`New York Times' Coverage of 1932 to 1948 History Revisited: Part 9

Between 1932 and 1948, the New York Times newspaper claimed to always be providing its readers with accurate information about what was going on during the 1932 to 1948 period of world history. But between 1932 and 1948, the New York Times sometimes printed articles that turned out to be historically accurate; and sometimes also printed articles that turned out to be historically inaccurate.

In a February 14, 1945 article, headlined "RAF Hits Dresden Heavy Night Blow," for example, the New York Times reported that "The RAF...sent 1,400 aircraft over Germany last night and delivered a smashing blow to Dresden in support of the Red Army's drive on that city;" and in a February 17, 1945 article, the New York Times also noted that "The German-controlled Scandinavian Telegraph Bureau said today that 70,000 persons had been killed in this week's Allied bombings of Dresden."

Then, on March 16, 1945, the New York Times published an article that was headlined "Giant Tokyo Fires Blackened B-29's;  while on April 13, 1945, the New York Times published an article that was headlined "President Roosevelt Is Dead." And on May 1, 1945, the New York Times published an article headlined "Mussolini and Mistress Hang."

But in a May 2, 1945 article, headlined "Hitler Dead In Chancellery, Nazis Say Admiral In Charge," the New York Times next reported that "Grand Admiral Karl Doenitz, proclaiming himself the new Fuehrer by Hitler's appointment, said that the war would continue."

In a May 8, 1945 article the New York Times next reported that 4 million were killed at Oswiecim in Poland from 1939 to 1944 according to the Soviet Union's Extraordinary State Commission's findings. And around five weeks before Democratic U.S. President Harry S. Truman ordered the U.S. war machine to drop atomic bombs on civilians in Hiroshima and Nagasaki in early August 1945, the New York Times published an article on July 2, 1945 which indicated in its headline that in Japan "4,000 Tons Of Fire Missiles Bring Ruin To Four Enemy Cities." (end of part 9)