American Legion Post 50 SAL 50 New York USA
| August 23, 2010 WVOX 1460 AM "Sons of the American Legion Radio Report" with Ken Kraetzer and John Chuhran Interview with a writer for The New York Times Richard Goldstein author of "Helluva Town, the story of New York City during World War II" |
The "Sons of the American Legion Radio Report" can be heard live on
WVOX 1460 AM in Westchester County and "Around the World" on
WVOX.com. The show is regularly held on every Monday from 2:30 to 3:00
PM.
The "West Point Football Report" also produced by Sons of the American
legion and WVOX Radio in New Rochelle, NY can be heard every Tuesday
night at 5:30 PM during the season starting on August 31st. The show can
be heard in Westchester County New York on 1460 AM and "Worldwide" on
the internet on WVOX.com.
Sponsors are being sought for "The West Point Football Show", please
contact Ken Kraetzer at 914-450-9554 or kgk914@aol.com
The host of these programs is Kenneth G. Kraetzer, Commander of Sons of
the American Legion in Pelham, NY; Vice Commander for Westchester
County, and former Vice Commander for New York State.
The co-host on this segment was John Chuhran, a New Rochelle based PR
executive and Sons of the American Legion member. Joining the team is
Jack McQuirk from Squadron 50.
Shows are promoted on "Facebook", check page for Ken Kraetzer
I grew up in Brooklyn, a few blocks from the Eastern Parkway Arena, which was best known for roller
derby and professional boxing. But one autumn evening in 1952, that old urban barn played host to
a spectacle far removed from skating and slugging. President Truman was arriving to speak at a
rally for Adlai Stevenson, the Democratic presidential nominee. I was standing at the curb when
Truman’s motorcade came by and I got a glimpse of the president at the window of his limousine.
Truman’s efforts didn’t do Stevenson much good against Eisenhower in November, but for one
youngster that moment at the edge of Brownsville endured.
I began to read about American history and the presidents, and in time I considered becoming a
writer. The first steps came on the student newspaper at Thomas Jefferson High School. I became a
reporter and editor for the Brooklyn College newspaper Kingsman and majored in American history
and government. One day I turned in a paper to John Hope Franklin, the renowned scholar of
African-American history. The topic eludes me today, but Professor Franklin liked it and thought I
had the makings of a professional writer. I grew determined to find out.
I went on to the University of Michigan, receiving a master’s degree in political science. Then came a
detour with the 1960s Army that afforded me a glimpse of an America I had barely contemplated.
(Brooklyn boy meets the Ozarks at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri.) After that I fulfilled my remaining
military obligation as a weekend saxophone player in the New York Army National Guard while I
embarked on a career in journalism.
I worked at The New York Daily News as a feature writer, then joined Newsday as a reporter on Long
Island. After that came a decade’s work for United Press International in New York as a reporter on
the metro desk and an editor on the foreign desk. While at U.P.I., I wrote my first book, Spartan
Seasons, recalling how baseball carried on during World War II with ballplayers too young, too old,
or too devoid of knee cartilage to serve in the armed forces.
I joined The New York Times in 1980, working as an editor and an obituary writer, focusing on
figures from the military, sports, journalism, and occasional miscreants like Winnie Ruth Judd, the
1930s "trunk murderess," and show-business personalities like Clayton Moore, who marketed his
Lone Ranger persona until death took the old kemo sabe. I’ve found writing obits to be akin to
presenting capsules of history, since the lives of many of my subjects evoked their eras.
I also taught journalism at New York University and at Emerson College in Boston.
While at The Times, I continued to write books, concentrating on historical themes. Since leaving full-
time journalism in 2007, I have continued to contribute obituary profiles to The Times while pursuing
my book-writing.
I live in White Plains, New York, with my wife, Nancy Lubell, a clinical psychologist, and our three
dogs, one of whom bears no relation whatsoever to my longstanding interest in Americana. He’s a
Dutch breed – a keeshond – and his name, of course, is Rembrandt.
My most recent book, Helluva Town: The Story of New York City During World War II, has just been
published by Free Press.
These are my previous books:
An American Journey: My Life on the Field, In the Air and On the Air (with Jerry Coleman)
Triumph Books, 2008.
Desperate Hours: The Epic Rescue of the Andrea Doria
John Wiley, hardcover, 2001; paperback, 2003
Mine Eyes Have Seen: A First-Person History of the Events That Shaped America
Touchstone, 1997
Ivy League Autumns: An Illustrated History of College Football’s Grand Old Rivalries
St. Martin’s Press, 1996
America at D-Day
Delta, 1994
You Be the Umpire: The Baseball Controversy Quiz Book
Delta, 1993
Superstars and Screwballs: 100 Years of Brooklyn Baseball
Dutton, hardcover, 1991; Plume trade paperback, 1992
Spartan Seasons: How Baseball Survived the Second World War
Macmillan, 1980 Selected Works
History
HELLUVA TOWN: THE STORY OF NEW YORK CITY DURING WORLD WAR II
Published April 2010
DESPERATE HOURS: THE EPIC RESCUE OF THE ANDREA DORIA
The fog-bound collision in the Atlantic that spawned the world’s greatest peacetime rescue at sea.
AMERICA AT D-DAY
A 50th anniversary account of the battle that turned the tide of World War II.
Quick Links
Facebook
Free Press/Simon and Schuster author website for "Helluva Town"
Authors Guild
derby and professional boxing. But one autumn evening in 1952, that old urban barn played host to
a spectacle far removed from skating and slugging. President Truman was arriving to speak at a
rally for Adlai Stevenson, the Democratic presidential nominee. I was standing at the curb when
Truman’s motorcade came by and I got a glimpse of the president at the window of his limousine.
Truman’s efforts didn’t do Stevenson much good against Eisenhower in November, but for one
youngster that moment at the edge of Brownsville endured.
I began to read about American history and the presidents, and in time I considered becoming a
writer. The first steps came on the student newspaper at Thomas Jefferson High School. I became a
reporter and editor for the Brooklyn College newspaper Kingsman and majored in American history
and government. One day I turned in a paper to John Hope Franklin, the renowned scholar of
African-American history. The topic eludes me today, but Professor Franklin liked it and thought I
had the makings of a professional writer. I grew determined to find out.
I went on to the University of Michigan, receiving a master’s degree in political science. Then came a
detour with the 1960s Army that afforded me a glimpse of an America I had barely contemplated.
(Brooklyn boy meets the Ozarks at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri.) After that I fulfilled my remaining
military obligation as a weekend saxophone player in the New York Army National Guard while I
embarked on a career in journalism.
I worked at The New York Daily News as a feature writer, then joined Newsday as a reporter on Long
Island. After that came a decade’s work for United Press International in New York as a reporter on
the metro desk and an editor on the foreign desk. While at U.P.I., I wrote my first book, Spartan
Seasons, recalling how baseball carried on during World War II with ballplayers too young, too old,
or too devoid of knee cartilage to serve in the armed forces.
I joined The New York Times in 1980, working as an editor and an obituary writer, focusing on
figures from the military, sports, journalism, and occasional miscreants like Winnie Ruth Judd, the
1930s "trunk murderess," and show-business personalities like Clayton Moore, who marketed his
Lone Ranger persona until death took the old kemo sabe. I’ve found writing obits to be akin to
presenting capsules of history, since the lives of many of my subjects evoked their eras.
I also taught journalism at New York University and at Emerson College in Boston.
While at The Times, I continued to write books, concentrating on historical themes. Since leaving full-
time journalism in 2007, I have continued to contribute obituary profiles to The Times while pursuing
my book-writing.
I live in White Plains, New York, with my wife, Nancy Lubell, a clinical psychologist, and our three
dogs, one of whom bears no relation whatsoever to my longstanding interest in Americana. He’s a
Dutch breed – a keeshond – and his name, of course, is Rembrandt.
My most recent book, Helluva Town: The Story of New York City During World War II, has just been
published by Free Press.
These are my previous books:
An American Journey: My Life on the Field, In the Air and On the Air (with Jerry Coleman)
Triumph Books, 2008.
Desperate Hours: The Epic Rescue of the Andrea Doria
John Wiley, hardcover, 2001; paperback, 2003
Mine Eyes Have Seen: A First-Person History of the Events That Shaped America
Touchstone, 1997
Ivy League Autumns: An Illustrated History of College Football’s Grand Old Rivalries
St. Martin’s Press, 1996
America at D-Day
Delta, 1994
You Be the Umpire: The Baseball Controversy Quiz Book
Delta, 1993
Superstars and Screwballs: 100 Years of Brooklyn Baseball
Dutton, hardcover, 1991; Plume trade paperback, 1992
Spartan Seasons: How Baseball Survived the Second World War
Macmillan, 1980 Selected Works
History
HELLUVA TOWN: THE STORY OF NEW YORK CITY DURING WORLD WAR II
Published April 2010
DESPERATE HOURS: THE EPIC RESCUE OF THE ANDREA DORIA
The fog-bound collision in the Atlantic that spawned the world’s greatest peacetime rescue at sea.
AMERICA AT D-DAY
A 50th anniversary account of the battle that turned the tide of World War II.
Quick Links
Free Press/Simon and Schuster author website for "Helluva Town"
Authors Guild
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