Mr. President, Collection 1

Summary

Mr. President came to ABC radio in 1947 and lasted until 1953. Each half-hour drama was based on an actual incident in the life of one of the men who have held the office of President of the United States. The scripts were cleverly written in such a way as to not reveal the name of the President until the last line of dialog in the program, when the President would be addressed by name. The audience was thus encouraged to guess, from the plot of the episode, which President he was. The series was created by Robert G. Jennings and produced and directed by Dick Woolen. The stories were written by a team that included Jean Holloway, Bernard Dougall and Ira Marion. An expert research staff made certain that the facts depicted were accurate. Each and every week, the Chief Executive was portrayed by the same actor, Edward Arnold. Arnold appeared in over 150 films and had served as President of The Screen Actors Guild (1940-1942). A lifelong conservative Republican and staunch anti-Communist, Arnold was one of the first actors to seriously consider running for public office. After losing a close election for Los Angeles City Alderman in the mid-1940s, he expressed his views afterward that entertainment and politics were incompatible. Of course, he has been proven wrong numerous times since then. Enjoy 12 half-hour episodes of Mr. President , one of the best historical dramas ever heard on radio.

1/23/49 “Program #84”
3/6/49 “Program #90”
5/8/49 “Program #99”
5/15/49 “Program #100”
9/25/49 “Program #119”
10/23/49 “Program #123”
1/1/50 “Program #132”
4/2/50 “Program #145”
5/14/50 “Program #151”
6/25/50 “Program #157”
7/23/50 “Program #161”
9/17/50 “Program #169”