In Brief... World News Review: British-American Special Relationship Suffers Loss
At a time when America is increasingly misunderstood and frequently the odd man out in world affairs, Alistair Cooke is needed now more than ever.
It was extremely hot and humid—the hottest time of the year, immediately prior to the coming of the rainy season. We were standing under the tree talking, desperate for some shade.
The location was a small farm just outside Accra, the capital of Ghana. The subsistence farmer and his wife were present as well as a visitor from the United States and me.
It was the farmer who spoke.
"I was shocked," he said, "to hear that Alistair Cooke had died. We will miss him greatly."
At 95, Alistair Cooke still presented a weekly 15-minute radio program Letter From America. It was the longest running radio program in history—it began in 1946 and continued until the end of March this year, less than a month before his death. Broadcast around the world on the BBC World Service, Mr. Cooke's voice was familiar to hundreds of millions. More importantly, he helped the world understand America.
At a time when America is increasingly misunderstood and frequently the odd man out in world affairs, Alistair Cooke is needed now more than ever.
The British newsmagazine The Economist had a full-page obituary of Mr. Cooke in their issue of April 3. The obituary began with the following words: "For as long as anyone can remember, Alistair Cooke was the perfect embodiment of the special relationship... For more than half a century he formed a solid, though urbane, one-man bridge between the two cultures," referring to Britain, where he was born, and America where he lived from the time of the Great Depression until his death.
He had actually gone to the United States to be a drama critic, but soon discovered that America itself was "far more gripping and dramatic than anything I had ever seen" (ibid.). Becoming a U.S. citizen in 1941 and starting his weekly radio broadcast immediately after World War II, Mr. Cooke's experience of America and his coverage of it to the world coincided with America's period of global preeminence.
The Economist's article ends with a sobering reference to rising concerns in the United Kingdom about U.S. foreign policy and especially the conduct of the Iraqi war: "At Mr. Cooke's death, the special relationship had never needed him more."
An Article from:
World News and Prophecy: May 2004
Course Content
Jerold Aust
Jerold Aust has served in the ministry for 52 years, as a public speaker for 58 years, a published writer for 38 years, and is employed by UCG’s Media and Communications Services. He is a Senior Writer, interviewer, and editor for Beyond Today Magazine and has taught Speech Communication for UCG’s ministerial online program and the Book of Revelation for ABC.
Jerold holds a BA in theology from Ambassador College, Pasadena (1968), an MA in Communication from California State University, Fullerton (1995), a distance-learning Ph.D (2006), and a Famous Writers School diploma in non-fiction writing (1973). Additionally, he studied post-grad communication at University of Southern California (1995), radio, TV, voice-overs, and Public Relations at Fullerton College (1995-1996), and graduate communication at Wichita State University (1978). Jerold has taught communication at the University of South Alabama (7 years) and ABC (17 years). His published works include, Ronald Reagan’s Rhetoric: Metaphor as Persuasion and EZSpeakers: Public Speaking Made Easy in 7 Steps. Jerold's overarching goal is to share with humankind its incredible destiny!
John Ross Schroeder
John died on March 8, 2014, in Oxford, England, four days after suffering cardiac arrest while returning home from a press event in London. John was 77 and still going strong.
Some of John's work for The Good News appeared under his byline, but much didn't. He wrote more than a thousand articles over the years, but also wrote the Questions and Answers section of the magazine, compiled our Letters From Our Readers, and wrote many of the items in the Current Events and Trends section. He also contributed greatly to a number of our study guides and Bible Study Course lessons. His writing has touched the lives of literally millions of people over the years.
John traveled widely over the years as an accredited journalist, especially in Europe. His knowledge of European and Middle East history added a great deal to his articles on history and Bible prophecy.
In his later years he also pastored congregations in Northern Ireland and East Sussex, and that experience added another dimension to his writing. He and his wife Jan were an effective team in our British Isles office near their home.
John was a humble servant who dedicated his life to sharing the gospel—the good news—of Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of God to all the world, and his work was known to readers in nearly every country of the world.
Melvin Rhodes
Melvin Rhodes is a member of the United Church of God congregation in Lansing, Michigan.
