What happens
This episode of The Pacific Story, first broadcast on September 12, 1943, traces the history of the Pacific islands. It opens with Polynesian navigators sailing across the open ocean by the stars and swell, guided by a captain as they search for new land. The program then moves to the arrival of Western traders and planters, and the recruiting of islanders for labor, which led to violence on both sides. It goes on to describe Japan's growing hold on island territories after World War I and the fortification of those islands as the war approached. The episode ends with commentary by Owen Lattimore on the islands' place in the war and on the responsibilities of civilized nations toward island peoples. The series is presented by the National Broadcasting Company.
The islands of the Pacific, from Polynesian voyages and 19th-century plantations through Japanese-held mandates to the Second World War
Characters: Polynesian captain, Captain Robert Townsend, Mr. Gryson, Rear Admiral Sosa, Owen Lattimore
Listen for: The captain's navigation by stars and swells, the recruiting ship scene, and Owen Lattimore's commentary on the responsibilities of civilized nations
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.