What happens
The Pacific Story examines the United States' strategic needs in the Pacific after the Second World War. The program lists the American lives lost in taking island bases and weighs competing views on keeping them. Congressional committees and military leaders argue for permanent naval and air bases, including fleet bases in Japan and the Philippines, while the State Department favors United Nations trusteeship of former Japanese-mandated islands. The discussion turns to disputes with Australia over Manus, with New Zealand over island sovereignty, and with Filipino leaders over base agreements. Narration describes the burden of manning and maintaining such bases in peacetime. The episode is part of the NBC series The Pacific Story, first broadcast on October 27, 1946.
The Pacific Ocean and its islands, with discussion held in Washington and in Australia and the Philippines
Characters: Gain Whitman
Listen for: The debate over whether the Carolines, Marshalls and Marianas should be annexed by the United States or placed under United Nations trusteeship
Written from the episode itself; it never gives away the ending. Every recording is remastered for the stream: cleaned of rumble, hiss and mains hum (and the old TV whine where we found it), then levelled in two passes to steady broadcast loudness, so one show is never quieter than the next.