Robert Henry Best
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Robert Henry Best (April 16, 1896 – December 16, 1952) was an American foreign correspondent who covered events in Europe for American media outlets during the
Interwar period In the history of the 20th century, the interwar period lasted from 11 November 1918 to 1 September 1939 (20 years, 9 months, 21 days), the end of the World War I, First World War to the beginning of the World War II, Second World War. The in ...
. Later he became a
Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...
supporter and well known broadcaster of
Nazi propaganda The propaganda used by the German Nazi Party in the years leading up to and during Adolf Hitler's dictatorship of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 to 1945 was a crucial instrument for acquiring and maintaining power, and for the implementation o ...
during
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
. He was convicted of treason in 1948 and sentenced to life imprisonment. He died while in federal custody in 1952.


Biography

Best was born in
Sumter, South Carolina Sumter ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Sumter County, South Carolina, United States. Known as the Sumter Metropolitan Statistical Area, the namesake county adjoins Clarendon and Lee to form the core of Sumter-Lee-Clarendon Tri-county (o ...
, a son of Rev. Albert Hartwell Best, a Methodist minister. After graduating from
Wofford College Wofford College is a private liberal arts college in Spartanburg, South Carolina. It was founded in 1854. The campus is a national arboretum and one of the few four-year institutions in the southeastern United States founded before the America ...
in 1916, he joined the
United States Army Coast Artillery Corps The U.S. Army Coast Artillery Corps (CAC) was an administrative corps responsible for coastal, harbor, and anti-aircraft defense of the United States and its possessions between 1901 and 1950. The CAC also operated heavy and railway artillery d ...
in October 1917. He was commissioned in 1918 and stayed in the
U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cl ...
until 1920. Then he went to the School of Journalism at
Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
, from which he graduated in 1922.Local journalist became a story of his own during World War II, Go Upstate.com, July 21, 2004 at 12:01 AM. Accessed January 17, 2018. http://www.goupstate.com/news/20040721/local-journalist-became-a-story-of-his-own-during-world-war-iiVIENNA'S CAFÉ LOUVRE IN THE 1920s & 1930s: Meeting Place for Foreign Correspondents by Dan Durning, February 2012, pp. 4-7. Accessed January 17, 2018. https://www.scribd.com/doc/81223692/Vienna-s-Cafe-Louvre-in-the-1920s-1930s-Meeting-Place-for-Foreign-Correspondents With the money from a $1,500
Pulitzer Pulitzer may refer to: *Joseph Pulitzer, a 20th century media magnate *Pulitzer Prize, an annual U.S. journalism, literary, and music award *Pulitzer (surname) * Pulitzer, Inc., a U.S. newspaper chain *Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, a non-pro ...
Traveling Scholarship, he traveled extensively in Europe, arriving in
Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...
in 1923, where he settled and found work as a foreign freelance news correspondent for the
United Press United Press International (UPI) is an American international news agency whose newswires, photo, news film, and audio services provided news material to thousands of newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations for most of the 20th c ...
. He also contributed articles to ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'', ''
Chicago Daily News The ''Chicago Daily News'' was an afternoon daily newspaper in the midwestern United States, published between 1875 and 1978 in Chicago, Illinois. History The ''Daily News'' was founded by Melville E. Stone, Percy Meggy, and William Dougherty ...
'', ''
Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...
'' and ''
Newsweek ''Newsweek'' is an American weekly online news magazine co-owned 50 percent each by Dev Pragad, its president and CEO, and Johnathan Davis (businessman), Johnathan Davis, who has no operational role at ''Newsweek''. Founded as a weekly print m ...
''. During this
Interwar period In the history of the 20th century, the interwar period lasted from 11 November 1918 to 1 September 1939 (20 years, 9 months, 21 days), the end of the World War I, First World War to the beginning of the World War II, Second World War. The in ...
, Best covered events in
Central Europe Central Europe is an area of Europe between Western Europe and Eastern Europe, based on a common historical, social and cultural identity. The Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) between Catholicism and Protestantism significantly shaped the area' ...
from his headquarters in Vienna. The foreign journalists of the period met daily at the Café Louvre in Vienna, where Best and Marcel Fodor presided at the stammtisch ('regulars’ table') where journalists and their friends socialized and shared information. "He was, in a way, a Vienna institution." Dan Durning summarizes the Vienna milieu in which Best played a leading role:
Best cut a flamboyant figure at his reserved table in the Café Louvre. A broad-brimmed Stetson capped his 220-pound frame, and his high-laced shoes and wretched German were familiar to other habitués of Ringstrasse. . . . Scheu, recalling the evenings at Café Louvre, wrote: "Best...sat in a padded loge,with a view of Renngasse, that was reserved for him." In addition to the foreign journalists in Vienna around him, Best also "assembled a large number of refugees, hangers on, news tipsters, spies -- serious, but questionable people, who sat at his table and populated the surrounding tables at Café Louvre....People who came from abroad were astounded by what they saw at Café Louvre."
Best gradually fell under
Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...
influence following the annexation of
Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...
by
Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
, the
Anschluss The (, or , ), also known as the (, en, Annexation of Austria), was the annexation of the Federal State of Austria into the German Reich on 13 March 1938. The idea of an (a united Austria and Germany that would form a " Greater Germany ...
, on March 12, 1938.VIENNA'S CAFÉ LOUVRE IN THE 1920s & 1930s: Meeting Place for Foreign Correspondents by Dan Durning, February 2012, p. 14. Accessed January 17, 2018. https://www.scribd.com/doc/81223692/Vienna-s-Cafe-Louvre-in-the-1920s-1930s-Meeting-Place-for-Foreign-Correspondents In July 1941,
United Press United Press International (UPI) is an American international news agency whose newswires, photo, news film, and audio services provided news material to thousands of newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations for most of the 20th c ...
fired him for 'nonperformance', thus putting him in financial difficulties. He then made an approach to German State Radio for employment, but with no immediate success.


Propaganda for Nazi Germany

When the United States declared war on Nazi Germany on December 11, 1941, Best was arrested along with other U.S. reporters and held for deportation at an internment camp in
Bad Nauheim Bad Nauheim is a town in the Wetteraukreis district of Hesse state of Germany. As of 2020, Bad Nauheim has a population of 32,493. The town is approximately north of Frankfurt am Main, on the east edge of the Taunus mountain range. It is a wor ...
. There he decided to withdraw from the group of exchangeable Americans and remain with his fiancée Erna Maurer, an Austrian reporter for the
Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...
, whom he married on September 2, 1942. Best then received permission to travel to Berlin unaccompanied where he met Werner Plack, a member of the Radio Division of the Foreign Office, who recruited him as a commentator for German State Radio. In "one of the most astounding Benedict Arnold cases of modern times," Best began, in April 1942, as a news editor and commentator for the
Reichs-Rundfunk-Gesellschaft The Reichs-Rundfunk-Gesellschaft (RRG; ''Reich Broadcasting Corporation'') was a national network of German regional public radio and television broadcasting companies active from 1925 until 1945. RRG's broadcasts were receivable in all parts o ...
, German State Radio, working in the U.S.A Zone. He broadcast talks to the U.S. under the pseudonym of 'Mr. Guess Who' presenting 'B.B.B.' (Best's Berlin Broadcasts).
On his first broadcast on Radio Berlin on April 10, 1942, Best announced, "Who are you, anyway? This is one of many questions which many would like to put to me at this moment. But unfortunately, I must remain for you merely 'Mr. Guess Who,' your self-appointed correspondent for the New World Order."
His primary propaganda targets were
President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...
Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...
,
Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 Winston Churchill in the Second World War, dur ...
, the
Jews Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
and the
Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
. John Carver Edwards, author of ''Berlin Calling: American Broadcasters in Service to the Third Reich'' said:
Best's broadcasts continued to blast the alleged enemies of Germany with unbridled vehemence. He ranted against 'funny Frankie,' FDR, as the dupe of America's Jewish interest, inveighed against the Semitic takeover of Masonic lodges in the United States (Best was a 32-degree Mason) and recounted lurid tales of Soviet cannibalism on the eastern front." On April 13, 1945, Best's program was not broadcast as scheduled. Instead, Best fled his Vienna apartment, according to Edwards, but he forgot a cache of personal papers that would later help to convict him.
Recordings of some of Best's broadcasts may be found in Record Group 60 General Records of the Department of Justice—Sound Recordings at the National Archives, Washington, DC. Best was notable for continuously making suggestions to his superiors of ways to heighten the effectiveness of German propaganda warfare.


Arrest

Best was arrested on January 29, 1946, by British forces in Carinthia, Austria and handed over to the U.S. Army. He was then flown to the United States to stand trial, arriving in Massachusetts on December 14, 1946.


Trial

On July 26, 1943, Best along with Fred W. Kaltenbach,
Douglas Chandler Douglas Chandler (May 26, 1889 – after 1970s) was an American broadcaster of Nazi propaganda during World War II. He was convicted of treason and sentenced to life imprisonment in 1947 but was released in 1963. Early life Born in Chicago Ill ...
,
Edward Delaney Edward Delaney (1930–2009) was an Irish sculptor born in Claremorris in County Mayo in 1930. His best known works include the 1967 statue of Wolfe Tone and famine memorial at the northeastern corner of St Stephen's Green in Dublin and ...
,
Constance Drexel Constance Drexel (c. November 24, 1884 or c. November 28, 1894 (possible; disputed) – August 28, 1956), a naturalized United States citizen,John Carver Edwards, ''Berlin Calling: American Broadcasters in Service to the Third Reich'', Praeger ...
,
Jane Anderson Jane Anderson (born 1954 in California) is an American actress, playwright, screenwriter and director. She wrote and directed the feature film '' The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio'' (2005), and wrote the Nicolas Cage film '' It Could Happen t ...
,
Max Otto Koischwitz Max Oscar Otto Koischwitz (February 19, 1902 – August 31, 1944) was a naturalized American of German origin who directed and broadcast Nazi propaganda against the United States during World War II. Early life Koischwitz was the son of a prominen ...
and
Ezra Pound Ezra Weston Loomis Pound (30 October 1885 – 1 November 1972) was an expatriate American poet and critic, a major figure in the early modernist poetry movement, and a Fascism, fascist collaborator in Italy during World War II. His works ...
had been indicted ''
in absentia is Latin for absence. , a legal term, is Latin for "in the absence" or "while absent". may also refer to: * Award in absentia * Declared death in absentia, or simply, death in absentia, legally declared death without a body * Election in absen ...
'' by a
District of Columbia ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
grand jury on charges of
treason Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplo ...
. Best was arraigned on January 20, 1947, and stood trial at the Boston Federal District Court on March 29, 1948. He acted as his own lawyer before Judge Francis Ford. The witnesses at his trial included Princess Sofia zur Lippe-Weissenfeld of Austria. On April 16, 1948, he was convicted of 12 counts of treason, with the jury's special finding that he actually gave 'aid and comfort to the enemy'. He had admitted in court the authorship of his broadcasts. He was sentenced to life imprisonment and a fine of $10,000. He appealed his conviction in 1950 (Best v. United States., 184 F.2d 131 (1st Cir. 1950)). Best again acted as his own lawyer. The appeal court affirmed the judgment of the District Court. Best further appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court which refused to review the treason conviction on February 27, 1951.


Death

Best served his sentence at the federal prison in Danbury, Connecticut. On August 12, 1951, he was transferred to the
Medical Center for Federal Prisoners The United States Medical Center for Federal Prisoners (MCFP Springfield) is a United States federal prison in Springfield, Missouri which provides medical, mental health, and dental services to male offenders. It is operated by the Federal Burea ...
in
Springfield, Missouri Springfield is the third largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and the county seat of Greene County. The city's population was 169,176 at the 2020 census. It is the principal city of the Springfield metropolitan area, which had an estimat ...
. Best died there of a
brain hemorrhage Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), also known as cerebral bleed, intraparenchymal bleed, and hemorrhagic stroke, or haemorrhagic stroke, is a sudden bleeding into the tissues of the brain, into its ventricles, or into both. It is one kind of bleed ...
on December 16, 1952, and was buried at the Pacolet Methodist Church Cemetery,
Pacolet, South Carolina Pacolet is a town in Spartanburg County, South Carolina, Spartanburg County, South Carolina, United States. The population was 2,235 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census. History Pacolet had its start in 1859 when the railroad was extende ...
, on December 21, 1952. Fellow
Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...
propagandist
Herbert John Burgman Herbert John Burgman (April 17, 1894 – December 16, 1953) was an American broadcaster of Nazi propaganda during World War II. He was convicted of treason in 1949 and sentenced to imprisonment for 6 to 20 years. Burgman died in prison in 1953. B ...
, another American who created broadcasts in support of the Nazi regime, died at the same prison as Best on the first anniversary of Best's death.


Literature reference

Journalist
William L. Shirer William Lawrence Shirer (; February 23, 1904 – December 28, 1993) was an American journalist and war correspondent. He wrote ''The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich'', a history of Nazi Germany that has been read by many and cited in scholarly w ...
, author of ''
Rise and Fall of the Third Reich ''The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany'' is a book by American journalist William L. Shirer in which the author chronicles the rise and fall of Nazi Germany from the birth of Adolf Hitler in 1889 to the end of World W ...
'', in 1942 broke the story of Best's propaganda work for the Nazi regime and in 1948 testified at Best's trial for treason. Soon afterward, Shirer released a novel ''The Traitor'' (1950) in which "the main characters were journalists resembling Shirer and Best."VIENNA'S CAFÉ LOUVRE IN THE 1920s & 1930s: Meeting Place for Foreign Correspondents by Dan Durning, February 2012, p. 14-15. Accessed January 17, 2018. https://www.scribd.com/doc/81223692/Vienna-s-Cafe-Louvre-in-the-1920s-1930s-Meeting-Place-for-Foreign-Correspondents


See also

* Donald S. Day *
Mildred Gillars Mildred Elizabeth Gillars ( Sisk; November 29, 1900 – June 25, 1988) was an American broadcaster employed by Nazi Germany to disseminate Axis propaganda during World War II. Following her capture in post-war Berlin, she became the first woman t ...


References


External links


Courtroom Battle of World War II (Part 1 of 3).
contains information on the careers and fates of some of the Nazi broadcasters (including Robert Best) and other collaborators.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Best, Robert Henry 1896 births 1952 deaths American collaborators with Nazi Germany American expatriates in Austria American expatriates in Germany American fascists American male journalists American people who died in prison custody Burials in South Carolina Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism alumni Journalists from South Carolina Nazi propagandists People convicted of treason against the United States People from Sumter, South Carolina Prisoners and detainees of the British military Prisoners and detainees of the United States military Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by the United States federal government Prisoners who died in United States federal government detention Pulitzer Traveling Scholarship winners Viennese interwar correspondents Wofford College alumni Military personnel from South Carolina United States Army Coast Artillery Corps personnel 20th-century American journalists United States Army personnel of World War I Nazis who died in prison custody