The Big Story - 1954-01-27 Too Terrible to be Believed [Arthur Mielke, Washington Times-Herald]
Arthur Mielke’s story about deficient conditions of foster homes in Baltimore led to new regulations and licensing of operators to protect small children in such care. Mielke encountered this story when a child was brought to the hospital, dead on arrival. After some deep investigation, he found other signs of mistreatment of children, including assault. The negligent operator was Arlene Tennant who was charged with the death of a 7-month old infant in her care. She was found guilty of manslaughter. There were other children who were mistreated, but no charges were made in those cases. She was sentenced to three years in prison. His reporting garnered significant attention from many others with reports of neglect, misbehavior, poorly trained personnel, and lack of minimal standards of care. Arthur Mielke began his career in newspapers in the 1930s at the New York Daily News in a wide range of jobs including copy boy, cub reporter, and assisting photographers. (That newspaper differentiated itself by the use of more photos than most, promoting itself as “New York’s Picture Newspaper.” It was also where previous Big Story honoree Ted Prager plied his trade). In 1941 he joined the Washington Times-Herald in DC. While in WW2 service as a Marine, he wrote for the official publication of that branch, Leatherneck . Mielke was highly respected for his thorough investigative reporting throughout his career. The last issue of the Washington Times-Herald was March 17, 1954. It was purchased and merged into the Washington Post . Much of the editorial staff was let go, including Mielke. It appears that he did not work in a newspaper environment again. He likely latched on to other related employment in public relations and freelance writing in government or similar opportunities in the Washington, DC area. He passed away in 2004 at age 92.
This recording is part of the Old Time Radio collection.
Kapitel
Select a chapter to play