| Front Page of The New York Times on the Day of the Invasion of Normandy. This extra, released at 0600 Hours, Eastern Standard Time, reflected the fast changing nature of the day’s news. The liberation of Rome the day before was now secondary; United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s (January 30, 1882 – April 12, 1945) remarks on Rome’s fall were relegated to page 5 and the Pope’s message of thanks was below the fold. In huge type, the great invasion of France was proclaimed underway, with a fairly accurate map of the invasion plan available to readers. 3 other articles describe the details of the invasion, from the instructions to the Norman French civilians to the airborne drop to the battle orders of United States Army General Dwight D. Eisenhower (October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969), Supreme Allied Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF). “The correspondents sent some 700,000 words on the first day,” the historian Phillip Knightley notes, “and yet, reading their reports…one cannot escape the impression that the sheer size of the operation overwhelmed most of them.” Really they had little to be ashamed of, for it is a simple fact that the invasion of Normandy defied description. Between the lines of the myriad accounts of D-Day—which later became 1 of the most written about days in history—1 glimpses a certain frustration. It is the frustration of witnesses to a scene so overpowering to the senses that, try as 1 might, it simply could not be conveyed to a person who was not there. Given the limited forms of mass media – only radio and newspapers were available in 1944, Americans would have to wait for Ernie Pyle’s (August 3, 1900 – April 18, 1945) June 12 column to give readers their 1st explanation of how great had been the feat of getting ashore against the German defenses. Doing his part as he saw it for the invasion, he steered public opinion along the path between complacency and defeatism. It had been tough but not too tough, he was telling the home front. Be grateful, not despairing. Be confident but not overconfident. Everyone at home got the point. The “miracle” column, distributed to all U.S. papers as part of the Normandy “pool” arrangement, was played on scores of front pages, including those of such Scripps-Howard competitors as the Washington Post, under giant headlines like the New York World-Telegram’s: “Pyle Gives Vivid Closeup Of Scene On Beachhead Hard-Won By Allies.” On the same day that Republican Senator Carl Hatch inserted the column in the Congressional Record, it was accorded respectful play by the Communist editors of the Daily Worker. Pyle’s account was quoted as an authority on battle sine qua non in editorials in both the New York Herald Tribune and the New York Times. | |
| Image Filename | wwii2141.jpg |
| Image Size | 747.92 KB |
| Image Dimensions | 1270 x 1685 |
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| Photographer Title | |
| Caption Author | Written or Adapted by Jason McDonald |
| Date Photographed | June 6, 1944 |
| Location | |
| City | New York |
| State or Province | New York |
| Country | United States |
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| Record Number | |
| Status | Caption ©2026 MFA Productions LLC Please Do Not Duplicate or Distribute Without Permission; Image in the Public Domain |
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