being used as forced labor in the construction of a canal linking the White and Baltic
Seas, but fitted this revelation into a series of statements regarding the astonishing
progress being made in industrializing and modernizing the country.  The newsreel
concluded that the communist rulers of Russia were doing a far better job of building a
nation than did the old imperial government.183
Scattered charges of ?communist propaganda? were heard from the Hearst press
following the film?s release, while liberal reviewers seemed to find it a fair and impartial
presentation.  Variety perceptively concluded on June 5 that ?Even the American
Communists who are attacking ?March of Time? as bourgeois, in choice of subject and
treatment thereof, could scarcely charge that Russia failed to receive ample recognition of
its accomplishments and a generous neglect of its failures at the hands of Time?s
editors.?184
By now, some observers began to believe that The March of Time, rather than
avoiding controversy, was deliberately provoking it.  The appearance of a controversial
newsreel was a new experience for critics.   Some were pleasantly surprised.  Wrote the
New York World Telegram on April 24: ?Any doubts about the necessity of a
supplementary newsreel like ?The March of Time?...should disappear after a glance at the
185First Reactions to the March of Time.
186Nation, February 20, 1935, 14.
88
third issue...By far the finest of the three already released, not only from the point of view
of subject matter but treatment as well, the current issue shows anew how forceful and
influential a well thought-out motion picture commentary on the current scene can.?185
Others were less hopeful for its continued success.  On February 20 the Nation
warned, ?Sooner or later the producers will be forced to recognize between a news
magazine, like Time or the Literary Digest, and a journal of opinion, like the Nation or
the New Republic.  And the moment that they realize the hazards which the latter choice
would involve they will undoubtedly be forced to turn out a product which is not
essentially very different from the old-fashioned newsreel.  The choice is clearly between
bare presentation and critical interpretation of the news; and only the most sanguine
optimist can persuade anyone that the great motion picture audience is ready for the
latter.?186
In June 1935 contracts between March of Time, Inc., and its distributor, First
Division Pictures, were canceled by mutual agreement.  The breakup resulted from the
inability of First Division, a relatively small distributor, to offer a complete national and
European release for the high budget series.  It was also felt that The March of Time alone
could not support the company?s exchanges.  Shortly thereafter, The March of Time
signed a new distribution contract with the RKO distributing organization, thus ensuring
intensive promotion and widespread release of the series.  This relationship worked well
and lasted until July 1942.  RKO?s distribution head, Ned Depinet, enjoyed The March of
187Memo from Charles Stillman, April 2, 1936; The Deal With RKO, Warner Brothers or Paramount, undated
March of Time Movie File 1936, Time Incorporated Archives, Time-Life Building, New York City; Richard
DeRochemont Reminiscences, 9-10; Letter to Richard DeRochemont from Roy Larsen, April 25, 1935, March of
Time Movie File 1935, Time Incorporated Archives, Time-Life Building, New York City; Letter from Henry Luce to
Ned Depinet, May 27, 1935, March of Time Movie File 1935, Time Incorporated Archives, Time-Life Building,
New York City.
188The March of Time, Vol. 1, #5, (New York: Time Incorporated, August 16, 1935) March of Time Collection, MT
1.05, National Archives and Records Administration, Motion Picture Sound and Video Branch, College Park,
Maryland; The March of Time, Vol. 1, #5, Production File, March of Time Collection, MT 1.05, National Archives
and Records Administration, Motion Picture Sound and Video Branch, College Park, Maryland.
89
Time and gave its releases special attention.187
As a result of the change of distributors, release of the fifth issue was delayed
until August 1935.  The twenty minute film dealt with three controversial subjects.  The
first was Father Charles Coughlin, the politically minded Catholic priest, the second dealt
with the French fascist organization, the Croix de Feu, and third, US Army maneuvers
under the command of General Douglas MacArthur.  In fact, The March of Time had
asked General MacArthur to simulate an actual mobilization of the Army to counter an
invasion of the US through the St. Lawrence Valley.  One curious sequence in the film
revealed the odds that were then being offered by Lloyd?s of London on war breaking out
anywhere in the world: 20 to 1 against a Russian-Japanese War; 100 to 1 against the US
being drawn into any overseas conflict; 500 to 1 against any invasion of the US.188
The Father Coughlin story, given his prominence, received special attention from
de Rochemont and his editorial staff.  De Rochemont sent a cameraman out to travel
around the country with Coughlin in the latter?s private plane, producing an intimate kind
of coverage which is common today but was rare in the 1930s.  The segment featured
several staged incidents from Coughlin?s life, including his alleged confrontation with a
group of Klansmen at a cross-burning ceremony.  Coughlin cooperated in the making of
189Ibid.
190Ibid.
191Ibid; Louis DeRochemont Reminiscenes, 28; Louis De Rochemont Memoir, 27; Richard DeRochemont
Reminiscences, 8-9.
90
the film.189
The film had very little to say about Coughlin one way or another.  In this respect,
it encouraged audiences to read whatever meaning they wished into the scenes.  It never
referred to the priest as being fascist or anti-Semitic, but relied upon the familiarity of the
general public with Coughlin and his National Union of Social Justice.  It probed, in
some detail, Coughlin?s position within the Catholic Church, concluding that priests who
become too conspicuous often find themselves transferred to ?out of the way places.?190
As for the Croix de Feu, the political situation in France was quite unstable at the
time.  The organization was threatening to mobilize and attempt a takeover of the French
government.  Representatives of the organization told Richard de Rochemont, who had
directed the film, to delay the release of the completed newsreel segment until October. 
The March of Time?s chiefs, most notably Louis de Rochemont, decided to release the
film on schedule, and received a good deal of cooperation from the Croix de Feu?s leader,
Colonel Eugene de la Rocque.191
Critical reaction to the film was explosive.  George Dangerfield, writing in the
New Republic, stated that the film had something for both rightist and leftist elements,
while being particularly kind to the Croix de Feu and de la Rocque.  Left-wing
publications were particularly vocal in their denunciation of the issue.  On September 3,
1935, an editorial in the New Masses proclaimed, ?This was the signal for The March of
192George Dangerfield, ?Time Muddles On,? New Republic, August 19, 1936, 43.
193Ibid.
194Alistair Cooke, ?History in the Making,? Listener, November 20, 1935, 931.
195Elson, 1:302.
91
Time to unfurl their true flag; the swastika...The political status of The March of Time is
no longer a matter of speculation...It is open and brazen fascism.?192  A March 1936
article appearing in the radical journal American Spectator charged that the directors of
Time, Inc., had ties to the Morgan banking house, which in turn supposedly had ties to
the Croix de Feu through its Paris firm.  Dangerfield had rejected the charge, stating that
the real danger of The March of Time was not that it was right or left but non-ideological
and irresponsible, interested only in exciting the public.193  The controversy was further
aggravated overseas by British censorship of scenes in the Croix de Feu sequence that
indicated the source of the organization funds.  Alistair Cooke, writing in the November 8
issue of The Listener, called the deletion ?a serious act...The film becomes, by what it
omits...a vehicle for the most pernicious kind of propaganda?propaganda by implication.
?The March of Time? must be left as it was composed.?194          
Taken as a whole, this August 1935 issue became one of The March of Time?s
most controversial films.  No group was more unhappy with it than the Hollywood
motion picture industry.  The Hays Office, watchdog of the film industry?s morals, began
a careful consideration of The March of Time, hesitant to place it in the same
classification as regular newsreels, which did not come under their production code
control.195         
Completely in line with Hays Office concerns was an editorial in the November 2
196Motion Picture Herald, November 2, 1935.
197The March of Time, Vol. 1, # 6, (New York: Time Incorporated: September 20, 1935), March of Time Collection,
MT 1.06, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland; March of Time, Vol. 1, # 6,
Production File, March of Time Collection, MT 1.06, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park,
Maryland.  Fettis is identified in a notation on the shooting script.
92
issue of the Motion Picture Herald, the film industry?s leading trade paper, which
concluded: ?Now with ?The March of Time? leading a trend toward the presentation of
screen material of viewpoint, if not opinion, a whole set of problems looms.  The problem
is not what the pictures may stand for, but that they may stand for anything.  The motion
picture theatre as the servant of the millions has never been able to afford opinion,
attitude, ideas?anything but sheer entertainment pabulum.?196          
In September 1935 The March of Time released its sixth issue, covering the
Ethiopian crisis, employing a March of Time office worker named Hugh Fettis as a
double for Emperor Haile Selassie; malcontents and undesirables in the New Deal?s
Civilian Conservation Corps; and a coal-miners? strike against management in
Pennsylvania which resulted in the digging and bootlegging of coal by the miners.  By
now, partisan reviewers and politically inclined critics were reading whatever they like
into March of Time releases according to their own beliefs.  Although this sixth issue was
generally praised as a worthwhile release, some groups found the bootleg coal sequence
unduly sympathetic to the union workers while others deplored its support for
management.197 
With the release of The March of Time?s seventh issue in October, the number of
individual sequences rose again to four, including a dramatic staging of Joseph Furnas?s
shocking article in the Reader?s Digest on car accidents, titled ?...And Sudden Death?; a
198The March of Time, Vol. 1, #7, (New York: Time Incorporated, October 18, 1935), March of Time Collection,
MT 1.07, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland;  March of Time, Vol. 1, #7,
Production File, March of Time Collection, MT 1.07, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park,
Maryland.  A copy of Furnass?s article is contained in the Production File.
199Ibid; Memo from Dan Longwell detailing reaction to Palestine story, June 15, 1951, March of Time Movie File
1951, Time Incorporated Archives, Time-Life Building, New York City; March of Time Press Release criticizing
censorship of Palestine story, October 25, 1935, March of Time Movie File 1935, Time Incorporated Archives,
Time-Life Building, New York City.
93
discussion of neutrality and the refusal of an American barbed-wire manufacturer to sell
his product to belligerent countries; a description of the summer theater movement; and a
detailed segment on Palestine.198
The Palestine footage was particularly well-crafted, discussing the background of
oppression of Jews in Nazi Germany, the flight of some to Palestine, and the rebuilding
of Haifa, Tel Aviv and other locations into a new home for the refugees.  This sequence
proved controversial, as censorship boards in Ohio and Chicago deleted sections of the
film.  The Ohio action followed protests by both Jewish and German community leaders
in that state.  Ohio officials ordered the cuts on grounds that the scenes depicting Nazi
attacks on Jews would provoke bitter class feeling between Germans and Jews in Ohio. 
These cuts involved scenes of Nazi storm troopers raiding stores operated by Jews, which
were staged March of Time camera crews in New London, Connecticut, and the burning
of books by Jewish authors.  In addition, censors were exercised by the narrator?s
statement that ?Hitler is the man who has brought more evil on the Jews than any man in
this generation.?199
The March of Time?s first year of production was now drawing to a close.  Issue
No. 8 covered the upcoming presidential election and the efforts of Republicans to defeat
Franklin Roosevelt; a review of the work of the US Biological survey in preserving
200The March of Time, Vol. 1, #8, (New York: Time Incorporated, November 13, 1935) March of Time Collection,
MT 1.08, National Archives and Records Administration, Motion Picture Sound and Video Branch, College Park,
Maryland; The March of Time, Vol. 1, #8, Production File, March of Time Collection, MT 1.08, National Archives
and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland.
201The March of Time, Vol. 1, #9, (New York: Time Incorporated, December 13, 1935), March of Time Collection,
MT 1.09, National Archives and Records Administration, Motion Picture Sound and Video Branch, College Park,
Maryland; The March of Time, Vol. 1, #9 Production File, March of Time Collection, MT, 1.09, National Archives
and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland.
202Dangerfield, 43-44.
94
migratory wildfowl; and an account of the expulsion of professional strike-breaker Pearl
Louis Bergoff from Georgia by Governor Eugene Talmadge.200
In December 1935 the ninth and last issue of the first volume was released,
covering the Japanese occupation of China and the formation of the puppet state of
Manchukuo, the US Coast Guard and Secret Service?s fight against narcotics smuggling
and the economic program advocated by Dr. Francis Townshend.201
With the completion of the first volume of The March of Time, film critics and
political observers paused to gain perspective and to evaluate this new and unpredictable
motion picture phenomenon.  In his August 19, 1936, article in the New Republic, George
Dangerfield found fault with the producers apparent attempt to achieve objectivity,
?There is a lot of money involved in The March of Time, and how can it afford to risk
offending anyone by telling a deliberate truth?...I wish that the editors of The March of
Time, since they have at their disposal these fictions which excite and enrage people,
would use them to some purpose...I wish they would say?outright, beyond question?that
somebody was right or wrong...Then we could attack them or defend them, and they
would be exciting their audiences honestly.?202
Alistair Cooke outlined the danger of ?witless? imitation of the series by other
203Cooke, 931-932.
95
film companies in The Listener of November 20, 1935, stating ? ?The March of Time? is
not the result of bright inspiration.  Behind it is ten years? of experience with a magazine
of the same style; an army of correspondents and cameramen scattered throughout the
world; an historical film library it took two years to prepare; a newspaper cutting library
as exhaustive as anything extant; and in New York and Chicago a vast research staff alert
to trace the origins of any family, war, author, statesman, treaty or breath or rumour. 
With no less than this should any film company irresponsibly compete.?203
Although The March of Time had achieved a mass audience from its inception
through its access to the Hollywood studio system and the authority granted to the series
because of its association with Time Inc., there were contrasting viewpoints to its self-
defined moderate reform-oriented liberalism.  One of the these alternative views, the most
prominent was found in the Federal Theater Project?s series of ?Living Newspaper? plays. 
The Federal Theater Project was part of the Works Progress Administration, one of the
most prominent of the myriad government agencies created by the New Deal to alleviate
the dislocation caused by the catastrophic downturn in the American economy during the
1930s.  The project, by 1936, had become a haven for leftist, even radical writers, who
saw the ?Living Newspaper? as a vehicle for engaging an audience that had moved from
traditional stage productions to the movies, and for moving that audience towards
political activity.  As a result, playwrights who achieved critical and public acclaim
through the ?Living Newspaper? series turned to and were briefly embraced by
204Laura Browder, Rousing the Nation: Radical Culture in Depression America, (Amherst: University of
Massachusetts Press, 1998), 2-10.  By the mid 1930s the movie audience was estimated at 60 to 75 million a week.
205Ibid., 13.
206Ibid., 121-127.
96
Hollywood in the late 1930s204   The stage productions produced by the FTP represent an
attempt to rethink America and show America a ?true? vision of itself.205
The Federal Theater Project used documentary techniques to represent American
history on stage, while calling for action on the part of the audience.  Highly ideological,
the plays produced by the FTP were heavily influenced by refugees from fascist regimes
in Europe who arrived in the United States in the late 1920s and early 1930s.  The
historical topics taken up were often bound up with New Deal politics, attempting to
place the New Deal in the mainstream of perceptions of the American past.  Reflecting,
perhaps, early Soviet uses of theater to influence the masses, the plays mostly focus on
large, impersonal forces in society and the economic system rather than individuals.  The
problems of depression-era America were addressed as a whole, not through appeals to
the individual.   There were also attempts at giving the audience analytical tools to
critique newspapers and the newsreels.  Conscious of charges of bias, administrators,
writers and directors associated the FTP constantly argued that their productions were
within the cultural mainstream, at one point comparing the series of plays to The March
of Time.206
One of the most successful FTP plays, titled Strike Marches On, was an obvious
imitation of the March of Time.  Strike Marches On has as its subject the 1937 strikes
directed at General Motors.  The play, like The March of Time, makes heavy use of
207Browder, 129-139.
97
documents, speeches and newspaper reports that the audience has heard or seen in other
formats to drive home its point and impress upon the audience notions of authority.  The
play encourages the audience to reexamine current events by understanding other sources
of information critically.  Strike Marches On cast the strikers as heirs to a long and
essential tradition of civil disobediance and urges audiences to define the meaning of
American citizenship for themselves, using the tool of historical knowledge, rather than
allowing corporations to define Americanism.207
The most fascinating episodes in the life of the FTP surrounded the attempt to
take the most successful play produced under the FTP, One Third of a Nation and make it
into a successful Hollywood film.  One Third of a Nation concerned the housing crisis in
urban America and took its name from a famous line in President Roosevelt?s 1937
inaugural address.  Purchased by Paramount Studios in 1938, the film received a massive
amount of publicity, particularly in the New York papers and in leftist journals such as
New Masses.  But the film was a resounding flop, particularly in rural areas, shocking
industry observers who thought, in light of the success of ?social problem? films
produced by Warner Brothers, that One Third of a Nation would have broad appeal.  The
reasons given for the film?s failure were varied.  Some observers noted that there was
growing recognition and more attention to the fascist threat in the media and less interest
in domestic social problems, particularly as the nation began to emerge from the 1937-38
recession as the film was released (The March of Time?s ?Inside Nazi Germany? appeared
in 1938 to generally rapturous reviews and a good deal of controversy).   There were also
208Ibid., 156-167.
209Continuity scripts are contained in the Production Files held by the National Archives.
210March of Time Production Files.
98
major changes to the plot, blunting its impact, and to the staging as the production moved
from stage to film.  The experimental, modernist stage direction associated with One
Third of a Nation during its stage run was abandoned for a more Hollywood look and
feel, with the redemption of the main character, an heir whose wealth was concentrated in
tenements, through the love of a dedicated social worker.  The group based solution
advocated in the play was abandoned in favor of reform through changing the attitudes of
one individual.208
The March of Time?s distinctive style was an amalgam of many features and
stylistic touches, fresh in their day, unique in their combination and imitated in the years
that followed.    The cutting was quite rapid.  According to the final continuity scripts
individual shots were often cut as short as two seconds, while an occasional shot ran
2/3rds of a second.209  An examination of the scripts reveals that during the 1930s an
average issue ran 19.39 minutes, contained 288 shots with the average length of the shot
being four seconds.  Following World War II the cutting rate slowed slightly.   Shots
within scenes, as well as scenes within sequences, were almost always connected by
straight cuts, in a fashion that is widely used today.210 
It was de Rochemont?s rule that camera movements were never allowed except
under the most extraordinary circumstances.  Scenes were always photographed with the
camera mounted on a tripod.  Rock-steady shots such as these were undeniably static, but
211Glenn, March of Time Handbook for Shooting, 8-11.
212Glenn, 10, 12.
99
that was what de Rochemont wanted.  The rapid editing which he favored more than
compensated for the static quality of the shots.  Indeed, without static shots, he could not
have cut rapidly at all.  So-called dynamic or montage cutting only worked when each of
the individual camera shots was made from a steady platform.211
The angle of view de Rochemont required was straightforward and conventional,
and   The March of Time?s photographic style was simple and austere.    Much of the
footage was photographed in authentic locations?apartments, offices, factories and the
like.  Shooting in such places meant that working space was limited and camera angles
cramped.  In order to photograph the widest possible angle and to secure their
establishing shots under these conditions, and also produce a substantial depth of field,
25mm wide angle lenses were frequently used.    These often produced optical distortion
around the edges of the frame, which meant the actors had be positioned toward the
middle of the picture lest they appear grossly inflated and out of shape.  Props that
appeared at the edges of the frame, such as cups, saucers, dishes and ash trays would have
to be propped up with wooden blocks and adhesive, at strange angles, in order to come
out on even keel in the finished picture.212
It was also standard March of Time procedure to place the camera at the height of
a sitting person?s eyes.  The idea behind this was to look at the scene from the audience?s
perspective.  Camera positions such as this tended to dramatize the individuals who
appeared in the frame, making them appear slightly larger than life when they were
213Ibid., 9.
214Glenn, 6-7.
100
standing.213
One of the unintended but inevitable consequences of this combination of short-
focus lenses and lower than normal camera angles was the frequent inclusion of ceilings
in the shots.  Although not unknown in theatrical feature films, Hollywood film makers
usually kept the appearance of ceilings in scenes to a minimum.  In 1941, Orson Welles
attracted a good deal of attention by purposely emphasizing ceiling shots throughout the
whole of Citizen Kane, the plot of which involved a thinly disguised version of The
March of Time.
Because of the speed with which March of Time camera crews worked, the
cramped space in which they operated, and the limited amount of electrical power
available to them, the lighting used was as realistic as possible.  Although always well
composed and properly exposed, scenes were lit flatly, without the theatrical
backlighting, accent lights and atmospheric shadings Hollywood?s audiences had become
accustomed to.214  This never bothered Larsen or de Rochemont, as it fitted perfectly with
their concept of pictorial journalism, and helped to make the images more believable. 
Ironically, in time some Hollywood film makers began to imitate The March of Time?s
lighting, especially after the war when, due to de Rochemont?s innovativel feature-film
productions for 20th Century Fox (Boomerang, The House on 92nd Street), a so-called
documentary style of film making was introduced into theatrical features.  De Rochemont
wrote in an unpublished memoir that ?the features started using some of the same
215Louis DeRochemont Reminiscences, 32; Louis DeRochemont Memoir, 6-7.
216Glenn, 12-13; Letter from Louis DeRochemont to Richard DeRochemont, dated June 16, 1938, March of Time
Miscellaneous File 1938, Time Incorporated Archives, Time-Life Building, New York City, 1-2.
217Richard DeRochemont Reminiscences, 25.
101
techniques that we had used on March...you can see it a number of places.?215  
De Rochemont never allowed the use of ?talking heads?? a kind of shot familiar
to television news audiences of today in which a person is photographed up close
speaking directly to the audience.  By contrast, in a March of Time shot, there was always
enough set detail around the subject so that the audience knew where he or she was
located?at a table, at a podium, in front of a piece of machinery, in a kitchen, and so forth. 
The subject did not talk to the audience; he or she talked to someone else.  If there was a
talking head shot utilized, it was placed within the context of other action in the story.216 
The March of Time never used an on or off-camera interviewer; producer Richard
DeRochemont noted, ?If we wanted to talk about the effects of mobilization on the
national economy in 1942, we would have two fictional businessmen meeting in a club
car on a train...and this was the way we put the point across.? 217            
?Time?s amateur theatricals? and the dialogue that went along with them may have
been trite, but the narration which was read by Westbrook Van Voorhis was beautifully
and meticulously crafted, without a spare word or phrase.  According to some observers,
what made The March of Time stylistically different was the attention de Rochemont gave
to the script; often the written word dominated the picture.  The text and the photography
were given equal value in production.   De Rochemont believed that the documentary
maxim that the pictures must tell the story was an oversimplification, and the narration
218March of Time Production Files.
219Ibid.
220The March of Time, Vol. 1, #3, April 19, 1935; March of Time, Vol. 1, #3 Production File.
102
reflected this view.218          
The narration was almost always indirect, amplifying rather than repeating the
information provided on the screen.  De Rochemont?s first rule of editing was to try to
frame the story with pictures alone; if narration must be used, it should not repeat what
the picture describes.  For example, given a scene of a man seated at a breakfast table
buttering a piece of toast, direct commentary would tell us that this is Mr. Jones, sitting at
his breakfast table, buttering his toast.  Indirect commentary might explain that he will
leave shortly for his job in the city, where, still part of a depressed economy, he earns a
salary that is inadequate for his family?s needs.  It would comment upon the growing size
of his food bills during the previous quarter-year, the result of drought and a poor harvest
in the mid-west and then (as the picture of a graph appears) goes on to explain why the
price of dairy products has risen so high.219          
An example of indirect narration from an early March of Time issue depicted  the
affairs of wealthy, aged munitions manufacturer Sir Basil Zaharoff.  The following
narration concluded over shots of tombstones in a cemetery: ?For close as he is to making
his final peace with his Maker, he is still today, the chief adviser, the wisest, and richest
of the dealers in death.220   
On occasion, Van Voorhis?s powerful narration would stop abruptly and an
informational subtitle would flash across the screen, backed up with dramatic music. 
Like chapter headings in a book, these provided for a shift in subject matter, locale, time,
221The March of Time, Vol. 2, #6, (New York: Time Incorporated, June 12, 1936), March of Time Collection, MT 2.
06, National Archives and Records Administration,  College Park, Maryland; The March of Time, Vol. 2, #1, (New
York: Time Incorporated, January 7, 1936), March of Time Collection, MT 2.01, National Archives and Records
Administration,  College Park, Maryland; The March of Time, Vol. 3, #4, (New York: Time Incorporated, November
27, 1936), March of Time Collection, MT 3.04, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park
Maryland; The March of Time, Vol. 5, #8, (New York: Time Incorporated March 1939), March of Time Collection,
MT 5.08, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland.
103
or point of view.  They were also useful in filling gaps in visual continuity.  The
following title examples are taken from several different issues:
GAY WAS THE VIENNA INTO WHICH OTTO OF HABSBURG WAS BORN
TWENTY FOUR YEARS AGO.  (Vol. 2, # 6)
OLD DEIBLER?S LIFE HAS BEEN SPENT IN THE SERVICE OF THE
GUILLOTINE, BUT YEARS AGO HE SOUGHT TO ESCAPE HIS
GRUESOME CAREER.  (Vol. 2, # 1)
LUSTY AND GLAMOROUS WAS THE THEATER OF YESTERDAY.  (Vol.
3, # 4)
CHIEF CHARACTER IN ANY MEDITERRANEAN CRISIS OF 1939 WILL BE
EUROPE?S NO. 2 SWORDRATTLER?BENITO MUSSOLINI.  (Vol. 5, # 8) 221   
    
The relationship between narration, sub-titles and staged live action sequences
was always intimate and carefully designed.   Care was taken that each element
complemented the other and advanced the story forward.  In other cases, insert scenes
such as newspapers or magazine headlines took the place of titles.  Sometimes, several of
these would appear in rapid succession, the juxtaposition of one headline after another
telling a story of its own and making an unmistakable editorial comment.  For example:
222The March of Time, Vol. 4, #9, (New York: Time Incorporated, April 15, 1938), March of Time Collection, MT
4.09, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland; The March of Time, Vol. 4, #9
Production File, March of Time Collection, MT 4.09, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park,
Maryland.
223The March of Time, Vol. 3, #8, (New York: Time Incorporated, March 19, 1937), March of Time Collection, MT
3.08, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland; The March of Time, Vol. 3, #8
Production File, March of Time Collection, MT 3.08, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park,
Maryland; March of Time, Vol. 1, #3; March of Time Vol. 1, #3 Production File; The March of Time, Vol. 2, #7,
(New York: Time Incorporated, July 10, 1936), March of Time Collection, MT 2.07, National Archives and Records
Administration, College Park, Maryland; The March of Time Vol. 2, #7 Production File, March of Time Collection,
MT 2.07, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland.
224The March of Time, Vol. 1, #6, September 20, 1935.
104
Magazine Title: WHAT IS HITLER GOING TO DO NEXT?
Magazine Title: DESTROY, DESTROY, DESTROY!
Magazine Article: Photograph of Hitler and Mussolini shaking hands.222
In the early years of the series the literary construction of the narration was
identical to that of Time magazine?that is to say, grammatically eccentric.  This was
entirely intentional, as a great deal of effort having been made to adapt ?Time-speak? to
the motion picture series.  It was important that The March of Time be seen and
understood by the public as part of the Time tradition of journalism and identified with
Time, Inc?s other publications.  Examples include, ?Bright is the prospect for renting
agents during Coronation time...? (Vol. 3, # 8); ?Great fun has the self-styled Kingfish in
running Louisiana...?  (Vol. 1, # 3); ?Soon, than Captain Trujillo no young officer was
more diligent and alert.?  (Vol. 2, # 7)223  It was this high-density narration that produced 
this last example of Time-speak, surely one of the most convoluted and bizarre sentences
ever written for an information film, ?Arrested, this bogus Ethiopian is unmasked as a
lovesick Japanese college boy, trading on Ethiopia?s current popularity to make an
impression on a waitress.?224
225The March of Time, Vol. 2, #4, (New York: Time Incorporated, April 17, 1936), March of Time Collection, MT
2.04, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland ; The March of Time, Vol. 2, #4
Production File, March of Time Collection, MT 2.04, National Archives and Records Administration..
226The March of Time, Vol. 1 #3, April 19, 1935; The March of Time, Vol. 1, #3 Production File.
227The March of Time, Vol. 2, #6, (New York: Time Incorporated, June 12, 1936), March of Time Collection, MT
2.06, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park Maryland ; The March of Time, Vol. 2, #6
Production File, March of Time Collection, MT 2.06, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park,
Maryland; The March of Time, Vol. 7, #5, (New York: Time Incorporated, December 1940), March of Time
Collection, MT 7.05, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland; The March of Time,
Vol. 4, #2, (New York: Time Incorporated, October 1, 1937), March of Time Collection, MT 4.02, National
Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland; The March of Time, Vol. 4, #2 Production File, 
March of Time Collection, MT 4.02, National Archives and Records Administration; March of Time, Vol. 1, #5,
August 16, 1935, ; The March of Time, Vol. 1, #5 Production File.
105
Henry Luce had a passion for facts, and he mandated lavish display of them in all
of the company?s publications.  Larsen carried this passion to The March of Time,
illuminating abstract ideas and concepts with concrete statistical data whenever possible.  
For example, ?6,000 men dig in to build a ditch designed to be twice the length of the
Suez?four times the length of the Panama.? (Vol. 2, #. 4)225   Another example comes
from this title in a issue concerning Mexico.
TODAY, THERE ARE FEWER PRIESTS IN MEXICO THAN THERE ARE
GENERALS IN THE MEXICAN ARMY?ONLY 300 AUTHORIZED PRIESTS
TO SERVE 14,000,000 MEXICANS.  (Vol. 1, No. 3)226         
Narration was compressed, as in Time magazine, by coupling powerful adjectives
with the first mention of each personality?s name.  This often had obvious editorial intent. 
Czechoslovakian President Eduard Benes was described as ?...crafty little Benes...? (Vol.
2, # 6) while a prominent labor leader was identified as ?...shrewd, Russian-born Sidney
Hillman...?  (Vol. 7, #  5) Thomas Dewey was a ?young and able lawyer? (Vol. 4, # 2)
while another story discussed ?France?s swarthy little Pierre Laval...? (Vol. 1, #5).227          
228The March of Time, Vol. 1, #5.            
229The March of Time, Vol. 7, #10, (New York: Time Incorporated, May 1941), March of Time Collection, MT
7.10, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland; The March of Time, Vol. 7, #10
Production File, March of Time Collection, MT 7.10, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park,
Maryland.
230The March of Time, Vol. 3, #2, (New York: Time Incorporated ,September 30, 1936), March of Time Collection,
MT 3.02, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland.
231The March of Time, Vol. 2, #3, (New York: Time Incorporated, March 13, 1936), March of Time Collection, MT
2.03, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland..
106
In less than a couple dozen words, the narration provided a transition from one scene to
the next, set the stage for action that followed, and told the audience exactly what The
March of Time thought of the people appearing on the screen.  A story on radio priest
Charles Coughlin stated ?Publisher Randolph Hearst, keen student of mob pyschology,
calls Father Coughlin to his ranch to look him over.?228    A 1941 story on aid to Britain
intoned, ?Bitterest opponent of American aid to the embattled democracies is the number
one appeaser?ex-hero, ex-colonel, Charles Augustus Lindbergh...?229                  By
contrast, when it did no suit The March of Time?s interests to commit itself openly to a
particular point of view, potentially controversial judgments were put into the mouths of
?thoughtful observers?, ?serious commentators? or ?some there are who say.?  Examples
include ?Today, with U.S. labor split in two, some there are who say that miner Lewis is
seeking power in steel because his grip on coal is slipping.?230    An issue exploring
Japanese expansion in Asia noted ?...as Japan?s militarists march on behind their
Emperor, observers may well wonder what a nation whose war dogs go mad at home
might do if allowed to run loose throughout the world.?231
And sometimes, the combination of dramatically fashioned language and Van
Voorhis?s powerful reading of it, was electrifying, as shown by a March of Time issue
232The March of Time, Vol. 3, #13, (New York: Time Incorporated, August 6, 1937), March of Time Collection, MT
3.13, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland.
233Press Release titled TIME and The Movies, July 1934, March of Time Movie File 1934, Time Incorporated
Archives, Time-Life Building, New York City; A New TIME Venture (Announcement to the Readers of TIME);
TIME Gives Journalism a New Dimension.
234Richard DeRochemont Reminscences, 30.
107
dealing with the Spanish Civil War.  ?THEN CAME MADRID!  The air squadrons he
sent to bomb the city should theoretically have demoralized its people, destroyed their
will to resistance.  Instead, an outraged populace rushed to volunteer, began drilling in the
streets.  Loyalist morale ran high when, from friendly Russia, came vital weapons for
defense?Soviet armaments as effective as any from Italy or Germany.232
Was The March of Time propagandistic?  Not in the usual sense of the word and
not in the sense that its existing principally to realize a political or economic end; not in
the sense that its producers possessed an ideologically coherent and consistent point of
view.  Its editors and producers consistently denied any overt political intent or
editorializing.233
However, implicit in all of The March of Time issues was a kind of uncomplicated
American liberalism?general good intentions, a healthy journalistic skepticism, faith in
enlightened self-interest, and substantial pride in American progress and potential. 
Richard DeRochemont observed that The March of Time was ?not partisan in a small
way...it was partisan in a big way.?  It?s bias was against fascism at home and abroad and
the ?petty adventurers? who rose to domestic prominence during the depression.234
Always provocative, The March of Time investigated numerous subjects
internationally and domestically and illuminated them for American audiences.  The
235Early Reaction to the March of Time.
236Letter from Dan Longwell and Bernard Barnes to Roy Larsen, detailing reaction of film critics to early March of
Time releases, September 20, 1936, March of Time Movie File 1936, Time Incorporated Archives, Time-Life
Building, New York City; Memo from Ralph Ingersoll to Roy Larsen and Henry Luce titled Current Issues of
MARCH OF TIME, March 17, 1936, March of Time Miscellaneous File 1936, Time Incorporated Archives, Time-
Life Building, New York City.
108
demagogues and cranks whom The March of Time attacked in the 1930s may seem like
obvious targets now, but they were not so then.  They were popular, powerful, often
frightening figures, and The March of Time often stood alone as a theatrical journalistic
muckraker. 
Chapter Three: Technique and Criticism
The March of Time, celebrating its first year in February 1936, was still in its
experimental stage.  During the next few years, the film?s production techniques, format,
and style were all to vary from time to time.  The quality of photography, editing and
direction was gradually improving.  Reviewing the first issue in February 1935, one critic
had held that the new feature was below the level of both the ordinary newsreel and the
regular Hollywood film.235 By February 1936, however, the quality of the photography
alone had risen sufficiently to elicit frequent praise from film reviewers.236
Although the overall length of The March of Time remained the same, the number
of episodes in each issue steadily decreased, from six in the first issue, to three in the
fourth issue, to two in the fifth issue and finally to one featured subject.  Such a reduction
of episodes within the individual releases allowed for a more complete treatment of each
subject.  Roy Larsen, who was intimately involved with the production of the early March
237Memo from Roy Larsen titled March of Time Organization, April 20, 1936, March of Time Movie File 1936,
Time Incorporated Archives, Time-Life Building, New York City; Ralph Ingersol, Memorandum on Life No. 9.
238Unsigned memo to Henry Luce titled Points in connection with a distribution contract with a major distributor,
1935, March of Time Movie File 1935, Time Incorporated Archives, Time-Life Building, New York City; Letter
from Henry Luce to Ned Depinet, May 27, 1935; Letter from Roy Larsen to Richard DeRochemont, April 25, 1935;
The Deal with RKO, Warner Brothers or Paramount.
109
of Time releases, said that he much preferred the earlier format and regretted the necessity
of reducing the number of subjects in each reel.  The decision, according to Larsen, was
an economic rather than artistic or journalistic one.  It simply became too expensive to
present many different subjects in the same reel.  At about the same time that the single-
subject issue became standard, Larsen was obliged to leave his day-to-day work with The
March of Time and devote virtually all of his time to the design and production of Time,
Inc.?s new magazine, Life.237  As for de Rochemont and other members of The March of
Time staff, they were delighted to move toward a single subject format, running fifteen to
twenty minutes in length, as it gave them time to develop subjects more fully, from both
cinematic and journalistic points of view.  
Despite the short time allotted each subject in those early issues, writers and
directors made every effort to present each subject as a polished, coherent, dramatic unit. 
Commercially, the series was a qualified success.  Although it was not making a profit, it
was not losing a great deal of money either, and provided valuable exposure for Time,
Inc.?s other publications.  Although the foreign distribution program was still in its
formative stages, domestic release had jumped from 417 theaters in February 1935 to
5236 theaters by April 1936, an increase attributable to the distribution deal The March of
Time struck with RKO Pictures in 1935.238
In November 1936, The March of Time?s staff moved to new quarters on the
239Memo from Roy Larsen to March of Time Staff, December 10, 1936, March of Time Movie File 1936, Time
Incorporated Archives, Time-Life Building, New York City; Elson 1:349.
240Early Reaction to March of Time.
110
second and third floors of a new building constructed for Time Inc.?s motion picture and
radio divisions at 369 Lexington Avenue in New York City.  The new quarters provided
over 10,000 square feet of library, laboratory, editing and office space.   On December 10,
1936, Larsen announced to The March of Time staff that de Rochemont would become
the producer of the film series.  In March 1937, Time Inc., officially announced the
organization?s new ?publisher system,? at which time Larsen was designated publisher of
Life magazine.  On behalf of the corporation, Larsen continued to supervise March of
Time operations until its demise in 1951 but was never involved in day to day
operations.239
By the start of its third year, The March of Time was firmly established as a
successful journalistic phenomenon.  Unlike the newsreel, it was billed as a kind of
second feature.  Its name was featured on theater marquees, and audiences looked forward
with some enthusiasm to each month?s release.  Reviewers alternately praised and
criticized it, while rival news organizations attacked it.  Politicians and other public
figures both courted and condemned it, and Time Inc.?s busy corporation lawyers were
kept hard at work defending the producers against numerous court suits for libel and
defamation.240
The first issue of 1937 featured an episode that de Rochemont in later years
regarded as one of his favorites.  Titled ?Conquering Cancer,? the film described the
history and nature of the disease and traced the progress being made to combat it. 
241The March of Time, Vol. 3, #6, (New York: Time Incorporated, January 22, 1937), March of Time Collection,
MT 3.06, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland; The March of Time, Vol. 3, #6 
Production File, March of Time Collection, MT 3.06, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park,
Maryland; Louis DeRochemont Reminiscences, 19; Louis DeRochemont Memoir, 31.
242The March of Time, Vol. 3, #7, (New York: Time Incorporated, February 19, 1937), March of Time Collection,
MT 3.07, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland; The March of Time, Vol. 3, #7
Production File, March of Time Collection, MT 3.07, National Archives and Records Administration; Variety,
March 10, 1937, 4.
111
Included in the story was strong criticism on Norman Baker, who had been previously
been convicted of practicing medicine without a license in Muscatine, Iowa, and who
achieved notoriety by advertising alleged cancer cures over radio.  Baker was called a
quack and the film incorporated studio-made shots of Baker, using an impersonator. 
Baker filed suit against RKO Radio Pictures, Inc., and Time, Inc., but his suit was
unsuccessful.  During the legal proceedings, it was revealed that the primary source of
Baker?s cancer cure was dandelion juice.241
Issue 7, Vol. 3, released in February 1937, featured an account of the
Westernization of Turkey by dictator Mustapha Kemal, which involved the outlawing of
Arabic writing, the adoption of Western dress and architecture, and the Westernization of
social and industrial institutions.  On March 10, Variety called it ?a blatant piece of tom-
toming in the Ataturk?s behalf reveals some neat skirting of the issue.  The other side of
the case is not even hinted.  The bit glorifies the dictator?s efforts of forcing the Turks
into the latest models from Hart, Schaffner and Marx, and into cramming themselves with
a Latinized version of their language.?  Much of the footage in the film had been taken on
location in Turkey, while de Rochemont also incorporated combat footage he had
photographed years earlier as a newsreel cameraman in Turkey.242
On the evening of March 4, 1937, the film industry paid tribute to The March of
243Roy Larsen, Press Release dated March 1937, March of Time Miscellaneous File 1937, Time Incorporated
Archives, Time-Life Building, New York City; Glenn, Handbook For Shooting, 1; Richard DeRochemont
Reminiscences, 35.
112
Time with the presentation of a Special Academy Award for the film?s ?...significance to
motion pictures and for having revolutionized one of the most important branches in the
industry?the newsreel.?  This special award had been given only four times previously by
the Academy for outstanding contributions to the art of the motion picture.  Despite the
award?s citation, however, The March of Time had not had the slightest effect on the
form, style or content of the newsreel.  In fact, the granting of the award to The March of
Time was bitterly protested within the film industry as an insult to the quality of the
regular newsreel.  Executives of the major newsreel companies charged the Academy?s
citation with being irrelevant and biased.243
Everyone at The March of Time was pleased with the award, however, and by way
of celebration released the next issue in March 1937 as a ?Special Award Edition.?  The
billing was wholly for promotional purposes as the film contained neither a review of past
issues nor new material of unique caliber.  The principal subject of the issue was a
discussion of child labor in the United States which appeared to favor a proposed
amendment to the Constitution outlawing the use of minors in industry.  On March 24,
Variety called its pictorial treatment ?a strong convincer, with the arguments against the
amendment from the Catholic Church and Massachusetts and Vermont officials tepid in
comparison.?  The issue also included a pictorial description of the introduction of
voodoo into Harlem.  This episode, based on a special feature appearing in the New York
World Telegram, described voodoo worship as a racket for confidence men and bogus
244The March of Time, Vol. 3, #8, (New York: Time Incorporated, March 19, 1937), March of Time Collection, MT
3.08, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland; The March of Time Vol. 3, #8
Production File, March of Time Collection, MT 3.08, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park,
Maryland; Variety, March 24, 1937, 5.
113
witch doctors.  The reel concluded with a discussion of England?s coronation crisis,
precipitated by the abdication of Edward VIII.  Shopkeepers and souvenir manufacturers,
investing heavily in Edward?s coronation, panicked following the abdication.  In the end,
King George VI?s coronation was scheduled on the original date, Lloyd?s of London paid
off on modest business losses, and many manufacturers found a ready market in the U.S.
for discounted souvenirs of the original ceremony.244
By now, a clear indication of Louis de Rochemont?s thematic interests was
emerging.  They were interests that prevailed with some consistency during the entire
period of his administration, as an examination of subjects in the history of The March of
Time reveals.  Throughout the entire series, 1935-1951, the percentage of episodes
dealing with a single country and its affairs was about a third the total number of episodes
being far fewer in the later years due to the change in the format to a single episode per
issue.  During the prewar period, 1935-1941, approximately a quarter percent of all
episodes dealt with war or the threat of war.  From Pearl Harbor until the close of the war,
nearly every issue dealt with some aspect of the subject.  The balance of March of Time
issues dealt with cultural affairs, economics and domestic politics.  This emphasis on
foreign affairs presaged Luce?s later focus on global affairs and the American role in the
international system.
The emphasis under Louis de Rochemont?s control of The March of Time was
profoundly personal.  His political and historical vision focused on the individual,
114
interpreting broad political, economic and military events in terms of the personalities
associated with them.  During this period numerous episodes dealt specifically with
particular individuals.  After de Rochemont?s departure from the series in 1943, the
number of subjects devoted specifically to individuals dropped dramatically.  The other
subject emphasized by de Rochemont was that of the navies and waterways of the world
and the geopolitical role they played in international affairs.  From 1935 to 1943, this was
a recurring theme in The March of TIme.
It was becoming clear that this film series was capable of stimulating and perhaps
influencing large segments of the public.  Film critics had previously been impressed with
the technique and style of the series.  They now viewed the production with a new respect
for its propaganda potential.  British scholars D.A. Spencer and H.D. Whaley, writing in
The Cinema Today in 1939, observed ?Although the ideal behind these films is to present
as objectively as possible, accounts of world happenings, there is no doubt whatever that
they are helping to mould our views on such happenings.  In America legislation
regulating child labor...has at last passed both House of Congress by a narrow margin
which is believed to due to the ?March of Time.?  Their film on cancer has done a good
deal to arouse the national conscience of America to the evils of the quackery that battens
on fear of this scourge, while in England, before the present campaign for National
Fitness was under way, their film Food and Physical Training aroused enormous interest
and debate in that it brought home to many people?s minds the fact that the animals at the
245D.A. Spencer and H.D. Waley, The Cinema Today, (London: Oxford University Press, 1939), 46; The March of
Time Vol. 5, #7, (New York: Time Incorporated, February 1939), March of Time Collection, MT 5.07, National
Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland; The March of Time Vol. 5, #7 Production File,
March of Time Collection, MT 5.07, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland.
246The March of Time, Vol. 3, #11, (New York: Time Incorporated, June 11, 1937), March of Time Collection, MT
3.11, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland; The March of Time, Vol. 3, #13,
(New York: Time Incorporated, August 6, 1937), March of Time Collection, MT 3.13, National Archives and
Records Administration, College Park, Maryland; The March of Time,Vol. 4, #1, (New York: Time Incorporated,
September 10, 1937) March of Time Collection, MT 4.01, National Archives and Records Administration; Vol. 4,
#3, (New York: Time Incorporated, October 29, 1937), March of Time Collection, MT 4.03, National Archives and
Records Administration, College Park, Maryland.  
247Jean Benoit-Levy, The Art of the Motion Picture, (New York: Coward-McCann, 1946), 178.
115
zoo are better fed and housed than many of the nation?s children.?245
Issues 11 and 13 of Volume 3, and issues 1 and 3 of Volume 4, all released during
the summer and early fall of 1937, featured a succession of tightly knit, carefully prepared
resumes of political crisis around the world.  The group included ?Poland and War,?
?Rehearsal for War,? which featured the crisis in Spain, ?War in China,? and ?Crisis in
Algeria.?246
Although The March of Time was professedly nonpartisan, a clear and persistent
antifascist tone was becoming apparent in its analysis of world politics and rising
militarism.  Looking back in 1946, Jean Benoit-Levy wrote in The Art of the Motion
Picture, ?The March of Time exercised a considerable influence on public opinion in the
various democracies, but could not capture it all alone...Rehearsal for War, for instance,
produced in 1937, should have provoked free peoples to action if they had not already
been obsessed by the fear of communism which Nazi propaganda had skillfully distilled
and spread like a poison.?247
?Rehearsal for War? was unquestionably anti-Franco, which was exactly what
liberal staff members had intended.  The point of view presented in the film was at
248Louis DeRochemont Memoir, 12.
249Richard DeRochemont Reminiscences, 4; March of Time Vol. 3, #13 Production File.  Notations made on the
script indicate some disdain for the Spanish dictator.  
250The March of Time Vol. 4, #1, Production File; Louis DeRochemont Reminiscences, 40.
116
variance with the coverage that General Franco and his Nationalists had received in Time
magazine; Laird Goldsborough, the foreign news editor of Time, was notoriously anti-
Communist and accused of having a pro-fascist bias on occasion.  In an unpublished
memoir, Louis de Rochemont called Goldsborough an ?authoritarian.?248   Henry Luce,
according to some March of Time staffers, was convinced that Franco was the man to
save Spain from communism.  However, Luce did not interfere in the production of the
film and de Rochemont allowed a decidedly biased portrayal to proceed.249
September?s release, ?War in China,? featured some of the earliest and, in this
case, most brutal of the newsreel clips of the Chinese-Japanese conflict in and around
Shanghai.  Included were exclusive shots of the Japanese bombing of the Cathay Hotel
and surrounding neighborhoods, and the explosion of the USS Augusta.  This footage
was smuggled past Chinese censors and forwarded to The March of Time in New York,
arriving barely in time for the China release.250
Not all the footage was genuine, of course.  Reenactments made in New York City
and reported in the scripts included a scene of the British ambassador to China being
removed from a car by his aides after being wounded by Japanese aerial gunfire; dead
Japanese soldiers, photographed in a New York garage; Japanese pilots looking out of
their aircraft at the carnage below, filmed at Peterboro Airport in New Jersey; and a
reenactment of a Chinese woman, lying dead amidst debris in Shanghai, with dust flying
251The March of Time Vol. 4, #1, Production File.  Information about reenactments and unused footage was attached
to scripts and dope sheets detailing shooting sequences.
252Report to the President on March of Time Operations 1938, March of Time Movie File 1939, Time Incorporated
Archives, Time-Life Building, New York City; Memo from John Wood on March of Time domestic and foreign
distribution dated February 15, 1939, Time Incorporated Archives, Time-Life Building, New York City. 
Information on the size of The March of Time audience, it should be noted, is simply presented in the Report to the
President with no accompanying research material.
253Mockup of March of Time promotional ad, January 1938, March of Time Miscellaneous File 1938, Time
Incorporated Archives, Time-Life Building, New York City.
117
to give the impression of nearby shelling.  There was also a miniature reproduction of the
city of Shanghai in flames, that was apparently not included in the final film.251
In domestic release, the series now reached between 22 and 26 million people
each month at 9800 theaters.  Internationally, it was screened at another 1200 theaters or
so, in English, Spanish, French and Dutch versions.252  In New York City alone, over
150,000 people saw each monthly issue at the Radio City Music Hall.  In a gigantic,
multi-page announcement, running simultaneously in several national magazines in
January 1938, The March of Time?s publishers claimed that the film played in more
theaters than any other regular motion picture attractions.253
Considering the size of the audience, it may have been just as well that the public
had been conditioned to expect a consistently provocative treatment of current events
from The March of Time.  Even with such a reputation, the producers released an issue in
January 1938 that so aroused the public and shocked political observers and the film
industry that for some time afterward The March of Time was in danger of permanent
censorship, even within the United States, by pressure group boycott, government action
and film industry agreement.
The film in question was titled ?Inside Nazi Germany? and it quickly became the
254Elson, 1:328; What the Nation?s Press Thinks, press packet produced by March of Time Inc., on the controversy
surrounding ?Inside Nazi Germany,? 1938, March of Time Inside Nazi Germany File, Time Incorporated Archives,
Time-Life Building, New York City.  This packet contained clips from items concerning ?Inside Nazi Germany? 
from newspapers and magazines across the country, in addition to reaction from political figures, movie industry
executives, film reviewers and other prominent individuals.
255What the Nation?s Press Thinks.
118
most controversial release in the history of The March of Time.  Released in January
1938, the film could not been more ingeniously designed to rouse audiences and provoke
controversy.  It featured the figure, voice and hysterical histrionics of German dictator
Adolf Hitler, a man whose whose motion picture representation was usually taboo in
American movie theaters.254
The March of Time?s new film examined the insidious Nazi program of racial
purification.  It was labeled both pro-Nazi and anti-Nazi at a time when public opinion
was isolationist and most public figures were unwilling to get involved in European
affairs.  Also, the film was promoted by its producers as a provocative, controversial film
issue.  Such promotion, coming from a organization that already had a reputation for
sensational motion picture journalism, did a great deal to make the film almost irresistible
to movie audiences.255
Disappointed with footage taken in Germany by a free-lance cameraman, de
Rochemont decided that the only way to properly tell the story with the desired thrust was
through wholesale recreation.    March of Time director Jack Glenn found a colony of
anti-Nazi German-Americans in Hoboken, New Jersey whose homes, stores, and beer
halls were virtually identical to those in Germany.  These German-Americans agreed to
256The March of Time, Vol. 4, #6, (New York: Time Incorporated, January 21, 1938), March of Time Collection,
MT 4.06, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland; The March of Time Vol. 4, #6, 
Production File March of Time Collection, MT 4.06, National Archives and Record Administration, College Park,
Maryland; Louis DeRochemont Reminiscences 42; Richard DeRochemont Reminiscences, 29.
257The March of Time, Vol. 4, #6; March of Time, Vol. 4, #6 Production File; Glenn, Handbook for Shooting, 7;
Richard DeRochemont Memo on Reenactments dated 1944, March of Time Miscellaneous File 1944, Time
Incorporated Archives, Time-Life Building, New York City
258The March of Time, Vol. 4, #6; The March of Time, Vol. 4, #6 Production File; Louis DeRochemont Memoir, 28-
29.
119
cooperate with the filming and as a result, the film?s scenery was quite authentic.256  In
addition, individuals in the Hoboken community appeared in the film in appropriate
costume to illuminate various aspects of life in the Third Reich.  Included in these
recreations were scenes of propaganda activities; scenes of military men pursuing their
studies; a scene of an elderly German couple listening with trepidation to one of Hitler?s
radio speeches; scenes of concentration camps; shots of German censors examining mail;
a scene of a storm trooper collecting funds from a housewife; a shot of a German radio
announcer; scenes of political prisoners; and many others.257
Glenn?s greatest coup was in talking pro-Nazi German-American bund leader
Fritz Kuhn into appearing in the film.  The scenes were filmed in Kuhn?s offices.  Intercut
with these shots  were scenes of Kuhn addressing a pro-Nazi rally.  For all the footage,
authentic and staged, de Rochemont gradually fashioned a strongly anti-Nazi narration. 
He and his researchers were assisted in this task by a German refugee who had recently
escaped from a Nazi concentration camp who served as a consultant on the film.258
In hindsight, the scenes that The March of Time presented do not seem so
startling.  But in 1938 the film made statements that no other commercially released
motion picture had dared, and for that matter precious few newspapers or magazines
either.  The narration was unsparing in its criticism of the Nazi regime.  Examples
259Ibid.
120
include:
?Though six years ago, six million Germans voted a communist ticket,
every known radical, every known liberal today is either in hiding, in prison or
dead.?
?Still going on, as pitilessly, as brutally, as it did five years ago is
Goebbels?s persecution of the Jews...And on the Christian churches, Goebbels?s
propaganda machine is today bearing down savagely, for these-almost gone-are
still offering resistance to the new order.  The Nazi state tolerates no rival
authority...to the good Nazi, not even God stands above Hitler...?
?From the time the German child is old enough to understand anything, he
ceases to be an individual, and is taught that he was born to die for the
Fatherland.?
?...Germany is serving notice that all territories she lost in the World War
must eventually be given back to her.?
The film ended with the prophetic words, ?Nazi Germany faces her destiny with
one of the great war machines in history.  And the inevitable destiny of the great war
machines of the past has been to destroy the peace of the world, and the governments of
their time.?259
It was only a matter of time that the freelance cameramen engaged by The March
of Time to shoot footage in Nazi Germany, Julien Bryan, found out what had happened
with his film.  Bryan was furious, not because he was at all sympathetic to Nazism but
because he worked overseas and needed access to foreign governments.  He, in order to
260Louis DeRochemont Reminiscences, 43-44; Memo from Louis DeRochemont to Roy Larsen dated March 1938,
Inside Nazi Germany File, Time Incorporated Archives, Time-Life Building, New York City; Copy of Deposition
give by Julien Bryan dated January 21, 1938, Inside Nazi Germany File, Time Incorporated Archives, Time-Life
Building, New York City.
261What the Nation?s Press Thinks; Clip From Walter Winchell?s On Broadway Column, Inside Nazi Germany File,
Time Incorporated Archives, Time-Life Building, New York City, Richard DeRochemont Reminiscences, 31.  It is
unclear which March of Time staffers talked to Winchell.
262Louis DeRochemont Reminiscences, 44; Statement from German Counsel, New York, Inside Nazi Germany File,
Time Incorporated Archives, Time-Life Building, New York City; Statement from Time Incorporated in reply to
German Counsel, Inside Nazi Germany File, Time Incorporated Archives, Time-Life Building, New York City.
121
get access to Germany, had promised that his footage would be used in a neutral manner,
and thought that the way ?Inside Nazi Germany? had been edited would preclude his ever
being able to work there again.  Bryan was so upset that he considered suing to get an
injunction against the release of the film.260
Just before the film?s release the staff invited Fritz Kuhn to a private screening of
the film at March of Time headquarters.  Columnist Walter Winchell, on good terms with
The March of Time, was also invited.  De Rochemont had his technicians bug the
projection room with a hidden microphone connected by cable to a recorder.  Kuhn was
not amused.  ?If Hitler sees the film, I will be ruint!? he screamed on the recording. 
Kuhn?s terror was duly noted by Winchell, who wrote about the scene in his column.261
An official of the German consulate in New York was also invited to a private
preview of the film.  According to de Rochemont, he was white-faced with rage when he
left the projection room, stomping off in the midst of an expletive filed tirade.262
There was a great deal of excitement in New York surrounding the release of the
sixteen minute film.  Concerned police officials assigned detectives from the police
force?s ?alien squad? to mingle with members of the Embassy Theater audience, while a
special detail of police was stationed outside the theater to deal with crowds. The New
263Clip from The New York Times contained in What the Nation?s Press Thinks.
264Clip from the Motion Picture Herald contained in What the Nation?s Press Thinks.
122
York Times reported some scattered cheering and booing at successive showings and no
arrests or disturbances.263 
Following the New York premiere, public interest in the film mounted as
descriptions of the controversial issue appeared on the news pages and in the editorial
columns of newspapers and magazines.  The film was both praised and damned by
motion picture critics and political observers.  Regardless of political leanings, all writers
criticized the obvious dissimilarity between the film?s visual content and the narrator?s
comments.  A.G. Rudd, general manager of the Embassy Theater in New York, wrote in
the Motion Picture Herald that the film was controversial and the theater had received
protests from those who felt the film was either pro or anti-Nazi.  Life magazine stated in
its January 31, 1938 edition that ?Fact is that a majority of the scenes, showing the
German populace, the youth program and the Army, are not unfavorable to Germany and
a deaf movie-goer might consider the film more pro-Nazi than anti-Nazi.  The MARCH
OF TIME, conscious that no camera can portray all the darker aspects of Nazism, has
evened the score with a vigorously pro-democratic commentary.?264  Because of the
dissimilarity between the visual material and the narration, politically inclined reviewers
found it difficult to determine the exact point that The March of Time was taking.  
Martin Proctor, allegedly a lifelong resident of Germany, newspaperman and UFA
Studio employee who had recently fled to the United States, labeled the film a pro-Nazi
story, according the February 5, 1938 issue of the Motion Picture Herald.   Proctor wrote
?What do you really see?  Youth marching, singing and working.  Iron factories and other
265Martin Proctor, Review of Inside Nazi Germany, Motion Picture Herald, February 5, 1938, 2.
266Otis Ferguson, ?Time Steals A March,? New Republic, February 9, 1938, 19.
267Clips from What the Nation?s Press Thinks.
123
plants going full blast...soldiers and brown shirts well clad and well fed, and dictators
orating and people cheering.?265
On February 9, 1938, Otis Ferguson, the New Republic?s film critic, wrote in
praise of the anti-Nazi slant of the film, calling it an ?editorial with pictures, an editorial
for democracy an against suppression, militant nationalism and shoving people around.? 
Ferguson also said the film was a departure for Time Inc., writing ?for a while I had a
sneaking idea that it might be just as well not to encourage anything so rickety in social
theory as Luce enterprises to go in for open crusading, this being the kind of gun that as
likely to blow its breech out as produce a true salvo. But that is a consideration for the
future, which already seems to be in the proper hands...the majority of this staff seems to
have been working on something it believed in.  And in making any good thing, belief
tells in the end.?266
During the next few weeks, the offices of The March of Time were inundated with
positive and negative reviews.  Political repercussions quickly followed the film?s release. 
 Thirty members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee sent Time Inc., a telegram
praising the content of the film and opined that ?every American should see it.?  The head
of the American Legion, Dr. John A. Lechner expressed similar sentiments.267  Across the
country, German embassy and consular officials decried the film and its producers.  In
Baltimore, German consul Frederick Schneider protested directly to the Maryland Censor
Board; in Washington DC, it was first announced that the film would not run, a decision
268Unsigned Memo on Theaters Reaction to Inside Nazi Germany dated 1938, Inside Nazi Germany File, Time
Incorporated Archives, Time-Life Building, New York City.
269What the Nation?s Press Thinks.
270?Chicago Censorship of MOT,? Motion Picture Herald, January 29, 1938, 1.
271Telegram from Harry M. Warner to J. T. McManus, Time Magazine, January 21, 1938, Inside Nazi Germany
File, Time Incorporated Archives, Time-Life Building, New York City.
124
that was later reversed.  In New Orleans, numerous cuts were made in the film before its
release to general audiences.  In New York, Radio City Music Hall yielded its first run
right to the Embassy Newsreel Theater, where the film ran for a record sixteen weeks.268 
According to Time Incorporated?s press packet concern the Inside Nazi Germany furor,
25,683 column inches and 1,282,550 words were devoted to the controversy in American
newspapers.269
In Chicago, according to the Motion Picture Herald of January 29, the Police
Board of Censors found the film anti-Nazi and banned it on the grounds that it might
increase sentiment against Germany, a nation identified by the board as friendly to the
United States.  Chicago newspapers, supported by civil rights leaders and some church
officials, charged the board with suppression of freedom of speech and freedom of the
press.  The Chicago censors lifted the ban.270
The most bizarre circumstance of the controversy occurred when Warner Brothers
refused to carry the film on the grounds that it was pro-Nazi propaganda.271  Henry Luce?s
reply to Warner?s charges was quoted in the Motion Picture Herald on January 29.  Luce
stated ?Mr. Warner?s assertion that the March of Time is ?pro-Nazi propaganda? is
ridiculous...Mr. Warner also says that movie audiences pay little or no attention to the
sound that comes from the screen.  This is an amazing observation to come from the man
272Henry Luce, ?Editorial,? Motion Picture Herald, January 29, 1938, 2.
273Clips contained in What the Nation?s Press Thinks.
274Dorothy Thompson, ?The March of Time Film,? New York Herald Tribune, January 26, 1938.
125
generally credited with introducing the talking picture...Fortunately, Mr. Warner does not
control the entire motion picture industry.?272  In refusing to show the film, Warner
Brothers, which had the right to exhibit the film in more than 200 theaters across the
country, forfeited its exclusive contractual rights to this particular issue.  Competing
exhibitors scrambled to book the film and ran it profitably throughout the nation.
Within the movie industry, opinion on the film was diverse, reflecting the larger
public debate.  Producer David O. Selznick sent The March of Time a complimentary
telegram praising the film and its importance to the public.  British documentary director
Basil Wright noted that the film?s ?avoidance of physical horrors focused the audiences?
attention on the corruption of the human soul? in Nazi Germany, and that the
professionalism of the film demonstrated the propaganda power of the motion picture.273 
On the other hand, some observers, most notably Motion Picture Herald publisher Martin
Quigley, were deeply concerned that controversial, overtly political films would drive
away audiences.  This prompted a consideration, by Dorothy Thompson in her New York
Herald Tribune column, as to whether a motion picture could deal effectively with
controversial subject matter.  Thompson believed film could, writing that ?Inside Nazi
Germany? was ?highly exciting, a realistic portrayal of Germany today, and a magnificent
piece of journalism.?274
From the beginning, production at The March of Time was carried on under
intense deadline pressure.  De Rochemont, often highly disorganized, could count on 80
275Memo from Roy Larsen titled March of Time Organization, April 20, 1936, March of Time Movie File 1936,
Time Incorporated Archives, Time-Life Building, New York City; Richard DeRochemont Reminscences, 20-21;
Louis DeRochemont Memoir, 18.       .
126
to 100 hour weeks from his non-unionized subordinates.  Often working around the
clock, some March of Time employees recalled working to the point of incoherence and
collapse.  On one occasion in 1937, de Rochemont reportedly worked 86 hours without
sleep.  Roy Larsen often kept similar hours.275
The tension and stress under which the March of Time staff worked was due in
part to short, inflexible deadlines.  De Rochemont and his staff were committed to
releasing a new film every month, each of which had to be researched, scripted and shot
on a very tight timeline.  The regularity of March of Time releases is all the more
extraordinary when one considers the equipment the staff used.  The heavy, tripod
mounted 35mm cameras and optical sound equipment weighed several hundred pounds,
compared with today?s much lighter and mobile technology.  In addition, today?s
television news benefits from being able to use reporters to provide live narration that fill
in the gaps in continuity.  By contrast, The March of Time used one off-camera narrator,
the commentary of which was written and rewritten with meticulous attention to style,
accuracy and impact.  Each March of Time issue had to stand on its own, as complete and
as professionally made as a theatrical feature film.  Editorially, the shots had to cut
together properly, and transitions had to be smooth and stylistically consistent.  The
photography was rarely elegant but was always professional.  Each shot was properly lit,
compositionally right, accurately exposed and editorially capable of being cut together
with every other shot in the sequence.  The sound, in original dialogue recording,
narration and musical accompaniment, had to meet Hollywood standards?no static or
276Glenn, Handbook For Shooting; Louis DeRochemont Reminiscences, Richard DeRochemont Reminiscences.
277Larsen, March of Time Organization, 5-7.
278Richard DeRochemont Reminiscences, 3.
127
extraneous noise.   If the sound was not right, de Rochemont would have the whole
sequence redone, or record it in the studio with impersonators. The combination of high,
theatrical film standards and news gathering pressures made the business of producing
The March of Time extremely difficult.276
For March of Time staffers, pressure and work conditions often lifted stress to
intolerable levels.  As each month drew to a close and the deadlines loomed, the entire
crew routinely put in 20 hour days, in a frantic effort to get the film into the can and off to
the laboratory for the making and shipping of prints to theaters around the country.  As
each issue neared completion, de Rochemont worked continuously in the projection
room, passing judgment on the clips, shots, sequences and tracks brought to him for his
appraisal.277
As in all enterprises, there were limits to one?s enthusiasm and endurance.  The
price paid by March of Time staffers in both emotional and physical stress was enormous. 
At least three March of Time staff members were alcoholics; two others had nervous
breakdowns; and another had stomach ulcers which required extensive surgery.278
In the end they had little to show for it.  Apart from Larsen and de Rochemont,
both of whom were officers of the organization, the rank and file received pitifull salaries. 
This was especially the case with editorial workers in the cutting rooms, upon whose
effectiveness and skill The March of Time depended.  In 1935 an apprentice?s salary was
about $16 a week and an experienced cutter around $50.  By 1937, these had risen only
279Three Year Plan for The March of Time.  
280Unsigned Memo to Louis DeRochemont detailing labor conditions within The March of Time, 1937, March of
Time Movie File 1937, Time Incorporated Archives, Time-Life Building, New York City; Letter from Roy Larsen to
Henry Luce discussing labor issues at each Time Incorporated publication, June 28, 1937, March of Time
Miscellaneous File 1937, Time-Incorporated Archives, Time-Life Building, New York City, 2-5.
128
slightly to $20 for the former and $55 to $60 for the later.279  According to contemporary
memos, the men in the cutting room worked two weekends and every evening overtime
for two weeks out of every four with no additional pay.  A memo from a cutting room
supervisor to de Rochemont suggests the conditions under which his men worked in the
1930s:  ?I know you feel the same as I do, but if you had seen the physical torture endured
by the cutting force the last few days, it would seems as big an imposition to you as it
does to me.  This...was only a repetition of the 7 or 8 special reels we have put out in the
last six months.  When it was finished there was no expression of thanks and extra
recompense.  And then when I heard there a few slight criticisms about the finished job, it
began to seem that the whole set-up was nothing more than tyranny on one side and
slavery on the other.  We don?t mind and we don?t complain about the work on the March
of Time release...This we feel is our job, even if it does run into a lot of overtime.  But is
it our job to be expected to do anything extra asked for...with no consideration for our
personal lives, no thanks in any way, of any kind, even though the work is all done on
additional overtime?  I think it is nothing but exploitation of the staff.?280
This belief in being exploited was not unique to The March of Time.  The late
1930s was a time of considerable dissent and labor turmoil at all of the Time Inc.,
publications.  Early 1939 saw the publication of a clandestine newsletter in the Time Inc.,
offices, ?High Time? which billed itself as a publication of the Communist Party.  ?High
Time? urged employees to join the Communist Party as a defense against termination and
281High Time: A Publication of the Communist Party, January 1939, March of Time Miscellaneous File 1939, Time
Incorporated Archives, Time-Life Building, New York City.
282Richard DeRochemont Reminisicences, 45; Memo titled C.D. Jackson?s Relationship with Labor, March of Time
Miscellaneous File 1942, Time Incorporated Archives, Time-Life Building, New York City, 4-5.  Jackson was a top
official at Time Incorporated who frequently served as Luce?s point man on labor issues, mainly because of his
background in mediating industrial disputes that arose from his family?s business.
129
its first issue contained an attack on recently departed Time Foreign News editor Laird
Goldsborough, who was considered by many employees and outside observers a fascist
sympathizer.281  Luce was shaken by the ?High Time? episode and had to be convinced
not to fire those responsible out of hand.  Walter Winchell reported that Luce had hired
detectives to investigate the episode.  It was also rumored that some of those involved in
?High Time? were high up in the organization, possibly including Time editor Ralph
Ingersoll.282   Luce finally sent out a memo that stated: ?Most of you have seen the sheet
?High Time? put out by the ?Communist Party Members at Time Inc.?  I think that just as
a gossip sheet it?s a pretty amusing job of writing.  I also think that the authors of it were
disloyal to the organization and to all their fellow workers...A publication by ?The
Communist Party at Time Inc., is as offensive as one would be by a ?Nazi Bund in Time,
Inc.?,...It has been a cardinal principle with us that editors, writers and researchers have a
right to spout to one another their views...We have had people of all shades of political
thought on our staff and I maintain the right of every one of them to speak to every other
member of the staff with as much intellectual freedom?and carefreeness?as he would in
his own family...Free speech in confidence is essential to group journalism.  It would be
intolerable if our editors had to feel that they could not open their mouths without having
some half-uttered thought plucked out and used to stab them publically in the back....I
think you will agree with me that one of the things not to do is to start a Red hunt...We
283Memo from Henry Luce to Time Inc., Staff, dated March 1939, March of Time Miscellaneous File 1939, Time
Incorporated Archives, Time-Life Building, New York City; Swanberg, 161-162.
284High Time, A Publication of the Communist Party, dated 1939.
285Swanberg, 161-163; Letter from Ralph Ingersoll to Henry Luce dated October 28, 1938, March of Time
Miscellaneous File 1938, Time Incorporated Archives, Time-Life Building, New York City, 1-3.
130
cannot get along on any basis except that of free expression toward one another in private
and assurance that such confidence will not be violated.  If anyone feels that he cannot
make that confidence mutual, he ought to resign.  Certainly if the management discovers
any employee making public gossip of matters that are properly confidential between
members of the staff, he will be fired.?283
The writers of ?High Time? charged in their second issue that by calling the
broadsheet gossip, Luce was attempting to legitimize censorship.  They also alleged that
Time on occasion had slanted the news to favor certain advertiser, had continually
denigrated the New Deal, and that Luce hoped to use Time Inc.?s influence to become a
political kingmaker.284  In the wake of the ?High Time? episode, editor Ralph Ingersoll
left the company in April 1939 to begin working for the radical daily newspaper PM,
while Luce was left to ruminate once again on the intended audience for Time Inc.?s
publications, reiterating in an unpublished memo that Time?s audience (and by extension
that of Life, Fortune and The March of Time) were relatively well-educated professionals
interested in the world, but lacking the time to absorb every bit of relevant information
available.  Thus, the audience required a synthesis, and Luce pointed to Time Inc?s
circulation figures as evidence of the company?s journalistic success.285
If the staff members, whether in the cutting room or out in the field, thought they
would be rewarded when The March of Time began to make some money, they were
286Three-Year Plan for the March of Time; Memo from Roy Larsen titled March of Time Organization; Budgets and
expenses are detailed within March of Time annual reports; Letter to Louis DeRochemont from Roy Larsen
negotiating his departure from March of Time Inc., June 1942, March of Time Movie File 1942, Time Incorporated
Archives, Time-Life Building, New York City; Letter from John R. Wood, Jr., to Roy Larsen, April 28, 1941
detailing domestic and overseas revenue, March of Time Miscellaneous File 1941, Time Incorporated Archives,
Time-Life Building, New York City, 1-3; Report from Ernst and Ernst Accountants & Auditors, April 27, 1939,
March of Time Miscellaneous File 1939, Time Incorporated Archives, Time-Life Building, New York City, 2-4.
131
certainly disillusioned, because the series never made any money at all.  It was always an
expensive series to produce compared with newsreels and other movie short subjects. 
According to estimates, the early issues cost between $20,000 and $30,000 each.  With
the passing of the years and a gradual increase in production costs, this rose to about
$40,000 per issue during World War II, and then to over $50,000 in the late 1940s.  Other
competing short subjects, such as travelogues or newsreels, cost much less and were
never intended to make a profit.  Such intermission fare was offered as part of the block-
booked program that major producers provided for theater owners to support their money
making features.  In The March of Time?s case, however, the corporation had no other
income from feature film production to offset their losses on the short subject, as the
short was the only Time Inc., film product.  Because of The March of Time?s enormous
promotional value to Time, Life, and Fortune magazines, the corporation was satisfied if
it simply broke even, something the series rarely did over the course of its run.286
To a considerable degree, de Rochemont?s hands were tied regarding salary
during the 1930s.  The salary scales were set by the corporation and he was required to
abide by them.  For that matter, de Rochemont had his own problems in dealing with the
corporation?s business managers, who were frequently shocked by his careless
management and what they considered reckless spending.  De Rochemont once recalled
that his practice of handing out money to New York city policemen for tips and
287Louis DeRochemont Reminiscences, 49; Letter from Roy Larsen to Louis DeRochemont, June 1942; Letter from
Ralph Ingersoll to Henry Luce, October 28, 1938.
288Unsigned memo to Louis DeRochemont detailing labor conditions within The March of Time, 1937.
289Letter from Roy Larsen to Henry Luce, July 9, 1937, March of Time Miscellaneous File 1937, Time Incorporated
Archives, Time-Life Building, New York City; Letter from Roy Larsen to Henry Luce, June 28, 1937.
290C.D. Jackson?s Relationship with Labor, 4-5; Letter from Roy Larsen to Henry Luce, June 28, 1937.
132
information was impossible to explain to the business office.287
The March of Time was underbudgeted by conventional film production
standards, and had it not been for the loyalty and commitment of the rank and file staff, it
could have never survived on the funds provided by Time Inc., or its own profits.  This
lack of funds and de Rochemont?s demanding working style led inevitably to labor-
management problems in the late 1930s.288   There appear to have been three shocks to
The March of Time?s corporate structure sufficient to change the style of operations from
a certain point forward.  The first of these was the unionization of all Time Inc.,
employees by the Newspaper Guild in 1937-38.289
The March of Time?s cameramen, sound recorders, and projectionists were already
members of the New York locals of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage
Employees, but the more numerous editors, cutters, researchers and writers were not.290 
The Newspaper Guild was desirous of organizing these workers, perhaps to deal a blow
to staunch Republican Luce.
De Rochemont fought unionization to the last.  Many of The March of Time issues
produced by him, such as ?Bootleg Coal,? ?King Cotton?s Slaves,? and ?Strikebreaking?
had seemed to champion the right to organize, but de Rochemont?s attitude towards his
291The March of Time Vol. 1, #6, The March of Time Vol. 1, #8; March of Time, Vol. 2, #8..
292Richard DeRochemont Reminiscences, 33.
133
own shop was decidedly different.291   There was no doubt that unionization would place
strict limits on working hours or require substantial payments for overtime.  With the
series barely breaking even as it was, it followed that March of Time operations would
have to be made a good deal more efficient and that de Rochemont?s paternalistic style of
management would have to end.  
De Rochemont valued personal and professional loyalty highly.  He may have
been difficult to work for, but there is evidence that he protected loyal subordinates and
found ways in which to reward them unexpectedly, often with loans or working vacations
with few demands.  In 1939 De Rochemont had the company pay for a trip to Germany so
that an employee could move his mother to England prior to the outbreak of war.292
The working conditions at The March of Time always had contradictory
qualities?punishing hours and a demanding boss combined with a sense of
companionship and loyalty?and given these contradictions the Guild fight was
predictably divisive.  Many employees supported the Guild, while others backed de
Rochemont.   For those who actively backed the Guild, life at The March of Time could
be extremely difficult and uncomfortable.  One cutting room supervisor was asked to
resign for the good of the organization; he refused, and received one five dollar a week
raise over the next three and a half years.  A female staff member was especially active in
trying to address the imbalance in salary between men and women at Time Inc.  She
eventually achieved a rough pay equity throughout the organization but was compelled to
293Swanberg, 164.
294Letter from Ralph Ingersoll to Henry Luce, October 28, 1938.
295Louis DeRochemont Reminiscences, 53; Louis DeRochemont Memoir, 13; Richard DeRochemont
Reminiscences, 41.
134
leave shortly afterwards, taking a job at the Rockefeller Foundation.293
In July 1938 the Guild won its fight and became the official representative of
workers throughout the publishing empire of Time Inc. 294   Overnight, as Guild
proponents predicted, de Rochemont and Larsen found they could produce The March of
Time on less than an 80 hour week.  Routines were readjusted and conditions normalized
but the old paternalistic relationship de Rochemont enjoyed was gone.  De Rochemont
remained bitter about the Guild?s activities for decades.295
From 1938 on the company was located in what became its own permanent
headquarters in a new building at 369 Lexington Avenue.  The facilities were located a
block or so from the Time Inc., headquarters.  De Rochemont and his staff much
appreciated the physical separation as it kept visits from Henry Luce and other
corporation executives to a minimum.  Originally, The March of Time occupied the
second and third floors of the building.  The third floor held the executives? and writers?
offices, the research library, the conference rooms and the projection room.  The floor
below held all of the cutting rooms, shipping and receiving, the film library files and the
processing laboratory.  The March of Time processed all of its own 35mm negatives and
struck its own positive work prints.  Release printing was contracted out.  Sound
recording, music scoring and sound mixes were done at RCA?s studio in New York
296Richard DeRochemont, HOW MOT MARCHES ON: A Step By Story Report On Production of March Of Time,
1947, March of Time Movie File 1947, Time Incorporated Archives, Time-Life Building, New York City, 1; Elson,
1: 367.
297Richard DeRochemont, HOW MOT MARCHES ON, 1; Office Memo from E.M. Lancaster to Richard
DeRochemont, September 25, 1940, March of Time Movie File 1940, Time Incorporated Archives, Time-Life
Building, New York City; Glenn, Handbook for Shooting, 8.  In addition, each March of Time production file details
the technical and logistical aspects of shooting each issue.
135
City.296
There were always at least three full-time production crews on duty within the
United States, each ordinarily comprised of a director, a cameraman, an assistant
cameraman, a sound recordist, and a grip.  These were supplemented by a property man
and a contact man as needed.  Continuously moving throughout the United States or at
work in The March of Time?s New York studios, these crews generated the original
background material, the interview sequences, and the reenactments that de Rochemont
required for his various issues.  The foreign production crews, operating out of Paris and
London, did the same thing under Richard de Rochemont?s direction.  Finally, freelance
cameramen, scattered across the globe, were hired as needed to photograph special
subject matter to which their geographical location gave them access.297
The logistics involved in moving these people from place to place and assignment
to assignment were complicated.  For example, during production of The March of
Time?s 1937 issue on child labor, de Rochemont had five different cameramen out in the
field, with sound recordists, assistant cameramen, and support technicians, working in
widely separated parts of the country.  According to the production files, work began in
Washington DC on February 2 with filming of government officials involved in a
proposed constitutional amendment banning child labor.  Between February 24 and
March 5, another crew filmed children at work in textile mills in Greenville and
298The March of Time Vol. 3, #8.; The March of Time Vol. 3, #8.  An unsigned memo in the Production File lays out
the schedule and movement of the camera crews assigned to the story.
299Louis DeRochemont Reminiscences, 22; Richard DeRochemont Reminiscences, 11; Richard DeRochemont,
HOW MOT MARCHES ON, 1.
136
Allendale, South Carolina.   Starting on Feburary 25, the crew that had working in
Washington was back in New York filming in slum areas, while still another was
shooting in the garment district of the city.  In early March, still other crews were filming
factories and political debates on proposed child labor laws in the New England states. 
Still another crew was shooting children working in southern California cabbage and
carrot fields.298
Supplementing the original footage that The March of Time cameramen shot were
thousands of feet of newsreel footage specially ordered by de Rochemont from both
American and foreign newsreel companies.  Finally, The March of Time had its own
library of stock material to draw upon which eventually grew to immense proportions.  In
some cases, all of these different kinds of footage would be stockpiled for months, as de
Rochemont waited for the right kind of news break to come along.  In other cases, a
particular sequence would be rushed to completion within a period of days.299
For each reel of film shot, a so-called ?dope sheet? was prepared by the
cameramen and sent to New York independently of the film.  Dope sheets indicated the
exact order, location, date and subject of each shot exposed on each roll of film, together
with the names of the cameraman and sound recordist, the production number, the
amount of footage exposed, the kind of film stock used, processing instructions to the
laboratory, information about the presence or absence of competing newsreel cameramen,
and information about the way in which the film was being shipped.  The names of all
300Richard DeRochemont, HOW MOT MARCHES ON, 1; See March of Time Production Files.
301Richard DeRochemont, HOW MOT MARCHES, ON, 1-2; See March of Time Production Files.
302Richard DeRochemont, HOW MOT MARCHES ON, 2; March of Time Organization, April 20, 1936; Richard
DeRochemont Reminiscences, 12-14.
137
individuals shown in each shot were indicated, as were their positions within the shot.300
Dope sheets were accompanied by memos prepared by cameramen and directors
in the field regarding the subject matter being photographed and containing background
information that they thought would be helpful to the script writers?economic and
political summaries, statistical data, biographical information on individuals
photographed, on-site impressions of social conditions, explanations of complicated
issues or problems which would have to be clarified by the narrator, and general gossip
about the circumstances under which the film had been photographed.  Newspaper
clippings, ceremonial programs, press releases, and other relevant documents were also
frequently attached.  Many of these memos which survive in The March of Time?s
production files were scribbled on hotel stationary from hotels all over the United
States.301
The editorial staff in New York who had to make sense out of the mass of
material pouring into its offices divided each month?s work into A, B, C and D weeks.  
A-week was devoted to clearing up material remaining from the previous months D-
week.  B-week was given to routine jobs that had been held up because of the rush to
finish the last release.  C-week was the beginning of editorial work on the current
month?s release.  D-week saw every cutter at work on the release at hand.  Even with
Guild limitations on working hours and overtime, the fast pace at which they worked
never let up.302
303Press Release Biography of Westbrook Van Voorhis, 1941, March of Time Movie File 1941, Time Incorporated
Archives, Time-Life Building, New York City.
304Richard DeRochemont Reminiscences, 43; March of Time Vol. 5, #12 Production File; Letter from Richard
DeRochemont to Louis DeRochemont discussing removal of certain scenes from March of Time issues released in
Great Britain, March 4, 1937, March of Time Miscellaneous File 1937, Time Incorporated Archives, Time-Life
138
As each month?s issue moved toward fine cut and completion, de Rochemont and
his writers refined the narration to be read by Westbrook Van Voorhis.  For years, chief
editor Lothar Wolff served as narration supervisor for the English-language version, a
somewhat ironic assignment, given Wolff?s thick German accent.  Van Voorhis was by
the late 1930s a celebrity?the only individual associated with the film?s production who
was known (or whose voice was known) by the general public.  Van Voorhis recorded his
narration independent of the film; the film was then adjusted to fit Van Voorhis? cadence
and delivery.303
Different sound tracks, in different languages, were recorded in New York for the
foreign countries in which The March of Time was released.  The British version was
narrated initally by Westbrook Van Voorhis and starting in January 1938 by Alistair
Cooke.   The American, British and Canadian versions were virtually identical, although
some words were changed in the British to conform to local dialect.  Also, some
sequences were shot exclusively for foreign audiences.  This was the case for the British
and French versions.  In other cases, particular shots in American-produced sequences
were changed to accommodate foreign sensibilites.  In ?Movies March On,? for example,
a sequence featuring very early motion pictures showed American-made films in the
American version and French-made films in the French.  Finally, as a result of
censorship, particular sequences in the American edition of The March of Time were
sometimes moved by foreign authorities and so were never seen by overseas audiences.304
Building, New York City, 2-3.
305Glenn, Handbook for Shooting, 10.
139
All of the music for The March of Time was original in the sense that it was
created expressly for the series.  However, for any significant issue, only part of the music
would be newly written, while the other parts would be borrowed from the library of
music scores that  musical director Jack Shaindlin and staff continually generated for The
March of Time.  These pieces were often written under considerable time pressure.  With
the passing of years stereotyped, predictable scenes and sequences appeared in The March
of Time.  In these cases, Shaindlin simply went to his collection of previously written
scores and pulled out an appropriate piece of music.  By varying both the length and
tempo of the various musical selections, Shaindlin could be sure of exact synchronism
between the music, the edited footage on the screen, and the narration.305   
One last decision-making step remained before release of the finished film. 
Without exception, all releases were viewed by Time Inc.?s legal staff, whose were tasked
with anticipating actions for libel, slander and invasion of privacy.  There is no way of
knowing what conversations took place over the years between de Rochemont and Larsen
and how many changes may have been required of the former by the latter.  It is highly
unlikely that any release of The March of Time would be allowed to endanger Luce?s
publishing and journalistic empire.  For that matter, journalistic practice throughout the
country, in some instances led by Time Inc., publications was undergoing rapid changes
during the 1930s, becoming more sophisticated and aggressive.  Time and Life magazines
themselves were regularly sued and censored throughout the United States and foreign
countries.  The regular, pre-release examination of March of Time issues by the legal staff
306Elson, 1:338-339.
307The March of Time, Vol. 4, #8, (New York: Time Incorporated, March 18, 1938), March of Time Collection, MT
4.08, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland; March of Time Vol. 4, #8 Production
File, March of Time Collection, MT 4.08, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland.
140
provided a monitoring function which allowed executives to assess the likelihood of legal
actions, to determine the extent of their probable liability and to prepare for such legal
eventualities as seemed likely.  As a result, The March of Time rarely lost a case Nearly
all suits were either dropped along the way of settled out of court with symbolic
settlements.306
By 1938, The March of Time had begun more systemic examination of foreign
affairs, a particular interest though at this point latent interest of Time Inc., founder and
chief Henry Luce.  Even prior to Luce?s 1940 articulation of his American Century ideal,
The March of Time began hinting that a more assertive American presence in global
affairs was necessary and probably inevitable.  In the third release of 1938, The March of
Time began examining the multiple failures of the nearly irrelevant League of Nations.  In
a bitter review, the film?s editors paraded the failures of the League?German
rearmament; Japan?s invasions of China in 1931 and 1937 (a particular sore spot with
Luce); the Italian invasion of Ethiopia; and Japan, Germany and Italy quitting the League. 
Van Voorhis? narration concluded ?With mounting bills the nations move toward war.? 
The film had been put together mostly with newsreel stock footage, although a shot of
Italian League delegates booing Haile Selaisse was recreated in The March of Time?s
New York studios.307  The New Yorker found the release particularly sobering, stating
that ?the chapter on the League of Nations in ?The March of Time,? tracing its story from
Wilson to Eden, deserves all your attention and may well occupy your mind during the
308Clip contained in March of Time Vol. 4, #8 Production File.
309The March of Time Vol. 4, #9, (New York: Time Incorporated, April 15, 1938), March of Time Collection, MT
4.09, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland; The March of Time Vol. 4, #9,
Production File, March of Time Collection, MT 4.09, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park,
Maryland.
310The March of Time Vol. 4, #12, (New York: Time Incorporated, July 8, 1938), March of Time Collection, MT
4.12, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland.
141
long hours of the night.?308  A pervasive pessimism hangs over the film; the failures of
1930s collective security make it plain that eventually the United States will have to play
a more active role in world affairs, even if purely for self-preservation.  
The March of Time?s April 1938 release, titled ?Nazi Conquest?No. 1? was
another spirited look at Adolf Hitler and his return to Austria, the place of his birth,
following the Anschluss.  The March of Time slyly noted that the Anschluss had been
predicted in Hitler?s autobiography Mein Kampf fully fourteen years before the German
takeover of Austria.  The editors and writers labeled the event a prelude to further
expansion outlined by Hitler in the book. Included in the film was an admiring
reenactment of the coverage from Vienna of NBC radio correspondent Max Jordan.309  
Again, the viewer was left with the impression that European events will eventually
ensnare the United States.
The international situation provided graphic material for eight issues appearing
between July 1938 and January 1939.  ?G-Men of the Sea? examined the role of the Coast
Guard as protector of American territorial waters and in fighting crime.310  ?Threat to
Gibraltar? explained British and French efforts at fighting pro-fascist uprisings among
Moroccan natives of the International Zone of Tangier, forty miles from the British base
311The March of Time Vol. 4, #13, (New York: Time Incorporated, August 6, 1938), March of Time Collection, MT
4.13, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park.
312The March of Time Vol. 5, #1, (New York: Time Incorporated, September 2, 1938), March of Time Collection,
MT 5.01, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland; The March of Time Vol. 5, #1
Production File, March of Time Collection, MT 5.01, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park,
Maryland .
142
at Gibraltar.311
?Prelude to Conquest,? The March of Time?s September release, provided a
striking example of the producers success in anticipating news events and provided
another dire warning of the dangers of Nazi expansionism in Europe.  The film continued
the examination of Hitler?s rise to power and his designs on Europe begun by The March
of Time in its earlier film, ?Nazi Conquest No. 1.?  In this second film, audiences found
Hitler in possession of Austria and eyeing Czechoslovakia.  The March of Time carefully
outlined the position of the Sudeten German-speaking population of Czechoslovakia as
pawns in Germany?s bid for territorial expansion.  Cameras showed mobilization of
German troops as Czech President Eduard Benes denied German demands.  The film was
released on September 2, 1938.  Within three weeks of its release, the Czech crisis,
brewing all summer, finally climaxed at Munich.   Although some reviewers praised The
March of Time?s prescience in anticipating the crisis, Hitler?s designs on the Sudetenland
were well documented and reported throughout the spring and summer of 1938.  The
March of Time?s issue on the crisis was well-planned and timed, but was also the result of
careful and extensive research and knowledge of European politics by the film?s staff.312 
Yet again, the implication is that America will eventually have to involve itself in
international affairs.
The March of Time issues released throughout the late 1930s also demonstrated an
313The March of Time Vol. 5, #3, (New York: Time Incorporated, October 28, 1938), March of Time Collection, MT
5.03, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland; The March of Time Vol. 5, #3
Production File, March of Time Collection, MT 5.03, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park,
Maryland.
143
obsession with military affairs and preparedness, a natural outgrowth of the producers
growing concern over the international situation.  However, the prescience shown by The
March of Time in its analysis of European politics did not necessarily translate into an
understanding of how the next war would be fought.  This was amply demonstrated by
The March of Time?s October 1938 release, titled ?Inside the Maginot Line.?  A single
subject issue, with vivid, exclusive footage, the film displayed the French fortifications
along the German-French border.  The narration and sequencing of the shots left the
reader with the impression that the Maginot Line was impregnable.  Extending 125 miles
from the Belgian border to the Swiss frontier, stocked to withstand a year?s siege, the
Maginot Line was shown supported by an army described in the film as ?the most
formidable fighting machine in Europe today.?  The film lavished praise on French
commander-in-chief Marie Gustave Gamelin, calling the General an able strategist equal
to any task.  This assessment was not born out by events.313
If de Rochemont had looked a little more carefully at the pro-French script that he
and his staff had written, he might have realized that The March of Time was engaged in a
bit of whistling past the graveyard when assessing French preparedness.  For example, the
narration over a scene of sloppy, disorganized French soldiers intones ?In comparison
with soldiers in armies where strict attention is paid to every detail of military dress, a
company of French recruits may appear slovenly...After a few months training, while
their bearing may lack traditional military smartness, French recruits are on their way to
314Ibid.
315Richard DeRochemont Reminiscences, 23-24; March of Time Vol 5, #3 Production File.
316The March of Time Vol. 5, #4, (New York: Time Incorporated, November 25, 1938), March of Time Collection,
MT 5.04, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland; The March of Time Vol. 5, #4
Production File, March of Time Collection, MT 5.04, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park,
Maryland.
144
becoming soldiers...?314
The film had originally been planned and produced as akin to a feature, running
about an hour.  Richard de Rochemont, based in Paris and running The March of Time?s
operations in Europe, scooped the newsreels by gaining access to the fortifications of the
Maginot Line, shooting thousands of feet of film exhaustive in its detail.  De Rochemont
wanted to premiere the 60-minute film at a theater on the Champs Elysees, at about the
same time it was released in the United States.  De Rochemont had secured the
cooperation of the French army but at the last moment the French Foreign Office
demanded that it be withdrawn entirely.  Richard de Rochemont was told that the film
might annoy the Germans, a not irrelevant consideration, given the divisions within the
French government over how to deal with Germany in the wake of the Munich
conference.315   De Rochemont was compelled to withdraw the film and the American
version was shortened to a more conventional 20-minute length for domestic release in
October 1938.
The November release, ?Uncle Sam: The Good Neighbor,? showed Secretary of
State Cordell Hull?s efforts to recruit well qualified Americans for the Foreign Service. 
US efforts to improve and strengthen relations with Latin America and improve anti-
Fascist solidarity within the Western Hemisphere were emphasized.316
The last of this group of films focused on the worsening global situation was ?The
317The March of Time Vol. 5, #5, (New York: Time Incorporated, December 23, 1938), March of Time Collection,
MT 5.05, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland; The March of Time Vol. 5, #5
Production File, March of Time Collection, MT 5.05, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park,
Maryland.
318The March of Time Vol. 5, #5 Production File.
319Basil Wright, ?The Cinema,? Spectator, January 13, 1939, 52.  Wright?s article contains a review of ?Refugee,
Today and Tomorrow.?
145
Refugee?Today and Tomorrow,? which starkly portrayed the plight of homeless,
persecuted refugees in Central Europe and Asia.317  The authentic material was powerful,
especially that photographed by March of Time cameramen in Amsterdam.  The
following excerpt from their dope sheets give a hint of their difficulties:  
(DEC. 1938): Shot of sign, Dutch Jewish Hospital.  End of reel.  All these
shots have been made with difficulty; the Jews are so scared and afraid to
be photographed, for fear that German agents may recognize them in
America and take revenge on their relatives in Germany.  This sounds
absurd but many refused to come into the shots.318
Reenactments included scenes of a Gestapo headquarters and a concentration
camp.  The film was well received by critics and established beyond all doubt the anti-
fascist position of the film?s producers.  Basil Wright, reviewing the film in Spectator on
January 13, 1939 wrote ?it attacks Japan and it attacks Hitler and his gang with stinging
and unequivocal accusations of barbarisms and the commentator?s grim story is punched
home point-by-point by the well-edited scenes, many of which are in themselves
accusations...?319
From the small group of film workers at the old 54th Street Fox studios in 1935,
The March of Time had now grown to fifty-eight permanent employees, not including
320Louis DeRochemont Reminiscences, 39; Elson, 1: 355; Memo from Roy Larsen to Henry Luce describing new
production facilities, April 20, 1938, March of Time Movie File, 1938, Time Incorporated Archives, Time-Life
Building, New York City.
321Report to the President, 1938, March of Time Miscellaneous File 1938, Time Incorporated Archives, Time-Life
Building, New York City; Memo on Reenactments, dated 1944, March of Time Movie File 1944, Time Incorporated
Archives, Time-Life Building, New York City; March of Time Vol. 4, #9 Production File.
322Louis DeRochemont Reminiscences, 36.
146
numerous contributing cameramen throughout the world and the reporting resources of
Time Inc. Expanding as well were the production and editorial facilities of the
organization.  In April 1938, a portion of the administration offices were moved to the
Time/Life building in Rockefeller Center, where the publishing offices occupied the
upper seven floors.  A year later, another floor was taken by The March of Time for its
production facilities on Lexington Avenue, giving the film series three floors.320
The March of Time now reached a theatrical audience estimated at between 20 and
26 million a month.  The series was shown in approximately 10,000 theaters in the United
States alone, an unprecedented scope for a regular film series.  Recreating and staging of
certain scenes (usually because the film was unobtainable) remained a prominent feature
of March of Time productions.  For example, as much as 40 percent of the controversial
?Nazi Conquest No. 1" had been staged.321
As time passed, another notable feature of The March of Time emerged, the
willingness of prominent individuals to appear in the series.322  In spite of the risks
involved, these individuals appeared because The March of Time, with its enormous
audience, provided visibility for them and their ideas which was unprecedented and of
incalculable value.  No matter who minimal a person?s contribution to society, or how
odd his personality or behavior, his appearance on The March of Time conferred
323The March of Time Vol. 5, #8, (New York: Time Incorporated, March 1939), March of Time Collection, MT
5.08, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland.
324The March of Time Vol. 5, #9, (New York: Time Incorporated, April 1939), March of Time Collection, MT 5.09,
National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland; The March of Time Vol. 5, #9 Production
File, March of Time Collection, MT 5.09, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland.
325The March of Time Vol. 6, #1, (New York: Time Incorporated, September 1939), March of Time Collection, MT
6.01, National Archives and Records Administration.
147
legitimacy.  This was a result not only of the film series audience and prestige but of the
greater imprint of Time Inc., itself.  The Time ?brand? had enormous authority and
credibility with the public; this authority transferred itself to The March of Time as it had
previously with Life and Fortune.  
The early releases of 1939 continued The March of Time?s focus on foreign affairs
and a darkening global picture.  ?The Mediterranean?Background for War? found
Mussolini seeking control of Tunisia and with it a stranglehold on European shipping and
trade.  The film showed French Premier Eduard Daladier assembling the French navy to
meet the Italian threat.323  ?Japan-Master of the Orient? reviewed that empire?s aggressive
foreign policy in Asia.  Van Voorhis intoned ?Sober Japanese wonder fearfully how long
the patience of the great Western nations will brook this lawless threat to the peace of the
world,? a statement that revealed a paternalistic and colonial point of view and seriously,
perhaps willfully, misread the mind of the Japanese public.324  ?Soldiers with Wings?
covered the growth of American aeronautics and the vast changes that air power had
brought to global trade, commerce, politics and military strategy.  The film bemoaned
American unpreparedness with a pointed comparison to German airpower and related the
fear that Europeans felt at the military air buildup on the continent.325
The film was released on September 1, 1939.  On the same day, German bombers
148
swept unchecked over Poland as Hitler finally launched his long threatened European
war.  Within 48 hours, Britain and France had declared war on Germany.  
Chapter Four: Mr. Luce?s Century
 The March of Time from its inception 1935, had emphasized foreign relations and
the changing nature of global politics in its subjects and presentations.  A definite
influence on The March of Time?s content was producer Louis de Rochemont, a former
Navy man with a lifelong interest in foreign and military (particularly naval) affairs.  A
close examination of the content of The March of Time during its sixteen year run and in
particular through the stewardship of Louis de Rochemont from 1935 to mid-1943, 
reveals a consistent emphasis on European politics, military preparedness, the possibility
149
of greater American intervention in world affairs, the Americas and appeals for American
ethnic and cultural unity in face of the fascist threat.  
The evolution of The March of Time?s editorial thinking on the issues of
American preparedness, the often chaotic global situation of the 1930s,  American
intervention in world affairs and ultimately war, outpaced other Time Inc., publications. 
But by the early 1940s, The March of Time, Life, Time and Fortune all reflected an
internationalist, interventionist viewpoint that followed the thinking of publisher Henry
Luce.  However, analysis of the content of early March of Time releases revealed that the
film series displayed a viewpoint on international affairs that was more aggressively
internationalist than other Time Inc., publications.  Advocacy of a continual American
activism in foreign affairs was a position that some observers saw as antithetical to
traditional American values.  
Thus, The March of Time took a controversial position on the ongoing 1930s
conversation about the definition of America and Americanism. 
One of the first March of Time issues, released on March 8, 1935, analyzed the
rebirth of Germany under Adolf Hitler.  Titled simply ?Germany,? this relatively brief
story (until 1938 The March of Time presented three segments in each release) detailed
the recovery of the German economy under Hitler, the Nazi suppression of the unions and
rival political parties, and the dictator?s promises of rearmament.  Older footage showed
the desperate straits of the German people after defeat in World War I and the
?humiliation? of Versailles.  A series of animated graphs and charts showed the decline of
German industrial power and the collapse of the German mark.  The overall tone was
326March of Time Vol. 1, #2, (New York: Time Incorporated, March 8, 1935) March of Time Collection, MT 1.02,
National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland .
327March of Time Vol. 1, #2; March of Time Vol. 1, # 2 Production File, March of Time Collection, MT, 1.02,
National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland; Ray Ludlow and Eva Goldbeck, ?Time
Marches Where?? New Theater March 1935.
150
mixed, noting Hitler?s economic accomplishments while decrying the erosion of civil
liberties within Germany.  The visual imagery of the piece was positive however; most of
the shots were of seemingly happy Germans getting on with work, while discussion of
ongoing repression was limited to narration and not dramatized or shown.326  Notes
within the production file and on the ?dope sheets? did not reveal any particular bias in
one direction or another regarding the regime.  Overall, the presentation was decidedly
mixed and made no clear, definitive statement about the nature of the Nazi regime, a fact
criticized by some reviewers.   Ray Ludlow and Eva Goldbeck, writing in New Theater,
called the presentation of Hitler ?strange in its attempted objectivity.?327
Yet, a series of March of Time issues produced in 1935 centered on American
preparedness and the issue of neutrality.  The first, titled ?Navy War Games,? was
released on May 31, 1935.  ?Navy War Games? focused on the Pacific Fleet stationed at
San Francisco, San Diego and Hawaii.  Granted access to the planning and execution of
wartime preparation exercises by the Navy Department, The March of Time began its
examination with a description of a meeting of top Naval personnel in Washington DC. 
Narrator Westbrook Van Voorhis boomed, ?Expert in warfare, our admirals start
planning with an assessment of any and all threats to the United States on the high seas.? 
The scene then shifts to navy crews in the Pacific, with a description of the capabilities of
each battleship then in service and a projection of increasing American strength in years
to come.  The threat mentioned in the film is clearly Japan, identified obliquely;  ?any
328March of Time Vol. 1, #4; March of Time Vol. 1, #4 Production File.
329Shooting script for March of Time Vol. 1, #4, Louis de Rochemont Collection, Box 6, American Heritage Center,
University of Wyoming, Laramie, Wyoming.
330The March of Time Vol. 1, #5, (New York: Time Incorporated, August 16, 1935), March of Time Collection, MT
1.05, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland.
151
threat from the East can be dealt with from American bases throughout the Pacific?
according to The March of Time.  An animated map showed all of the American
possessions and bases in the Pacific in relation to Japan, with the clear implication being
that of an American barrier to Japanese expansion stretching across the Pacific.  The
audience was left with the impression that the Navy was equal to any conceivable
challenge in the Pacific.328  Given de Rochemont?s lifelong identification with and
passion for the Navy this presentation wass not surprising.  Notations on his copy of the
script directing the editors to ?include more shots of ships steaming in line and more
shots of polished drill? in a sequence detailing battleship firepower demonstrate his
commitment to showing the Navy in the best possible light.329
A second film in this sequence dealt with the Army.  Titled ?Army? it was
released by The March of Time on August 16, 1935.  Like its predecessor ?Navy,?
?Army? dealt with American preparedness for a potential global conflict.  The film begins
with shots of the War Department in Washington DC, identified as the ?nerve center of
American might.?  Maps of Europe and Asia are displayed prominently as officers and
men discuss dispatches, review telegrams, answer phones and briskly enter and exit
offices in what appears to be a beehive of activity.  After this historical background, the
film then discussed past American military triumphs, when ?roused to war and victory
was this peace-loving nation.?330 Each past war is dramatized with archival and recreated
331The March of Time Vol. 1, #5.
332The March of Time Vol. 1, #7, (New York: Time Incorporated, October 18, 1935), March of Time Collection, MT
1.07, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland.
152
footage of combat showing American forces advancing and at the point of triumph.  The
next sequence is a series of shots showing Army maneuvers.  The contrast between past
glories and present condition is obvious and critical.  The narrator notes that American
forces train with outdated weapons left over from the First World War while small
companies of soldiers  have to represent larger units during training because of the
paucity of recruits.  A graph showing the strength and size of the US Army relative to
other world powers flashes on the screen; America rates sixteenth, below Portugal.331 
The message could not be more obvious to the viewer.  America has to begin the process
of rearmament or face dire consequences.  
The third and final installment of this exploration of American military
preparedness, ?Neutrality,? was released on October 18, 1935.  ?Neutrality? dealt with the
issue of American engagement in the larger world, coming on the heels of passage of the
Neutrality Act limiting American trade to belligerents by Congress.  ?Neutrality? began
with what became a standard March of Time technique, a discussion between two ?men
on the street? about the international situation.  The two are standing on a street-corner
near a newsstand; one is reading a newspaper with the blaring headline ?Crisis in
Europe!?   The first man states ?We need to stay out of Europe?s mess...we have enough
problems over here.?  In response, his companion says that ?If we don?t look out, their
problems will become our problems.?332
The film then warned of the impossibility of America remaining completely out
333The March of Time, Vol. 1, #7.
334The March of Time, Vol. 1, #7; March of Time Vol. 1, #7 Production File, March of Time Collection, MT 1.07,
National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland.  Notes in the Production File do not
identify the professor but indicate that he may be an actor playing the role.
335The March of Time, Vol. 1, #7 Production File; Louis DeRochemont Reminiscences.
153
of foreign affairs, explaining  the necessity of global trade to the recovering American
economy, and in particular the need for free movement of raw materials to power industry
around the world.  An animated globe shows the movement of finished products and raw
materials around the world, while the narrator notes that ?war or other disruptions in a
far-off corner of the world can have dire consequences to the average American.?333  A
leading sponsor of Neutrality legislation in Congress, Senator Gerald P. Nye, speaks
directly into the camera, telling Americans that the recent past has shown the folly of
getting involved in foreign conflicts.  Following Nye?s statement, the internationalist
viewpoint is given by an unidentified professor, stating that ?America cannot retreat
completely from the world.?334
The viewer is left with a somewhat muddled impression of the issue of neutrality
that contrasts with the straightforward sentiments expressed in ?Army? and ?Navy.?  De
Rochemont himself was disappointed with the sequence of films, saying in a production
memo attached to the file for ?Neutrality? that ?we haven?t made the point forcefully
enough...this is far too ambiguous and I fear blunts the impact of early efforts.?335 
Presumably the unidentified writer of this note, possibly de Rochemont, was concerned
that the tone of this particular release was not interventionist enough.  Critics also
criticized the film for not taking a clear stand on the issue.  In an otherwise glowing
review of The March of Time in the Listener dated November 20, 1935, Alastair Cooke
336Cooke, 932.
337The March of Time Vol. 1, #9, (New York: Time Incorporated,  December 13, 1935), March of Time Collection,
MT 1.09, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland; The March of Time, Vol. 1, #9
Production File, March of Time Collection, MT 1.09, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park,
Maryland.
338Ibid.
154
noted that ?The lack of clarity in this issue is, one hopes, a rare occurance...?336
The December 13, 1935 release of ?Japan-China? by The March of Time
addressed ongoing conflicts in Asia.  Not surprisingly, this film was forthright in its
denunciation of Japanese strategy and policy towards China.  Reflecting Luce?s interest in
China, The March of Time regularly examined Chinese affairs.  Directed by newsreel and
March of Time veteran Jack Glenn, the film opens with a description of a peaceful China,
?learning to work together under...respected leader Chaing Kai Shek.?  A series of shots
show Chaing and his wife touring farms, factories, greeting diplomats and high officials,
and Chaing working at his desk surrounded by aides.  Interestingly, the film makes
mention of Chaing?s Christianity, stating ?the leader is rare among his people in his
choice of faith.?337
This idyll of industry and contentment was shattered by the Japanese invasion of
Manchuria in 1931, according to The March of Time.  The narration contended that an
unprovoked invasion of China by Japan?s Kwantung Army ?violated in a manner most
base international law, and provoking the outrage of the civilized world.?338  The film
then shows Japanese troops ravishing the Manchurian countryside, burning crops, and
demanding papers at gunpoint from Chinese civilians.  There is further speculation about
the motives of Japan in the rest of China and Asia.  The narration states that there is little
reason to suspect that the conflict between China and Japan, then in a lull, was over, and
339Ibid.
340Memo from Henry Luce to Louis de Rochemont, October 1, 1935, March of Time Movie File 1935, Time Inc.,
Archives, Time-Life Building, New York City; Memo from Henry Luce to Roy Larsen titled ?Info on MOT China?
October 1935, Luce Correspondence File, Time Inc., Archives, Time-Life Building, New York City
341The March of Time, Vol. 2, #4, (New York: Time Incorporated, April 17, 1936), March of Time Collection, MT
2.04, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland.
155
that the rest of the world must watch developments between the two Asian behemoths
with great care and caution.339   
Luce himself took a great interest in this particular release, injecting himself into
the editorial process, rare for The March of Time.  During this period Luce was consumed
with planning Life magazine and settling into his new marriage.  Yet in a memo to de
Rochemont, Luce asks to see ?all scripts pertaining to the proposed China film,? and on
one occasion asked for updates on shooting.340  Given Luce?s lifelong passion for China,
his interest in this March of Time release is not surprising.
The March of Time release dated April 17, 1936 contained a short film titled
?Veterans of Future Wars.?  ?Veterans of Future Wars? had as its subject a growing peace
movement among college men.  An offshoot of similar organizations at English
universities, the Veterans of Future Wars took the viewpoint that the potential carnage of
a future war was, based on the experience of the Great War, so potentially vast that all
attempts must be made to maintain peace.  Furthermore, the young bore the responsibility
of preventing cataclysms like the First World War.   The critical issue for the Veterans of
Future Wars was rearmament.  The group is shown to be completely in favor of
disarmament, believing that ?rearmament leads to aggression.?341  The students do not
make much of a distinction, if any, between the military policies of the fascist nations and
the Western democracies, a crucial point noted in the narration.  The activities shown
342The March of Time, Vol. 2, #4.
156
being undertaken by the Veterans of Future Wars largely consist of making speeches at
orderly demonstrations.  In the end, the film praised their commitment to the cause of
peace while leaving open the question of their efficacy.342
?Veterans of Future Wars? was significant because it pointed to the growing
unease that Americans had regarding global affairs.  This sense of dread about the
possibility of being dragged into another European war did not become acute until 1940-
41, when polls indicated a majority of Americans believed that the United States would
eventually become embroiled in a foreign war in spite of public support for neutrality. 
However, the presence of organizations like the Veterans of Future Wars and The March
of Time?s respectful treatment of the group indicated that there was an awareness of
foreign threats on the part of the general public and decision-makers like the producers
and editors of The March of Time.  What was missing at this point was a consensus about
what to do.  The March of Time, early on, had staked out a position in favor of military
preparedness and in the case of friendly nations like China, the possibility of direct aid.  
The March of Time again took up affairs in Asia with its December 24, 1936
release titled significantly ?China?s Dictator Kidnapped.?  The issue here was the capture
and detention of Chaing Kai Shek by a cadre of his own generals dissatisfied with
Chaing?s policy towards Japan, which they viewed as overly lenient and soft.  Chaing was
taken prisoner in late November 1936 and held for a number of weeks, a sensational story
that caused a flurry of speculation about the future course of Chinese politics and the
potential for a wider military conflict in Asia.  The sequence opens with shots of Japanese
soldiers moving through Chinese villages and cities, while the narrator intoned that ?the
343The March of Time Vol. 3, #5, (New York: Time Incorporated, December 24, 1936), March of Time Collection,
MT 3.05, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland.
19Ibid..
157
remorseless Japanese conquest of China has begun again.?343  An animated map showed
the areas of China already under Japanese control, while the next scene shows a harried
Chaing Kai Shek conferring with his generals.  The serene confidence exuded by Chaing
in ?Japan-China? (and by extension of The March of Time) was gone; the viewer was left
with the impression of a rout of disorganized Chinese troops, streaming into the interior
under inept Nationalist leadership.  A disheveled Chaing is shown at a news conference,
surrounded by his captors.  The overall impression left by ?China?s Dictator Kidnapped?
was that China was tottering, with serious implications for the rest of Asia and America. 
Somewhat surprisingly, the film makes note of Mao Tse Tung?s Communists, stating that
they are willing to carry the fight to the Japanese.344  Unlike the earlier release ?Japan-
China? there is no indication in this issue?s production files of any intervention or
detailed interest by Luce in the subject matter.  
However, Asia and its relationship with the United States was to be a perennial
topic for The March of Time throughout its sixteen year history.  The reasons for this are
both practical and philosophical.  Between 1935 and 1951 Asia, particularly East Asia
where Japan and China competed for regional supremacy until 1945, was the scene of
constant conflict, with vast military campaigns, revolutionary upheavals and dramatic
changes in Asia states.  The Asian world was newsworthy, with colorful personalities
stimulating interest and news coverage.  In fact, the final release by The March of Time,
August 1951's ?Formosa: Island of Promise,? examined Chaing Kai Shek?s exiled
345The March of Time Vol. 17, #6, (New York: Time Incorporated, August 1951), March of Time Collection, MT
17.06, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland.
346Robert Herzstein, Henry R. Luce: A Political Portrait Of The Man Who Created The American Century, (New
York: Charles Scribner?s Sons, 1994), 35-44, 186-197.
158
Nationalist regime on Formosa (Taiwan).345 Also, a large portion of American elite
opinion believed that Asia was the emerging region of the world, a possible successor to
Europe and a future competitor to the United States.  Luce certainly shared this view; it
reflected the beliefs inculcated in him during his missionary childhood in China.  Luce?s
experience in China was to influence him in profound ways.  Luce had perhaps an
exaggerated sense of the kinship between Asian peoples and the United States, believing
that Asians were naturally predisposed to accept American values.346  Also, his
missionary childhood gave the publisher a somewhat distorted view of American life,
particularly with respect to small town America and the middle class.  This view, highly
sentimental and filled with a sense of religious mission, profoundly influenced The
March of Time?s and other Time Inc.?s publication?s portrayal of America.
1937 saw a number of March of Time issues devoted to foreign affairs.  One of
the more interesting was titled ?Britain?s Food Defenses? released April 16, 1937.   Since
reaching an agreement to distribute The March of Time in Great Britain in mid-1936, the
series had undertaken a number of subjects of interest to British audiences, including
?England?s Tithe War? concerning funding for the Church of England, ?Coronation
Crisis,? a recapitulation of the abdication of King Edward VIII and a preview of the
upcoming investiture of George VI, and ?Irish Republic-1937" an analysis of conditions
within the Irish Free State and the possibility of complete independence for Ireland.  Both
de Rochemont and Luce viewed the United Kingdom and British Empire as fertile
347Louis De Rochemont Reminiscences, 44.
348The March of Time, Vol. 3, #9, (New York: Time Incorporated April 16, 1937), March of Time Collection, MT
3.09, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland.
349Ibid.
350The March of Time, Vol. 3, #9 Production File, March of Time Collection, MT 3.09, National Archives and
Records Administration, College Park, Maryland.  A memo to Louis de Rochemont contained in the file indicates
that the footage of the British Navy was obtained from ?British Pathe? and supplemented by The March of Time?s
extensive stock footage library.
159
territory for expansion for The March of Time and de Rochemont in particular was
cognizant of giving British audiences material they could embrace.347
?Britain?s Food Defenses? was notable for its assumption of the likelihood of a
general European conflict, and took note of the measures that British officials were taking
to deal with the economic ramifications of a new war.  The utter dependence of Britain on
overseas trade was stressed, with a series of shots of busy English ports unloading
foodstuffs and other raw materials ?culled from the farthest reaches of the Empire, upon
which the sun never sets.?348  A number of British officials, including a leading member
of the Board of Trade, were interviewed, each stressing the necessity for maintaining
open seas lanes in any conflict.  Thus, the burden for maintaining Britain?s food supply at
an acceptable level would fall to one of the traditional sources of British strength, the
Royal Navy.  Narrator Westbrook Van Voorhis stated that the key to British survival in a
European war would be maintaining control of the high seas for communication and
trade. A map showed the ring of British bases circling the globe.349  Shots of the Royal
Navy at maneuvers were shown, and a table demonstrated the superiority in tonnage of
the Royal Navy in comparison to American, French, Italian, Japanese and German naval
forces.350  The implication here was obvious; Britain was wholly dependent on free access
to the seas, and it was thus necessary for the British to maintain a dominant naval
351The March of Time, Vol., 3, #9.
352The March of Time Vol. 3, #11, (New York: Time Incorporated, June 11, 1937), March of Time Collection, MT
3.11, National Archives and Records Administration; The March of Time, Vol. 3, #11 Production File, March of
Time Collection, MT 3.11, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland.
160
presence to ensure the island nation?s survival in any future war.  This necessity for
freedom of the seas to the American economy was stated in a discussion of the extensive
trade ties, particularly in agriculture, that the United States maintained with Britain and
Europe.351
The March of Time explored tensions in Central and Eastern Europe with its June
11, 1937 release titled ?Poland and War.?  De Rochemont and his production team,
including writer Lothar Wolff, proved prescient in their exploration of the twin pressures
on Poland from Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union.  At this time, most attention
regarding Europe was focused on the Spanish Civil War.   ?Poland and War? began with
a historical overview of the multiple partitions of Poland among more powerful states and
its disappearance as a nation-state at one point in the late eighteenth century.  There were
several allusions to the strong Catholic faith of the Polish people; the Church was
described as a ?source constant of moral strength for the brave Poles.?  A map illustrates
the vulnerable strategic position of Poland?s borders, with wide and flat terrain and an
expansionist Germany to the West and a covetous Russia to the East.  The government of
Marshal Josef Pilsuduski (who died in 1935) was praised for giving order and stability to
the Poles in the 1920s, and for its attention to military detail.  The film showed a
squadron of ?superbly trained? Polish cavalry and an airfield filled with modern fighter
planes.  In conclusion, the narrator stated that ?historical enemies may surround Poland,
but the greatest asset of this new nation is the courageous and faithful Pole.?352
353Memo from Richard de Rochemont to Louis de Rochemont concerning Senate hearings, September 5, 1941,
March of Time Miscellaneous File 1941, Time Incorporated Archives, Time-Life Building, New York City.
161
By the end of 1937 The March of Time?s position on foreign affairs was
becoming more and more coherent and overt.  In general, The March of Time editorially
advocated a strong national defense, opposition to aggression and free trade?hardly
radical positions for the time.  De Rochemont believed or maintained that, right up to
mid-late 1941, that The March of Time was not interventionist, as some of its critics
claimed.353  However, as the world situation worsened in the late 1930s, the thrust of The
March of Time regarding the American role in the world changed, becoming more
forthrightly opposed to aggression and advocating robust American engagement in the
wider world.  This shift occurred in tandem with Henry Luce?s growing interest in
international affairs and American involvement in the world, culminating in his
articulation of ?the American Century? in 1940.   
Between 1938 and the end of 1941, The March of Time greatly increased its
coverage of international affairs and in particular its examination of the American role in
the world.  There are several explanations for this phenomenon.  First, in late 1938, The
March of Time permanently abandoned its multi-subject per release format, to analyze
one topic per issue.  Starting in 1938, The March of Time experimented with single
subject issues, usually fifteen to twenty minutes each, with a permanent change to a single
subject format coming in the fall of the year.  Most issues released during 1938 examined
only two topics where three had been the norm previously.  This change allowed more in-
depth examination of relevant events and personalities, a format de Rochemont, in
354?ARGUMENTS IN FAVOR OF A SINGLE SUBJECT FORMAT FOR MOT, Louis de Rochemont to Roy
Larsen, January 8, 1937, March of Time Movie File 1937, Time Inc., Archives, Time-Life Building, New York City.
355What the Nation?s Press Thinks; De Rochemont Reminiscences.
162
particular, had pushed for years.354  The advantages were obvious.  Complex topics could
be examined in much greater depth, while the resources of The March of Time
organization were much more focused.  Editors, writers and producers all concentrated on
a single subject each month, rather than having to keep track of several projects in
production simultaneously.  There could be greater advance planning for contemplated
topics, with the ability to allocate more time and effort to research, writing and shooting. 
Finally, what emerged after The March of Time moved to the single subject format was a
more documentary, harder edged style in the series? productions.  Reflecting the
worsening international situation, frivolous fare largely disappeared from March of Time
releases.  
The first single subject format film released by The March of Time was ?Inside
Nazi Germany,? which premiered on January 21, 1938.  ?Inside Nazi Germany,? relying
almost exclusively on recreated scenes, was instantly the most controversial March of
Time release during its sixteen year run.  As discussed in Chapter Three, the film led to a
poisoning of relations between the German government and Time Inc., officials, threats
of legal action by German counsuls, boycotts of The March of Time in several cities, and
the possibility of censorship by U.S. government officials.355
The increased emphasis on foreign affairs continued throughout 1938.  The
March of Time released ?Arms and the League? on March 18, 1938.  Personally written
by de Rochemont, ?Arms and the League? had as its subject the continued ineffectual
356The March of Time Vol. 4, #8, (New York: Time Incorporated, March 18, 1938), March of Time Collection, MT
4.08, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland; The March of Time Vol. 4, #8
Production File, March of Time Collection, MT 4.08, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park,
Maryland.
357The March of Time Vol. 4, #9, (New York: Time Incorporated, April 18, 1938), March of Time Collection, MT
4.09, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland.
358March of Time Vol. 4, #13, (New York: Time Incorporated, August 6, 1938), March of Time Collection, MT
4.13, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland.
163
performance of the League of Nations in the face of growing violence and strife around
the world.  The film began with a review of trouble spots around the world and the
League?s failure to address them: civil war in Spain, continued fighting in Asia between
China and Japan, renewed demands for European territory by Hitler?s Germany.  In each
case the efforts of the League were examined and found wanting.  The film concluded
with speculation that the Wilsonian dream of collective security was perhaps dead and
that the only reasonable course for the democratic world was increased vigilance and
preparedness, with the associated costs of an increased defense burden.356
The March of Time continued its emphasis on foreign affairs throughout 1938. 
?Nazi Conquest # 1" focused on Hitler?s annexation of Austria, predicting through its title
that the German dictator?s appetite would not be sated by occupying his country of
birth.357  The ?Threat to Gibraltar? to Britain posed by the possibility of a fascist triumph
in Spain and the resultant instability to British shipping throughout the Mediterranean
was explored.358  The French army and its preparations for combat was examined in
?Inside the Maginot Line,? released in the fall of 1938.  This March of Time production,
heavily influenced by March of Time Paris chief Richard de Rochemont, greatly
overestimated the capacities of the French army, deficiencies starkly revealed by the
359March of Time Vol. 5, #3, (New York: Time Incorporated, October 28, 1938), March of Time Collection, MT
5.03, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland; March of Time Vol. 5, # 3 Production
File, March of Time Collection, MT 5.03, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland.
360The March of Time Vol. 5, # 11, (New York: Time Incorporated, June 1939), March of Time Collection, MT
5.11, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland; The March of Time Vol. 5, #11
Production File, March of Time Collection, MT 5.11, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park,
Maryland; Glenn, Handbook For Shooting, 11; Louis DeRochemont Reminiscences, 48.
361Edgar Antsey, ?the Cinema?, Review of ?War, Peace and Propaganda,? Spectator, August 1939, 302.
164
German Whermacht in the spring and summer of 1940.359
The years immediately prior to American involvement in World War II saw The
March of Time examine the way in which Americans viewed their country?s proper place
in international relations.  ?War, Peace and Propaganda,? released in June 1939,
examined these debates, taking as its subject the conflict between interventionist and
isolationist groups in the United States, noting that each side on occasion employed
hyperbole and used methods of propaganda when it suited their purposes.  What the film
rather cleverly did was to juxtapose the nations and ideologies overseas that might exploit
continued American isolation, in contrast to democratic countries.  This was
accomplished through a series of montages and dissolves stressing the similarities of
American society with European democracies.360   This particular release was well
received; for example, Edgar Antsey, writing in his column ?the Cinema? in Spectator,
called ?War, Peace and Propaganda? a ?welcome tonic...artfully done with a skillful,
almost sly style of exposition.?361
The March of Time reviewed America?s relations with Latin America in ?Uncle
Sam: The Good Neighbor? released on November 25, 1938.  The film tended to gloss
over past American conflicts with Latin American nations, choosing to emphasize recent
developments in the wake of President Roosevelt?s Good Neighbor Policy, articulated in
362The March of Time Vol. 5, #4, (New York: Time Incorporated, November 25, 1938), March of Time Collection,
MT 5.04, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland ; The March of Time Vol. 5, #4
Production File, March of Time Collection, MT 5.04, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park,
Maryland.
363The March of Time Vol. 6, #3, (New York: Time Incorporated, October 1939), March of Time Collection, MT
6.03, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland; The March of Time Vol. 6, #9, (New
York: Time Incorporated, April 1940), March of Time Collection, MT 6.09, National Archives and Records
Administration, College Park, Maryland; The March of Time Vol. 6, # 11, (New York: Time Incorporated, June
1940), March of Time Collection, MT 6.11, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland.
165
1933.  Stressing the benefits of good relations between the US and the nations of the
Southern Hemisphere, the film noted the increase in trade between America and Latin
America during the 1930s and the necessity of maintaining free and open access to the
Caribbean and the South Atlantic for both the United States and Latin American states.  It
also stated that Latin America could be susceptible to ?foreign ideologies? and that strong
American engagement in the region could prevent the subversion of local governments.362
Prompted by De Rochemont, The March of Time was becoming more and more
interventionist, ahead of other Time Inc., publications and Luce?s own thinking.  Films
such as ?Uncle Sam-The Farmer,? ?America?s Youth? and ?The US Navy-1940" all
explored the implications of greater American involvement overseas, American
preparedness and the potential impact on ordinary Americans.363  This emphasis on the
possibility of American intervention and its implications reached its culmination with the
production and release of The March of Time?s feature length production, The Ramparts
We Watch in 1940.
For some time, de Rochemont had been trying to bring Time Inc., into the
production of feature-length motion pictures.  The closest he had come was ?Inside the
Maginot Line,? scrapped because of pressure from the French government.  The
leadership of Time Inc., ever sensitive about its image, debated the notion of feature film-
364Louis DeRochemont Memoir, 35.
365The Ramparts We Watch, (New York: Time Incorporated, August 1940), March of Time Collection, MT
Ramparts, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland;  The Ramparts We Watch
Production File, March of Time Collection, MT Ramparts, National Archives and Records Administration, College
Park, Maryland.  The Ramparts We Watch was distributed nationally by RKO Pictures.  
366The Ramparts We Watch; The Ramparts We Watch Production File; Louis DeRochemont Memoir 11, 41-42.
166
making for a number of years. 
At one point in the late 1930s, serious consideration was given to the release of a
feature length documentary based on footage shot by cameramen in the Belgian Congo. 
The problem of colonialism was being widely debated and it was thought that the footage
might provide a point of departure for a serious film discussion of the subject.  The
March of Time eventually rejected the idea and a film exploring the subject, titled Dark
Rapture, was released by MGM in 1938.364
By late 1938, de Rochemont and Larsen had begun plans for a film which would
draw a parallel between the international tensions and political pressures then current in
the world and similar events which had drawn the United States into World War I.  It was
decided to re-create these earlier events, interpreting the political and military issues of
World War I through their impact on the day-to-day lives of the middle-class members of
typical American town.  De Rochemont chose New London, Connecticut as the backdrop
for the story.365
The film?s script emphasized the reluctance of the town?s citizens to face political
and military realities in 1914; the eagerness of the town?s young men to get into the war
before it ended; the disruptive effects of the war, once declared, upon the small
community and its various ethnic groups; and inevitable despair of parents, wives and
lovers who saw their men disappear into the maw of trench warfare.366   The argument of
367The Ramparts We Watch.
368The Ramparts We Watch Production File.  Memos and copies of the shooting script indicate locations and
reenacted scenes.
167
the film was that world peace, the integrity of small nations and the American ideal of
democratic government were threatened by foreign ideologies and militarism.  The
tendency of Americans toward isolationism and the nation?s lack of preparedness (both
psychological and military) in 1914 and by implication the late 1930s were also
highlighted.367
Production was authorized by early 1939.  Soon thereafter, March of Time staff
began the process of collecting special newsreel and stock footage for the film.  By the
time the film, titled The Ramparts We Watch, was produced, the staff had viewed tens of
thousands of feet of both newsreel and official World War I footage for battle scenes,
military and political personalities, and contemporary America.  It was intended that
whenever possible authentic locations were to be used for the film?s dramatic scenes.  
The practice of filming a drama on location rather than on Hollywood sound stages or
studio back lots was relatively novel in 1940, although for certain costume epics and
westerns location filming was more common.368
More than 1400 townspeople and other nonprofessionals played parts in the
production.  Of these, approximately seventy-five had speaking parts.  The role of an aged
German professor was played by a doctor and his son by a Brown University
undergraduate.  The parts of a clergyman and a Hungarian housewife were played by their
real-life counterparts.  The only professional actor used was John Adair, who played a
fictitious editor of the local paper.  Intercut throughout were authentic shots of well-
369The Ramparts We Watch; The Ramparts We Watch Production File.  A list of cast members indicates the
background of the various ?actors? who worked on the film, along with comments about their strengths and
weaknesses.  The March of Time?s library of stock footage was used extensively in the film.
370Budget memo contained in The Ramparts We Watch Production File.
168
known World War I personalities?Woodrow Wilson, General Pershing, Kaiser Wilhelm,
Theodore Roosevelt, Herbert Hoover, and many others.  The costuming and staging was
as authentic as the producers could make it.369
Production on the film began in the spring of 1939 and continued until August
1940, delayed on occasion by the fact that monthly issues of The March of Time had to be
produced and released during the same period.  Midway through production, World War
II, which the film foretold, erupted in Europe with the German invasion of Poland.  The
German blitzkrieg rolled across Poland, and turned to Western Europe, requiring
numerous revisions and reshooting to keep pace with events.  Eventually the film?s
budget doubled to almost $400,000.370
The film?s story had been designed in such a manner that only the most obtuse
members of the audience could fail to grasp the message or see the similarities between
the ambitions of the Kaiser in 1914 and Hitler in 1939.  The film was in some ways too
harsh in its description of German actions in 1914, ascribing total blame for the European
catastrophe on Germany, a stance hotly debated by later generations of historians.  Given
the progressive revelations about the barbarity of Nazi rule, this approach was not
surprising.   De Rochemont stretched the parallels to their logical limits and looked for a
finish that would bring the film up-to-date in the most dramatic manner possible.  He
finally found his ending in a recently released Nazi propaganda combat film titled
Feldzung in Polen (a version of which was released in the United States as Baptism of
371Louis DeRochemont Memoir, 43.
372Westbrook Van Voorhis Reminiscences, March of Time Movie File (undated)  Time Incorporated Archives,
Time-Life Building, New York City, 12-13.  UFA was a famed German film studio that by the late 1930s was
completely controlled by the Ministry of Propaganda and its chief, Joseph Goebbels.
169
Fire), an account of the successful invasion of Poland.  The film had been intended by
Hitler and Goebbels to be seen widely throughout Europe and the western hemisphere,
with the intent of intimidating leaders in neutral countries.  It was privately screened for
officials in many foreign capitals, for whom it provided an impressive portrait of Nazi
military might.371  
De Rochemont decided to end The Ramparts We Watch with a few carefully edited
and narrated experts from Feldzung in Polen.  He had to acquire the rights to it from the
German film studio UFA, but the Nazi government, already having had unhappy
experiences with The March of Time, would not license the film for de Rochemont?s use
unless he incorporated the original narration, unedited.  De Rochemont was able to obtain
a duplicate negative of the German film by methods that were not entirely clear.  The best
explanation was that a secret duplicate was made during a screening by German consular
officials at The March of Time?s New York offices.  The explanation by The March of
Time was that the copy of Feldzung in Polen used had been seized in Bermuda by British
officials.372
The Ramparts We Watch, with new footage and narration from Feldzung in Polen,
was finally released at the end of August, 1940.  It opened first at Loew?s Palace Theater
in Memphis, Tennessee and was booked nationally by Warner Brothers, Fox, RKO and
373Unsigned memo to Roy Larsen and Louis DeRochemont explaining legal problems concerning the release of The
Ramparts We Watch, March of Time Miscellaneous File 1940, Time Incorporated Archives, Time-Life Building,
New York City.
374Bosley Crowther, ?The Ramparts We Watch,? New York Times, September 20, 1940, 5:8.
170
other circuits.  The film generated controversy even before its release.  Officials at the
German embassy were furious.  First Secretary Baron von Gienanth threatened both The
March of Time and its distributor, RKO Radio Pictures, with legal action and reprisals,
including expulsion from Germany of Time Inc., employees.  In addition, UFA notified
RKO and Time Inc., that it intended to sue for an injunction to restrain use of the Feldzung
in Polen footage on grounds on infringement.  Both Time Inc., and RKO stood pat and the
Germans gave up their threats of legal action.373
The film played to audiences of respectable size and enthusiasm.   New York
Times critic Bosley Crowther wrote on September 20, 1940 ?Like the man who suddenly
switched from a diet of creampuffs to hardtack, we find ourselves this morning with a bite
that is tough to chew...A more provocative or challenging motion picture has not been
placed before the public in years?or maybe, on second thought, never...By a brilliant
conception of Louis de Rochemont, producer of the film, non-actors were used to play the
numerous roles of the townsfolk, thus imparting the illusion of photographed actuality. 
Through this device, the old newsreel and the fictionalized story blend perfectly.?374  Edgar
Antsey wrote in the British weekly Spectator on April 11, 1941 that ?the film is so
skillfully constructed that it is often hard to tell where news-reel ends and acted scene
begins...The Ramparts We Watch is a fit climax to Louis de Rochemont?s years of
375Edgar Antsey, ?Review of ?The Ramparts We Watch,?? Spectator, April 11, 1941, 15.
376Alexander, 158-172, 201-205.
171
experiment in the reconstruction of modern history for the screen and it will have more
influence on the development of cinema than any other film of recent years.?375 
With the release of The Ramparts We Watch, The March of Time committed itself
to an unabashed pro-interventionist stance.  This stance developed over several years and
reflected the thinking of the series writers and editors, along with producer Louis de
Rochemont.  Ironically, given the moderately liberal tone the series generally adopted, The
March of Time now found itself in ideological kinship with more radical film-makers. 
Frontier Films, an outgrowth of the leftist Film and Photo League, had during the late
1930s produced a number of films dealing with the rise and threat of fascism.  Joris Ivens?
The Spanish Earth dramatized the struggle between Loyalists and Fascists in the Spanish
Civil War, while China Strikes Back showed the strength and vigor of Mao Tse-Tung?s
Red Army in its battles against the Japanese invader and Chaing Kai Shek?s Nationalist
government.  In contrast to The March of Time, which focused on the Nationalist
movement, China Strikes Back presented Mao?s forces as the saviors of China and its
future.  Later Frontier Films productions such as Herbert Kline?s Crisis, which examined
the German annexation of Czechoslovakia in 1938 and 1939, and Lights Out in Poland, a
film about the German conquest of Poland and the outbreak of war in Europe, also called
for greater American involvement in world affairs.376
 The Ramparts We Watch reflected a growing concern of Luce?s regarding
377Elson, 2: 40-42.
378High Time 1, February 1939, 4, March of Time Miscellaneous File 1939, Time Incorporated Archives, Time-Life
Building, New York City.
172
America?s role in global affairs.  The Time Inc., publications had been accused of taking
an inconsistent line against the Fascist threat, but beginning in the late 1930s all of Luce?s
publications, including The March of Time shifted to advocacy of a more robust role for
America in the world, which meant confronting Nazi Germany.   In fact, The March of
Time had for a number of years had placed more emphasis on foreign affairs than other
Time Inc., publications.  Luce, preoccupied by the crisis facing free enterprise during the
1930s, had neglected foreign affairs through much of the decade.   International affairs, a
vital matter to him on leaving Yale University in 1920, had not engaged his interest in the
1920s and early 1930s.  Until about 1938, he underestimated the dangerous militarism and
rise of fascism in Germany and Italy.377
Problematic to developing a consistent stance in all its publications on foreign
policy was Laird Goldsborough, Time?s Foreign News editor.  From the magazine?s
earliest days, Goldsborough had written virtually all of Time?s overseas stories and thus
had immense influence over the direction and tenor of Time Inc.?s overall, corporate
coverage of the growing fascist threat.  An unwritten rule understood among Time
employees was to not touch a word of Goldsborough?s submissions.378  The leeway
accorded Goldsborough created trouble for Time in the 1930s.  Goldsborough could not
bring himself to abandon a post-Versailles equivalence toward European leaders.  He
continued to blur fundamental and obvious differences between the German and British
379Elson, 1:314; Mary Fraser, The Ideology of Time, July 21, 1953 memo, March of Time Miscellaneous File 1953,
Time Incorporated Archives, Time-Life Building, New York City.  
380Ronald Steel, Walter Lippmann and the American Century, (New York: Random House, 1980), 330-334.
173
governments and their respective approaches to European affairs.  Mussolini?s invasion of
Ethiopia drew no condemnation and the magazine was not particularly alarmed by the
Nazi party in the mid-1930s.379
Most journalists at first underestimated Hitler and attempted to rationalize his
behavior.  In 1933 and 1934, Walter Lippmann deplored the Nazis persecution of Jews yet
insisted that even under Hitler, Germany could be regarded as civilized.  The peace
settlement of 1919 had been too harsh, the victors incapable of statesmanship.  Like
Time?s Goldsborough, Lippmann found himself out of sympathy for any European power. 
?As long as Europe prepares for war,? Lippman wrote in May 1934, ?America must
prepare for neutrality.?  Popular magazines like Collier?s and the Saturday Evening Post
shared Lippman?s sanguine view.  Repeatedly, excuses were offered for Hitler?s conduct. 
Moral condemnation of Nazism and Fascism smacked of Wilsonian self-righteousness.380
At Time, the handling of the European crisis played into a larger crisis over the
editorial direction of magazine during the late 1930s.  Younger staff writers, supporting
the Left?s Popular Front against fascism, hated Goldsborough.  No one found him more
frustrating than Ralph Ingersoll.  Fortune editor between 1931 and 1935 and subsequently
Luce?s chief aide until 1936, Ingersoll had been named publisher of Time in 1937.  Unlike
Luce, Ingersoll embraced the decade?s radical spirit.  Although he refused to join the
Communist Party, he participated in Party study groups and in long memos, begged Luce
381High Time 1, 3-4; High Time 2: A Publication of Communist Party Members at Time, 1939, March of Time
Miscellaneous File 1939, Time Incorporated Archives, Time Life Building, New York City, 2; Memo from Henry
Luce to Time Inc., Staff, dated March 1939; Swanberg, 161-163; Memo from Ralph Ingersoll to Henry Luce on
March of Time content, April 28, 1938, March of Time Miscellaneous File 1938, Time Incorporated Archives, Time-
Life Building, New York City.
174
to turn Time, Inc., publications, including The March of Time, leftward.  Quietly, Ingersoll
tried to instill his own values into Time, a process aided somewhat by having like-minded
writers on staff.  Under Ingersoll, Time avoided condemning the controversial sitdown
strikes of 1937 while anti-union activities received harsh words, stances that were
reflected in The March of Time on most occasions as well.  Time nevertheless remained
within a Republican oriented center of the political spectrum.  For example, Roosevelt?s
court-packing scheme was heavily criticized and a cover story on American Communist
party chief Earl Browder was most unflattering.  But privately, Party members on the Time
staff bragged of their ability in injecting stories with subtle propaganda while old hands
bemoaned the radical drift of the magazine under Ingersoll.381
For two years, Luce lacked the will, time and interest to do much of anything about
the movement of Time towards the left.  Luce was consumed with the management of
Fortune during this period and was also distracted by the monumental task of launching
Life, which had a critically praised but financially draining launch in 1936-37.  Luce also
tended to shy away from personal confrontation on occasion, and this proved the case with
Ingersoll.
The relationship finally came to a breaking point in early 1939, when Time
designated Hitler as its ?Man of the Year?.  The decision was not meant as a tribute, as
382Wolcott Gibbs, ?A Very Active Type Man,? New Yorker, May 2, 1941, 27.
383Letter from Lem Billings to Roy Larsen, May 1939, March of Time Miscellaneous File 1939, Time Incorporated
Archives, Time-Life Building, New York City.
384Elson, 1:317.
175
Germany had just annexed the Sudentenland and was planning to take the remainder of
Czechoslovakia, but a recognition of the Nazi dictator?s newsworthiness.  To Ingersoll?s
dismay, however, the cover portrait of Hitler chosen by a underling was flattering.  At
great cost, he ordered a last minute switch to a less appealing portrait.  Luce was annoyed
both by the expense and the intervention of Ingersoll.  According to Ingersoll, Luce?s
belief was that a journalist should always remain dispassionate and his only
responsibilities were accuracy and ability to hold the attention of the audience.382 
Frustrated, Ingersoll left Time in April 1939, taking some staff with him to start the left-
liberal tabloid in New York, PM.   A number of Time veterans were not sorry to see him
go, considering Ingersoll egotistical and unable to separate his politics from his
reporting.383
Ironically, Luce himself had begun to abandon his pretense of journalistic
detachment at the same time Ingersoll was leaving Time Inc.  Luce had already begun to
hold his own study groups, inviting underlings to lunch, asking for input about what Time
Inc. should stand for and what kind of positions his publications should take on major
issues of the day.384
Two books Luce read in the late 1930s, Jose Ortega y Gasset?s Revolt of the
Masses (1930) and Peter Drucker?s End of Economic Man (1939) greatly affected his
385Swanberg, 171.
386Jose Ortega y Gasset, The Revolt of the Masses, (New York: W.W. Norton, 1932), 18.
387Peter F. Drucker, The End of Economic Man, (New York: The John Day Co., 1939), passim.
176
thinking.  Both authors were European traditionalists deeply disturbed by trends in
European politics.   According to Gasset and Drucker, traditionally optimistic Americans
had no realization of the extent to which political and economic upheavals since 1914 had
changed European life.  The crises that ensued with the collapse of aristocratic legitimacy
fostered an enthusiasm for extremist solutions that menaced Luce?s vision of an American
democratic, capitalist centrism.385
Both Drucker and Ortega attributed the rise of fascism to larger, transnational
historical forces.  Ortega viewed the modern economy?s insistence on specialization of
education and work fostering a dangerous political and historical illiteracy.   The people
had become an undiscriminating mob, trampling underfoot individuality and tradition.386
Drucker?s analysis was similarly pessimistic and impressed Luce as well.  Drucker
attributed fascism?s rise to a loss of faith in a rationally based political and economic
order.  The masses, he wrote, were less to blame than events.  To Drucker, the Great War
demonstrated the isolation of individuals in a world of larger forces and the Great
Depression reinforced this anomie.  The mediocrity of Europe?s postwar leadership further
undermined accepted forms of governing in Europe, discredited old leadership classes, and
compelled European publics to reach for panaceas on both the left and right.387
Modern society?s rejection of tradition and its susceptibility to anti-capitalist, anti-
388John Jessup,ed. The Ideas of Henry Luce, (New York: Anthaneum, 1969), 41; Richard W. Steele, Propaganda in
an Open Society, (Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1985), 79.
177
democratic systems were themes in the writings of both Ortega and Drucker that inspired
Luce.  Ortega was too pessimistic, Luce told a 1937 gathering.  A socially responsible
mass media, Luce believed, could help to counteract the forces Ortega saw undermining
liberal thought and institutions.  Thus Life, Fortune and The March of Time (The
Ramparts We Watch is an example of this trend) periodically offered history and civics
lessons, generously illustrated and vividly filmed.  Luce himself in 1940 helped to found
the Council for Democracy, a committee of liberal and moderate journalists and
academics, to promote democracy in American society.   The Council, in its publications,
tried to explain why the crisis of democracy in Europe had the potential to imperil liberal
democracy in America.388
Drucker?s writings encouraged the nationalist side of Luce.  However troubled
Europe was, Drucker contended that America remained a beacon of hope.  Capitalism was
doomed in Europe but the free enterprise system constructed in America was worth
saving, according to Drucker.  Statist intervention was permissible, but only to allow for a
socially responsible free enterprise system that promoted economic equality rather than
class antagonism.  America had been a model to Europe of capitalism?s possibilities and
the collapse of the American economy had driven many  Europeans to embrace fascism. 
However, the lure of America as a land of equality and possibility remained for many
Europeans, according to Drucker.  America could serve as a successful counter-argument
389Drucker, 44-50.
390Swanberg, 181; Wilfrid Sheed, Clare Booth Luce, (New York: E.P. Dutton, 1982), 79.
178
to extremists of both left and right.389
Luce?s concern over the problems of Europe might have come regardless of the
writings of Drucker and Ortega; however, the success of Life drove Luce into a more
contemplative, public role.   By the late 1930s, only chewing gum manufacturer William
Wrigley had his name on more printed pieces of paper, and Luce began to glimpse the
possibility of actually driving public opinion through his various publications.390
Thus, by 1939 Luce?s mission had taken on an international dimension.  He had
already started to find the time to criticize the New Deal publically as a threat to private
enterprise.  Drucker?s work suggested that in Europe capitalism and freedom were even
more threatened.  Roosevelt, he believed, must be defeated at home and the dictators
abroad by an enlightened free enterprise system supportive of democracy and tradition.
Even before he read End of Economic Man, Luce began moving Fortune toward
this vision.  Beginning in December 1938, the magazine sponsored the Fortune Round
Table.  Leaders in business along with economists, an engineer, a farmer and a union
representative, began meeting to fashion statements on the economy.  The first, published
in March 1939, noted the disappearance of free enterprise in Russia, Italy and Germany
and warned that it could happen here.  In America, federal spending outpaced economic
growth and had to be restrained, the experts advised.  Subsequent reports echoed Luce?s
call for a restoration of confidence in business, and a more dynamic, growth oriented yet
391 ?Round Table,? Fortune, March 1939, 59.
179
socially responsible capitalism.391   As noted, The March of Time had already begun to
reflect a more internationalist and interventionist viewpoint, sounding the alarm about
European statism to a huge monthly audience.  
The content of Life reflected the growing coherence of Time Inc.?s coverage of the
international situation.  Germany?s March 1938 annexation of Austria prompted a sixteen
page layout that explained, in highly critical terms, Hitler?s rise to power.  The magazine
forcefully denounced the Nazi?s persecution of Jews in Germany and Austria and gloomily
forecast Hitler?s plans for expansion in Europe.  Significantly, Life demanded increased
U.S. defense expenditures.  Hitler?s appetite, wheted by Austria and expanded by the
annexation of the Sudentenland (and British and French weakness in facing the Nazi
threat) necessitated a buildup and suggested that new demands on America were in the
offing.  In a theme repeated over the next three years, Life questioned the ability of the
British Royal Navy to protect the Americas from aggression.  For over a hundred years,
Life noted, the British fleet, not the Monroe Doctrine, had kept European powers out of the
Americas.  The American navy had to be expanded, particularly in the Atlantic.  Airpower
had made the traditional protection afforded by the ocean?s obsolete; long-range bombers
currently in development could attack the eastern United States.  America must
immediately develop an effective air raid defense network along the coast.  In addition, the
weak state of the Army had to be addressed.  Finally, American industry, exhausted by ten
years of depression and government interference, needed to be unshackled so that war
392Life, March 28, 1938, 11-27; Life, December 19, 1939, 45-46.
393Swanberg, 159.
394Memo from Henry Luce to Roy Larsen, January 1939, Luce Correspondence File, Time Inc., Archives, Time-Life
Building, New York City.
180
preparations could begin.392
By late 1938, Time?s foreign news section began to sound the alarm about Europe
and the fascist threat.  Guest-editing Time in late November, Luce finally confronted
Goldsborough?s benign view of fascism and removed him as foreign news editor.  With
Goldsborough out of the picture, Time admitted that the September 1938 Munich
agreement had only raised false hopes of a European settlement.  Critics of British Prime
Minister Neville Chamberlain received favorable coverage, while Nazi policies were
regularly and stridently denounced.  Germany?s March 1939 conquest of Czechoslovakia
removed any doubt about the ultimate ambitions of Hitler to dominate the Continent,
according to Time.393
Such advocacy journalism did not usually come directly from Luce, but from like
minded staff.  With the expansion of the Time Inc., conglomerate, Luce monitored rather
than managed his publications on a day-to-day basis.  To keep himself abreast of staff and
editorial changes at each magazine, he personally edited each publication for several
months a year.  He bombarded the editorial staffs at Time, Life and Fortune with memos
explicating his vision for each respective publication.  Luce appointed one of his most
trusted lieutenants, Roy Larsen, to help direct the operations of The March of Time.394 
What began to emerge across all Time Inc., publications and media by the late 1930s,
395Philip E. Jacob, ?Influences of World Events on US ?Neutrality? Opinion,? Public Opinion Quarterly 4, (March
1940), 48-65.
181
certainly by 1939, was a worldview heavily influenced by Luce that combined advocacy of
a broadly liberal and democratic capitalism and an advocacy of a much more active
American role in global affairs.  
The great question which raged across the American body politic in 1940 and 1941
was whether or not the United States should oppose German aggression or remain neutral? 
By early 1939, most American newspapers and magazines appear to have abandoned the
moral relativism that had equated Germany, France and Britain, as Hitler?s intentions and
the nature of the Nazi regime became obvious.  Despite the efforts of German agents
virtually no one in the United States was prepared to support the Nazis if a European war
came.  Most publications, including Colonel Robert McCormick?s isolationist Chicago
Tribune, believed along with Time Inc. that America must rearm.395  Still, a ?great debate?
emerged over the size of America?s arms build-up and whether or not Roosevelt was using
the crisis as a pretext for expanding his personal power.   An overriding question was, in
the event of a German-British conflict, to what extent should the U.S. help Britain?  Did a
German victory pose a threat to America?s security?
The March of Time had reflected Luce?s evolving viewpoint for some time,
arguably back to its earliest films and certainly by the release of ?Inside Nazi Germany? in
1938.  The film The Ramparts We Watch vividly demonstrated an appreciation for the
need to stand up to aggression.  Luce?s magazines also began to show an increased
militancy and advocacy for rearmament and intervention.  Fortune was the most detailed
396Curtis Prendergrast, The World of Time Inc., (New York: Atheneum, 1986), 201; David Cort, The Sin of Henry
Luce, (Secaucus, NJ: Lyle Stuart, 1974), 252-253.
397Life, June 24, 1940, 32; Life October 28, 1940, 23; Life, July 22, 1940, 57 passim.
182
in its description of American preparation (or lack thereof) and the economic stake that the
U.S. had in Europe and Asia.   By comparison, Time shared less information than opinion,
criticizing Roosevelt?s caution while praising British pluck and resolve.396
Of the Time Inc. publications, Life proved the most militant when it came to
American involvement in the war.  The magazine acquired a seriousness that was not
reflected by its covers of actresses and models.  Stories reminded Americans of the
nation?s long martial history, attempting to refute the self-image of America as a peace-
loving nation that had developed during the years of neutrality and isolation.  Extensive
coverage of the fall of France was presented not only as news but as a warning.  A special
issue, ?The Defense of America,? offered solutions to the problems of rearmament and
argued that America would have to abandon such traditions as a small standing army to
fight a modern war.  The military needed highly professionalized training, Life argued, and
the scope of fighting would necessitate a peacetime draft.  Like other Time Inc.,
publications, Life gave an authoritative view of events and issues that was presented as
news, not opinion.  There were no doubts or counterarguments.  The dangers presented by
Hitler were real and could not be discounted.397
To Luce, the nation must be united to deal with the fascist threat.  Arms alone
could not defeat Nazism.  The ethnic divisions that had followed the Great War and the
class antagonism of the 1930s had to end.  Luce concluded that France had fallen and
398Henry Luce, Introduction to Why England Slept by John F. Kennedy, (New York: 1940), xv.
399Kobler, 122; Editorial, ?The Presidency,? New York Herald Tribune, October 10, 1940.
183
England was in dire straits because of their failure to overcome interwar factionalism. 
America, in contrast, still had time to unite and provide a liberal democratic answer to
German efficiency and ruthlessness.  
Luce did not believe that national unity would come solely through assimilation
and voluntary efforts.  He believed, and this belief became more fervent over time, that
President Roosevelt could have done a good deal more to unite the country.  In a foreward
to John F. Kennedy?s 1940 While England Slept, Luce wrote ?America will never be ready
for any war, not in one year, nor in two nor in twenty?until she makes up her mind there
is going to be a war.?  Roosevelt, in Luce?s view, believed that America could somehow
avoid conflict.  At a time when the President should be leading public opinion, Roosevelt
was following it.398
Luce also criticized President Roosevelt?s defense plans as inadequate but another
telling indication of the administration?s poor relations with business and industry. 
Requests for planes, tanks and heavy equipment remained far too conservative, and given
the crisis of rearmament, relations between business and political leaders remained
problematic.  With other interventionist Republican voices such as the New York Herald
Tribune, Luce called for a partnership between government and industry focused on
rearmament.399
Thus Luce, through all his publications, expressed his assertive position on
400Luce, ?America and Armageddon.?
401Memo from Richard DeRochemont to Louis DeRochemont concerning Senate Hearings, September 5, 1941,
March of Time Miscellaneous File 1941, Time Incorporated Archives, Time-Life Building, New York City.
184
American intervention.  The American people had to recognize their interests or
responsibilities, whether led by Roosevelt or a new president.  Luce had made up his mind
and Time Inc.?s publications reflected that decision.  America had to confront fascism. 
America must rearm and in order achieve that goal needed desperately to improve
relations between government and business.  Luce, for his part, was not going to remain
passive; rearming America and supporting the British became almost a religious cause to
him, suggested by the biblical analogies of his editorials.400
Most Time Inc. writers and editors had little difficulty in injecting such views into
their work and with the departure of Goldsborough were in sympathy with Luce?s goals. 
Some of the older Time hands were concerned that Luce was not following standard
journalistic practice in injecting so much opinion into the news but was outnumbered.  The
March of Time had in fact anticipated Luce?s growing interventionism.   In fact, The
March of Time was seen as being so pro-interventionist that isolationist Senator Gerald K.
Nye launched hearings on the film series? content in September 1941.401  Louis De
Rochemont?s statement to the Nye hearings was revealing, both for its defense of the
journalistic integrity of The March of Time and for its forthright account of the reasoning
behind many March of Time issues that seemed to advocate intervention.  Richard
DeRochemont wrote his older brother that all the promotion of The March of Time
focused on the film series taking a stand on issues, that the ?MOT interprets the news and
402Ibid.
403Ibid.
185
gives it meaning.?402  According to Louis DeRochemont?s testimony and statements to the
committee, the conclusions that The March of Time generally reached on major issues
were those that reasonable men usually arrived after much deliberation; in no way was The
March of Time unreasonable in its views or outside the mainstream of public opinion. 
Domestically, The March of Time was in favor of gradual reform, was fearful of
radicalism in the labor movement, and occasionally, as with endorsing Wendell Willkie,
took sides politically.  De Rochemont stated, rather defensively, that The March of Time
?liked the USA and resented any attempts at revolutionary change? from within or
without.  Thus, logically, the series was completely opposed to any foreign aggression that
sought to bring unwelcome political and social change to any sovereign nation.  As to the
prospect of war, The March of Time?s attitude was ?realistic...and that in this field as well
as others, America must be ready to act if need be.?403  If anything, DeRochemont believed
the views of Senator Nye and other isolationists were naive and dangerous. 
To Luce, no matter how much Americans might want to avoid another war, the
nation could not base its foreign policy on the avoidance of conflict.  In several speeches
and a February 1941 editorial in Life, Luce argued that Americans had to reconcile
themselves to the burdens that went with being the most powerful country in the world. 
?The fundamental problem with America,? Luce wrote, ?has been, and is, that whereas
their nation became in the twentieth century the most powerful and most vital nation in the
404Luce, ?The American Century,? in Henry Luce, The American Century, (New York: Farrar and Rinehart, 1941),
7.
405Luce, ?The American Century,? 23-24.
186
world, nevertheless Americans were unable to accommodate themselves spiritually and
practically to that fact.?404  This denial had to end.  Americans could not ignore any longer
the ?fundamental issue which faces America as it faces no other nation,? an issue peculiar
to America and peculiar to America in the twentieth century?now.?  The twentieth
century had become the American Century, and Americans had to ?accept wholeheartedly
our duty and our opportunity as the most powerful and vital nation in the world and in
consequence to exert upon the world the full import of our influence, for such purposes as
we see fit and by such means as we see fit.?405
The declaration of an ?American Century? was to a large degree the result of a
particular moment in history.  Luce, in fact, argued with both sides debating American
foreign policy early in 1941.  He disagreed with interventionists who envisioned an Anglo-
American postwar order, with the United States and the British Commonwealth on equal
terms.  In any arrangement with Great Britain after the war, America would be the
dominant partner.  The American eclipse of Britain a generation earlier made a political
association based on equality a chimera based on sentiment rather than logic.  The same
theme of American ascendancy informed Luce?s argument against isolationists.  The
United States was no longer a weak state, for whom neutrality was not only possible but
on occasion necessary.  The success of the American political and economic experiment,
according to Luce, left the nation with almost imperial responsibilities it could no longer
406?America As A World Power,? Speech by Henry Luce to American Association of Colleges, Pasadena,
California, January 9, 1941, March of Time Luce Speeches File, Time Incorporated Archives, Time-Life Building,
New York City.
407Luce, ?American Century?, 36-37.
408Luce, ?American Century,? 40.
187
avoid.406
Much of the essay reflected traditional justifications for American expansionism. 
At times, Luce appeared to be reviving the nineteenth century argument of a Manifest
Destiny, that America was duty-bound to share with the world her exceptional political
institutions and liberties.  There were references to the open door of trade, of the need for a
developed American economy to secure new markets and fuel global economic growth. 
Asia was an area of particular interest and opportunity.407
Most of the editorial was both a criticism of past policies and a warning of perils to
come. As Luce concluded, he began to suggest what America?s postwar duties might be
and was, for all his criticism of Roosevelt, vague.  Luce did not call for a huge peacetime
army and navy or declarations of war against Germany, Italy and Japan.  Instead, he
advocated what has come to be called ?soft power?; an adaptation of the missionary
experience that would export American expertise to the less developed world.  Luce also
discussed an American role as protector of freedom of the seas, and as the leader of global
trade.408
Of course, there would be limits on the nation?s role, Luce conceded.   He wrote
?...our only alternative to isolationism is not to undertake to police the whole world or to
impose democratic institutions on all mankind...America cannot be responsible for the
409Ibid., 3.
410Walter Lippmann, ?The American Destiny,? Life June 5, 1940, 47-73; Henry Luce, Speech to the Poor Richard
Club, Philadelphia, December 10, 1940, March of Time Luce Speeches File, Time Incorporated Archives, Time-Life
Building, New York City.
188
good behavior of the entire world.?409  There would still be dictators after the war and
warfare itself could not be eliminated by America or transnational organizations.  Overall,
however, Luce offered an extravagant assessment of America?s postwar role.  Although
freedom and democratic capitalism would not flourish everywhere, Luce expected it
spread through most of the world.
?The American Century? drew its ideology from other sources as well.  In early
1939, Life had carried an essay by Walter Lippmann titled ?The American Destiny.? 
Luce?s assessment of the American peoples spirit has much in common with Lippmann?s.
?The American people are profoundly troubled,? Lippmann wrote.   ?They are oppressed
by doubt,? but ?the American spirit is troubled not by dangers, and not by the difficulties
of the age, but by indecision.?  To Lippmann, this mood stemmed from the nation?s
reluctance to accept the large responsibilities that accompanied ?the American Destiny.?
Lippmann stated that a watershed event had occurred since the turn of the century, namely
the transfer of global power in the West across the Atlantic from the Old World to the
New.  Lippmann argued ?What Rome was to the ancient world, what Great Britain is to
the modern world, America is to the world of tomorrow.?  Americans, whether they
wanted it or not, had the power and responsibilities that came with being ?a very great
nation at the center of the civilized world.?410
411Dorothy Thompson, ?The American Century,? New York Herald Tribune, February 21, 1941.
189
Luce and Lippmann?s assertion of historical destiny had a number of adherents. 
Columnist Dorothy Thompson, writing in the New York Herald Tribune, quoted with
approval from ?The American Century.?  Thompson wrote, ?To Americanize growth of
the world so that we shall have a climate favorable to our growth is indeed a call to
destiny.?  Americans had to accept the challenge that Luce and Lippmann had made. 
Thompson further stated that a more robust, interventionist American foreign policy could
have prevented the war, and if America failed to take up its responsibilities its decline was
a historical inevitability.411
Luce?s ?American Century? was, by and large, in the mainstream of governmental
and political thinking at the time of its articulation.  The publisher reflected the thinking of
the Roosevelt Administration and a large swath of press opinion.  However, the
?American Century? was revolutionary in its advocacy for a permanent American presence
overseas and highly influential because of the reach of Time Inc., publications.  Also, it
can be argued that the ?American Century? began a permanent, fundamental shift in the
nature of conservatism and the Republican party.  Luce, seen by the late 1930s as a
partisan Republican, began the long process of moving the GOP from its post-World War
I adherence to isolationism to a much more internationalist approach to foreign affairs.  In
this movement, the Republican party nationally became more aligned with the
internationalist segments of the Democratic party, laying the groundwork for a bi-partisan
foreign policy that last until at least the late 1960s and in some respects until the end of the
190
Cold War.  
Also, the ?American Century? had enormous implications for domestic politics. 
Luce, by advocating continual American engagement overseas, helped cement a massive
and permanent military establishment necessary to protect American interests.  In so
doing, Luce helped establish the rationale for huge defense budgets and a massive,
irreversible government presence in the economy.  Luce, who always identified himself as
a ?free-enterpriser,? thus helped change traditional notions among conservatives and
Republicans about the proper level of federal involvement in the economy.  The
?American Century? helped cement the uneasy and often contradictory alliance between
fiscal conservatives and internationalists within the Republican party.  Also, by helping to
create a consensus in favor of internationalism and its attendant military budgets, defense
installations, and overseas investment, Luce?s ?American Century? provided a rationale
for the acceptance by the American people of a large-scale and permanent government
presence in everyday life, in some respects completing a process that began with the New
Deal.
There is scant evidence that The March of Time?s content directly affected Luce?s
thinking.  The publisher rarely took a direct hand in the content of the series, trusting one
of his top lieutenants, Roy Larsen, to supervise the occasionally disorganized de
Rochemont.  However, Luce viewed most issues of The March of Time, sometimes
providing feedback to Larsen regarding content.  For example, a memo written by Luce to
Larsen regarding ?Inside Nazi Germany? called the film ?powerful, well-done...and don?t
412Henry Luce to Roy Larsen, February 4, 1938, Luce Correspondence File, Time Inc., Archives, Time-Life
Building, New York City.
413Current Time Inc., Projects,  Henry Luce to Roy Larsen, October 1940, Luce Correspondence File, Time Inc.,
Archives, Time-Life Building, New York City.  Luce?s comments to Larsen on The Ramparts We Watch were the
last item in a brief memo concerning Time Inc., business.
191
let any of the criticism bother you.?412  Another memo by Luce written to Larsen
following the release of The Ramparts We Watch stated ?In spite of all the costs and
difficulties, this movie, I think, will do a great deal for the cause of American strength...it
certainly notes (and demonstrates) things that have been on my mind, as you know...my
heartiest congratulations to you, Louis, and all involved.?413 As noted, Luce also paid
more attention to releases dealing with China and Asian affairs than other March of Time
films.
A number of March of Time films released during the formulation of Luce?s
American Century concept reflect the publisher?s ideas and the increased ideological
cohesion of the series.   These issues also developed themes presented in The Ramparts
We Watch.  ?Arms and Men?U.S.A.? released in November 1940, explored expanding
American arms production.  The film began with a description of the rapidly expanding
American army because of the implementation of the first peacetime draft.  A table
showed the projected increase in men in uniform over the next three years.  Block
lettering then flashed on the screen, stating:
FOR THESE SOLDIERS, WEAPONS ARE NEEDED.
TANKS, RIFLES, PLANES?ALL PRODUCED IN AMERICAN FACTORIES
BY AMERICAN MEN.
414The March of Time, Vol. 7, #4, (New York: Time Incorporated, November 1940), March of Time Collection, MT
7.04, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland.
415Ibid.
416De Rochemont Memoir, 49.
417March of Time, Vol. 7, # 5, (New York: Time Incorporated, December 1940), March of Time Collection, MT
7.05, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland.
192
MEN FROM ALL BACKGROUNDS AND NATIONALITIES.414
This emphasis on different ethnic groups pulling together for a common American
goal was reflected in ?Americans All!?, released in early 1941.  ?Arms and the
Men?U.S.A.? made a  pointed comment on the scarce resources given to the Army prior
to the war, noting that ?often men drill with models or outdated weapons dating to the last
century.?  The film also provided the audience with a breakdown of the staggering
industrial capacity of the U.S., predicting that the factories that produce consumer goods
during peacetime will smoothly transition to the necessities of weapons production.415
In ?Labor and Defense,? released in November 1940, The March of Time analyzed
the role labor unions would have in the burgeoning national defense effort.  The March of
Time had, in the past, been somewhat skeptical of unions.  In de Rochemont?s view,
unions were often un-democratic and the producer was still angry about efforts to
unionize The March of Time during the late 1930s.416   However, he set aside his personal
animus in the filming of ?Labor and Defense,? directing the production of a film that
celebrated unions patriotism, linked the union movement with traditional American
values, and described them as ?vital? to national defense and the victory of democracy.417
?Uncle Sam?The Non Belligerent,? issued in January 1941, examined the
418The March of Time, Vol. 7, #6, (New York: Time Incorporated, January 1941), March of Time Collection, MT
7.06, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland.
193
historical dimensions of American foreign policy.  The quintessential American character,
?Uncle Sam,? speaking to a class of grade school students, described how, since the
beginning of the American republic, the United States had taken pains to stay out of
foreign conflicts and protect the Western Hemisphere.  Actors portraying Washington,
Monroe, Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt were all shown reviewing maps and the globe,
then putting pen to paper to draft statements on neutrality, the Monroe Doctrine and the
Roosevelt Corollary.  ?Uncle Sam? then noted ?we Americans don?t like war, but when
we get pushed, we don?t mind a scrap,? a clear warning to outside aggressors, as well as a
reminder to the audience, of American military prowess in past wars.  ?Uncle Sam? also
reviewed American efforts at disarmament and referred to the failure of successive
Neutrality Acts to lessen international tensions during the 1930s.  But, the film made no
prediction as to whether the United States will have to go to war.418
?Americans All!?, released by The March of Time in February 1941, was a
celebration of the strength that immigrants had brought to the American body politic over
the early decades of the twentieth century.  Different European immigrant groups, along
with some African-Americans, were shown working in factories, laboratories, shops and
in professional settings, all contributing mightily to strengthening America?s defense.  To
underscore the point, workers were shown walking past Kossuth and Pulaski streets to
their factory and defense jobs.  The film also catalogued the contributions and ethnic
backgrounds of prominent Americans such as Robert Wagner, Fiorello LaGuardia, and
419The March of Time, Vol. 7, #7, (New York: Time Incorporated, February 1941), March of Time Collection, MT
7.07, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland.
420The March of Time, Vol. 7, #7 Production File, March of Time Collection, MT 7.07, National Archives and
Records Administration, College Park, Maryland.  None of the markings on the shooting script or dope sheets
indicate whose opinion was being given.
194
William B. Knudsen, all identified by their ethnicity.  Special care was taken to note the
voting strength of immigrant voting blocs in Northern cities, and the growing influence of
immigrants in the union movement was duly noted.419
An unspoken contrast with the Nazi beliefs in Aryan supremacy and racial purity
pervaded the film.  American society was ultimately stronger and healthier than Nazi
Germany because of the contributions and vigor of immigrant groups.  Through a strict
policy of assimilation and adherence to American values, immigrants could quickly
become valuable members of American society.  In fact, anonymous scribbled notes on
drafts of scripts for ?Americans All!? urged March of Time writers and editors to stress
this point more forcefully, for example saying ?must stress americanism in sequence on
politics.?420
Taken together, as intended by Roy Larsen and Louis de Rochemont, ?Arms and
the Men?U.S.A.,? ?Labor and Defense,? ?Uncle Sam?the Non-Belligerent,? and
?Americans All!? reflected the increasingly propagandistic tone taken by Time Inc.,
publications in the wake of Luce?s propagation of his American Century idea.  They also
demonstrated a definite ideological coherence on the part of The March of Time after the
production and release of The Ramparts We Watch.  In a September 1940 memo to Roy
Larsen, de Rochemont laid out his plans for a ?sequence of MOT releases that will
421Upcoming MOT Issues, memo from Louis de Rochemont to Roy Larsen, September 22, 1940, Time Inc.,
Archives, Time-Life Building, New York City.
422The March of Time, Vol. 7, # 8, (New York: Time Incorporated, March 1941), March of Time Collection, MT
7.08, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland; The March of Time, Vol. 7, #8
Production File, March of Time Collection, MT 7.08, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park,
Maryland.  Notations in the production file state the footage of Australian troops fighting was obtained from ?British
sources.?
423The March of Time, Vol. 7, #10, (New York: Time Incorporated, May 1941), March of Time Collection, MT
7.10, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland.
424The March of Time, Vol. 7, #11, (New York: Time Incorporated, June 1941), March of Time Collection, MT
7.11, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland.
195
provide the history backdrop for efforts that are going to be undertaken as the country
gears up for war.?421
The rest of 1941 saw The March of Time cover the war extensively.  Directed by
Jack Glenn, ?Australia at War? focused on Australian contributions to British led
campaigns in North Africa, as well as Australia?s own preparations for possible conflict
in the South Pacific.422  ?Crisis in the Atlantic?dealt with the ongoing U-Boat war in the
Atlantic Ocean.  The threat to British resistance was clearly explained to the audience,
along with the high risks for American merchant shipping.  The US Navy?s efforts at
patrolling and convoys were described, and the viewer was left with the impression of a
volatile naval war in which America was already a participant.423   ?China Fights Back,?
another of The March of Time numerous issues that described the fighting between Japan
and China, stated that ?struggling against a cruel, relentless foe, the armies of China have
emerged once again to battle for the freedom of their sacred homeland.?  Continued
American support, according to The March of Time, was vital to Chinese victory.424
August 1941's ?Peace?by Adolf Hitler? spelled out the implications of a Nazi
425The March of Time Vol. 7, #13, (New York: Time Incorporated, August 1941), March of Time Collection, MT
7.13, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland; The March of Time Vol. 7, #13
Production File, March of Time Collection, MT 7.13, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park,
Maryland.
196
victory.  Germany had invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941 and at this point in the
campaign seemed unstoppable, driving the Russian army back on all fronts and capturing
hundreds of thousands of Soviet soldiers.  Sober military analysts in Britain and America
concluded that the possibility of a Soviet defeat was high, with huge implications for the
Western democracies.  Written by Lothar Wolff, ?Peace?by Adolf Hitler? used extensive
reenactments to show what life was like for European nations already under the Nazi
yoke, demonstrating what other nations could expect from a Nazi peace.  The film then
spelled out what the results of a Nazi victory would be for the United States.  Trade
would evaporate, the US could expect Nazi attempts at subversion in Latin America; the
Church would suffer persecution, America would have to remain on a permanent war
footing far into the future, with no guarantee of lasting peace.  In short, America would be
isolated and alone in the world, with no natural allies or ideological brethren.425
The 1941 releases by The March of Time, like their counterparts between from
roughly 1938 through 1940, displayed a definite advocacy for greater American
involvement in global affairs and intervention, if need be, in the war.  Whether that
intervention would take the form of actual American involvement or serving as the
?arsenal of Democracy? was often unclear or left deliberately obscured by the series. 
Louis de Rochemont, in his 1941 testimony to the U.S. Senate, made it clear that he
believed that The March of Time, while an advocate for Britain and other democracies,
426Memo from Richard de Rochemont to Louis de Rochemont concerning Senate hearings.
427The March of Time, Vol. 8, #8, (New York: Time Incorporated Archives, March 1942), March of Time
Collection, MT 8.08, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland; The March of Time,
Vol. 8, #10, (New York: Time Incorporated, May 1942), March of Time Collection, MT 8.10, National Archives and
Records Administration, College Park, Maryland; The March of Time, Vol. 8, #11, (New York: Time Incorporated
June 1942), March of Time Collection, MT 8.11, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park,
Maryland.
197
did not endorse American entry into the fighting.426  What differentiated films released by
The March of Time in 1941 was an apparent acceptance that the United States would
eventually be embroiled in the war.  ?Crisis in the Atlantic? and ?Peace?by Adolf Hitler?
in particular make it clear that the results of a German victory in Europe would not be
acceptable to the United States.
After Pearl Harbor, The March of Time quite logically shifted its primary efforts
toward coverage of American troops in combat, the fighting fronts, and the home front. 
However, The March of Time continued its traditional emphasis on foreign affairs as part
of its wartime subject matter.   Films such as the ?The Argentine Question,? examining
the possibility of the spread of pro-fascist regimes in South America, and ?India in Crisis?
and ?India at War,? all released in the first half of 1942, were examples of The March of
Time attempting to bring a global perspective to its audience.  ?India in Crisis? and ?India
at War,? for example, discussed the question of Indian independence in the wake of the
war, while at the same time detailing the importance of India to British and American
campaigns in Asia and the Indian contribution to the British war effort.427    Another
factor in this continued focus on foreign affairs was The March of Time?s format. 
Released monthly with a single subject per issue, The March of Time had the luxury of
428The March of Time, Vol. 9, #9, (New York: Time Incorporated, April 1943), March of Time Collection, MT 9.09,
National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland.
429The March of Time, Vol. 10, #13, (New York: Time Incorporated, August 1944), March of Time Collection, MT
10.13, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland; The March of Time, Vol. 10, #13
Production File, March of Time Collection, MT 10.13, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park,
Maryland.
198
continued in-depth examination of given topics, while the coverage of breaking news was
not suited to The March of Time?s production process.
The March of Time also gave increasing attention to ideological issues in its war-
time releases dealing with foreign affairs.  ?Inside Fascist Spain? clearly identified
Franco?s regime as an ideological ally of Nazi Germany; only the changing fortunes of
war had prevented Spain from joining the Axis.428   This kind of clarity with regard to
Spain had been lacking in Time Inc.,?s coverage of the Spanish Civil War and the rise of
Franco during the late 1930s.  An August 1944 film, titled ?British Imperialism,? dealt
with the difficulties the British would have at the end of the war in holding together their
far-flung empire.  Despite the American elite?s traditional affinity for Britain, admiration
Americans had for British resistance during the dark days of 1940, and the continued
wartime alliance, ?British Imperialism? was critical of the ruling practices the British
used and pessimistic about the long-term prospects for the Empire.  The film concluded
that the British would likely be exhausted by war and the Empire, at least in its traditional
form, would inevitably change.429  This point of view had been articulated by Luce in
?The American Century.?  The mantle of leadership of the civilized world would
inevitably pass to America from Britain as a matter of course and national destiny.
Of course, the major ideological divide that The March of Time would have to
430The March of Time, Vol. 1, #4, May 31, 1935; The March of Time, Vol. 2, #2, February 14, 1936.
431Audience Reaction to RUSSIA, unsigned memo to Louis de Rochemont, March of Time Movie File 1935, Time-
Inc., Archives, Time-Life Building, New York City; Letter to the Editors of The March of Time from Brigadier John
Dewry, Bury St. Edmonds, Norfolk, England, dated March 19, 1936.  The memo to de Rochemont gives instances of
audience disapproval and approval to the ?Russia? release culled from movie theater owners and operators.  The
letter from Brigadier Dewry denounces in forceful language ?cinematic Bolshevism? distributed by The March of
Time.
432De Rochemont Reminiscences, 61-62.
199
deal with during the war years was America?s alliance with the Soviet Union.  Prior to the
war, the existence of the USSR was barely acknowledged by The March of Time. 
Between the premiere of the film series in 1935 and American entry into World War II in
December 1941, only two March of Time releases dealt with the Soviet Union.430  Both of
these subjects, titled ?Russia? and ?Moscow? were released prior to the adoption of a
single subject per release format and each touched only on general conditions of life in
the Soviet Union, with cursory examination of Stalin?s industrial program.  Both
prompted some controversy when The March of Time received  negative audience
feedback at its offices in New York City.431  Also, de Rochemont was extremely
unsympathetic to communism and these ideological conflicts may have played a role in
the lack of early coverage of the Soviet Union.432  With the American entry into the war,
the Soviet experiment could no longer be neglected editorially.  Thus, The March of Time
provided its audience with extensive coverage of the Soviet Union during the war and of
the nascent Cold War in the years after 1945.
The March of Time?s special issue on the Soviet Union, titled ?One Day of
War?Russia? was released in January 1943, just as the tide of war was turning in the east
433The March of Time, Vol. 9, #6, (New York: Time Incorporated, January 1943), March of Time Collection, MT
9.06, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland; The March of Time, Vol. 9, #6
Production File, March of Time Collection, MT 9.06, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park,
Maryland.  A notation in the production file indicated extensive cooperation of Soviet authorities in obtaining file
footage of fighting and destruction in combat areas.
434Ibid.
200
with a decisive German defeat at Stalingrad looming.  ?One Day of War? followed the
Soviet people through a typical day of warfare.  The film opened with a chorus of
whistles as Russian men and women trudged off to work in armaments factories and other
industries, transported by trolley or by foot.  Care was taken to show the extensive
damage done to Russian cities by German air-strikes and in the case of Leningrad,
artillery bombardment.  The narration made comparisons between the suffering of the
Russian people under the constant threat of German attack, and the destruction inflicted
by the Luftwaffe?s air ?blitz? of Great Britain.  Thus, a sense of Allied unity in the face of
Nazi aggression was stressed.433  The film also had extensive scenes of Soviet children; at
school, diligently applying themselves to their lessons, at play and attempting at least to
assist their beleaguered parents in daily tasks.  There was no comment made about
indoctrination of the youth or the training of a new generation of loyal communists that
one could reasonably have expected in a pre-war release.  In addition, Stalin was praised
as a strong leader, dedicated to his people and the defeat of Nazism, with only a passing
mention of his authoritarian rule.434  Clearly The March of Time portrayed the USSR
positively to serve the war effort and maintain good terms with and access to the Soviet
Union.
?What To Do With Germany,? released in October 1944, explored the problems
435The March of Time, Vol. 11, #2, (New York: Time Incorporated, October 1944), March of Time Collection, MT
11.02, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland.
201
posed by Germany?s inevitable (by this point in the war) defeat.  The March of Time
noted that Germany?s future had been a primary subject at each wartime conference
between Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin and given the central location of Germany and
the importance of the German economy to the overall economic performance of Europe
and the prospects of a general European postwar recovery, resolution of the German
question was vital.  The various proposals afloat for Germany at the time (partition into
five states, deindustrialization, occupation for an indefinite period) were each examined,
with the conclusion that Germany could not simply cease to exist as a nation, given its
economic and political importance.435
?Report on Italy,? released in January 1945, discussed the chaotic situation then
prevailing on the Italian peninsula.  Italy had surrendered to the Allies in September 1943
and later declared war on Germany.  There were at present two Italian governments, a
rump fascist state ?ruled? by Benito Mussolini but dominated by Germany, and a largely
discredited, semi-constitutional monarchy led by the aged King Victor Emmanuel III. 
The most vital political force in Italy at this time appeared to be, according to The March
of Time, the communist dominated partisan movement fighting the Germans and
remnants of Mussolini?s Fascist party in the north.  Any long-term solution to Italy?s
problems would have to take into account the presence of large numbers of communists
and communist sympathizers, along with traditional forces such as the church and the
political parties, particularly the Christian Democrats, driven underground during
436The March of Time Vol. 11, #6, (New York: Time Incorporated, January 1945), March of Time Collection, MT
11.06, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland.
437The March of Time, Vol. 12, #7, (New York: Time Incorporated, February 22, 1946), March of Time Collection,
MT 12.07, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland; The March of Time, Vol. 13, #
3, (New York: Time Incorporated, November 1, 1946), March of Time Collection, MT 13.3, National Archives and
Records Administration, College Park, Maryland.
202
Mussolini?s rule.  No one group was at present strong enough to rule the country and a
muddled coalition was the most likely result.436   European postwar problems were further
explored in ?Report on Greece? released in February 1946 and ?The Soviet?s
Neighbor?Czechoslovakia? issued in November 1946.  Both films were highly critical of
Soviet efforts at expanding their sphere of influence over Greece and Czechoslovakia,
and sounded a somber note about the prospects for democratic governance in Southern
and Central Europe.437
?The Cold War: Act 1: France? released in early 1948, was part of a series
planned by The March of Time that dealt with the problems of post-war Europe and
stressed the need for American intervention to prevent the fall of Western Europe to
communism.  The film detailed the life of an average Frenchman, prosaically named
Pierre Jouet, as he dealt with the privations of the post-war economy.  Jouet was shown
worrying about his ability to provide for his family in a France riven by political strife and
economic austerity.  Fortunately for Jouet, he is able to supplement his family?s meager
diet by acquiring food from his farmer cousin, active in a thriving black market.  The film
skillfully showed the relationship between political instability and the declining economy. 
The French Communist party was portrayed in a manner that had been reserved in the
pre-war era for European fascists, disrupting political meetings, blocking needed
438The March of Time, Vol. 14, #6, (New York: Time Incorporated, January 23, 1948), March of Time Collection,
MT 14.06, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park; The March of Time Vol. 14, #6 Production
File, March of Time Collection, MT 14.06, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland.  
439The March of Time, Vol. 14, # 8, (New York, Time Incorporated, March 19, 1948), March of Time Collection,
MT 14.08, National Archives and Records Administration,; The March of Time, Vol. 14, #10, (New York: Time
Incorporated, May 14, 1948), March of Time Collection, MT 14.10, National Archives and Records Adminstration..
203
legislation.  Interestingly, Charles De Gaulle and his followers were also criticized and
shown in poses, again, reminiscent of pre-war European fascists.438  The subsequent films
in the series, ?The Cold War: Act II?Italy? and ?The Cold War: Act III?Greece?
employed the technique of using the daily experience of an individual to demonstrate the
need to aid Europe in resisting communism.439   
In addition to this Cold War series, two other 1948 releases written and co-
directed by Lothar Wolff, ?Battle for Germany? and ?Answer to Stalin? addressed the
growing crisis in Europe.  ?Battle for Germany? discussed in highly detailed terms the
importance of Germany to the economy of Europe and the importance of a free, capitalist
Germany oriented towards the west for a general European economic and political
recovery.  The traditional March of Time antipathy towards communism was on full
display in ?Battle for Germany.?  Christian Democratic political leaders such as Konrad
Adenauer were noted for their courage in resisting Nazism, with an implicit contrast
drawn between Adenauer and other pro-western politicians and German communists,
who were ?taking orders from Moscow.?  The stakes for America, then in the midst of the
Berlin Airlift, were clearly drawn, as a communist takeover in Germany would lead
440The March of Time, Vol. 14, #15, (New York: Time Incorporated, October 1, 1948), March of Time Collection,
MT 14.15, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland.
441March of Time, Vol. 14, #17, (New York: Time Incorporated, November 26, 1948), March of Time
Collection, MT 14.17, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland; March of Time, Vol.
14, #17 Production File, March of Time Collection, MT 14.17, National Archives and Records Administration,
College Park, Maryland.
204
inevitably to American isolation.440 
?Answer to Stalin? focused on the internal American debate over how to deal
with the seeming intransigence of the Soviet dictator.  The film began with average
Americans debating what to do about the Soviet threat.  A sense of the pervasiveness of
this threat was rendered by the technique of spinning newspapers with screaming
headlines,  news-tickers on the outside of buildings and bulletins on the radio all
trumpeting the latest Soviet outrage.  A variety of opinions, from ?dropping the big one?
to outright appeasement, were expressed at the start of the film.  ?Answer to Stalin? then
dismissed extreme responses advocated by the far left and far right, stating that the
current bipartisan policy developed by the Truman administration was the only reasonable
way to deal with the Soviets.  The stakes for America in Europe and throughout the globe
(although the film interestingly neglects China) were stressed in a dramatic format, with a
reenactment of the Soviet coup in Czechoslovakia and commentary that discussed the
threat that atheistic communism posed to Western civilization.441 
Luce proved prescient in his prediction of an ?American Century? in the wake of
victory in World War II.  Observers who commented on Luce?s vision usually stressed its
implications for American foreign relations with not as much consideration given to the
changes that an ?American Century? would necessitate on at home.  However, Luce?s
205
vision had profound implications for American domestic life and was communicated
through all his publications, including The March of Time.
 
                             Chapter Five: The American Century at Home
From its inception, The March of Time made defining American politics, society
and culture its subject.  What emerged in The March of Time?s subject matter was what
can be termed a ?family portrait? of the United States, one that adhered to Luce?s vision
for the country.  Highly sentimental, dedicated to progress and technology, respectful of
institutions and authority, this ideal America constructed by Luce could be seen across all
Time Inc., publications.    By the time Luce?s ?American Century? was articulated, this
mental image of America had been fully presented in The March of Time.  The war years
and early Cold War were to give it further elaboration and cohesion.
In addition, The March of Time, through its depiction of American life,
participated fully in the lengthy 1930s conversation concerning the definition of America
and what being an American actually meant.  Which image of America was to triumph
and thus define the nation? Was it that of Luce, the Federal Theater Project?s ?the Living
Newspaper?, or the radical newsreel The World Today?   Through its editorial and
production decisions, The March of Time contributed signficantly to America?s self-
definition and to the changes to American life that Luce?s American Century demanded
and ultimately produced.
One of the earliest March of Time releases contained a short subject titled
1The March of Time, Vol. 1, #4, (New York: Time Incorporated, May 31, 1935), March of Time Collection, MT
1.04, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland.
206
?Washington News.?  Released on May 31, 1935, ?Washington News? took as its subject
the continual controversies surrounding President Roosevelt?s New Deal and his
advocacy for new policies such as Social Security.   In the style of Time magazine,
?Washington News? focused on personalities rather than ideological differences, leaving
the viewer with the impression that the entire New Deal was dependent on personal
relationships rather than any overarching political philosophy.  There were few if any
connections drawn between different pieces of mentioned legislation, with virtually no
exploration of the general philosophy of New Deal proposals, while the narration noted
only that ?a series of new laws have come down from the President?s desk.?442
Roosevelt was almost omni-present during ?Washington News.?  A series of clips
show him in rapid succession signing bills, conferring with reporters, and behind the
wheel of a motorcar, conveying a sense of action.  The image of Roosevelt imparted to
the viewer was a vital figure at the center of events?certainly accurate, given the
organizational chaos that often surrounded Roosevelt?s administration.  However, what
emerged was a one-sided portrayal of the President?s leadership style.  The March of Time
then set the stage for the 1936 elections, intoning that ?the changes wrought by the
President are dependent on his political fate? thus tying the New Deal entirely to
Roosevelt.  At no point in the short film did The March of Time take note of the necessity
for political and economic changes in the country when Roosevelt took office in 1933;
discussion of the overall national economic condition was absent.  In addition, there was
443The March of Time, Vol. 1, #4; The March of Time, Vol. 1, #4 Production File, March of Time Collection, MT
1.04, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland.
444The March of Time, Vol. 1, #8, (New York: Time Incorporated, November 13, 1935), March of Time Collection,
MT 1.08, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland; The March of Time, Vol. 1, #8
Production File, March of Time Collection, MT, 1.08, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park,
Maryland.  A page of notes taken in longhand indicate that Landon, Borah and Knox were the probable nominees
?based on info available from our research and thus should be the focus of the story.?
207
a vague insinuation of looming fascism in the script, as the narration noted ?in other
countries too, there has been the belief in strong leadership? during a sequence showing
the President employed at a variety of tasks.443
The upcoming 1936 elections were explored by The March of Time in its
November 13, 1935, release.  Titled ?G.O.P.,? this short subject dealt with Republican
presidential contenders vying for the nomination.  The main contenders, according to the
conventional wisdom of the day and The March of Time, were Kansas Governor Alfred
Landon, Senator William E. Borah of Idaho and longtime political insider and
businessman Frank Knox of Illinois.444  Footage of each man was shown:  Landon waving
to crowds and opening a hospital in Kansas; Borah making a speech and chatting with
other unidentified politicians; Knox conferring with a group of men in what appeared to a
gentleman?s club.  The visuals used by The March of Time clearly reflected the prevailing
political sterotype about each man.  Landon, who by this point had acquired a reputation
as a dynamic, popular governor, was shown interacting with admiring crowds.  Borah, an
?elderly warhorse? associated with reform causes during the Progressive era, was
portrayed consulting with other politicians, thus reinforcing an image of the Senator as a
creature of Washington, while Knox, considered the consummate insider, was shown in
445The March of Time, Vol. 1, #8.
446The March of Time, Vol. 1, #8.
447The March of Time, Vol. 1, #9, (New York: Time Incorporated, December 13, 1935), March of Time Collection,
MT 1.09, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland.
208
sedate, sober surroundings.  Through text and visual imagery, The March of Time
supported Landon over the other Republican candidates.  The Kansas governor was
praised as a ?popular, effective chief executive...having led the Jayhawk state through
difficult times with a firm and steady hand.?445  Landon was shown moving briskly
through the statehouse, consulting with engineers, and working on a farm.  The contrast
with the other contenders was obvious, along with a subtle comparison with Roosevelt?s
health.  The overall question of whether or not any Republican nominee would have
much of a chance to defeat Roosevelt was unanswered.446
?Townsend Plan? released by The March of Time on December 13, 1935, dealt
with the old-age pension scheme advocated by retired California doctor Francis
Townsend.  Townsend had amassed a large following by advocating direct pension
payments to retired Americans.  Townsend believed that this plan would alleviate the
ongoing problem of poverty among the aged, which had been exacerbated by the
Depression.  The film explored Townsend?s plan in some detail, while mentioning the
recent passage of Social Security.  The visual imagery used in the short film was striking. 
An ideal America for the aged was shown; all the elderly shown in the film seemed to be
in relatively comfortable circumstances, with little exposure of the large numbers of older
Americans living in abject poverty.447
448The March of Time, Vol. 1, #3; The March of Time, Vol. 1, #4; The March of Time, Vol. 1, #5; The March of
Time Vol. 1, # 9.
449Memo from Richard de Rochemont to Louis de Rochemont regarding Senate testimony; Louis de Rochemont
Reminiscences, 9.
209
The March of Time provided interesting and varied political coverage during
1935.  In addition to Dr. Townsend, the series released detailed stories on Huey Long and
Father Charles Coughlin, discussed in Chapter Two.  Taken as a group with ?G.O.P?, the
series provided its audience with a fairly in-depth exploration of Roosevelt?s critics,
while brutally satirizing the buffoonish Long.  The treatments of Townsend, Coughlin
and the putative Republican candidates was respectful and in some cases (like that of
Landon) verged on adoring.  Roosevelt, facing what was assumed to be a stiff reelection
challenge in 1936, was presented as a capable politician while the long term survival of
the New Deal without his presence was left in doubt.448  The political orientation of The
March of Time was beginning to emerge.  Favoring a cautious liberalism, the series was
in favor of reform but in moderation, and was highly skeptical of what the producers,
writers and editors considered demagoguery.   This viewpoint reflected producer Louis de
Rochemont?s beliefs and to a large extent those of Time Inc., publisher Henry Luce.449
The series provided a comical look at the 1936 election process in its September
2, 1936 release titled ?The Lunatic Fringe.? ?The Lunatic Fringe? took as its subject
matter the large number of ?political cranks and crackpots? then operating at the edges of
legitimate political discourse.  The film implied that men such as the late Huey Long,
some elements of the followers of Father Coughlin and Dr. Townsend, along with the
450The March of Time, Vol. 3, # 1, (New York: Time Incorporated, September 2, 1936), March of Time Collection,
MT 3.01, National Archives and Records Administration; The March of Time, Vol. 3, #1 Production File, March of
Time Collection, MT 3.01, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland..
451Audience Reaction To TVA, Memo to Louis de Rochemont, February 22, 1936, March of Time Movie File 1936,
Time Inc., Archives, Time-Life Building, New York City.  The memo is a series of excerpts from letters written to
The March of Time offices or forwarded from local theaters.
210
small numbers of American fascists and communists, could be described as having lost
touch with political reality in their solutions for the Depression.  ?The Lunatic Fringe,?
like the earlier March of Time film on Huey Long, was devastating through mockery,
while presenting fringe political elements as operating outside traditional American
political and cultural values.450
The March of Time turned its attention to one of Roosevelt?s most ambitious New
Deal projects, the Tennessee Valley Authority in its January 7, 1936 release.  Titled
?TVA? and directed personally by Louis de Rochemont, this short subject was the first of
several that examined economic and labor conditions in the US during the election year. 
The ?TVA? examined the structure and intent of the Tennessee Valley Authority, a
massive regional planning project intended to electrify and modernize the middle South. 
Highly controversial, the TVA attracted intense opposition because to its critics the
project was deemed socialistic.   One correspondent to The March of Time called the
project ?Soviet-communism with the intent of bolshevizing the South,? while another
said that the TVA represented ?another step towards the destruction of individual liberty
in America.?451   The ?TVA? began its examination with a series of visual shots of
southern poverty: poorly clad children, crops withering in the fields, badly maintained
roads, and lean-to shacks and ramshackle dwellings.  The intent of the TVA, according to
452The March of Time, Vol. 2, #1, (New York: Time Incorporated, January 7, 1936), March of Time Collection, MT
2.01, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland.
453The March of Time, Vol. 2, #1.
13Erskine Caldwell and Margaret Bourke White, You Have Seen Their Faces, (New York: Viking Press,
1937); James Agee and Walker Evans, Let Us Now Praise Famous Men, (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1939);
Goldberg, passim; Baughman, 69-72.
211
The March of Time, was to bring the ?American South, long proud and productive, fully
into the 20th century.?452   The film emphasized the size and potential of the project more
than its political implications.  In fact, no opponents of the project where shown in the
film, rare for The March of Time when discussing a controversial political issue.  The
film?s focus on the possible energy production and long term goals of the TVA were
probably a factor in some of the criticism levied at The March of Time for ?TVA.?453
The March of Time undertook a more in-depth exploration of the American South
in its eighth release of 1936.  Titled ?King Cotton?s Slaves,? and written by longtime
March of Time staffer Jimmy Shrute, the film examined the practice of sharecropping and
tenant farming in the South, a recurring theme in the 1930s documentary expression
movement examined by Margaret Bourke White and Erskine Caldwell in You Have Seen
Their Faces and by James Agee and Walker Evans in Let Us Now Praise Famous Men. 
White and Agee both worked for Time Inc., with Bourke-White being a major contributor
to Fortune during its formative years, and Agee working as Time?s film critic during the
1940s.454  
?King Cotton?s Slaves? as indicated by the title, vividly exposed conditions in the
South and the exploitation of the practice of sharecropping.  Unlike ?TVA,? which had
455The March of Time, Vol. 2, # 8, (New York: Time Incorporated, August 7, 1936), March of Time Collection, MT
2.08, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland.
456Interestingly, the narrator for this issue was not Westbrook Van Voorhis, who was the narrator for virtually all of
The March of Time releases until the end of the series in 1951.  The narrator is not identified on the production notes
or script.  March of Time, Vol. 2, # 8 Production File.
457The March of Time, Vol. 2, #8.  This release predates efforts at unionizing The March of Time by about two years. 
These efforts are discussed in Chapters Two, Three and Four.
212
also dealt with the particular economic problems of the South, ?King Cotton?s Slaves,?
clearly articulated a viewpoint and was forthright in its advocacy of reform.   The film?s
narration began with an important sounding clutch of Time-speak: ?Of great necessity has
cotton production long been to the American economy,? and was accompanied by a
benign shot of cotton fields laying lazily in the sun.  This was followed by a map of the
United States with arrows representing exports of cotton to Europe and other parts of the
globe, as Westbrook Van Voorhis solemnly continued ?vital has cotton been in American
overseas trade.?455  He then listed the number of commercial and industrial uses of
cotton.456
Turning to cultivation and production of cotton, the narrator noted that ?while
cotton is often associated with the romance of the Old South, the reality is different,? 
explaining that cotton was grown and harvested through a plantation system, with two
primary forms of labor.  ?King Cotton?s Slaves? explained the mechanics of both tenant
farming and sharecropping, taking note of the advantages to the system to the landowner
and the disadvantages to the tenant or sharecropper.  The film offered a ray of hope; the
efforts of sharecroppers and tenant farmers to organize in trade cooperatives and unions,
describing these efforts as a ?...possible solution to an intolerable situation.?457   For The
458The March of Time Vol. 2, #8, August 7, 1936.
459Luce, Recommendation to the Board of Directors;  Luce, The Opportunity.
213
March of Time, usually ambivalent at best about unions, this was an unusual, and
particularly given the overall attitude of Time Inc toward unionization, remarkable stance. 
With the attention to both black and white sharecroppers and tenants, in roughly in the
same material condition; the film suggested that race was no a real factor in the
controversies over tenancy and sharecropping.
The same release of The March of Time contained a short subject titled ?Highway
Homes,? about a growing number of Americans who were using trailers and campers as
permanent homes.  The segment described the phenomenon in a somewhat bemused tone,
concluding that ?the trend seems likely to continue,? while not providing the audience
with much analysis of what the longer term implications of a roving middle class (the
trailers shown obviously cost money, and the users appeared to be comfortably middle
class) might have meant for American cultural cohesiveness and traditional notions of
community.458
?Highway Homes? demonstrated that The March of Time, while concerned with
presenting weighty issues in some depth to its audiences in service of what Luce called
?pictorial journalism? was not above presenting more traditional newsreel fare.459  In
addition to coverage of the presidential election, economic problems, and warfare and
diplomatic crises? abroad, The March of Time in 1936 and 1937 presented films such as
the ?Jockey Club? about horseracing, ?The Football Business,? ?Harlem?s Black Magic?,
460The March of Time, Vol. 2, #7, (New York: Time Incorporated, July 10, 1936), March of Time Collection, MT
2.07, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland; The March of Time, Vol. 3, #2, (New
York: Time Incorporated, September 30, 1936), March of Time Collection, MT 3.02, National Archives and Records
Administration, College Park, Maryland; The March of Time Vol. 3, # 5, (New York: Time Incorporated, December
24, 1936), March of Time Collection, MT 3.05, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park,
Maryland;  The March of Time, Vol. 3, # 7, (New York: Time Incorporated, January 22, 1937), March of Time
Collection, MT 3.07, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland; ; The March of Time
Vol. 3, #9, (New York: Time Incorporated, April 16, 1937), March of Time Collection, MT 3.09, National Archives
and Records Administration.
461The March of Time, Vol. 3, #2, (New York: Time Incorporated, September 30, 1936), March of Time Collection,
MT 3.02, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland.
214
?Business Girls in the Big City,? ?Midwinter Vacations? and ?Amateur Sleuths.?460  All
interesting subjects, to be sure, but also reflecting Time Inc.?s belief that the company
could competently explain all aspects of American life to its audiences, a belief reflected
in all of Time Inc.?s publications.
The March of Time continued its exploration of American economic and political
issues with the release of ?Labor vs. Labor? on September 30, 1936.  Directed by Tom
Orchard, ?Labor vs. Labor? took up one of the most controversial political issues of the
day, the growing split within the labor movement.  The American Federation of Labor
(AFL), long dominant within the movement and representing skilled workers, was being
challenged by the nascent Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO), led by fiery United
Mine Workers chief John L. Lewis.  Lewis, a frequent subject in all Time Inc.,
publications, was, by his appearance and presence, a controversial figure.  Tall, imposing,
outspoken, blunt, with a shock of black hair and gargantuan eyebrows, Lewis made what
journalists called ?good copy.?  The battle between the two organizations was presented
as a ?fight for the soul of labor and the future of unions.?461  The points of contention
between the AFL and the CIO were laid out in some detail; the AFL?s more conservative
462The March of Time, Vol. 3, #2.
463The March of Time Vol. 3, #2 Production File.
215
nature and its emphasis on skilled crafts contrasted with the increasing militancy of the
CIO?s member unions, particularly the United Auto Workers and the United Mine
Workers and their focus on organizing the bulk of unskilled laborers.  The entire conflict
was placed in the broader context of the 1935 passage of the Wagner Act, which
established the National Labor Relations Board and gave workers the right to strike and
collective bargaining.  Given the increased rights gained by labor, The March of Time
suggested that the outcome of this struggle for control of the orientation of the labor
movement would have huge implications for the future course of the American economy. 
While granting that all workers, in theory, should have the right to organize, ?Labor vs.
Labor? pessimistically noted that these rights, ?like any, can be abused,? particularly if
the CIO gained control of the direction of the labor movement.462
The production notes for this March of Time release revealed a certain amount of
anti-pathy towards the union movement and its leaders.  On a shooting script labeled ?de
Rochemont? a scribbled notation stated ?these men hardly look like Bolshie
types...reshoot??463
The March of Time further focused on labor issues with its March 19, 1937
release titled ?Child Labor,? a fairly straightforward look at the practice of child labor in
the United States.  ?Child Labor? began with the statement ?numerous are the children
who labor in the United States.?  Following this, the film presented the reasons for child
464The March of Time, Vol. 3, #8, (New York: Time Incorporated, March 19, 1937), March of Time Collection, MT
3.08, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland; The March of Time, Vol. 3, #8
Production File, March of Time Collection, MT 3.08, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park,
Maryland.
465The March of Time, Vol. 3, # 10, (New York: Time Incorporated, May 14, 1937), March of Time Collection, MT
3.10, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland.
216
labor: necessity, lower costs and exploitation by employers.  A doctor discussed the long
term physical effects of hard labor on the young, along with the problem of lack of
schooling ?that will limit opportunities in the future.?  The opposition of major labor
organizations to the practice was discussed, along with the proposed Fair Labor Standards
Act, which contained provisions outlawing child labor.  The film concluded with Senator
Robert Wagner of New York speaking against the practice and in favor of legislation
banning child labor.464 
The March of Time followed ?Child Labor? with a comprehensive examination of
the persistent problem of unemployment in ?U.S. Unemployment? released on May 14,
1937.   ?U.S. Unemployment? began with a sobering detailing of the numbers of out-of-
work Americans in early 1937.  Charts showed the estimated number of unemployed
since 1929, showing massive increases in the early 1930s with gradually better numbers
since 1933.  This presentation concluded that although unemployment figures had
improved, that fact ?is little solace to the man in search of work for his family.?  The film
then showed President Roosevelt famously stating in his 1937 inaugural address that ?one
third of the nation is ill-housed, ill-fed and ill-clothed.?465
The film then turned to an analysis of the reasons for chronic unemployment,
detailing lack of business investment, low incomes that limit consumption, and an
466The March of Time, Vol. 3, #10; The March of Time, Vol. 3, #10 Production File.  Keynes is identified as a
?English professor-egghead type? on dope sheets that indicate film of the professor was obtained from British Pathe
News.
217
erosion of overseas trade.  Only when these persistent problems were dealt with will the
U.S. reach acceptable employment levels again, according to The March of Time.  The
New Deal agencies that provided millions of public works jobs were praised for their
efforts in resuming activity and providing the unemployed with some hope and purpose,
?as every man must believe he is of use,? but ?U.S. Unemployment? did not consider the
New Deal a long term solution to the Depression, noting that ?it is the belief of some
observers that government intervention is hindering growth.? On the other hand, The
March of Time identified British economist John Maynard Keynes, shown working at a
desk, as a leading proponent of greater government spending to solve the unemployment
problem.466
Another film in this sequence dealing with the economy was ?Dust Bowl,?
released on June 11, 1937.  ?Dust Bowl? took as its subject matter the devastation of the
soil of the Great Plains and the subsequent destruction of the region?s farm economy,
already filmed by Pare Lorentz in The Plow That Broke the Plains and documented by
photographers such as Dorothea Lange from the Works Progress Administration.  ?Dust
Bowl? began with a sweeping shot of verdant, productive farmland that gradually
dissolved into a cracked, dry desert?one of the more dramatic opening sequences filmed
by The March of Time during its sixteen year run.  Narrator Westbrook Van Voorhis
stated, ?...crumbled into dust has this once lush garden, breadbasket to the nation and
467The March of Time, Vol. 3, #11, (New York: Time Incorporated, June 30, 1937), March of Time Collection, MT
3.11, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland.
218
world.?  The struggle of farm families was depicted as the film documented falling
agricultural production after a decade of relative farm prosperity.  A series of shots show
farm families leaving the Plains states for the far West, in search of jobs and opportunity. 
?Dust Bowl? then recounts New Deal efforts at reviving the farm economy: more
comprehensive study of soil erosion at state-funded colleges and universities, rural
electrification to increase efficiency, expansion of roads, and increasing irrigation
projects.  Unlike March of Time presentations of other New Deal efforts, ?Dust Bowl?
seemed to approve of the federal government?s efforts on behalf of farmers and the farm
economy, stating ?the traditional ingenuity of American science and the ethic of the
American farmer are surely the best weapon against the ongoing destruction of the
soil.?467  ?Dust Bowl,? in comparison to other documentaries about the subject, was far
more optimistic in its belief in an ultimate resolution to the crisis afflicting the Great
Plains, with a belief in technology as being the ultimate savior of the American farmer.
?Youth in Camps? released by The March of Time on August 6, 1937, examined
the activities of the Civilian Conservation Corps, one of the more ambitious New Deal
programs.  The CCC was intended to alleviate the enormous problem of youth
unemployment in the United States, greatly exacerbated by the Depression.  ?Youth in
Camps? began with two young, almost frail, men jumping onto a moving train.  The
narration stated that ?John and Mike? were part of ?millions of youths compelled to take
468The March of Time, Vol. 3, #13, (New York: Time Incorporated, August 6, 1937), March of Time Collection, MT
3.13, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland; The March of Time, Vol. 3, #13,
Production File, March of Time Collection, MT 3.13, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park,
Maryland.  Notes in the production file identify ?John and Mike? as school friends of the daughter of Time Inc.,
executive Roy Larsen. Other notes indicate the extensive cooperation of Civilian Conservation Corps officials in
Virginia.
469The March of Time, Vol. 3, #13.
219
to the roads and rails? in a ?bitter quest for work and purpose.?468  ?John and Mike? are
shown being threatened by a group of much older ?hobos? on the train, and, frightened,
jump off the train at a stop in a small, rural town.  The two see posters for the Civilian
Conservation Corps, promising ?Work And Opportunity For Young Men.?  They enroll
in the program and in a rapid sequence are shown taking classes, working on a road and
erecting what appears to be a log cabin, and laughing and eating at picnic tables in the
open air with other young men.  The atmosphere and environment in the Civilian
Conservation Corps camps was shown to be healthy and wholesome, as earlier
undesirables had been weeded out, and the narration states ?of signal benefit of these
camps has been the restoration of the work ethic and hope for thousands of young
men.?469
Taken as a group, ?TVA,? ?King Cotton?s Slaves,? ?Labor vs. Labor,? ?Child
Labor,? ?Dust Bowl,? ?Youth in Camps? and ?U.S. Unemployment? presented a
selective look at the most newsworthy and extreme aspects of American economic
problems, labor issues, debates over the New Deal and proposed solutions to the
Depression.  The March of Time advocated a cautious, moderate, reform-oriented
liberalism in discussing the economic crises? of the 1930s, rejecting extreme solutions
470Alexander, 172-178.
220
on the right and left while differing to some degree with other Time Inc., publications in
its presentation of the New Deal.  In fact, the early years of The March of Time can be
seen as something of an ideological muddle, moderately liberal on some issues,
conservative with regard to labor and projecting an optimistic, middle-class oriented
centrism on most subjects.  While somewhat skeptical of the New Deal in general,
particular programs such as the Civilian Conservation Corps and the Tennessee Valley
Authority were presented in a positive light.
Wary of unionization and some aspects of the New Deal, The March of Time
stood in marked contrast to other, more radical films of the period.  Frontier Films,
which had produced a number of well-received films dealing with the worsening
international situation, released a number of films dealing with American politics,
economy and society in the mid to late 1930s.  Inspired by Pare Lorentz?s The River and
The Plow That Broke the Plains, films such as People of the Cumberland (1938), The
City (1939) and Native Land (1942) dramatized the plight of the common American in
the face of large, impersonal forces that ground down individuality and personal
liberty.470  People of the Cumberland in particular was notable for its assertion that the
TVA and other New Deal programs were ?a good beginning, but only a beginning,?
stating that the real solution for the dire material conditions in the Cumberland Valley
was greater unionization, organization and resistance to the forces of capital by the
471Alexander, 177.
472Ibid, 125-126.
473Idid.
221
common people.471   The producers of Frontier Films were, like the playwrights
associated with ?The Living Newspaper? aware of The March of Time and admirers of
its technique, but believed that the film series was ill-serving its audiences by engaging
in ?corporate propaganda.?472
These kind of charges about the content of The March of Time were not new. 
Nykino, another radical offshoot of the Film and Photo League which took its name
from Soviet cinema, had decided by the mid-1930s to produce its own newsreel, what
the group styled ?a kind of progressive March of Time? or a ?pro-labor film with the
frame-work of The March of Time.?473  Film-maker Irving Lerner believed that Nykino
could build on The March of Time?s technical innovations without its use of a
recognizable style.  Lerner planned to involve the subjects in the actual plotting of the
film and the drafting of scripts, with the hope that Nykino would present a more
complete exploration of news events than did The March of Time.   What emerged from
Nykino?s efforts was a newsreel titled The World Today which never reached a wide
audience because of difficulties with distribution.  Produced by Frontier Films, subjects
filmed by The World Today included an examination of homeowner evictions in Queens
and an expose of the Michigan Black Legion, a vicious racist group like the Ku Klux
Klan.  The World Today, like The March of Time, used actors to play various parts to
474Ibid, 126.
475Ibid.
476Alexander, 128-129.
222
make the resulting film look like a documentary.474  
According to film historian William Alexander, The World Today was not a
revolutionary film.  Rather, it was a document produced by ?the popular front, a film
looking for an audience among those who are renewing their belief in America.?475  The
World Today was overtly populist, placing its protagonists in the tradition of the
American pioneers who had conquered the West.  The film had its faults, most
particularly an emphasis on technique over story, a frequent criticism of The March of
Time.  However, the film was strong enough, according to Lerner, ?to amaze many
members of the March of Time staff when it was shown to them.?476
The March of Time continued to focus on politics and the economy through 1937
and 1938.  In the spring of 1937, the most controversial domestic issue of the day was
the attempt by Franklin Roosevelt to ?pack? the Supreme Court with extra numbers in
order to ensure a more favorable response to New Deal policies and programs.  The
subject was treated in considerable detail in The March of Time?s issue released in April. 
The film included several shots, both posed and candid, of Supreme Court justices.  The
justices were especially reluctant to be photographed, and March of Time scripts indicate
that several of the shots were made under great difficulty.  Shots of both President
Roosevelt and Montana?s Democratic Senator Burton K. Wheeler, respectively
477March of Time, Vol. 3, #9; March of Time Vol. 3, #9 Production File.  The Production File for this issue contains
a good deal of background material on the court-packing controversy.
478Louis DeRochemont Reminiscences, 39; Roy Larsen, Report on Washington Trip, August 30, 1937, March of
Time Miscellaneous File 1937, Time Incorporated Archives, Time-Life Building, New York City, 1; March of Time
Press Release on Kansas Censorship, May 1937, March of Time Miscellaneous File 1937, Time Incorporated
Archives, Time-Life Building, New York City.
479Press Release on Kansas Censorship.
223
defending and opposing the plan, were incorporated into the episode.  The editors took
care to include both opposing and supporting viewpoints into the program, and did not
believe that this would a be particularly controversial March of Time issue.477
In Kansas, however, a politically appointed censor ordered the opposing remarks
by Senator Wheeler removed from the film.  The grounds for removing the cuts were
that they partisan and biased.  De Rochemont protested the proposed cuts, noting that it
was the first time The March of Time had been ordered to remove footage because of
domestic politics.  However, de Rochemont ultimately complied with the Kansas
censors demands.478
An immediate storm of protest swept across the nation from political leaders, the
press and Roosevelt?s political opponents.  An irate Senator Wheeler blamed Kansas
Governor Walter Huxman, a Democrat, for the cuts, saying his actions qualified him to
be dictator of the United States and that the action was ?in keeping with the trend of the
times.  It is the Hitler philosophy.?479  The censorship board stressed the bipartisan
nature of the decision, noting that the vote to enact the ban was unanimous.  Ultimately,
however, the board bowed to public and political criticism and restored the footage in
480Ibid.
481The March of Time, Vol. 4, #2, (New York: Time Incorporated, October 1, 1937), March of Time Collection, MT
4.02, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park,, Maryland; The March of Time, Vol. 4, #2
Production File, March of Time Collection, MT 4.02, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park,
Maryland.
224
the film.480
The October 1, 1937 release of The March of Time featured a story on New
York?s feisty, colorful mayor, Fiorello LaGuardia, written by Tom Orchard.  The
Republican LaGuardia had become something of a folk-hero because of his anti-
corruption efforts and his battle against the growing influence of the Mafia.  LaGuardia
was committed to using his office to clean up unions controlled by the mob, working
closely with special prosecutor Thomas Dewey, who figured prominently in The March
of Time issue.481  
?Fiorello LaGuardia? was notable for a number of reasons.  The March of Time
praised his efforts in using New Deal-style programs within New York City, stating that
the mayor ?swiftly took action to deal with the growing army of unemployed? upon
taking office.  Also, the mayor?s Italian heritage was considered to be a factor in his
immense popularity, as he ?was a hero to millions who have come recently to these
shores? and was termed a ?fine example? for newly Americanized immigrants.  Also,
LaGuardia?s longtime opposition to European fascism was noted, while the loyalty of
other immigrants was left in question.  LaGuardia was shown making a speech
denouncing Nazi activities which was intercut with footage of German-Americans in a
beer garden and street scenes of Little Italy, while the narration stated ?all new
482Ibid.
483The March of Time, Vol. 7, #7.
484The March of Time, Vol. 4, #3, (New York: Time Incorporated, October 29, 1937), March of Time Collection,
MT 4.03, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland.
485The March of Time, Vol. 4, #9, (New York: Time Incorporated, April 15, 1938), March of Time Collection, MT
4.09, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland.
225
Americans should follow the ?Little Flower?s? lead.?482  These kind of sentiments about
Americanization were expressed a number of times by The March of Time, most notably
in ?Americans All!? released in February 1941.483
A series of March of Time releases in late 1937 and into 1938 dealt with law
enforcement, in what could be seen as a follow-up to ?Fiorello LaGuardia.?  ?U.S. Secret
Service? described the activities of the Treasury Department?s Secret Service,
particularly its battles against counterfeiters and other forms of organized crime.  Of
particular interest and dramatic effect was a re-enacted raid on a counterfeiting operation
said to have taken place in upstate New York.484  ?Crime and Prisons? was an
examination of the American penal system, which concluded criminals were in fact
rehabilitated while incarcerated, while the treatment of convicts in the United States was
the ?most just in the civilized world.?485  ?G-Men of the Sea? took as its subject the
United States Coast Guard, and focused on its efforts at ending illegal smuggling in the
Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico, while praising its performance during Prohibition in
battling bootlegging on the Great Lakes.   In one sequence, Coast Guard vessels were
shown tracking cigarette smugglers off the Florida coast, with the pursuers in constant
contact with the Coast Guard headquarters that arranged the arrest of the smugglers?
486The March of Time, Vol. 4, #12, (New York: Time Incorporated, July 8, 1938), March of Time Collection, MT
4.12, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland.
487The March of Time, Vol. 5, #2, (New York: Time Incorporated, September 30, 1938), March of Time Collection,
MT 5.02, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland.
226
underworld contacts on land.   The Coast Guard was identified as primarily a law
enforcement agency rather than a branch of the American military, in spite of discussion
of its role in coastal defence.486  ?U.S. Firefighters,? while praising the efforts of
American firemen in protecting life and property, also noted the key role firemen played
in uncovering arson and other crimes.487
There was no indication that the producers of The March of Time intended ?U.S.
Secret Service,? ?Crime and Prisons,? ?G-Men of the Sea? and ?U.S. Firefighters? to be
part of a coherent sequence in the manner of March of Time films.  However, a distinct
point of view regarding law enforcement and crime and punishment emerged from the
releases.  The competency of police agencies was always stressed, the use of apparently
unlimited legal authority to battle crime was easily and always justifiable, and the need
for eternal vigilance against crime was apparent.
The March of Time returned to a familiar subject, the American South, for a
release titled ?Old Dixie?s New Boom,? released on February 18, 1938.  The film
examined the reasons for an apparent upturn in the South?s economic fortunes.  The
main factor in the stirring of the South was, according to The March of Time, a partial
recovery in agricultural prices along with infrastructure development prompted by the
New Deal.  The greatest factor in ?Old Dixie?s? recovery, however, was the burgeoning
488The March of Time, Vol. 4, #7, (New York: Time Incorporated, February 18, 1938), March of Time Collection,
MT 4.07, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland.
489The March of Time, Vol. 4, #7.  The cooperation of state officials in film production, common today, was unusual
in this era of limited location shooting.
227
tourism industry.  The narration turned to the growth of  Miami and South Florida,
stating that ?where only a few years ago existed inhabitable swamps, new luxury hotels
and resorts have risen? with a series of shots of comfortable looking tourists playing
tennis, golf and fishing.  The film notes other similar tourist development along with
Gulf Coast and in the Carolinas, with similar footage.488
The film then analyzed some of the underlying economic reasons, beyond
climate, for greater investment of the South.  The ?business friendly? policies of state
governments in the South was noted and praised.  In addition, a favorable climate for
construction ?with abundant local resources and a population willing to work? without
the interference of unions was cited.   The cooperation of tourism boards in South
Carolina, Georgia, Alabama and Florida was noted at the end of the film, which suggests
the reasoning for The March of Time?s uncritical boosterism.489
Many of these themes about favorable business conditions in the South were
expanded upon in a May 1939 release by The March of Time, ?Dixie?U.S.A.?  However,
?Dixie?U.S.A.? did not just examine the South?s economy but attempted to penetrate the
regions unique psychology and culture.  The premise of the film was that although the
South was different from the rest of America because of historical events, it was rapidly
becoming more integrated into the American national character, as modernization
490The March of Time, Vol. 5, #10, (New York: Time Incorporated, May 1939), March of Time Collection, MT
5.10, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland.
228
blurred some of the region?s distinctiveness.  The factor of race relations was not
addressed in any systematic way, other than an oblique reference to the Civil War and
subsequent reconstruction.490  
The March of Time?s focus on the American South was not surprising, as the
region was  a center of New Deal development programs and had been particularly
devastated by the Depression.  Each of The March of Time?s releases dealing with the
South attempted to place the region more fully within its definition of a national
character, one that was overwhelmingly middle-class, relatively materially comfortable,
accepting of prevailing values and authority, and skeptical about large institutions that
were seen to impinge on personal liberty.
In fact, The March of Time attempted to define the national character more
explicitly in its January 1939 release titled ?State of the Union?1939.?  Directed by Jack
Glenn and co-written by de Rochemont and Glenn, ?State of the Union?1939" took as its
subject a ?complete analysis of the nation in all aspects? as the close of the thirties.  The
film began with a series of shots of warfare in Europe and Asia, with closeups of Hitler,
Mussolini, Emperor Hirohito and significantly Stalin making speeches and reviewing
troops.  Narrator Westbrook Van Voorhis intoned, ?Abroad, there is tumult and strife. 
Men and machines march inexorably toward war, while the world awaits the start of
battle.?  In contrast, America at the start of 1939 was shown to be a happy, contented
place, with a shot of what is identified as ?Main Street U.S.A? showing children walking
491The March of Time, Vol. 5, #6, (New York: Time Incorporated, January 1939), March of Time Collection, MT
5.06, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland; The March of Time Vol. 5, #6
Production File, March of Time Collection, MT 5.06, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park,
Maryland.  The ?engineer? is identified as such on the shooting script.  Also, Louis de Rochemont is identified as
one of the primary writers on the script, rare for March of Time practice.
492The March of Time, Vol. 5, #6.  The scene of Nazis attacking the man on the street appears to have been taken
from ?Inside Nazi Germany?1938,? The March of Time, Vol. 4, #6.
493The March of Time, Vol. 5, #6.
229
to school, and shopkeepers opening their stores, along crowded bustling streets.  The
next shot shows workers filing into a factory, clearly in good humor, while an engineer
reviews plans on a construction site.491   The reasons for America?s relative calm and
peace as opposed to the chaos engulfing much of the world were listed: ?In America,
differences are settled at the ballot box rather than by violence;? a shot of men and a few
women entering voting booths is intercut with Nazi thugs beating up a elderly man,
presumably Jewish, on the street.492  Even in periods of discord, exemplified by shots of
the sit-down strikes that swept across the auto industry in 1937 and what appears to be a
labor rally from decades past, ?Americans, taught the art of compromise by democratic
governance and tradition? were able, according to The March of Time, to resolve their
differences peaceably and without rancor.493
?State of the Union?1939? was disingenuously titled.  There were few of the
concrete facts and figures which The March of Time and Time Inc., typically utilized in
making an argument.  ?State of the Union?1939,? makes its point at an emotional rather
than logical level.  The film posited an ideal America, as continuing problems in the
economy, labor strife, serious ideological differences over the New Deal, and racial
230
tensions were not explored in any great depth, or dismissed as the byproduct of a
democratic system of governance.  In the America presented by ?State of the
Union?1939,? the greatest American asset was a general consensus in favor of a
nebulous ?Americanism,?defined by sentimentality and unity.
The ?Americanism? shown in ?State of the Union?1939,? depicted a fictive
nation that is relatively classless.  Every representation of what The March of Time
defined as typical America was middle class and comfortable.  The economic problems
associated with the Depression?unemployment, underemployment, industrial strife, lack
of opportunity for youth, all subjects sometimes explored dispassionately by The March
of Time during the 1930s?were at best skimmed over and generally ignored.  In the
context of other March of Time releases of the late 1930s and early 1940s which sounded
the alarm about the necessity for military preparedness and outpacing other Time Inc.,
publications in advocating a greater American role in the world, the tone of ?State of the
Union?1939? was not particularly surprising.  By this time, The March of Time had
moved squarely into the interventionist column, so the production of a film that
celebrated, and created, American cultural and social consensus was a logical step for
the series.  ?State of the Union?1939" represented an ideological shift in the tenor of the
series.  The equivocation over economic and political issues, with The March of Time
taking either a right, center or left position on some subjects, began to disappear.  What
began to emerge was a focus on national unity, traditional American values as defined by
the middle class, and a sense of historical destiny for the United States as the guarantor
494The March of Time, Vol. 5, #7, (New York: Time Incorporated,, February 1939), March of Time Collection, MT
5.07, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland.
231
of democratic ideas and free enterprise throughout the world.
A notable pair of releases issued by The March of Time in 1940 and 1941 dealt
with, again, American youth, a subject that appeared frequently in the series since its
inception.  ?Young America,? released in February 1939, was a generally light-hearted
look at the fads, fashions and mannerisms of teenagers and college-age youth.  A
recurring theme in the film was a generational divide between today?s young people and
their parents? generation.  This divide was found in many aspects of life, from young
people?s appreciation of ?swing? music in opposition to their parents? taste, their
preference for certain film stars over others, and fashion.  The film also delved into
evolving patterns of socialization between young men and women, examining the
relatively rapid change in courtship over the past twenty-five years.494  Significantly, the
?youth culture? examined by The March of Time was completely white and middle-class,
with a focus on the activities of university undergraduates, then a relatively small
percentage of America?s youth population.  The young people who had taken to the
roads in March of Time releases such as ?Youth in Camps? or were compelled to work
in factories as in ?Child Labor? were nowhere to be found.  This reflected a cultural bias
at work frequently in all Time Inc., publications, and other media outlets.  Also, the
focus on the middle class demonstrated an emerging theme in The March of Time--the
necessity for cultural unity and cohesion in the face of gathering dangers overseas.  In
this emphasis, The March of Time was creating a middle class America worth defending
495The March of Time, Vol. 6, #9, (New York: Time Incorporated, April 1940), March of Time Collection, MT 6.09,
National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland.
496The March of Time, Vol. 6, #9.
232
from all possible dangers.
A second film about young people, ?America?s Youth,? had an entirely different
tenor and attitude.  Released in April 1940, ?America?s Youth? analyzed the enormous
number of responsibilities and challenges faced by the young in coming years.  These
difficulties mostly centered around the worsening international situation.  War had
erupted in Europe, with the Nazi conquest of Poland in September 1939; in the months
immediately following the release of ?America?s Youth,? Western Europe would be
overrun by Germany and Britain would stand alone.  In fact, the service of English,
French and German youth in their national militaries was contrasted with the United
States, where according to the narration, ?unlike other countries, today?s youth still has a
choice of professions and destinies.?495  In contrast to ?Young America,? there was no
discussion in ?America?s Youth? of fads or fashions.  The film consisted of a cataloging
of the difficulties American young people would face in coming to adulthood, namely
war abroad, the American role in foreign affairs, the problem of material prosperity, and
maintaining national unity in a changing world.  The somber film ends on a upbeat note,
stating that ?steeled by adversity and raised in a democratic tradition, America?s youth
will prove equal whatever challenges lie in their collective future.?496
In the years immediately prior to Pearl Harbor and US entry into the war, The
March of Time continued its exploration the American character and the contribution of
497The March of Time, Vol. 7, #12, (New York: Time Incorporated, June 1941), March of Time Collection, MT
7.12, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland.
233
different regions to America?s cultural identity.  June 1941's release, ?New England?s
Eight Million Yankees,? saw The March of Time examine the folkways, culture and
contributions to American history of the New England states.  The film began with a
recounting of New England?s democratic past, stating that, ?American democracy began
with the Compact signed at Mayflower some 320 years ago.?  The considerable ethnic
diversity of the region was noted, with the film declaring that it was a source of strength,
as ?the talents of the world have poured onto New England?s shores.?  ?New England?s
Eight Million Yankees? stressed what many consider stereotypical New England values
of industriousness, thrift and honesty, suggesting these traits had been passed to the
?new? Americans who began arriving in the United States in the late nineteenth century. 
The film concluded with a celebration of the ?New England town hall meeting, most
American and democratic of institutions, where all, be he rich or poor, can have his
say.?497
Another March of Time release ?Thumbs Up, Texas!? praised the contributions
of what was considered a unique state in the American nation, much in the same manner
as ?New England?s Eight Million Yankees.?  ?Thumbs Up, Texas!? began its
examination of the Lone Star State by noting that Texas had in its history been under the
control of five different nations, and was at one point independent.  The narration then
stated that ?...this history of independence has given Texas a rare and outlandish
498The March of Time, Vol. 8, # 1, (New York: Time Incorporated, August 1941), March of Time Collection, MT
8.01, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland.
499Ibid.
234
character, and proud is the Texan of his state?s colorful history.?498  A series of shots
demonstrated activities that most would associate with Texas: a rodeo, oil derricks
pumping, a cattle drive and agricultural production, while noting the importance of
Texas to the nation?s overall economy.  ?Thumbs Up, Texas!? concluded by discussing
the traditional patriotism and pride of Texans in both their state and America, calling
them ?true Americans who will fight to defend the land they love.?499
On the eve of war, The March of Time continued its examination of the
American character with ?Main Street U.S.A.?  Released in November 1941, ?Main
Street U.S.A.? continued to stress themes discussed in ?State of the Nation?1939,? The
March of Time?s films on different regions of the country, and its feature length effort,
The Ramparts We Watch.  ?Main Street U.S.A? celebrated the values of the American
middle class.  The focus of the film was a typical day in an unnamed American town,
whose center of activity is ?Main Street.?  The film began with the opening of shops,
housewives going to market and children scurrying off to school, much like a sequence
in ?State of the Union?1939.?  Reenacted extensively, the film followed typical middle-
class citizens engaged in discussions of a variety of topics: local politics, the prospects
for the high school?s football team, and the possibility of a harsh winter, as the camera
moves down the street.  The scene then shifts to a barber shop, where a cross section of
the town?s citizens discussed the worsening international situation.  In a wide ranging
500The March of Time, Vol. 8, #4, (New York: Time Incorporated, November 1941), March of Time Collection, MT
8.04, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland; The March of Time, Vol. 8, #4
Production File, March of Time Collection, MT 8.04, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park,
Maryland.
235
discussion, patrons talked about the war in the Atlantic, British troubles in North Africa
and German victories in Russia.  The barbershop sequence was made particularly
poignant by the statement by one rather prosperous looking customer that he ?had one
boy in the service and he sure didn?t want the other to go in? given the state of the world. 
The final comment in the barbershop was made by a man in laboring clothes who stated
?we can?t let these Nazis take over the world...what?ll happen to us??500
The normality of the world presented in ?Main Street U.S.A? was undercut by
the looming threat of war, by now assumed by many to be a certainty.  The simple
pleasures of life in this small, neat, overwhelmingly middle class town were threatened
from without by foreign ideologies bent on the destruction of the American way of life,
according to The March of Time.  The world of ?Main Street U.S.A? was in many ways
a perfect distillation of the simplified America that Time Inc., had presented to its
audiences; middle class, stable, prosperous, sober, moderately conservative and
cherishing American democracy.
The March of Time took up the projection of these values overseas in its May
1940 release, ?The Philippines, 1898-1946.?  Although preceding both The Ramparts
We Watch and ?Main Street U.S.A,? ?The Philippines, 1898-1946? reflected many of the
same attitudes about American institutions and values as these later releases.  What
made ?The Philippines, 1898-1946? particularly interesting was its justification for
501The March of Time, Vol. 6, #10, (New York: Time Incorporated, May 1940), March of Time Collection, MT
6.10, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland.
502Ibid.
503The March of Time, Vol. 6, #10.
236
American imperialism in Asia and its articulation of many of the same arguments that
Henry Luce made in his American Century essay.  ?The Philippines, 1898-1946,?
purported to be a historical account of the American stewardship of the Philippine
Islands, acquired from Spain during the Spanish-American War.  The compelling
reasons for American possession were listed, as The March of Time stated that the
strategic location of the islands made them vital for American defense, while the
Filipinos needed protection from other European and ?regional? powers, a clear
indication of the Japanese threat to the islands.  The film then turned to a discussion of
the nature of the relationship between the Filipinos and the Americans, described as
?friendly and warmhearted.?501  The film then showed examples of the increasing
Americanization of the Philippines; English being taught in schools, the integration of
the Philippine and American militaries in the islands, and the increasing commercial ties
between the Philippines and the U.S.502  ?The Philippines, 1898-1946" then turned to the
cultural ties between Filipinos and Americans, stating that the early years of American
occupation had been ?difficult? with the upheavals of the Aguinaldo rebellion, but anti-
American sentiments among the population had ebbed with the promise of self-rule and
independence, unique among colonial powers in Asia.503  Now, the Filipinos admired
and respected Americans, while the Americans in the islands felt a kinship with the
504Ibid.
505Luce, ?America?s War and America?s Peace,? Life February 16, 1942, 85-91.
237
Filipinos.  The key to the success of the relationship was the acceptance of American
political values, and the willingness of the United States to impart those values in the
form of limited autonomy under American tutelage leading to eventual independence.504 
The connection here to Luce?s ideas was obvious.  American values, investment and
direction could be of aid to any nation in its quest for statehood, democracy and
prosperity.
In the immediate aftermath of Pearl Harbor and American entry into the war,
Luce followed up ?The American Century? with a rumination on his vision of America
as a global savior.  Writing in Life in February 1942, Luce stated that Europe had fallen
to Hitler and fascism because corrupt and ineffective regimes had allowed class and
interest group politics to run amok.   The American experience was different, as the
nation was founded ?on ideas and ideals which transcend class and caste and racial and
occupational differences.?  Luce believed that the American example could lead to a
?family of nations? that would require direction from a strong power as older countries
shed their class differences and emulated America.505
This missive from Luce, like ?The American Century? essay, prompted some
agreement between left and right elements uneasy over Luce?s idea that America should
serve as patriarch directing the destinies of nations.  To older skeptics of
internationalism like Herbert Hoover, the  task seemed both daunting and inappropriate. 
506Henry Wallace, PM, May 10, 1942.
507Kobler, 151.
238
Vice-President Henry Wallace, a preeminent liberal democrat, stated a truly egalitarian
post-war order would need no leader.506
Wallace rejected Luce?s formulation of an American Century, believing that
instead the post-war world ?must be the century of the common man.?  America could
provide an example in its freedoms and should provide economic assistance to help raise
the standard of living where possible.  Wallace, however, drew the line at what he
perceived as Luce?s desire for a dominant economic position for America at the expense
of other nations.  In order to avoid the problems of the past, no one nation could be
allowed to engage in what he called ?military and economic imperialism.?  Wallace tried
privately to downplay his differences with Luce, with whom he had become friendly as
they discussed theological and economic questions.  In his communications with Luce,
Wallace stressed that he had intended his ?century of the common man? address to
overseas nations who were somewhat discomfited by Luce?s aggressive nationalism.507
Isolationists shared some of Wallace?s concerns.  Luce and his adherents wanted
a ?Pax Americana?, according to Herbert Hoover, who also believed that the American
Century as articulated by Luce was too vague to be useful.  A more exercised Senator
Robert Taft of Ohio devoted an entire speech to denouncing Luce?s ideas.  Taft stated
that America could not impose her values on the rest of the world and to attempt to do so
would require a peacetime military establishment that would prove intolerable
508Ronald Radosh, Prophets on the Right, (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1975), 138-139.
239
economically and ideologically.  Taft also noted that American values had not turned
American possessions like Puerto Rico into havens of peace and prosperity.  Taft was
greatly distressed by the ?arrogance? of Luce?s vision.  America had no special
knowledge of what was right for the rest of the world and should not pretend otherwise;
in addition, the American Century as articulated by Luce assumed that Americans would
always be right and other nations wrong.  Taft believed that nationalism in both the Old
World and post-colonial world would make it impossible for American hegemony to
establish itself.508
Luce reacted defensively to criticism of his vision.  His critics had not read his
editorials with enough attention, for he claimed he was not advocating imperialism in the
American Century.  In addition, Luce believed that his detractors had not thought
through the implications of America?s probable economic and military advantages after
victory over the Axis powers.  Shortly after Taft?s criticism Luce noted, ?While
Americans realize that they have never entered into any compact with each other or with
their forebears to provide well being for all mankind, they may nevertheless contribute to
the welfare of mankind in greater measure than any other nation in history.?  Luce also
rejected Wallace?s postwar plans for America?s role as too ambitious, thus agreeing in
part with Taft that America could not be all things to every nation.  ?Not every mission
is appropriate to the political state...to claim for it an unlimited mission to do good is to
509Jessup, ed., 122-123.
240
invite confusion, ugly strife and ultimately, disaster.?509
In spite of tension with the Roosevelt administration, Luce set out to offer the
thoughts and speculations of his own staff and outside theorists on the postwar order.  In
Life editorials Luce and his chief writers and editors attempted to fill in some of the
vaguer aspects of the American Century.  Fortune, as it turned out, was the publication
most suited for this kind of journalism.   Fortune introduced an ?America  and the
Future? section of three or four articles an issue and also ran a series of editorials and
special reports on the economy and foreign affairs.
Fortune wanted a ?new democratic capitalism? to balance postwar corporate
needs with political pressures for greatly expanded federal role in the economy.  In the
process, the magazine challenged the accepted wisdom of corporate America and
conceded the impact of the Great Depression on American politics.  The typical
American voter no longer believed that depressions were utterly random events and this
voter would likely in the future vote for additional social spending to deal with the pain
caused by the market.  After the war, both business and government had to accept this
shift in political reality.  Business had to recognize the right of labor to organize, mainly
to stop the rise of union militance that had plagued the economy during the 1930s. 
Government should at least consider the ?pump-priming? economic theories of John
Maynard Keynes.  Between the wars, the British economist Keynes had challenged
decades of economic dogma by arguing that the government could and should play a
510Editorial, ?Freedom from Want,? Fortune, October 1942, 127; ?The Domestic Economy,? supplement to Fortune,
December 1942, 4-5; Richard Bissell, Jr., ?The Anatomy of Public Spending,? Fortune, May 1942, 94-95.
511Bisell., ?The Anatomy of Public Spending,? Fortune, June 1942, 105-108.
241
positive role in free market economies.  By adroitly using a combination of budget
deficits and well-timed tax cuts, government could prevent severe economic downturns. 
This new economic theory had proved difficult for the Roosevelt administration to
accept, because it challenged balanced-budget orthodoxy.  Fortune urged business
leaders to consider the Keynesian approach.   According to Fortune, the postwar era was
likely to be prosperous.  However, if another depression was in the offing, the federal
government would have to respond with a system of public works expenditures to keep
money in the economy.510
Fortune also saw a link between economic growth and access to overseas
markets.  The magazine took a more expansive view of free trade than the administration
and Secretary of State Cordell Hull.  The United States, Great Britain and her dominions,
and the nations of Latin America should agree to end all tariffs on imports.  Gradually
other nations would be drawn into this free trade orbit; over time, it was hoped that the
entire political world would embrace free and open trade.  Fortune asserted that trade
restrictions and other irrationalities in the market had slowed economic growth and the
expansion of wealth in the past, leading to increased political tensions among nations.511
With American entry into World War II in December 1941, The March of Time
began a wide-ranging effort to cover the U.S. effort at home and abroad and eventually
began to articulate some of Luce?s ideas about the domestic postwar order.   One
512The March of Time, ? Battlefields of the Pacific? Special Issue, (New York: Time Incorporated, December 1941),
March of Time Collection, MT ?Special Issue?, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park,
Maryland; The March of Time ?Battlefields of the Pacific? Special Issue Production File, March of Time Collection,
MT ?Special Issue?, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland.
513THEATER REACTION TO MOT?S BATTLEFIELDS OF THE PACIFIC, January 1942, March of Time
Miscellaneous File 1942, Time Inc., Archives, Time-Life Building, New York City.
242
emphasis of The March of Time during the war years was coverage of the fighting,
although rarely immediate because production schedules for the series did not permit up-
to-the minute coverage.  The primary focus for the series during the war was coverage of
the home-front in the emerging American Century, foreign affairs, and the contours of
the post-war world.
 A December 1941 ?special issue? titled ?Battlefields of the Pacific? was rushed
into production and released just after Christmas.  Directed by Jack Glenn, who figured
prominently in The March of Time?s wartime releases, ?Battlefields of the Pacific?
discussed each potential fighting front in the Pacific.  Japanese attacks on Malaysia,
India, the Philippines and Hawaii were predicted, with an animated map of the Pacific
showing probable lines of Japanese advance.  The film then turned to American forces in
the Pacific, depleted by the attack at Pearl Harbor but still ?capable of a fierce defense
until new units, ships and men come into service.?512  The tone of ?The Battlefields of
the Pacific? was somber yet confident, and the end of the film noted the cooperation of
the Navy Department in producing the film.  Response to ?Battlefields of the Pacific?
was positive; one theater owner called it ?dynamite,? while another termed the film ?just
what?s needed.?513
The emerging war effort was discussed in The March of Time?s regular
514The March of Time, Vol. 8, #5 (New York: Time Incorporated, December 1941), March of Time Collection, MT
8.05, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland; The March of Time, Vol. 8, #5
Production File, March of Time Collection, MT 8.05, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park,
Maryland.
515The March of Time, Vol. 8, #5.
516Ibid.
243
December 1941 release, titled ?Our America at War.?  According to notations on the
script from writer Jimmy Shrute, ?Our America at War,? was intended to be an
examination of America?s military buildup prior to Pearl Harbor.514  With the attack on
Hawaii and the coming of war, the film changed drastically, with somewhat uneven
results.  ?Our America at War? began with reenactments of typical Americans receiving
the news of Pearl Harbor, followed by what was presumably the content of the original
film.  The March of Time compared the size and strength of the military in early 1940 as
opposed to late 1941, making note of vast increases in numbers of men, tanks, artillery
pieces, transport vehicles, aircraft and small weapons.  The action then shifted back to a
group of typical Americans discussing prospects for the war and expressing confidence
in the nation?s military and productive capacity.  One well-dressed man in the street
says, ?Why, we?ve got the biggest factories in the world to make weapons,? while
another said ?our Army boys get good training, they can do the job.?515   ?Our America
at War? then returned to the theme of American military strength, with extensive footage
and descriptions of training and a projection of the size of the military in two and then
three years time, with the prediction ?others may have started this fight, but end it
America shall.?516
517The March of Time, Vol. 8, #9, (New York: Time Incorporated, April 1942), March of Time Collection, MT 8.09,
National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland.
518Ibid.
244
The theme of preparedness and military capability was taken up again by The
March of Time in ?America?s New Army,? released in April 1942.  ?America?s New
Army? employed the simple device of following a recruit through induction into the
Army and the start of training.  Unlike other March of Time films that focused on an
individual, the recruit was not named, but simply referred to as ?the recruit? throughout
the film.517  The ?recruit? was given a physical, transported to a unnamed base, placed in
ranks, issued uniforms and marched to a barracks.  A scene of the recruit in his bunk was
particularly poignant; pensive looking, he wonders if ?he can cut it.?  As the recruit was
inducted, transported and begins training, the narration described each activity and the
purpose for it, along with detailed statistics about the number of young men undergoing
the same training.  Also, the quality of the training by ?skilled, veteran non-
commissioned officers and a growing officer corps? was praised.  The film ended with
the recruit on the rifle range, hitting targets, as his drill instructor looks on
approvingly.518
Throughout 1942, The March of Time attempted to cover all fronts and theaters
of the widening war.  ?When Air Raids Strike,? released in January 1942, analyzed the
probable effect of airpower on the coming fighting; ?Far East Command, issued the
following month, discussed the American chain of command and relations with its allies
in the Far East, particularly focusing on the importance of China in defeating the
519The March of Time, Vol. 8, #6, (New York: Time Incorporated, January 1942), March of Time Collection, MT
8.06, National Archives and Records Administration; The March of Time, Vol. 8, #13, (New York: Time
Incorporated, July 1942), March of Time Collection, MT 8.06, National Archives and Records Administration; The
March of Time, Vol. 9, #1, (New York: Time Incorporated, September 1942), March of Time Collection, MT 9.01,
National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland.
520The March of Time, Vol. 8, #12; The March of Time, Vol. 8, # 12 Production File, March of Time Collection, MT
8.12, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland. Wolff is identified as writer and co-
director on a copy of the script.
245
Japanese; ?Men of the Fleet,? released in July 1942, described the Navy?s and its post-
Pearl Harbor recovery and ?The F.B.I. Front,? issued in September 1942, described the
Federal governments? anti-espionage efforts.519
Of particular interest were a group of 1942 March of Time releases that examined
the home-front.  ?Men in Washington?1942? took as its subject the growing government
control of the war economy.  Written by longtime March of Time staffer Lothar Wolff,
?Men in Washington?1942? discussed the rationale behind wage and price controls, and
discussed the ?no-strike? pledge then being negotiated by labor unions and defense
industries.  ?Men in Washington?1942? also mentioned the precedent of greater
government control of the economy from World War I, and mentioned how some current
officials, such as Bernard Baruch, had served the government during the first World
War.  Baruch, in fact, made an appearance in the film, stating that only the federal
government ?had the authority and organizational ability to put the country?s economy
on a war footing.?520
?Mr. and Mrs. America,? released by The March of Time in November 1942
focused on the efforts of ordinary Americans in prosecuting and winning the war.  The
tone of ?Mr. and Mrs. America? was relentlessly upbeat, as the film began with a
521The March of Time, Vol. 9, #3, (New York: Time Incorporated, November 1942), March of Time, MT 9.03,
National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland; The March of Time, Vol. 9, #3 Production
File, March of Time Collection, MT 9.03, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland. 
A revised script shows changes made to accommodate Allied landings in North Africa, which took place on
November 7 and 8 1942.  The footage of the North Africa landings was provided to The March of Time by the War
Department, according to a note in the Production File.
522The March of Time, Vol. 9, #3.
246
recounting of American victories since the beginning of 1942; a Naval triumph at
Midway that blunted the Japanese offensive in the Pacific; the invasion of Guadalcanal
in the Solomon Islands; and the successful Allied landings in North Africa.521  Victory, it
seemed, was no longer a distant possibility but definite.  This change in American
fortunes was due, according to The March of Time, to the efforts of ordinary men and
women on the home-front.  Again, the focus was on the middle class, as all of the
families shown in the film appear to be materially comfortable.  A list of patriotic
sacrifices was given.  Instead of using the family car, the head of the household took a
bus or trolley to work.  The wife recycled canned goods and metals and grew a ?victory
garden.?  Some men, ineligible for the military, served in other ways in vital professions. 
Other women were shown working in airplane and tank factories, ?their contributions
allowing men to serve in all branches of the military.?522
Continuing the optimistic tone of ?Mr. and Mrs. America? was ?Prelude to
Victory,? The March of Time?s December 1942 release.  ?Prelude to Victory? expanded
on the theme of a turning tide of war and inevitable victory, detailing speculative plans
for widespread offensives on all fighting fronts, culminating in an invasion of Nazi-held
Europe.  The March of Time stated, in its emphasis on the European theater in ?Prelude
523The March of Time, Vol. 9, #4, (New York: Time Incorporated, December 1942), March of Time Collection, MT
9.04, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland.
524The March of Time, Vol. 9, #12, (New York: Time Incorporated, July 1943), March of Time Collection, MT 9.12,
National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland; The March of Time, Vol. 9, #12 Production
File, March of Time Collection, MT 9.12, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland. 
The German factory sequences were apparently reenacted, while the footage of Hitler and other Nazi leaders was
obtained from German newsreels smuggled out of Europe.
247
to Victory,? that Europe, not Asia, was the decisive theater of the war. 523  This was a
logical stance for The March of Time, as the series had been warning its audiences about
the dangers of Nazism well before the war, and had a coherent presentation of European
fascism prior to other Time Inc., publications.  This viewpoint would become more
pronounced in later releases that focused on post-war planning and reconstruction, both
at home and abroad.
In fact, the July 1943 March of Time release, titled ?Bill Jack vs. Adolf Hitler,?
focused the American war effort entirely the defeat of Germany, with virtually no
mention of Japan.  Written and directed by Jack Shandlin, ?Bill Jack vs. Adolf Hitler?
was an examination of the societies of democratic America and Nazi Germany.  ?Bill
Jack? was a typical American defense worker, and was shown constructing aircraft at an
enormous factory, then retiring to a comfortable, if not lavish, home with his wife and
children.  A representative American archetype was often utilized by The March of Time
to demonstrate the universality of experiences and values, and as a useful plot device.
Later in the film he was in a local tavern ?discussing politics, or any other subject he
wishes, with his fellows.?524  The film then examines life in Hitler?s Germany.  In
contrast to the America of ?Bill Jack,? there was no hint of individuality in Germany. 
525Ibid.
526The March of Time, Vol. 9, #10.
527The March of Time, Vol. 10, #3, (New York: Time Incorporated, November 1943), March of Time Collection,
MT 10.03, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland.
248
German civilians faced increasing privation, exemplified by a long line outside a
partially stocked shop, while glum-faced workers trudge off to bombed out factories,
while being exhorted to greater sacrifice by Nazi Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels,
declaring ?total war? at the Berlin Sportpalast.525  
A number of films released by The March of Time in 1943 and 1944 continued
the series? examination of American culture and society.  ?Show Business at War,?
issued in May 1943, showed the participation of Hollywood and the entertainment
industry in the war effort.  Movie stars such as Clark Gable, Jimmy Stewart, and Ronald
Reagan were shown in uniform and performing their duties, while other major actors and
actresses worked at U.S.O.?s established in Los Angeles and New York, and headlined
war bond and recycling drives.  Even the efforts of Hollywood in releasing what were
termed ?realistic, morale boosting? features were praised.526  ?Youth in Crisis,? released
in November 1943, presented a sobering look at the rising rate of juvenile delinquency in
the country, brought on by wartime stresses, particularly the departure of male authority
figures for military service.527  
?Post War Jobs,? issued in February 1944, speculated about the prospects of the
post-war economy.  The nation was at full employment because of war production, and
with victory in sight, there was concern about whether or not the economy would
528The March of Time, Vol. 10, #7, (New York: Time Incorporated, February 1944), March of Time Collection, MT
10.7, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland.
529Henry Luce to Richard De Rochemont, March 16, 1944, Luce Correspondence File 1944, Time Inc., Archives,
Time-Life Building, New York City.
530The March of Time, Vol. 10, #12, (New York: Time Incorporated, July 1944), March of Time Collection, MT
10.12, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland; The March of Time, Vol. 7, #7.  The
first ?Americans All!? primarily dealt with the contributions of different ethnic groups in the United States and is
discussed in Chapter 4.
249
contract sharply with the end of fighting and just how wrenching the shift to peacetime
would be.  The March of Time took note of both those who anticipated a return to
straightened economic circumstances and those who expected a post-war boom.  The
key factor, according to The March of Time, was the restoration of exports and
international trade, which could provide expanded markets for American goods.528  In
this emphasis on postwar trade and the necessity for international investment, The March
of Time reiterated a point made by Luce in his reflections on the shape of the post-war
world, pleasing the publisher.  In a note to producer Richard de Rochemont, Luce
praised ?Post-War Jobs? as ?exceptionally well-done.?529  ?Post War Jobs? expanded on
subjects that ?Americans All!? released in July 1944, had discussed earlier.  Building on
a previous March of Time release also titled ?Americans All!,? this 1944 film examined
the contributions of various ethnic groups to both the military and wartime production. 
The 1944 version of ?Americans All!? concluded that the contributions of all
Americans, regardless of background, had been so profound that it was a moral
imperative to find meaningful post-war work for those who want it.530  A May 1945
release by The March of Time, ?The Returning Veteran,? continued this discussion of
531The March of Time, Vol. 11, #9, (New York: Time Incorporated, April 1945), March of Time Collection, MT
11.09, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland.
250
post-war economic and social prospects with its analysis of the challenges faced by the
millions of servicemen returning to the peacetime economy.  Victory over Germany had
just been achieved, and a final triumph over Japan was in the offing, although it was
presumed at this point that an invasion of the home islands could prolong the war.  In
additional to material aid and assistance with employment, The March of Time assumed
veterans would require emotional support and in some cases psychological assistance in
adjusting to life outside the service.  The March of Time sounded a hopeful note about
the economy, stating that ?many experts? believed there would be a post-war expansion
that would provide jobs for returning servicemen, while programs like the G.I. Bill
(passed by Congress in 1944) would create greater opportunities for veterans.531
The subjects and themes The March of Time articulated during the war years
were in some ways perfectly distilled in its film titled ?The New U.S. Frontier,? released
on August 10, 1945.  Written by Jack Shandlin and co-directed by Jack Glenn, ?The
New U.S. Frontier? discussed the prospects for a permanent American military,
economic and political presence overseas.  The ?new American frontier? would literally
be the world, and a permanent American involvement overseas was necessitated by the
need to secure markets, support democratic trading partners and opportunities for
business expansion.  In addition, Germany had to be occupied for at least some period of
time while its future was decided, and it was assumed there would have to be an
American presence in Asia, if only, according to The March of Time, to protect
532The March of Time, Vol. 11, # 13, (New York: Time Incorporated, August 10, 1945), March of Time Collection,
MT 11.13, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland; The March of Time, Vol. 11, #
13 Production File, March of Time Collection, MT 11.13, National Archives and Records Administration, College
Park, Maryland.
251
American interests and secure stability.532  The idea of a permanent American
involvement overseas was presented as a logical extension of American historical
development and ?The New U.S. Frontier? reflected many of Luce?s ideas, articulated
before, during and after the war.
Taken as a group, The March of Time?s wartime releases could be described as
propagandistic, as they certainly promoted the aims of the government.  However, these
films also fit logically into the orientation of the series in its early years and continuing
into the debate over intervention.  The United States must achieve class unity and
embrace the values of the middle-class in order to reach its historical destiny.
Through the course of the war, it became apparent that the coming ideological
conflict would be between the liberal, democratic, capitalist United States and the
communist Soviet Union. Luce?s magazines and The March of Time were initially
generous in their treatment of the Soviet Union.  In 1942 and 1943, when the USSR
stood virtually alone against the German Wehrmacht, Time Inc., publications described
in detail the valiant suffering of the Russian people.  Political repression employed by
Soviet leader Joseph Stalin was generally ignored, as was the command and control
nature of the Russian economy.  Time?s 1942 Man of the Year was Stalin; the famines
and political purges of the 1930s, which had done so much to weaken the Soviets, were
discounted.  Even the Nazi-Soviet pact of 1939 was rationalized.  Any sign that the
533William L. O?Neill, A Better World: The Great Schism, Stalinism and the American Intellectuals, (New York:
Simon and Schuster, 1982), 59; Elson, 2: 172.
534John K. Jessup, ?America and the Future, II?Our Foreign Policy,? Life, September 20, 1943, 108.
252
Soviets were abandoning their advocacy of global revolution for domestic development
was stressed.  Time informed its readers that the Soviet people wanted and expected the
same kind of political rights and freedoms that the American people enjoyed.  Once
again, echoing older coverage of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini, Time Inc.,
publications displayed an enthusiasm for a modernizing, strong leader.533
Luce, for his part, took a more cautious view of the Soviet-American alliance.  A
visit to the USSR in 1932 had confirmed his antipathy toward communism and he was
critical of a Fortune feature on the USSR published that year.  However, in 1942 and
1943 Luce did not particularly fear the Soviet Union, believing that Stalin would focus
on internal development after the war and that the Soviets would revert to a passive
foreign policy.  The Soviets would not seek to impose their system on the West and the
USSR would be an isolated power after the war.  A September 1943 editorial in Life
argued that the postwar era need not necessarily be one of conflict between the USSR
and United States.   Life?s editorial stated that ideological differences did not mean that
the Soviets and US would by necessity fall into a postwar rivalry; it was important to at
least try to get along with the Soviets after the war, a course that the United States (and
the West) had not really tried before.  In addition, Americans should be encouraged by a
perceived moderation of the Soviet government domestically.534
As the war came to a close Luce viewed the USSR with increasing suspicion and
535Henry Luce, Memo on Editorial Suggestions for The March of Time, September 29, 1947, March of Time Movie
File 1947, Time Incorporated Archives, Time-Life Building, New York City.
536Ralph Levering, The Cold War, 1945-1972, (Arlington Heights, Ill: Harlan Davidson, 1982), 27-28.
253
rejected the argument of some policymakers that the US had to accept Eastern Europe as
necessarily being within the Soviet sphere of influence.  The Soviets had greater
ambitions, in Luce?s view, and were prepared to press an aggressive foreign policy
throughout the world.  As the war ended, other press figures began to directly criticize
the Soviets.535  Given the press?s traditional emphasis on the newsworthiness of conflict,
this was hardly surprising.  Newspapers provided extensive coverage of Soviet-
American conflicts over Eastern Europe and Iran.  Many American commentators
blamed Stalinist intransigence for the erosion of the wartime alliance between the
Soviets and the US.  By early 1946, polls showed that most Americans believed that
post-war cooperation with the USSR was impossible and blamed the Soviets for the
breakdown in relations.536
These shifts in public opinion and press coverage could partly be explained by
the return of the Soviets to their pre-war status as international outsiders.  Luce also
blamed Roosevelt for the American public?s shock and disillusionment about the Soviets
pursuing a policy of self-interest in Europe.  Roosevelt had done little to prepare
Americans for a realistic post-war world and had spent far too much time implying that
international agreements and organizations would be able to blunt national self-interest
for governments around the world.  Thus, when the Soviets behaved predictably and
logically, Americans were bound to be disappointed.  Also, the Russian leadership had
537Filmore Calhoun, ?The Russians,? Life, May 7, 1945, 40; Levering, Public Opinion, 202.
538The March of Time, Vol. 12, #13, (New York: Time Incorporated, August 9, 1946), March of Time Collection,
MT 12.13, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland; The March of Time, Vol. 12, #
13 Production File, March of Time Collection, MT 12.13, National Archives and Records Administration, College
Park, Maryland; Richard De Rochemont Reminiscences, March of Time Miscellaneous File 1959, 24-26, Time Inc.,
Archives, Time-Life Building, New York City.  The film was released to coincide with the first anniversary of the
254
virtually no interest in courting American public opinion, a factor noted by Life in May
1945.537
The March of Time covered the nascent Cold War extensively, tending to focus
on the global dimensions of the conflict in its releases.  However, a number of post-war
March of Time films were notable in their analysis of the ideological struggle through
the context of American life at home.  These films, while not presented as sequences or
series in the manner of The March of Time?s earlier coverage, demonstrated a definite
point of view on the emerging society of the Cold War.
?Atomic Power,? released by The March of Time on August 9, 1946, dealt with
the issue of how to utilize the American monopoly of atomic power and gave an
extensive history of the atomic bomb?s invention and use.  J. Robert Oppenheimer,
Vannevar Bush, General Leslie Groves, James Conant, Enrico Fermi, Dean Acheson,
Bernard Baruch, Leo Szilard and Albert Einstein all agreed to appear in the film, a
tribute to the continuing prestige of The March of Time.  Directed by Jack Glenn, the
scientists agreed to reenact key moments in the development of the bomb.  March of
Time producer Richard de Rochemont later recalled, ?I think they had a sense that they
had participated in something historic...just trying to reproduce the way it happened. 
Telling us how it was.?538
Nagasaki bomb.
539The March of Time, Vol. 12, #13.
540Ibid.
255
The process of creating the bomb was explained in some detail, within
government security limits.  Fermi recreated for the cameras the first controlled fission
of uranium at the University of Chicago in 1942, and an actor portraying President
Roosevelt received a letter from Einstein detailing the potential power of the atom.  The
construction of nuclear labs at Oak Ridge, Tennessee and later Los Alamos, New
Mexico, was described, with considerable attention given to the mammoth size of the
construction.   The sequence about the construction of the bomb concluded with real
footage of the actual testing of the bomb on July 16, 1945, in New Mexico.  In a
reenacted sequence, James Connant and Vannevar Bush were shown stretched out on the
desert floor, watching the distant bomb tower explode.  Glenn then panned around to
show the awe-struck faces of the scientists viewing the mushroom cloud, while Connant
and Bush shook hands, still lying prone in the desert.539
The film then spliced in footage obtained from the War Department of the actual
moment of attack on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, along with film shot of the devastated
cities in the weeks after the Japanese surrender.  One rather macabre shot showed an
American solider pointing at the silhouette cast upon pavement at the moment of
detonation.540  ?Atomic Power? then discussed the potential peaceful uses of nuclear
energy, showing a quick series of shots of homes, factories and entire cities ?powered by
541The March of Time, Vol. 12, #13.
542Richard De Rochemont Reminiscences, 27; The March of Time, Vol. 12, #13.
256
cheap atomic energy.?  Another sequence centered on the strategic advantages that the
sole possession of the atomic bomb gave the United States, with the concluding
comment that ?there is still great debate among scientists? about whether or not America
should make atomic research available to all nations or maintain control of the
information.541
Richard de Rochemont stated that ?Atomic Power? was one of the most difficult,
if not the most difficult, March of Time releases he had produced.  How, he asked
rhetorically, does one instruct Albert Einstein to act on film?  Einstein finally agreed to
be photographed in the library and on the porch of his Princeton, New Jersey, home,
with only two words of dialogue, ?I agree!?542
?Atomic Power? was one highlight in what was not a particularly strong period
creatively or economically for The March of Time.  The film series was strongest in the
post-war years when it focused on foreign affairs (discussed in Chapter 4), a particular
interest of the cosmopolitan Richard de Rochemont.  Still, the series produced several
notable films after 1945, revealing the influence of Luce?s ideas and the emerging
American Century.
The March 21, 1947 release by The March of Time, titled ?The Teacher?s Crisis,?
discussed the current and projected shortfall of trained professionals remaining in the
teaching profession.  In addition to the obvious difficulty that a teacher shortage would
543The March of Time, Vol. 13, #8, (New York: Time Incorporated, March 21, 1947), March of Time Collection,
MT 13.08, National Archives and Records Administration.
544The March of Time, Vol. 14, #7, (New York: Time Incorporated, February 20, 1948), March of Time Collection,
MT 14.07, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland.
257
present in management of schools, ?The Teacher?s Crisis? stated that the problem could
manifest itself in national security, as a less educated population would be unable to deal
with problems and ?threats from within and without,? and that the civic education of
young Americans was critical so that ?today?s students could fully appreciate the gift of
American democracy...and will resist those who would subvert it.?543   The references to
?threats within and without? and the implication of subversion were the only references
that The March of Time made to the growing ?Red Scare? in its post-war releases.
?Marriage and Divorce,? issued by The March of Time on February 20, 1948,
took as its subject the growing number of divorces in the United States.  The film stated
that the old stigma of divorce, while still powerful, had eroded over the years and the
practice had become more common because of the stresses of World War II.  In fact, The
March of Time showed statistical evidence that many wartime marriages were failing,
presented as hardly a surprise given the dimensions of wartime courtship.  The film then
advocated pre-marital counseling from trusted individuals, economic stability, longer
periods of engagement and good communication as essential to successful marriages and
reversing this disturbing social trend.  Also, solid and long-lasting marriages were
presented by The March of Time as essential for national security, as ?fundamental to
our democracy are secure and loving families.?544
104The March of Time, Vol. 16, #1, (New York: Time Incorporated, February 3, 1950), March of Time
Collection, MT 16.01, National Archives and Records Administration; The March of Time, Vol. 16, #1 Production
File, March of Time Collection, MT 16.01, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland.
546The March of Time, Vol. 16, #1.
258
Two 1950 March of Time releases issued toward the end of the series? production
and could be considered something of a final statement from The March of Time.   ?Mid-
Century?Halfway to Where?? was released on February 3, 1950.  The film, according to
press materials, was a ?look at the progress of the first half of the 20th century and a view
of America?s future.?545  ?Mid-Century?Halfway to Where?? in a rapid fire sequence
recounted the dramatic events of the first decades of American life in the twentieth
century: rapid industrialization, immigration, the First World War, the Roaring
Twenties, the stock market crash and subsequent Depression, the New Deal, World War
II and the current Cold War.  These events were presented in a rapid-fire, almost
dizzying fashion, underscoring The March of Time?s point about great changes having
occurred since 1900.  The film then turned, in a speculative fashion, to America?s
destiny in the next fifty years, again showing scenes of typical middle-class life.  While
not making specific predictions about changes in material life, The March of Time
predicted that ?America would become more prosperous, more developed and more
engaged with the world,? while maintaining the ?root of its strength, the traditional
American adherence to liberty and freedom.?546
The film also discussed the American role overseas.  After showing footage of
American troops occupying Germany and Japan, an animated map showed the extent of
547Ibid.
548The March of Time, Vol. 16, #6, (New York: Time Incorporated, September 1950), March of Time Collection,
MT 16.06, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland.
259
the American military presence overseas since 1945.  This continual, seemingly
permanent American engagement with the rest of the world manifested itself not only
militarily but financially, as ?Mid-Century?Halfway to Where?? detailed the increased
amount of American investment overseas and the huge amount of U.S. foreign aid
dispensed since 1945.  The key change in American life, and the one that would
influence the direction of the next fifty years, was the conscious decision to abandon
isolationism, according to The March of Time.547
In a logical follow-up to ?Mid-Century?Halfway to Where?? The March of Time
released ?The Gathering Storm? on September 29, 1950.  The film was issued as a sense
of crisis had descended over the American body politic, with the North Korean invasion
of South Korea and American intervention in the war to this point going badly.  ?The
Gathering Storm? described in some depth the growing communist movement in what
would come to be called the Third World and the problems associated with the decline
of the European colonial powers.   The film also described the threat to American
interests in Asia posed by the communist takeover of China and the necessity to continue
support of Chaing Kai-Shek?s rump regime on Formosa (Taiwan).548
?The Gathering Storm? then discussed the necessity for, again, continual
American vigilance in the face of overseas threats.  The post-war world was proving to
be a much more dangerous place than Americans had hoped for or realized with the
549Ibid.
260
flush of triumph in 1945.  In order to preserve the material gains of victory, the United
States had to maintain its military establishment, support vigorous diplomacy and action
overseas, and remain ?strong and unified? at home to deal with a chaotic international
situation.549
550Memo from Henry Luce to Roy Larsen, MOT Business, June 18, 1946, Luce Correspondence File 1946, Time
Inc., Archives, Time-Life Building, New York City.
551Memo on MOT Budget, 1948, March of Time Movie File 1948, Time Inc. Archives, Time-Life Building, New
York City.
261
Conclusion
The March of Time ceased production in August 1951.   The are several reasons
for this, related to the series? position within Time Inc.  The March of Time never made
money; for most of its sixteen year run, it lost money.  This was at variance with other
Time Inc., publications and always rankled Luce, who once asked his top lieutenant Roy
Larsen, ?why the hell do we continue to make this thing since it never makes a dime for
the company??550 Another factor was The March of Time?s exploding post-war budget. 
The cost of producing the series increased greatly year after year.551  In addition, from its
inception, the series encountered some difficulties with distribution.  The March of
Time?s first distributor, First Division Pictures, went bankrupt, and the series was
distributed by both RKO and MGM during the rest of its run.  Another, probably
decisive, consideration in Time Inc.?s ending The March of Time in 1951 was the
emergence of television and the general decline of the newsreel industry in the face of the
medium.  The public always considered The March of Time to be a newsreel, although it
was in reality a documentary series, and with television?s growth in the late 1940s
newsreels began to be seen as passe.   The March of Time itself took editorial note of the
552The March of Time, Vol. 12, #5, (New York: Time Incorporated, December 28, 1945), March of Time Collection,
MT 12.05, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland.
553Roy Larsen, Instructions to MOT Staff Regarding Louis De Rochemont, September 20, 1943, March of Time
Miscellaneous File 1943, Time Inc., Archives, Time-Life Building, New York City.  The memo from Larsen
instructs staff ?under no circumstances? are the particulars of de Rochemont?s departure to be discussed either within
or outside the company, in particular rumors of any financial impropriety.
554Fielding, 299.
262
new medium in its December 28, 1945, release, ?Challenge to Hollywood,? concerning
the development of television networks by radio companies and the refinement of
television technology.552  The audience for The March of Time began to erode, removing
its rationale as advertising for other Time Inc., publications, a factor that surely
influenced Luce. In fact, by the mid-1950s, Time Inc., had begun to acquire television
stations and in 1945 seriously considered buying the nascent American Broadcasting
Company.  
Also, The March of Time declined in quality with the departure of founding
producer Louis de Rochemont in mid-1943.  De Rochemont?s brother Richard, formerly
the head of The March of Time?s Paris office, took over for his brother after his somewhat
acrimonious departure from Time Inc.553  Louis de Rochemont was often frustratingly
disorganized but had a definite flair for documentary style film-making. The series after
his departure seemed flat and life-less.  One longtime March of Time cameraman
remarked in the late 1940s that of the ?last eighteen or so issues of The March of Time, he
considered only three really good.?554  Perhaps, though, the perceived decline of The
March of Time had less to do with a decline in quality than changes in the world that The
March of Time attempted to cover.  The March of Time premiered in early 1935 in the
263
midst of the greatest economic calamity the United States had experienced.  The series
tried to show the definition and  future direction of America, questions that also
preoccupied intellectuals of the left and right.  Indeed, for many, Time Inc., and The
March of Time created an ideal version of America, one at odds with other visions.  The
issues discussed in the early years of The March of Time were immense and had
immediate impact on the lives of the audience.  With regard to foreign affairs, the series
participated fully in, and even led, the ?Great Debate? on American intervention in World
War II and the changing nature of American engagement in the world.  Following World
War II, it is possible that the Cold War and the problems of peacetime simply did not
have the dramatic resonance as did the ideological battles of the 1930s and early 1940s
fights over the definition of America.   
In addition, The March of Time, through its influential format, may have been a
victim of its own success.  The ?magazine? style organization of the series during its early
years was mimicked by television news, and the single subject format adopted by The
March of Time in 1938 presaged long form news stories later in fashion in television
news production.  The March of Time had participated in the evolution of modern notions
of photography and cinematic representations of reality, and had in fact hastened its
demise by preparing its audience for television.
One of the large questions that requires assessment in understanding The March of
Time?s legacy is what, exactly, it was.  The series had elements of documentary, using the
technique of re-creation, and identified itself as being ?pictorial journalism.?  Luce,
555The March of Time Vol., 3, #13, August 6, 1937; The March of Time Vol. 2, #1, January 7, 1936; The March of
Time, Vol. 2, #8, August 7, 1936.
264
Larsen and de Rochemont?s intent was to create an entirely new form of journalistic
communication, building on what they believed to be the failed example of the newsreels
and adding the expertise and prestige of the Time Inc., empire.
What emerged from Time Inc.?s efforts is something that can best be termed a
documentary series.  There are a number of reasons for this definition.  Like most
documentaries, The March of Time had a particular ideology, in this case related to that of
the Time Inc., ?brand.?  However, on a number of subjects, The March of Time took
stances contrary to that of Time Inc., and was ahead of the corporation on some vital
issues, most notably American intervention into World War II.  For example, The March
of Time?s August 6, 1937 release, ?Rehearsal for War? dealing with the Spanish Civil
War took a much harder line toward General Francisco Franco?s Nationalist movement
than did Time.  In addition, films such as ?TVA? and ?King Cotton?s Slaves? were more
pro-New Deal and pro-unionization than other Time Inc., publications.555   The structure
of the series worked to move the viewer toward a predetermined understanding, a critical
characteristic of documentary; viewing the films, there is a sense that the audience needed
to be directed to a logical conclusion.  
Another factor to consider in defining The March of Time as a documentary series
concerns an ongoing theme that emerged over the length and breadth of the series sixteen
year production.  The March of Time dealt with a variety of topics between 1935 and
1951, of which nearly half concerned foreign affairs.  One consistent message that
265
becomes clear over time is the persistent effort by The March of Time to ?define?
America; its meaning, its values, its attitudes and its proper course.   Of those March of
Time films that explored foreign relations and global politics, a prevailing theme centered
on the effects of a given topic on the United States.  For example, March of Time releases
dealing with the Cold War crouched their analysis on the potential impact of the rise of
communism for the United States, films that dealt with trade disputes and access to the
seas made constant observations about the American economy, and the series of films
produced by The March of Time dealing with the fascist threat in late 1930s Europe had
at their heart the potential impact of the rise of fascism on American politics, institutions
and society.  America, and its role in the world, was at the center of The March of Time?s
exploration of the larger world.
Also, The March of Time attempted to define American politics, culture and
society at home.   This effort at definition was of particular importance during the 1930s,
which saw a continual and passionate debate along all points of the political spectrum
about the essence of true Americanism.  The America that The March of Time presented
to its audiences was overwhelmingly middle-class, white, centered in small towns and
accepting of authority.  When other ethnic groups were shown in the series, it was
invariably within the context of assimilation to a larger American ideal.  Outstanding
examples of this from the series include the 1941 and 1944 films ?Americans All!? which
examined the contributions of immigrant groups to the national fabric.  Both films of the
same name detail the contributions of prominent Americans of various backgrounds,
556The March of Time, Vol. 7, #7, February 1941; The March of Time, Vol. 10, #12, July 1944.
557The March of Time, Vo. 7, #12, July 1941; The March of Time, 8, #1, August 1941.
266
while emphasizing that individual success in America can be traced to embracing the
values of the dominant American middle-class and abandoning the culture of respective
homelands.556  While this theory of immigrant acculturation and success was not new,
dating to the Progressive Era, it was presented with a great deal of force and vigor by The
March of Time.
In addition, The March of Time undertook a number of regional and cultural
studies of different parts of the American nation.  The purpose of these films was to
demonstrate the strength of the various components of the country.  While emphasizing
regional differences rooted in outward manifestations of culture (music, dialect, food,
entertainment), the overall point made by The March of Time in such films as ?New
England?s Eight Million Yankees? and ?Thumbs Up, Texas? was the pan-national nature
of Americanism.557  Each region of the country was bound together into an American
whole by a set of shared values that focused on the beliefs and mores of America?s small
town middle class, in contrast to urban, industrial America.   During the period before
World War II, The March of Time produced a number of films that examined the nation?s
most unique, outlying region, the American South.  A number of these focused on the
impact of New Deal projects in the region while others dealt with the impact of
industrialization and unionization on traditional Southern patterns of life.  In each film,
the solution prescribed was the embrace of dominant American values and the increased
558The March of Time, Vol. 5, #6, January 20, 1939; The March of Time, Vol. 5, #7, February 1939; The March of
Time, Vol. 6, #9, April 1940; The March of Time, Vol. 8, #4, November 1941.
267
tempo of American life that emerged with industrialization.
The March of Time also undertook, as it sought to define America, a number of
films that purported to look at the ?state of the nation? in a particular moment in time. 
Films such as ?State of the Nation?1939,? ?Young America,? ?America?s Youth? and
?Main Street U.S.A.? were extremely ambitious undertakings, seeking to provide an
understanding of the attitudes and values of the entire country through an examination of
the nation as a whole, not by looking at individual topics and then extrapolating the
necessity for embracing American beliefs by disparate groups or to solve discrete
problems.558  Each of these releases attempted to define an ideal America, and in the case
of ?Young America,? and ?America?s Youth? predict the future responsibilities of
emerging generations within the context of a changing America.  In fact, each of these
?national character? films demonstrated elements of Henry Luce?s American Century. 
The American relationship to the world was evolving and the central challenge for
Americans was to maintain traditional values at home and if necessary be prepared to
disseminate Americanism abroad.  
It is important to note the influence of The March of Time?s production structure
and release format on the content of its pre-war releases.  By late 1938, The March of
Time had adopted a single subject format for each release, allowing the series to probe
issues in much greater depth than in years past.  Also, the series throughout its production
was released monthly.  While The March of Time advertised itself as ?pictorial
268
journalism? and relied on the prestige of Time magazine and the Time Inc., empire for its
journalistic credibility, the monthly release format made it virtually impossible for the
series to operate within the traditional news cycle or to cover breaking news stories as
they happened.  As a result, The March of Time was distinguished throughout its sixteen
year production by a more contemplative nature in examining it subjects than can be
found in the newsreels of the era.  Although the production of The March of Time was
often harried and chaotic, the monthly release, single issue format gave the production
team time to plan for releases far in advance, to research topics in some depth, and to take
up subjects that were on occasion more ruminative and philosophical.  This is the
dynamic at work in The March of Time?s national character films in particular, which
emphasize broad trends and a long term view in their analysis.
It is also interesting to note that not many of these films dealing with a national
character were made after World War II.  One reason for this is obvious, the focus on the
Cold War as a critical theme and topic; indeed, The March of Time films dealing with the
Cold War made continual references to the need for national unity in dealing with the
communist threat.  However, the paucity of films directly appealing for and advocating
cohesive national values suggests that by 1945, a broad consensus over a definition of
America had emerged and that the ideological battles over Americanism were over, even
if they were not.
The question of how The March of Time defined America leads quite logically to
a consideration of the nature of the films themselves.  The charge of bias and
269
propagandizing was leveled toward The March of Time from its inception in early 1935. 
Depending on the political orientation of the viewer, the series was either pro-fascist or a
tool of leftist, even communist influence.  The March of Time?s producers and staff,
including Louis and Richard de Rochemont respectively, considered themselves to be
moderate liberals or centrists, reflecting the views of the educated, mature man in street
on most issues.  The March of Time consistently rejected charges of bias in its
productions throughout its history.
However, upon close and detailed examination of the series, the charges of bias
and even propagandizing have considerable merit.  The March of Time had a distinctive
point of view, rooted in a sentimentalist view of middle class America, the necessity of
national unity centered on middle class values, and the importance of American
engagement with the world and if necessary the global imposition of American
institutions to ensure national security and economic prosperity.  The bias or
propagandizing tone of the series on virtually every issue is best revealed by the tendency
of The March of Time to focus its analysis of every topic through the prism of politics. 
According to The March of Time, all aspects of culture, society and the economy were
best understood through an examination of the political dynamics of each subject.  
There are numerous examples of The March of Time?s ideological bias throughout
the course of the series? production.  Each issue on China and Asian affairs stated the
necessity for further support for Chaing Kai-Shek?s government, ignoring the ineptitude
and massive corruption endemic to the regime.  The March of Time releases that dealt
559The March of Time, Vol. 7, #6, January 1941; The March of Time, Vol. 5, #11, June 1939; The March of Time,
Vol. 6, #10; The March of Time Vol. 7, #10; The March of Time, Vol. 5, #6, January 20, 1939.
270
with broad trends in American culture invariably assumed the dominance of middle-class
values and tended to reify institutions, while asserting a vague and often simplistic belief
in progress.  The March of Time?s analysis of military affairs was inevitably upbeat, even
flying in the face of accumulated evidence of American martial weakness during the pre-
war years.  Even on the New Deal, an area of disagreement ideologically between The
March of Time and the rest of the Time Inc., the film series emphasized a consistent faith
in technological progress and some approval of New Deal programs.  
The most prominent example of The March of Time propagandizing an issue
centers on the ?Great Debate? over American intervention into World War II.  Here, The
March of Time took a consistent position in favor of greater American involvement, one
that was ahead of that of Time, Life and Fortune during the 1930s and far more militant
than the general public.  Virtually from the inception of the series, The March of Time
warned against Nazi expansionism in Europe, demonstrated the brutality of the Nazi
regime, took a firm stand against Franco?s Nationalist movement, highlighted the
problems of the fascist threat to American trade, and once the war began, consistently,
although not overtly, advocated American entry into the war.   This viewpoint culminated
in the 1940 release of the pro-interventionist film The Ramparts We Watch, but can be
seen in such March of Time films as ?Uncle Sam?the Non Belligerent,? ?War, Peace and
Propaganda,? ?The Philippines?1898-1946,? ?Crisis in the Atlantic? and ?State of the
Nation?1939.?559   Each of these representative films was released prior to Pearl Harbor
271
and American entry into the war, and each had the same message revealed through
examination of disparate topics: that the United States had to realize that it was in a
mortal struggle, that American participation in the war was likely and must be prepared
for, and that America?s future as a global actor and the preservation of the American way
of life demanded greater engagement in the world.  All of these themes were articulated
by Henry Luce in his American Century essay, and provided the cohesion for The March
of Time?s examination of domestic and foreign affairs.
The March of Time identified itself as a journalistic enterprise throughout its
history, and often emphasized its connection to the larger Time Inc., empire.  However, a
close examination of the production and content of the series makes it impossible to
conclude that The March of Time operated as a traditional news organization in any
significant way.  The series had an ideological viewpoint that was almost relentlessly
articulated on all subjects throughout its history.  Also, the production and release
schedule made it difficult to impossible for The March of Time to respond in a prompt
fashion to events as they occurred.  Thus, the series took by necessity an editorial tone
towards its subjects.  This allowed for a more contemplative tenor to emerge in the
content of the series but the detached pace of the series enabled the consistent imposition
of The March of Time?s ideological biases on the audience.  A recurring question among
contemporary viewers and historians is whether The March of Time can be classified as a
documentary series.  Given that the traditional definition of documentary film allows for
the articulation of a distinct viewpoint, it is difficult to conclude that The March of Time
272
was not a documentary series, given its ideological content and consistent analysis of
given subjects through a political lens.
Given that The March of Time can be defined as documentary that defined a
vision of America and provided a portrait of a era, the impression of the films themselves
on viewers should be examined.  Viewing The March of Time today can be a jarring
experience.  The re-enactments seem obvious and staged, the language orotund and
pompous and the presentation of sometimes mundane events overly dramatic.  Perhaps
the cultural distance for the contemporary viewer from the 1930s accounts for the
discomfort in watching The March of Time.  It must also be considered that the relentless
ideological and political content in the films quite possibly makes them seem so bizarre,
given that the America presented by The March of Time bears little resemblance to
historical reality.  However, one must also recognize that in comparison to the 1930s and
1940s, this is a relatively non-ideological age.  Despite the viciousness of what passes for
public discourse in today?s America, there is a broad consensus on the definition of
American and Americanism.  The ideological divide in 1930s and early 1940s America
was of greater depth and importance than that of today.  The debates of The March of
Time?s peak years centered on the fundamental structure of the economy, the viability of
democracy and the challenge to the Western liberal democratic tradition from
communism and fascism, and the appropriation of the American past and the symbols of
American patriotism for ideological ends.  Viewing an ideological artifact from past
decades when the definition of America was being hotly debated in all forms of media
273
seems rather jarring in an era of relative consensus.
274
Appendix: List and Breakdown of The March of Time subjects, 1935-1951
Volume Issue Titles of Episodes Release Date
(US)
1 1 ?Saionji? Feb. 1, 1935
?Speakeasy Street?
?Moe Buschbaum?
?Fred Perkins?
1 2 ?Germany? Mar. 8, 1935
?New York Daily News?
?Speed Camera?
?Mohawk Disaster?
?Leadbelly?
1 3 ?Trans-Pacific? April 19, 1935
?Munitions?
?Huey Long?
?Mexico?
1 4 ?Navy War Games? May 31, 1935
?Russia?
?Washington News?
1 5 ?Army? August 16,
1935
?Father Coughlin?
?Croix de Feu?
1 6 ?Ethiopia? Sept. 20, 1935
?Bootleg Coal?
?CCC?
1 7 ?Palestine? Oct. 18, 1935
?Neutrality?
?Summer Theaters?
?Safety (?Sudden Death?)
1 8 ?G.O.P.? Nov. 13, 1935
?Wild Ducks?
?Strikebreaking?
275
1 9 ?Japan-China? Dec. 13, 1935
?Narcotics?
?Townsend Plan?
2 1  ?Pacific Islands? Jan. 7, 1936
?TVA?
?Deibler?
2 2 ?Moscow? Feb. 14, 1936
?Hartman Discovery?
?Father Divine?
2 3 ?Tokyo, Japan? Mar. 13, 1936
?Devil?s Island?
?Fisheries?
2 4 ?Veterans of Future Wars? Apr. 17, 1936
?Arson Squads?
?Florida Canal?
?Field Trials?
2 5 ?League of Nations Union? May 15, 1936
?Railroads?
?Relief?
2 6 ?Otto of Hapsburg? June 12, 1936
?Texas Centennial?
?Crime School?
2 7 ?Revolt in France? July 10, 1936
?An American Dictator?
?Jockey Club?
2 8 ?Albania?s King Zog? Aug. 7, 1936
?Highway Homes?
?King Cotton?s Slaves?
3 1 ?The ?Lunatic Fringe?? Sept. 2, 1936
?Passamaquoddy?
?U.S. Milky Way?
276
3 2 ?Labor vs. Labor? Sept. 30, 1936
?England?s Tithe War?
?The Football Business?
3 3 ?The Presidency? Nov. 6, 1936
?New Schools for Old?
3 4 ?A Soldier-King?s Son? Nov. 27, 1936
?St. Lawrence Seaway?
?An Uncle Sam Production?
3 5 ?China?s Dictator Kidnapped? Dec. 24, 1936
?Business Girls?
3 6 ?Conquering Cancer? Jan. 22, 1937
?Mormonism-1937"
?Midwinter Vacations?
3 7 ?Father of All Turks? Feb. 19, 1937
?Birth of Swing?
?Enemies of Alcohol?
3 8 ?Child Labor? Mar. 19, 1937
?Coronation Crisis?
?Harlem?s Black Magic?
3 9 ?Britain?s Food Defenses? Apr. 16, 1937
?The Supreme Court?
?Amateur Sleuths?
3 10 ?Irish Republic-1937" May 14, 1937
?U.S. Unemployment?
?Puzzle Prizes?
3 11 ?Poland and War? June 11, 1937
?Dust Bowl?
?Dogs For Sale?
3 12 ?The 49th State? July 9, 1937
?Babies Wanted?
277
3 13 ?Rehearsal for War? Aug. 6, 1937
?The Spoils System?
?Youth in Camps?
4 1 ?War in China? Sept. 10, 1937
?Pests of 1937"
4 2 ?Junk and War? Oct. 1, 1937
Fiorello LaGuardia?
4 3 ?Crisis in Algeria? Oct. 29, 1937
?Amoskeag-Success Story?
?U.S. Secret Service?
4 4 ?Alaska?s Salmon War? Nov. 26, 1937
?Britain?s Gambling Fever?
?The Human Heart?
4 5 ?Finland?s 20th Birthday? Dec. 27, 1937
?The Laugh Industry?
?Ships-Strikes-Seamen?
4 6 ?Inside Nazi Germany? Jan. 21, 1938
4 7 ?Russians in Exile? Feb. 18, 1938
?Old Dixie?s New Boom?
?One Million Missing?
4 8 ?Arms and the League? Mar. 18, 1938
?Brain Trust Island?
4 9 ?Nazi Conquest-No. 1" April 15, 1938
?Crime and Prisons?
4 10 ?England?s Bankrupt Peers? May 13, 1938
?Rackeeters vs. Housewives?
?Friend of the People?
4 11 ?Men of Medicine? June 10, 1938
278
4 12 ?G-Men of the Sea? July 8, 1938
4 13 ?Threat to Gibraltar? Aug. 6, 1938
5  1 ?Prelude to Conquest? Sept. 2, 1938
?Father Divine?s Deal?
5 2 ?The British Dilemma? Sept. 30, 1938
?U.S. Fire Fighters?
5 3 ?Inside the Maginot Line? Oct. 28, 1938
5 4 ?Uncle Sam: The Good Neighbor? Nov. 25, 1938
5 5 ?The Refugee-Today Dec. 23, 1938
    and Tomorrow? 
5 6 ?State of the Nation-1939" Jan. 20, 1939
5 7 ?Mexico?s New Crisis? Feb. 1939
   ?Young America?
5 8 ?The Mediterranean? Mar. 1939
5 9 ?Japan-Master of the Orient? Apr. 1939
5 10 ?Dixie-USA? May 1939
5 11 ?War, Peace and Propaganda? June 1939
5 12  ?The Movies March On? July 1939
5 13 ?Metropolis?1939" Aug. 1939
6 1 ?Soldiers With Wings? Sept. 1939
6 2 ?Battle Fleets of England? Sept 1939
6 3 ?Uncle Sam?The Farmer? Oct. 1939
279
6 4 ?Newsfronts of War?1940" Nov. 1939
6 5 ?Crisis in the Pacific? Dec. 1939
6 6 ?The Republic of Finland? Jan. 1940
6 7 ?The Vatican of Pius XII? Feb. 1940
6 8 ?Canada at War? Mar. 1940
6 9 ?America?s Youth? Apr. 1940
6 10 ?The Philippines-1898-1946" May 1940
6 11 ?The U.S. Navy?1940 June 1940
6 12 ?Spoils of Conquest? Aug. 1940
6 13  ?Gateways to Panama? Sept. 1940
7 1 ?On Foreign Newsfronts? Sept. 1940
7 2 ?Britain?s RAF? Oct. 1940
7 3 ?Mexico? Oct. 1940
7 4 ?Arms and the Men-USA? Nov. 1940
7 5 ?Labor and Defense? Dec. 1940
7 6 ?Uncle Sam-the Non-Belligerent? Jan. 1941
7 7 ?Americans All? Feb. 1941
7 8 ?Australia at War? Mar. 1941
7 9 ?Men of the FBI-1941" Apr. 1941
7 10 ?Crisis in the Atlantic? May 1941
7 11 ?China Fights Back? June 1941
280
7 12 ?New England?s Eight July 1941
Million Yankees?
7 13 ?Peace?by Adolf Hitler? Aug. 1941
8 1 ?Thumbs Up, Texas!? Aug. 1941
8 2 ?Norway in Revolt? Sept. 1941
8 3 ?Sailors With Wings? Oct. 1941
8 4 ?Main Street USA? Nov. 1941
Special Issue ?Battlefields of the Pacific? Dec. 1941
8 5 ?Our America at War? Dec. 1941
8 6 ?When Air Raids Strike? Jan. 1942
8 7 ?Far East Command? Feb. 1942
8 8 ?The Argentine Question? Mar. 1942
8 9 ?America?s New Army? Apr. 1942
8 10 ?India in Crisis? May 1942
8 11 ?India at War? June 1942
8 12 ?Men in Washington-1942" July 1942
8 13 ?Men of the Fleet? Aug. 1942
9 1 ?The FBI Front? Sept. 1942
9 2 ?The Fighting French? Oct. 1942
9 3 ?Mr. And Mrs. America? Nov. 1942
9 4 ?Prelude to Victory? Dec. 1942
281
9 5 ?The Navy and the Nation? Dec. 1942
9 6 ?One Day of War?Russia? Jan. 1943
9 7 ?The New Canada? Feb. 1943
9 8 ?America?s Food Crisis? Mar. 1943
9 9 ?Inside Fascist Spain? Apr. 1943
9 10 ?Show Business at War? May 1943
9 11 ?Invasion!? June 1943
9 12 ?Bill Jack vs. Adolf Hitler!? July 1943
9 13 ?...And Then Japan!? Aug. 1943
10 1 ?Airways to Peace? Sept. 1943
10 2 ?Portugal?Europe?s Crossroads? Oct. 1943
10 3 ?Youth in Crisis? Nov. 1943
10 4 ?Naval Log of Victory? Dec. 1943
10 5 ?Upbeat in Music? Dec. 1943
10 6 ?Sweden?s Middle Road? Jan. 1944
10 7 ?Post-War Jobs? Feb. 1944
10 8 ?South American Front-1944" Mar. 1944
10 9 ?The Irish Question? Apr. 1944
10 10 ?Underground Report? May 1944
10 11 ?Back Door to Tokyo? June 1944
10 12 ?Americans All? July 1944
282
10 13 ?British Imperialism? Aug. 1944
11 1 ?Post-War Farms? Sept. 1944
11 2 ?What to Do With Germany? October 1944
11 3 ?Uncle Sam, Mariner?? Nov. 1944
11 4 ?Inside China Today? Dec. 1944
11 5 ?The Unknown Battle? Dec. 1944
11 6 ?Report on Italy? Jan. 1945
11 7 ?The West Coast Question? Feb. 1945
11 8 ?Memo from Britain? Mar. 1945
11 9 ?The Returning Veteran? Apr. 1945
11 10 ?Spotlight on Congress? May 1945
11 11 ?Teen-Age Girls? June 15, 1945
11 12 ?Where?s the Meat? July 13, 1945
11 13 ?The New US Frontier? Aug. 10, 1945
12   1 ?Palestine Problem? Sept. 17, 1945
12 2 ?American Beauty? Oct. 5, 1945
12 3 ?18 Million Orphans? Nov. 2, 1945
12 4  ?Justice Comes to Germany? Nov. 30, 1945
12 5 ?Challenge to Hollywood? Dec. 28, 1945
12 6 ?Life With Baby? Jan. 25, 1946
12 7 ?Report on Greece? Feb.  22, 1946
283
12 8 ?Night Club Boom? Mar. 22, 1946
12 9 ?Wanted?More Homes? Apr. 19, 1946
12 10 ?Tomorrow?s Mexico? May 17, 1946
12 11 ?Problem Drinkers? June 14, 1946
12 12 ?The New France? July 12, 1946
12 13 ?Atomic Power? Aug. 9, 1946
13 1 ?Is Everybody Happy?? Sept. 7, 1946
13 2 ?World Food Problem? Oct. 4, 1946
13 3 ?The Soviet?s Neighbor- Nov. 1, 1946
     Czechoslovakia?
13 4 ?The American Cop? Nov. 29, 1946
13 5 ?Nobody?s Children? Dec. 27, 1946
13 6 ?Germany-Handle with Care!? Jan. 24, 1947
13 7 ?Fashion Means Business? Feb. 21, 1947
13 8 ?The Teacher?s Crisis? Mar. 21, 1947
13 9 ?Storm over Britain? Apr. 18, 1947
13 10 ?The Russians Nobody Knows? May 16, 1947
13 11 ?Your Doctors-1947" June 13, 1947
13 12 ?New Trains for Old? July 11, 1947
13 13 ?Turkey?s 100 Million? Aug. 8, 1947
14 1 ?Is Everybody Listening? Sept. 6, 1947
284
14 2 ?T-Men in Action? Oct. 3, 1947
14 3 ?End of an Empire?? Oct. 31, 1947
14 4 ?Public Relations?This Means You? Nov. 28, 1947
14 5 ?The Presidential Year? Dec. 26, 1947
14 6 ?The Cold War: Act 1-France? Jan. 23, 1948
14 7 ?Marriage and Divorce? Feb. 20, 1948
14 8 ?The Cold War: Act II? Mar. 19, 1948
Crisis In Italy?
14 9 ?Life With Junior? Apr. 16, 1948
14 10 ?The Cold War: Act III- May 14, 1948
Battle for Greece?
14 11 ?The Fight Game? June 11, 1948
14 12 ?The Case of Mrs. Conrad? July 9, 1948
14 13 ?White Collar Girls? Aug. 6, 1948
14 14 ?Life with Grandpa? Sept. 3, 1948
14 15 ?Battle for Germany? Oct. 1, 1948
14 16 ?America?s New Air Power? Oct. 29, 1948
14 17 ?Answer to Stalin? Nov. 26, 1948
14 18 ?Watchdogs of the Mail? Dec. 24, 1948
15 1 ?On Stage? Jan. 21, 1949
15 2 ?Asia?s New Voice? Feb. 18, 1949
15 3 ?Wish You Were Here? Mar. 18, 1949
285
15 4 ?Report on the Atom? Apr. 15, 1949
15 5 ?Sweden Looks Ahead? May 13, 1949
15 6 ?It?s in the Groove!? June 10, 1949
15 7 ?Stop?Heavy Traffic!? July 8, 1949
15 8 ?Farming Pays Off? Aug. 5, 1949
15 9 ?Policeman?s Holiday? Sept. 2, 1949
15 10 ?The Fight For Better Schools? Sept. 30, 1949
15 11 ?MacArthur?s Japan? Nov. 11, 1949
15 12 ?A Chance to Live? Dec. 23, 1949
16 1 ?Mid-Century?Halfway to Where?? Feb. 3, 1950
16 2 ?The Male Look? Mar. 17, 1950
16 3 ?Where?s the Fire?? Apr. 28, 1950
16 4 ?Beauty at Work? June 9, 1950
16 5 ?As Russia Sees It? Aug. 18, 1950
16 6 ?The Gathering Storm? Sept. 29, 1950
16 7 ?Schools March On!? Nov. 10, 1950
16 8 ?Tito?New Ally?? Dec. 1950
17 1 ?Strategy for Victory? Feb. 1951
17 2 ?Flight Plan for Freedom? Mar. 1951
17 3 ?The Nation?s Mental Health? Apr. 1951
17 4 ?Moroccan Outpost? June 1951
286
17 5 ?Crisis in Iran? July 1951
17 6 ?Formosa: Island of Promise? Aug. 1951
Breakdown of Subject Matter
The March of Time produced and released approximately 204 films between 1935 and
1951.  These 204 films included 286 different subjects or topics, broken into representative
categories below.
Foreign Affairs: 137 subjects, 47.9% of total.
Topic: Number of Subjects: Percentage of Foreign Affairs
Films, Percentage of MOT
output:
Europe 42 31%; 14.6%
US Intervention 23 16.8%; 8%
WWII/Military 26 19%; 9.1%
Asia 22 16.1%; 7.7%
Cold War 24 17.5%; 8.4%
Domestic Affairs: 149 subjects, 52.1% of total.
Topic: Number of Subjects Percentage of Domestic
Affairs Films, Percentage of
MOT output:
Percentage 
New Deal 24 16.1%; 8.4%
Politics 29 19.5%; 10.1%
Labor 16 10.7%; 5.6%
Culture/Society 48 32.2%; 16.8%
287
Americanism/
National Unity 32 21.5%; 11.2% 
Note: These are approximate breakdowns of The March of Time?s subject matter.  Many
of the films produced by The March of Time can fit into two or even three of the above
categories.
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Wertenbaker, Charles.  The Death of Kings.  New York: Random House, 1954.
Whelan, Richard.  Robert Capa: A Biography.  New York: Knopf, 1985.
Williams, Raymond.  The Long Revolution.  London: Chatto and Windus, 1961.
Winnick, R. H. ed., Letters of Archibald MacLeish, 1907-1982.  Boston:
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Periodicals and Signed Articles
295
Antsey, Edgar.  ?The Cinema? (review of ?State on the Nation-1939") Spectator,
August 1939: 302.
__________.  ?The Cinema? (review of ?The Ramparts We Watch.?) Spectator
11 April 1941:15.
__________.   ?The Cinema? (review of ?Australia at War?), Spectator, May 30,
1941: 580.
__________.   ?The Cinema? (review of ?China Fights Back?), Spectator, August
29, 1941: 203.
__________.    ?The Cinema? (review of ?America at War?), Spectator, February
27, 1942: 203.
__________.    ?The Cinema? (review of ?India in Crisis?), Spectator, July 10,
1942: 35.
__________.   ?The Cinema? (review of ?Challenge to Hollywood?), Spectator,
March 1, 1946: 219.
Cooke, Alistair.  ?History in the Making.? Listener.  20 November 1935: 931-935.
___________.  ?The March of Time.? Sight and Sound. Autumn 1935: 123.
Crowther, Bosley.  ?The Ramparts We Watch.? New York Times. 20 September
1940: 27:1.
_____________.    ?Time Marches On and On.?  New York Times.  31 October
1937: 6:1.
_____________.     ?Time Marches to the Ramparts.? New York Times.  22
October 1939: 5:3.
_____________.     ?Time Marches Off.? New York Times.  7 July 1951: 1:7. 
Dangerfield, George.  ?Time Muddles On.? New Republic.  19 August 1936: 43-
45.
Drewry, John.  ?A Picture-Language Magazine.? Magazine World Vol. 1
296
November 1945: 19-25.
DeRochemont, Richard.  ?As America Sees It.? Sight and Sound.  Spring 1941: 6.
Ellis, Peter.  ?The Screen: The March of Time.? New Masses.  9 July 1935: 29.
_________.  ?Fascism Marches On.? New Masses.  3 September 1935: 29.
_________.  ?Sights and Sounds: The First Offering of Frontier Films.? New
Masses: 29.
Ferguson, Otis.  ?Time Steals A March.? New Republic 9 February 1938: 19.
Friedman, Rick.  ?40 Years of Pictures, Newsmagazine Style.? Editor and
Publisher 3 March, 1963.
Frakes, Margaret.  ?Time Marches Back.? Christian Century.  16 October 1940:
1277.
Galway, Peter.  ?Inside Nazi Germany, 1938: The March of Time.?  New
Statesman and Nation.  20 April 1938: 728.
Gibbs, Wolcott.  ?A Very Active Type Man.? New Yorker  2 May 1941: 26-28.
Greene, Graham.  ?The Cinema: The March of Time.? Spectator.  8 November
1935: 774.
Hoellering, Franz.  ?Films? (review of ?War, Peace and Propganda?).  Nation.  17
June 1939: 708.
Lewis, James Howard.  ?The Saga of Time, Life and Fortune.? Magazine World 1
May 1945: 9-15.
Luce, Henry.  ?Editorial.? Motion Picture Herald.  29 January 1938, 2.
________.  ?America?s War and America?s Peace.? Life 16 February 1942: 85-91.
Ludlow, Ray and Goldbeck, Eva.  ?Time Marches Where?? New Theater March
1935: 14-15.
McDonald, Dwight.  ?Fortune Magazine.? Nation. 8 May 1937: 527.
297
_______________.   ?Time and Henry Luce.? Nation.  1 May 1937: 500.
______________.    ?Time, Fortune and Life.? Nation.  22 May 1937: 583.
Menefee, Selden.  ?The Movies Join Hearst.? New Republic.  9 October 1935:
241.
Pyror, Thomas.  ?Down the Homestretch?after 18 Months, Time Completes ?The
Ramparts We Watch.?? New York Times.  30 June 1940: 3:7.
___________.    ?By Way of Report?March of Time Trains Service Men in Film
Techniques.?  New York Times.  8 February 1942: 5:7.
Thompson, Dorothy.  ?The March of Time Film.? New York Herald Tribune 26
January 1938.
__________.  ?The American Century.? New York Herald Tribune 21 February
1941.
Wear, Mike.  ?Shorts: March of Time.? Variety.  9 September 1936: 16.
_________.   ?Short Subjects: March of Time.? Variety.  14 April 1937: 12.
_________.   ?Short Subjects: March of Time.? Variety.  2 December 1936: 18.
_________.   ?Talking Shorts: March of Time.? Variety.  3 February 1937: 14.
Wright, Basil.  ?The Cinema.? (review of ?Refugee, Today and Tomorrow?)
Spectator, 13 January 1939: 52.
__________.   ?The Cinema.? (review of ?Inside Nazi Germany?1938) Spectator,
13 May 1938: 867.
__________.   ?The Cinema.? (review of ?Canada at War?) Spectator 29 March
1940: 481.
Unsigned Articles
?Appeal Ramparts Ban.? New York Times.  24 September 1940: 48:2.
?Censorship of Newsreel Made Political Football.?  Motion Picture Herald.  24
April 1937: 13.
298
?De Rochemont To Be Producer For 20th-Fox.? Motion Picture Herald.  28
August 1943: 25.
?Diplomats View ?Time? Reel as Hull Answers Dominicans.? Motion Picture
Herald.  7 July 1936: 26.
?First Issue of Time?s Two-Reel News Opens in Theaters Dec. 20.?  Motion
Picture Herald.  17 November 1934: 9.
?French Fascist Pic From ?Time? Footage.? Variety.  13 November 1935: 13.
?Huey Long a Film Censor Now? Kidding Subject Deleted from ?Time? in N.O.?
Variety.  24 April 1935: 1.
?H?wood Being Taken for a One-Way Sleighride, but its Bumpy for All.? 
Variety.  17 September 1941: 4.
?Inside Nazi Germany?1938.? Motion Picture Herald.  5 February 1938: 58.
?Inside Stuff?Pictures.? Variety.  30 October 1935: 6.
?Inside Stuff?Pictures.? Variety.  24 April 1935.
?Inside Stuff?Pictures? (Warner Brothers rejects ?Nazi Conquest No. 1"). 
Variety.  20 April 1938: 10.
?L. De Rochemont at 20th.? Variety.  25 August 1943: 7.
?Luce?s Time-Life Steamup by Welles to Force ?Citizen Kane? Release: $800,000
Prod. May Now Be Stalled.? Variety.  5 March 1941: 3.
?March of Time Criticizes Other Reels, Cites $1,000,000 Gross.?  Motion Picture
Herald.  18 July 1936: 67.
?March of Time in 5200 Houses.? Motion Picture Herald.  11 April 1936: 50.
?March of Time Propaganda, Says Omaha Paper.? Motion Picture Herald.  2
March 1935: 32.
?March of Time?s Foreign Censorship Headaches: How Time and Life Work.?
299
Variety.  1 February 1937: 60.
??March of Time? Staff Is Increased.? Motion Picture Herald.  27 July 1935: 18.
?Nazis Push Attack on March of Time for German War Shots in ?Ramparts?.? 
Motion Picture Herald.  7 September 1940: 23.
?News Film Concern Adds Another Floor.? New York Times.  23 September
1939: 31:3.
?News Film Ended by March of Time.?  New York Times.  6 July 1951: 21:2.
?Newsreel Policy.?  Motion Picture Herald.  26 June 1937.
?Newsreels Answer March of Time on Pictures of Hitler.? Motion Picture Herald. 
23 March 1935: 30.
?Newsreels Protest March of Time Award.? Motion Picture Herald.  27 March
1937: 18.
?Newsreels Show Canned Footage on Candidates.? Motion Picture Herald.  16
October 1948: 15.
?Press Supports Warner?s Charge March of Time Is Pro-Nazi.? Motion Picture
Herald.  5 February 1938: 33.
?Pros and Cons on ?March of Time?s? Nazi Subject Boosts B.O. All Over.?
Variety.  26 January 1938: 11.
?Pull Newsreel Scoop on Basil Zaharoff.? Variety. 27 March 1935: 7.
??Ramparts? Ban Upheld.?  New York Times.  2 October 1940: 19:4.
?Real Mobs, Reel Extras: To Which the March of Time Objects.? Variety.  1
December 1937: 7
?See Free Speech Curtailment in Kans. ?Time? Cuts.? Variety.  21 April 1937.
?RKO To Distrib ?March of Time?.?  Variety.  12 June 1935: 3.
?Time-First Division Contract Cancelled.? Motion Picture Herald.  11 May 1935:
300
34.
??Time? Reel Controversial Subject Matter of Concern to Hays Org.,? Variety.  9
October 1935: 4.
?Twenty in Free for All over Nazi Leader at Embassy Theater.? New York Times. 
9 May 1940: 4:8.
?Warners Call Time Film Pro-Nazi and Luce Replies ?Ridiculous?.?  Motion
Picture Herald.  29 January 1938: 21.
Primary Sources
March of Time Collection, MT 1.01-17.06, National Archives and Records
Administration, College Park, Maryland.
March of Time Collection, MT 1.01-17.06 Production Files, National Archives
and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland.
March of Time Collection, Time Inc., Archives, Time-Life Building, New York
City.
March of Time Movie File, 1934-1959, Time Inc., Archives, Time-Life Building,
New York City.
March of Time Miscellaneous File, 1934-1959,  Time Inc., Archives, Time-Life
Building, New York City.
March of Time Reminiscences File, 1957-1959, Time Inc. Archives, Time-Life
Building, New York City.
Luce Correspondence File, 1931-1964, Time Inc., Archives, Time-Life Building,
New York City.
Louis de Rochemont Collection, Boxes 2-26, American Heritage Center,
University of Wyoming, Laramie, Wyoming.
Richard de Rochemont Collection, Boxes 1-12, American Heritage Center,
University of Wyoming, Laramie, Wyoming.
301
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___________.    ?By Way of Report?March of Time Trains Service Men in Film
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__________.  ?The American Century.? New York Herald Tribune 21 February
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?De Rochemont To Be Producer For 20th-Fox.? Motion Picture Herald.  28
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312
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?Huey Long a Film Censor Now? Kidding Subject Deleted from ?Time? in N.O.?
Variety.  24 April 1935: 1.
?H?wood Being Taken for a One-Way Sleighride, but its Bumpy for All.? 
Variety.  17 September 1941: 4.
?Inside Nazi Germany?1938.? Motion Picture Herald.  5 February 1938: 58.
?Inside Stuff?Pictures.? Variety.  30 October 1935: 6.
?Inside Stuff?Pictures.? Variety.  24 April 1935.
?Inside Stuff?Pictures? (Warner Brothers rejects ?Nazi Conquest No. 1"). 
Variety.  20 April 1938: 10.
?L. De Rochemont at 20th.? Variety.  25 August 1943: 7.
?Luce?s Time-Life Steamup by Welles to Force ?Citizen Kane? Release: $800,000
Prod. May Now Be Stalled.? Variety.  5 March 1941: 3.
?March of Time Criticizes Other Reels, Cites $1,000,000 Gross.?  Motion Picture
Herald.  18 July 1936: 67.
?March of Time in 5200 Houses.? Motion Picture Herald.  11 April 1936: 50.
?March of Time Propaganda, Says Omaha Paper.? Motion Picture Herald.  2
March 1935: 32.
?March of Time?s Foreign Censorship Headaches: How Time and Life Work.?
Variety.  1 February 1937: 60.
??March of Time? Staff Is Increased.? Motion Picture Herald.  27 July 1935: 18.
?Nazis Push Attack on March of Time for German War Shots in ?Ramparts?.? 
Motion Picture Herald.  7 September 1940: 23.
313
?News Film Concern Adds Another Floor.? New York Times.  23 September
1939: 31:3.
?News Film Ended by March of Time.?  New York Times.  6 July 1951: 21:2.
?Newsreel Policy.?  Motion Picture Herald.  26 June 1937.
?Newsreels Answer March of Time on Pictures of Hitler.? Motion Picture Herald. 
23 March 1935: 30.
?Newsreels Protest March of Time Award.? Motion Picture Herald.  27 March
1937: 18.
?Newsreels Show Canned Footage on Candidates.? Motion Picture Herald.  16
October 1948: 15.
?Press Supports Warner?s Charge March of Time Is Pro-Nazi.? Motion Picture
Herald.  5 February 1938: 33.
?Pros and Cons on ?March of Time?s? Nazi Subject Boosts B.O. All Over.?
Variety.  26 January 1938: 11.
?Pull Newsreel Scoop on Basil Zaharoff.? Variety. 27 March 1935: 7.
??Ramparts? Ban Upheld.?  New York Times.  2 October 1940: 19:4.
?Real Mobs, Reel Extras: To Which the March of Time Objects.? Variety.  1
December 1937: 7
?See Free Speech Curtailment in Kans. ?Time? Cuts.? Variety.  21 April 1937.
?RKO To Distrib ?March of Time?.?  Variety.  12 June 1935: 3.
?Time-First Division Contract Cancelled.? Motion Picture Herald.  11 May 1935:
34.
??Time? Reel Controversial Subject Matter of Concern to Hays Org.,? Variety.  9
October 1935: 4.
?Twenty in Free for All over Nazi Leader at Embassy Theater.? New York Times. 
9 May 1940: 4:8.
314
?Warners Call Time Film Pro-Nazi and Luce Replies ?Ridiculous?.?  Motion
Picture Herald.  29 January 1938: 21.
Primary Sources
March of Time Collection, MT 1.01-17.06, National Archives and Records
Administration, College Park, Maryland.
March of Time Collection, MT 1.01-17.06 Production Files, National Archives
and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland.
March of Time Collection, Time Inc., Archives, Time-Life Building, New York
City.
March of Time Movie File, 1934-1959, Time Inc., Archives, Time-Life Building,
New York City.
March of Time Miscellaneous File, 1934-1959,  Time Inc., Archives, Time-Life
Building, New York City.
March of Time Reminiscences File, 1957-1959, Time Inc. Archives, Time-Life
Building, New York City.
Luce Correspondence File, 1931-1964, Time Inc., Archives, Time-Life Building,
New York City.
Louis de Rochemont Collection, Boxes 2-26, American Heritage Center,
University of Wyoming, Laramie, Wyoming.
Richard de Rochemont Collection, Boxes 1-12, American Heritage Center,
University of Wyoming, Laramie, Wyoming.
Appendix: List and Breakdown of The March of Time subjects, 1935-1951
Volume Issue Titles of Episodes Releas
e Date
(US)
1 1 ?Saionji? Feb. 1,
1935
?Speakeasy Street?
?Moe Buschbaum?
?Fred Perkins?
1 2 ?Germany? Mar. 8,
315
1935
?New York Daily News?
?Speed Camera?
?Mohawk Disaster?
?Leadbelly?
1 3 ?Trans-Pacific? April
19,
1935
?Munitions?
?Huey Long?
?Mexico?
1 4 ?Navy War Games? May
31,
1935
?Russia?
?Washington News?
1 5 ?Army? August
16,
1935
?Father Coughlin?
?Croix de Feu?
1 6 ?Ethiopia? Sept.
20,
1935
?Bootleg Coal?
?CCC?
1 7 ?Palestine? Oct.
18,
1935
?Neutrality?
?Summer Theaters?
?Safety (?Sudden Death?)
1 8 ?G.O.P.? Nov.
13,
1935
316
?Wild Ducks?
?Strikebreaking?
1 9 ?Japan-China? Dec.
13,
1935
?Narcotics?
?Townsend Plan?
2 1  ?Pacific Islands? Jan. 7,
1936
?TVA?
?Deibler?
2 2 ?Moscow? Feb.
14,
1936
?Hartman Discovery?
?Father Divine?
2 3 ?Tokyo, Japan? Mar.
13,
1936
?Devil?s Island?
?Fisheries?
2 4 ?Veterans of Future Wars? Apr.
17,
1936
?Arson Squads?
?Florida Canal?
?Field Trials?
2 5 ?League of Nations Union? May
15,
1936
?Railroads?
?Relief?
2 6 ?Otto of Hapsburg? June
12,
317
1936
?Texas Centennial?
?Crime School?
2 7 ?Revolt in France? July
10,
1936
?An American Dictator?
?Jockey Club?
2 8 ?Albania?s King Zog? Aug. 7,
1936
?Highway Homes?
?King Cotton?s Slaves?
3 1 ?The ?Lunatic Fringe?? Sept.
2, 1936
?Passamaquoddy?
?U.S. Milky Way?
3 2 ?Labor vs. Labor? Sept.
30,
1936
?England?s Tithe War?
?The Football Business?
3 3 ?The Presidency? Nov. 6,
1936
?New Schools for Old?
3 4 ?A Soldier-King?s Son? Nov.
27,
1936
?St. Lawrence Seaway?
?An Uncle Sam Production?
3 5 ?China?s Dictator Kidnapped? Dec.
24, 1936
?Business Girls?
318
3 6 ?Conquering Cancer? Jan.
22,
1937
?Mormonism-1937"
?Midwinter Vacations?
3 7 ?Father of All Turks? Feb.
19,
1937
?Birth of Swing?
?Enemies of Alcohol?
3 8 ?Child Labor? Mar.
19,
1937
?Coronation Crisis?
?Harlem?s Black Magic?
3 9 ?Britain?s Food Defenses? Apr.
16,
1937
?The Supreme Court?
?Amateur Sleuths?
3 10 ?Irish Republic-1937" May
14,
1937
?U.S. Unemployment?
?Puzzle Prizes?
3 11 ?Poland and War? June
11,
1937
?Dust Bowl?
?Dogs For Sale?
3 12 ?The 49th State? July 9,
1937
?Babies Wanted?
3 13 ?Rehearsal for War? Aug. 6,
319
1937
?The Spoils System?
?Youth in Camps?
4 1 ?War in China? Sept.
10,
1937
?Pests of 1937"
4 2 ?Junk and War? Oct. 1,
1937
Fiorello LaGuardia?
4 3 ?Crisis in Algeria? Oct.
29,
1937
?Amoskeag-Success Story?
?U.S. Secret Service?
4 4 ?Alaska?s Salmon War? Nov.
26, 1937
?Britain?s Gambling Fever?
?The Human Heart?
4 5 ?Finland?s 20th Birthday? Dec.
27, 1937
?The Laugh Industry?
?Ships-Strikes-Seamen?
4 6 ?Inside Nazi Germany? Jan.
21, 1938
4 7 ?Russians in Exile? Feb.
18, 1938
?Old Dixie?s New Boom?
?One Million Missing?
4 8 ?Arms and the League? Mar.
18, 1938
?Brain Trust Island?
320
4 9 ?Nazi Conquest-No. 1" April
15, 1938
?Crime and Prisons?
4 10 ?England?s Bankrupt Peers? May
13, 1938
?Rackeeters vs. Housewives?
?Friend of the People?
4 11 ?Men of Medicine? June
10, 1938
4 12 ?G-Men of the Sea? July 8,
1938
4 13 ?Threat to Gibraltar? Aug. 6,
1938
5  1 ?Prelude to Conquest? Sept.
2, 1938
?Father Divine?s Deal?
5 2 ?The British Dilemma? Sept.
30, 1938
?U.S. Fire Fighters?
5 3 ?Inside the Maginot Line? Oct.
28, 1938
5 4 ?Uncle Sam: The Good Neighbor? Nov.
25, 1938
5 5 ?The Refugee-Today Dec.
23, 1938
    and Tomorrow? 
5 6 ?State of the Nation-1939" Jan.
20, 1939
321
5 7 ?Mexico?s New Crisis? Feb.
1939
   ?Young America?
5 8 ?The Mediterranean? Mar.
1939
5 9 ?Japan-Master of the Orient? Apr.
1939
5 10 ?Dixie-USA? May
1939
5 11 ?War, Peace and Propaganda? June
1939
5 12  ?The Movies March On? July
1939
5 13 ?Metropolis?1939" Aug.
1939
6 1 ?Soldiers With Wings? Sept.
1939
6 2 ?Battle Fleets of England? Sept
1939
6 3 ?Uncle Sam?The Farmer? Oct.
1939
6 4 ?Newsfronts of War?1940" Nov.
1939
6 5 ?Crisis in the Pacific? Dec.
1939
6 6 ?The Republic of Finland? Jan.
1940
6 7 ?The Vatican of Pius XII? Feb.
322
1940
6 8 ?Canada at War? Mar.
1940
6 9 ?America?s Youth? Apr.
1940
6 10 ?The Philippines-1898-1946" May
1940
6 11 ?The U.S. Navy?1940 June
1940
6 12 ?Spoils of Conquest? Aug.
1940
6 13  ?Gateways to Panama? Sept.
1940
7 1 ?On Foreign Newsfronts? Sept.
1940
7 2 ?Britain?s RAF? Oct.
1940
7 3 ?Mexico? Oct.
1940
7 4 ?Arms and the Men-USA? Nov.
1940
7 5 ?Labor and Defense? Dec.
1940
7 6 ?Uncle Sam-the Non-Belligerent? Jan.
1941
7 7 ?Americans All? Feb.
1941
323
7 8 ?Australia at War? Mar.
1941
7 9 ?Men of the FBI-1941" Apr.
1941
7 10 ?Crisis in the Atlantic? May
1941
7 11 ?China Fights Back? June
1941
7 12 ?New England?s Eight July
1941
Million Yankees?
7 13 ?Peace?by Adolf Hitler? Aug.
1941
8 1 ?Thumbs Up, Texas!? Aug.
1941
8 2 ?Norway in Revolt? Sept.
1941
8 3 ?Sailors With Wings? Oct.
1941
8 4 ?Main Street USA? Nov.
1941
Special Issue ?Battlefields of the Pacific? Dec.
1941
8 5 ?Our America at War? Dec.
1941
8 6 ?When Air Raids Strike? Jan.
1942
8 7 ?Far East Command? Feb.
324
1942
8 8 ?The Argentine Question? Mar.
1942
8 9 ?America?s New Army? Apr.
1942
8 10 ?India in Crisis? May
1942
8 11 ?India at War? June
1942
8 12 ?Men in Washington-1942" July
1942
8 13 ?Men of the Fleet? Aug.
1942
9 1 ?The FBI Front? Sept.
1942
9 2 ?The Fighting French? Oct.
1942
9 3 ?Mr. And Mrs. America? Nov.
1942
9 4 ?Prelude to Victory? Dec.
1942
9 5 ?The Navy and the Nation? Dec.
1942
9 6 ?One Day of War?Russia? Jan.
1943
9 7 ?The New Canada? Feb.
1943
325
9 8 ?America?s Food Crisis? Mar.
1943
9 9 ?Inside Fascist Spain? Apr.
1943
9 10 ?Show Business at War? May
1943
9 11 ?Invasion!? June
1943
9 12 ?Bill Jack vs. Adolf Hitler!? July
1943
9 13 ?...And Then Japan!? Aug.
1943
10 1 ?Airways to Peace? Sept.
1943
10 2 ?Portugal?Europe?s Crossroads? Oct.
1943
10 3 ?Youth in Crisis? Nov.
1943
10 4 ?Naval Log of Victory? Dec.
1943
10 5 ?Upbeat in Music? Dec.
1943
10 6 ?Sweden?s Middle Road? Jan.
1944
10 7 ?Post-War Jobs? Feb.
1944
10 8 ?South American Front-1944" Mar.
1944
326
10 9 ?The Irish Question? Apr.
1944
10 10 ?Underground Report? May
1944
10 11 ?Back Door to Tokyo? June
1944
10 12 ?Americans All? July
1944
10 13 ?British Imperialism? Aug.
1944
11 1 ?Post-War Farms? Sept.
1944
11 2 ?What to Do With Germany?
October 1944
11 3 ?Uncle Sam, Mariner?? Nov.
1944
11 4 ?Inside China Today? Dec.
1944
11 5 ?The Unknown Battle? Dec.
1944
11 6 ?Report on Italy? Jan.
1945
11 7 ?The West Coast Question? Feb.
1945
11 8 ?Memo from Britain? Mar.
1945
11 9 ?The Returning Veteran? Apr.
1945
327
11 10 ?Spotlight on Congress? May
1945
11 11 ?Teen-Age Girls? June
15, 1945
11 12 ?Where?s the Meat? July
13, 1945
11 13 ?The New US Frontier? Aug.
10, 1945
12   1 ?Palestine Problem? Sept.
17, 1945
12 2 ?American Beauty? Oct. 5,
1945
12 3 ?18 Million Orphans? Nov. 2,
1945
12 4  ?Justice Comes to Germany? Nov.
30, 1945
12 5 ?Challenge to Hollywood? Dec.
28, 1945
12 6 ?Life With Baby? Jan.
25, 1946
12 7 ?Report on Greece? Feb. 
22, 1946
12 8 ?Night Club Boom? Mar.
22, 1946
12 9 ?Wanted?More Homes? Apr.
19, 1946
12 10 ?Tomorrow?s Mexico? May
17, 1946
328
12 11 ?Problem Drinkers? June
14, 1946
12 12 ?The New France? July
12, 1946
12 13 ?Atomic Power? Aug. 9,
1946
13 1 ?Is Everybody Happy?? Sept.
7, 1946
13 2 ?World Food Problem? Oct. 4,
1946
13 3 ?The Soviet?s Neighbor- Nov. 1,
1946
     Czechoslovakia?
13 4 ?The American Cop? Nov.
29, 1946
13 5 ?Nobody?s Children? Dec.
27, 1946
13 6 ?Germany-Handle with Care!? Jan.
24, 1947
13 7 ?Fashion Means Business? Feb.
21, 1947
13 8 ?The Teacher?s Crisis? Mar.
21,
1947
13 9 ?Storm over Britain? Apr.
18,
1947
13 10 ?The Russians Nobody Knows? May
16,
329
1947
13 11 ?Your Doctors-1947" June
13,
1947
13 12 ?New Trains for Old? July
11,
1947
13 13 ?Turkey?s 100 Million? Aug. 8,
1947
14 1 ?Is Everybody Listening? Sept.
6, 1947
14 2 ?T-Men in Action? Oct. 3,
1947
14 3 ?End of an Empire?? Oct.
31,
1947
14 4 ?Public Relations?This Means You? Nov.
28,
1947
14 5 ?The Presidential Year? Dec.
26,
1947
14 6 ?The Cold War: Act 1-France? Jan.
23,
1948
14 7 ?Marriage and Divorce? Feb.
20,
1948
14 8 ?The Cold War: Act II? Mar.
19,
330
1948
Crisis In Italy?
14 9 ?Life With Junior? Apr.
16,
1948
14 10 ?The Cold War: Act III- May
14,
1948
Battle for Greece?
14 11 ?The Fight Game? June
11,
1948
14 12 ?The Case of Mrs. Conrad? July 9,
1948
14 13 ?White Collar Girls? Aug. 6,
1948
14 14 ?Life with Grandpa? Sept.
3, 1948
14 15 ?Battle for Germany? Oct. 1,
1948
14 16 ?America?s New Air Power? Oct.
29,
1948
14 17 ?Answer to Stalin? Nov.
26,
1948
14 18 ?Watchdogs of the Mail? Dec.
24,
1948
15 1 ?On Stage? Jan.
331
21,
1949
15 2 ?Asia?s New Voice? Feb.
18,
1949
15 3 ?Wish You Were Here? Mar.
18,
1949
15 4 ?Report on the Atom? Apr.
15,
1949
15 5 ?Sweden Looks Ahead? May
13,
1949
15 6 ?It?s in the Groove!? June
10,
1949
15 7 ?Stop?Heavy Traffic!? July 8,
1949
15 8 ?Farming Pays Off? Aug. 5,
1949
15 9 ?Policeman?s Holiday? Sept.
2, 1949
15 10 ?The Fight For Better Schools? Sept.
30,
1949
15 11 ?MacArthur?s Japan? Nov.
11,
1949
15 12 ?A Chance to Live? Dec.
332
23,
1949
16 1 ?Mid-Century?Halfway to Where?? Feb. 3,
1950
16 2 ?The Male Look? Mar.
17,
1950
16 3 ?Where?s the Fire?? Apr.
28,
1950
16 4 ?Beauty at Work? June 9,
1950
16 5 ?As Russia Sees It? Aug.
18,
1950
16 6 ?The Gathering Storm? Sept.
29,
1950
16 7 ?Schools March On!? Nov.
10,
1950
16 8 ?Tito?New Ally?? Dec.
1950
17 1 ?Strategy for Victory? Feb.
1951
17 2 ?Flight Plan for Freedom? Mar.
1951
17 3 ?The Nation?s Mental Health? Apr.
1951
333
17 4 ?Moroccan Outpost? June
1951
17 5 ?Crisis in Iran? July
1951
17 6 ?Formosa: Island of Promise? Aug.
1951
Breakdown of Subject Matter
The March of Time produced and released approximately 204 films between 1935
and 1951.  These 204 films included 286 different subjects or topics, broken into
representative categories below.
Foreign Affairs: 137 subjects, 47.9% of total.
Topic: Number of Subjects: Percentage of Foreign
Affairs Films,
Percentage of MOT
output:
Europe 42 31%; 14.6%
US Intervention 23 16.8%; 8%
WWII/Military 26 19%; 9.1%
Asia 22 16.1%; 7.7%
Cold War 24 17.5%; 8.4%
Domestic Affairs: 149 subjects, 52.1% of total.
Topic: Number of Subjects Percentage of
Domestic Affairs
Films, Percentage of
MOT output:
Percentage 
334
New Deal 24 16.1%; 8.4%
Politics 29 19.5%; 10.1%
Labor 16 10.7%; 5.6%
Culture/Society 48 32.2%; 16.8%
Americanism/
National Unity 32 21.5%; 11.2% 
Note: These are approximate breakdowns of The March of Time?s subject matter. 
Many of the films produced by The March of Time can fit into two or even three of the
above categories.