Spotlight on Lee Falk - The WWII Years
When the war began (7th Desember 1941) President Roosevelt appointed Archibald McLeish to head the "Office of Facts and Figures" (OFF), a federal agency that took responsibility for the management and mobilization of the domestic foreign language press during the first six months after Pearl Harbor. June 13, 1942, The Office of War Information (OWI) was established as a federal agency, to conduct the government's wartime information and propaganda programs. The office came into being by integrating several agencies — including the Office of Facts and Figures, already engaged in information and intelligence activities.
Foreign Language Division
Within the OFF and later the OWI, was the Foreign Language Division (FLD) which had "the task of explaining how price control worked, how the draft worked and so forth, in foreign languages via press or radio to foreign language speaking groups".
Alan M Cranston (collaborator of "The Big Story" and later senator from California) left journalism and had started to work for an organization called "Common Council for American Unity" that was trying to help immigrants adjust to American life, and America to adjust to having immigrants among us". Read Lewis recommended Cranston to McLeish and McLeish chose Alan Cranston to head the Foreign Language Division of the OFF.
Cranston enlisted two friends to assist him: Lee Falk, served as associate chief of the FLD and handled radio issues; and David Karr to head the press section.
In his letter inducing Falk to take the job, Cranston explained that Falk would compose radio scripts for use in foreign-language broadcast designed to provide information about the war, to boost morale, and to sell the war to the German, Italian, and other groups in this country. For this, Cranston said, Falk would have to relocate to a Washington slum, work constantly, and take thyroid pills.
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Army Signal Corps
Later, in 1944, Lee Falk was transferred to the Army Signal Corps.
In 1944, joined the Army Signal Corps which shipped him around the USA 12 times from one post to another. He managed to continue writing daily for his comic strips.
Sources
- Lorraine M. Lees, Yugoslav-Americans and National Security During World War II, p42