Harry C. Butcher
{{Short description|Principal wartime aide to General Dwight D. Eisenhower}}
{{Infobox military person
| name = Harry Cecil Butcher
| image = Allied Commanders after Germany Surrendered.jpg
| caption = Senior Allied commanders at Reims, France, on 7 May 1945, shortly after the Germans had signed the surrender document, including Harry C. Butcher standing behind General Dwight D. Eisenhower
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1901|11|01}}
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1985|04|20|1901|11|01}}
| birth_place = Springville, Iowa, United States
| death_place = Santa Barbara, California, United States
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| allegiance = {{US}}
| branch = 20px United States Navy Reserve
| serviceyears = 1939–1945
| rank = Captain
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| battles = World War II
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| laterwork = Broadcaster
Radio & television consultant
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}}
Harry Cecil Butcher (November 1, 1901 – April 20, 1985) was an American radio broadcaster who served during World War II as the Naval Aide to General Dwight D. Eisenhower from 1942 to 1945.
Early life
Harry C. Butcher was born in Springville, Iowa on November 1, 1901. Following his graduation from Iowa State College, in 1929 Butcher began a career in radio broadcasting.{{cite news| title=Backstage with Butcher | work=Time Magazine | date=May 6, 1946 | accessdate=April 28, 2009 | url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,887051,00.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110219220423/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,887051,00.html | url-status=dead | archive-date=February 19, 2011 }} He opened the Washington, D.C. office of CBS and served as its director until 1932. Beginning in 1932, he was the manager, and later vice-president, of the CBS Radio Network's station in Washington, D.C. station WJSV. While there, Butcher coined a term for President Franklin Roosevelt's radio speeches to the American public, used by Robert Trout introducing the president's address on March 12, 1933, and again by Butcher written in a press release, referring to the May 7, 1933 address as a "fireside chat".{{cite book| editor-first1=Russell D. | editor-last1=Buhite | editor-first2=David W. | editor-last2=Levy | title=FDR's Fireside Chats | publisher=University of Oklahoma Press | year=1992 | page=xv }}{{cite book| chapter=Fireside chats | title=Encyclopedia of Political Communication | publisher=SAGE | year=2008 | pages=243–244 }}
Military career
File:Signature de la reddition le 7 mai 1945.jpg, France, including Harry C. Butcher standing in the background]]
During his tenure at WJSV, Butcher was commissioned a Lieutenant Commander in the United States Navy Reserve (U.S.N.R.) on September 16, 1939. From 1942 to 1945, Butcher served as the Naval Aide to General Dwight D. Eisenhower.{{cite book| last=Butcher | first=Harry C. | title=My Three Years With Eisenhower | url=https://archive.org/details/mythreeyearswit00butc | url-access=registration | location=New York | publisher=Simon and Schuster | year=1946 | page=xiii }} On May 1, 1943, Butcher was promoted to the rank of commander in the U.S.N.R. On November 1, 1944 he was promoted to the temporary rank of captain. Following an order given to him by Eisenhower, Butcher kept a diary of his and Eisenhower's wartime activities. The diary would come to be published in 1946 under the title "My Three Years with Eisenhower." It also led to historian Max Hastings referring to him as "the embodiment of all gossip-ridden staff officers".{{cite book| last=Hastings | first=Max | authorlink=Max Hastings | title=Overlord: D-Day and the Battle for Normandy 1944 | url=https://archive.org/details/overlordddaybatt00maxh | url-access=registration | location=London | publisher=Pan Books | year=1985 | page=[https://archive.org/details/overlordddaybatt00maxh/page/268 268] | isbn=9780330286916 }}
It was Butcher who preserved the written statement that Eisenhower had prepared in the event that the D-Day invasions failed.{{cite book |last1=Butcher |first1=Harry C. |title=Three Years with Eisenhower |date=1946 |publisher=William Heinemann Ltd |location=London |page=525}}
Later life
Butcher returned to the broadcasting world following the end of WWII. From 1946 to the 1970s, Butcher owned the radio station KIST in Santa Barbara, California.{{cite web| url= https://www.eisenhowerlibrary.gov/sites/default/files/finding-aids/pdf/butcher-harry-papers.pdf| title=Butcher, Harry C.: Papers, 1910–1959 | publisher=Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library | accessdate=26 October 2023 | page=4 }} He also served as president of Santa Barbara's cable TV corporation and as a radio/television consultant.
Personal life
Butcher was the father of Beverly Byron (July 27, 1932 – February 9, 2025), a U.S. Congresswoman who represented the 6th congressional district of Maryland from January 3, 1979, to January 3, 1993.{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2025/02/10/beverly-byron-congress-maryland-dead/ |title=Beverly Byron, Md. congresswoman and Armed Services member, dies at 92 |last=Langer |first=Emily |date=February 10, 2025 |work=The Washington Post |access-date=February 13, 2025}} {{paywall}}
On April 20, 1985, Butcher died in Santa Barbara, California, United States.
References
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External links
- [https://www.eisenhowerlibrary.gov/sites/default/files/finding-aids/pdf/butcher-harry-papers.pdf Papers of Harry C. Butcher], Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library
- [https://rmoa.unm.edu/docviewer.php?docId=wyu-ah09431.xml Inventory of the Harry C. Butcher papers, 1930–1977 (Bulk 1930–1956)]{{Dead link|date=July 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}, [https://rmoa.unm.edu/ Rocky Mountain Online Archive], University of Minnesota (2013)
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Category:People from Linn County, Iowa
Category:Iowa State University alumni
Category:Radio personalities from Iowa
Category:American mass media owners
Category:Military personnel from Iowa
Category:20th-century American naval officers
Category:United States Navy personnel of World War II