Cavalcade of America - "The Will to Rebuild"

Cavalcade Of America was a radio show that broadcasted from the 1930’s to the 1950’s. The show depicts various historical events using characters with strong feelings if optimism and initiative. The characters in the episodes are generally everyday people who lived through the event and events are told through simple dialogue.

The episode that I listened to was titled, “The Will to Rebuild” and first aired on October 30, 1935. This episode focused on two historical events that took place in California: the Sacramento fire of 1852 and the major Dust Storm of 1935. The “will to rebuild” was the focus of both stories. The Sacramento fire of 1852 was a tragic event in which nearly every single building in the city was reduced to ashes. People were homeless and without jobs and left with absolutely nothing to their name. The story was told by a local resident of the city and he had the optimism and desire to rebuild the city they had lost. It was a heart-felt episode in which one individual helped to spark the rebuilding process of one of the biggest cities in California. The second event described was the dust storm of 1935 and was told through the dialogue of a family who lived through the storm. The father and son of the story came home from the town drugstore one night and got stuck in the storm. Vivid descriptions of the roaring wind and the circling dust were made. There was no sun, no rain and no way out. Henry and his little Jimmy had to walk home covering their faces from the harsh wind/dust trying to breathe as best as they could. It was a hard time for many. Little Jimmy could not go to school and Mary (Henry’s wife) could do nothing but stay inside the house. Even so, Henry was optimistic that everything would be fine and that they would re-plant their crops as soon as the dust settled and rain appeared. For 5 long days the height of the dust storm prevailed and it was said to be the “worst the southwest had ever seen.” On the 6th day the sun shone giving a sense of hope but even so the dust remained for another 2 months until one day rain fell. Henry with all his optimism knew it would rain, and when it did the town re-planted their crops.

This episode did not really tell all the facts about the actual events it meant to portray. Yes, the episode did mention two of California’s past struggles that they had to deal with as a state and it described when and where they occurred and how people felt but there was not a lot of detail given about how for example did Sacramento actually re-build their city, or why it was such an important city to re-build so quickly in the first place. Also, did anyone die in the tragedy? Most assumptions would lead the listener to think YES but there was no reference to the tragedies at all. Also, during the second event described in the episode, many feelings and descriptions of a day in the life of a single family living through the dust storm was told. This was good for the listener to get a good idea of what took place but again there was no reference to when the dust storm actually started and did it just appear one day or was it a gradual even that took time to worsen? Also, over how much area did this dust storm affect? Did anyone die? Did people move or did they withstand the torture? How did this affect families economically? These are questions that I think people may be curious about.

Was this radio show meant to inform the listener historically or was it meant more for general entertainment? From this particular episode I would think the show means to inform but with the basics and is formatted the way it is to allow the audience to relate to the people telling the stories. My opinion could change based on listening to other episodes about different historical events.