Dreamers and Deceivers (39 page)

Sincerely,

Upton Sinclair

ALSO BY GLENN BECK

Conform: Exposing the Truth about Common Core and Public Education

Miracles and Massacres: True and Untold Stories of the Making of America

The Eye of Moloch

Control: Exposing the Truth about Guns

Agenda 21

Cowards: What Politicians, Radicals, and the Media Refuse to Say

Being George Washington: The Indispensable Man, as You’ve Never Seen Him

The Snow Angel

The Original Argument: The Federalists’ Case for the Constitution, Adapted for the 21st Century

The 7: Seven Wonders That Will Change Your Life

Broke: The Plan to Restore Our Trust, Truth and Treasure

The Overton Window

Idiots Unplugged: Truth for Those Who Care to Listen
(audiobook)

The Christmas Sweater: A Picture Book

Arguing with Idiots: How to Stop Small Minds and Big Government

Glenn Beck’s Common Sense: The Case Against an Out-of-Control Government, Inspired by Thomas Paine

America’s March to Socialism: Why We’re One Step Closer to Giant Missile Parades
(audiobook)

The Christmas Sweater

An Inconvenient Book: Real Solutions to the World’s Biggest Problems

The Real America: Early Writings from the Heart and Heartland

This is a work of historical fiction—meaning that we’ve combined real history with fictional scenes to create compelling, readable stories that hopefully help readers connect with key facts and understand the characters as more than simply names from history books.

Our research process involved teams of people combing through books, oral accounts, court transcripts, biographies, and interviews. It probably won’t come as much of a surprise that many of these accounts differ from each other. Our job was to review all the evidence and decide what was most likely to be true. I am certain that we probably got it wrong in some instances, and it’s possible that relatives or friends of those depicted in these stories may have compelling evidence that disputes some of our narrative.

This section is meant to help you better understand the research and writing process for each story, including any key decisions we made regarding major facts, characters, or scenes. A chapter-by-chapter accounting is below, but there are also a few things that apply to the entire book that I want to point out.

1. We sometimes modified quotations for clarity, especially if we felt that they left the reader confused. We tried to be as delicate as possible and we never changed the meaning of any direct quotations.

2. In some cases we imagined characters and scenes in order to tell the story in a new way. Whenever we did this we were careful to ensure that nothing we created would contradict anything that we knew to be true from the record.

3. Dialogue and character thoughts were often imagined based on the historical record. None of this dialogue contradicts anything about the characters or story that we know to be true.

4. Specific dates were occasionally imagined if they were not available from the record.

Chapter 1: Grover Cleveland: The Mysterious Case of the Disappearing President

Most of the facts used to create this story came from the following source:

Algeo, Matthew.
The President Is a Sick Man.
Chicago Review Press, 2011.

Much of the dialogue in this chapter was imagined, but the following quotations were taken in whole or in part from the historical record.

• “A dark chapter in a public man’s history.” (Algeo, 35)

• “Write this down, and send it to all my friends . . .” (Algeo, 35)

• “He is an honest man.” (Algeo, 136–37)

• “The falsehoods daily spread before the people . . .” (Algeo, 48)

• “The enormous power of the modern newspaper . . .” (Algeo, 48)

• “I have nothing to say for publication.” (Algeo, 84)

• “What does Holland say today?” (Algeo, 139)

• “A delegation of starving miners.” (Algeo, 141)

• “Mr. Benedict says that Mr. Cleveland is as impatient . . .” (Algeo, 141)

• “If you hit a rock . . .” (Algeo, 89)

• “Inasmuch as the boat has not been reported . . .” (Algeo, 97)

• “No Sign of the Oneida.”
New York Times,
July 4, 1893.

• “He was suffering from a slight attack of rheumatism.” (Algeo, 105)

• “That is all.” (Algeo, 106–7)

• “The president is absolutely free from cancer.” (Algeo, 107)

• “ ‘Incurable’ disease.” (Algeo, 42)

• “To Walter Q. Gresham . . .” (Algeo, 109)

• “Likely to recover in a few days.” (Algeo, 112)

• “The assertion that President Cleveland . . .” (Algeo, 112–13)

• “The persistent attempts to misrepresent . . .” (Algeo, 113)

• “A pity if a president cannot have a ‘touch of rhoumatix’ ” (Algeo, 113)

• “Some of the physicians who were aboard the yacht must have.” (Algeo, 143)

• “Mr. Cleveland recovered from the shock . . .” (Algeo, 145–48)

• “The very depth of despicable journalism.” (Algeo, 159–61)

• “The only element of truth in the latest story of President Cleveland’s illness.” (Algeo, 159–60)

• “There was no question of cancer or of sarcoma.” (Algeo, 160)

• “Tumor—Specimen removed . . .” (Algeo, 223)

• “Was substantially correct . . .” (Algeo, 214)

Some scenes in this chapter were imagined or expanded beyond the basic historical record, including:

• The scene in Albany on July 21, 1884, is imagined. The quotations from the newspaper are from the historical record. Cleveland’s command to his friends to “tell the truth” is from the record.

• In the scene in New York on July 1, 1893, there is no record of Elisha Jay Edwards being on the ferry with Cleveland.

• In the scene on the
Oneida
at 12:05
P.M.
on July 2, 1893, the dialogue is imagined.

• In the scene in New York on July 3, 1893, the opening sentence says that Elisha Jay Edwards was midway through the
New York Times
when he noticed a dispatch. This is imagined, although the words of the dispatch are real.

• The scene in New York on July 4, 1893, is imagined.

• In the scene in New York on July 7, 1893, E. J. Edwards’s thoughts are imagined. The quotations of Lamont and the United Press interview with Bryant are from the historical record.

• In the scene at Gray Gables on July 7, 1893, much of the dialogue is imagined, although it is inspired by the historical record of Lamont’s press conference. See Algeo, 108–9 for more.

• In the scene in New York on July 8, 1893, E. J. Edwards’s actions and thoughts are imagined.

• In the scene in Greenwich on August 27, 1893, the dialogue is imagined.

• In the two scenes in New York on August 28, 1893, much of the dialogue and some of the details are imagined. The text from the article Edwards dictated is, however, from the record.

Chapter 2: “I Did Not Kill Armstrong”: The War of Wills in the Early Days of Radio

It’s said that history is written by the winners, and at least while he was alive, Edwin Howard Armstrong didn’t win. Consequently, a number of credible but conflicting accounts exist and describe the battle between Armstrong, de Forest, and Sarnoff from differing points of view.

For the foundation of this story, we chose an excellent, meticulously researched book:

Lewis, Tom.
Empire of the Air: The Men Who Made Radio.
Edward Burlingame Books, 1991.

Additional material was derived from:

Lessing, Tom.
Man of High Fidelity: Edwin Howard Armstrong, a Biography.
J. B. Lippincott, 1956.

Even before the United States entered World War I, there was an effort by the Wilson administration to establish significant regulation, and possibly even total
government control, over radio technology and broadcast content. Many thought leaders in the private sector—including a young David Sarnoff, representing Marconi—vehemently opposed this idea of control of broadcast media by the government. More reading on this subject can be found at
http://bit.ly/1tj5UdJ
.

Among other great advances, Howard Armstrong’s work led to the trouble-free, one-touch controls of later consumer-friendly radio receivers. The terms “tune in” and “stay tuned” are still used today in radio and TV promos, but much like the idea of “dialing” a telephone number, the original context is lost on many people today. Tuning in a radio station was once quite an involved process, and to “stay tuned” required frequent adjustments of multiple knobs and controls. For more on how complicated even these early sets were to use, read this great Wikipedia article:
http://bit.ly/1tj644L
.

As a wedding present to Marion MacInnes, Armstrong built her the first portable superheterodyne receiver. Historic though it was, this set was “portable” only in the sense that a strong man could manage to carry it for a short distance before resting. A photograph of this receiver with the happy couple on their honeymoon can be found here:
http://bit.ly/1tj69W5
.

The tale of Howard Armstrong, John Shepard III, and the turbulent founding of the first FM radio network (the Yankee Network) is a story unto itself. To read more about the Yankee Network, visit
http://bit.ly/1tj6Dvp
.