{"id":79703,"date":"2024-05-08T18:03:18","date_gmt":"2024-05-08T18:03:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/uncategorized\/2024\/05\/08\/he-was-first-to-report-v-e-day-then-he-was-fired-for-it\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T16:22:39","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T16:22:39","slug":"he-was-first-to-report-v-e-day-then-he-was-fired-for-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/off-duty\/military-culture\/2024\/05\/08\/he-was-first-to-report-v-e-day-then-he-was-fired-for-it\/","title":{"rendered":"He was first to report V-E Day \u2014 then he was fired for it"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u201cThis is Ed Kennedy in Paris. The war is over and I am going to dictate. Germany has surrendered unconditionally,\u201d the war correspondent said, according to an account of the call by Tom Curley, the Associated Press\u2019 former president. \u201cThat\u2019s official. Make the date[line] Reims and get it out.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With that wire, AP war correspondent Edward Kennedy landed the biggest scoop of his career \u2014 while simultaneously ruining it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Only able to dictate about 200 words before the connection was lost, Kennedy\u2019s news about the conclusion of the world\u2019s largest and bloodiest conflict traveled with such speed that inquiries were received in Paris even before he was cut off, according to the New York Times<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As one of 17 war correspondents to witness the official German surrender in Reims, France, in the early hours of May 7, 1945, Kennedy naturally sought to file posthaste.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the news remained embargoed, with military handlers insisting that the momentous occasion be kept secret for several hours. As the correspondents returned to their lodgings at Hotel Scribe in Paris that day, the embargo was extended for 24 hours without explanation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We were \u201cseventeen trained seals,\u201d Kennedy caustically recalled in his memoir, \u201cEd Kennedy\u2019s War: V-E Day, Censorship, & the Associated Press.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The embargo was not, Kennedy learned, \u201cfor security reasons, which might have been an acceptable rationale, but for political reasons\u2026 It turned out that Russia\u2019s leader, Joseph Stalin, wanted to stage a signing ceremony of his own to claim partial credit for the surrender, and U.S. officials were interested in helping him have his moment of glory,\u201d according to an account in the Washington Post<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
The German surrender at Reims, France on May 7, 1945. (Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

After hearing that the German high command had broadcasted the surrender from its headquarters in Flensburg, Germany, on May 7, Kennedy bristled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFor five years you\u2019ve been saying that the only reason for censorship was men\u2019s lives. Now the war is over. I saw the surrender myself. Why can\u2019t the story go?\u201d he reportedly told<\/a> a clerk at the hotel\u2019s censor\u2019s office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The censor replied that he did not have the authority to release Kennedy\u2019s story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAll right then,\u201d Kennedy retorted. \u201cI give you fair warning here and now: I am going to file it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Calling up AP\u2019s London office, the next words Kennedy uttered made history \u2014 and was on the wire within minutes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The retribution for Kennedy was swift, however. Stripped of his credentials, the war correspondent was then ordered home by Allied leadership.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to General Dwight D. Eisenhower, Kennedy\u2019s suspension<\/a> was \u201cdue to self-admitted deliberate violation of SHAEF regulations and breach of confidence.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To add insult to injury, the following day Kennedy\u2019s fellow correspondents, perhaps as jealous retribution, condemned his actions with a vote of 54-2, for \u201cthe most disgraceful, deliberate and unethical double-cross in the history of journalism.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On May 10, Robert McLean, the president of the AP board, issued a statement saying AP \u201cprofoundly\u201d regretted the story and, after placing Kennedy on an \u201cindefinite suspension,\u201d the news agency quietly parted ways with Kennedy several weeks later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite the public rebuke, the reporter remained adamant that his actions were justified.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Upon his arrival in New York on June 4, Kennedy told a group of reporters that he \u201cwould do it again. The war over; there was no military security involved, and the people had the right to know.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The reporter who observed the bloody Spanish Civil War; who covered Eastern Europe and the Balkans; who reported on the war in North Africa; and who joined the Seventh Army\u2019s invasion of southern France in 1944 suddenly found himself without a job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kennedy was later hired as a managing editor by the sympathetic owner of the Santa-Barbara News-Press in California, the new position surely a step down for the veteran war correspondent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2012, 67 years after Kennedy broke the news of the century, the AP issued a formal apology for its actions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was \u201ca terrible day for the AP. It was handled in the worst possible way,\u201d Curley stated<\/a>. \u201cOnce the war is over, you can\u2019t hold back information like that. The world needed to know.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The apology was accompanied by a push from journalists to award a posthumous Pulitzer Prize to Kennedy. Although nominated for the prize in 2013, the WWII reporter failed to win the award. However, as USA Today<\/a> reported, \u201cPulitzer rules don\u2019t prohibit resubmissions,\u201d and there have been several pushes in recent years for Kennedy\u2019s recognition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kennedy, who died in 1963 after being struck by a car, did not live to see his vindication.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A monument to Kennedy now stands in Laguna Grande Park in Seaside, California, with the apt inscription: \u201cHe gave the world an extra day of happiness.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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