Cavalcade of America: Columbus Day
There have been many great radio programs about Columbus Day that are worth looking at as we celebrate Christopher Columbus on this day – which is also Canadian Thanksgiving Day. Some of these programs really make us think and we wonder who did discover America?
People have wondered for decades who really discovered America. Was it actually Christopher Columbus – or could it have been John Cabot – or perhaps, Amerigo Vespucci? Nothing can be certain at this time in history because records were so sketchy. All we can do is guess.
Cavalcade of America broadcast a wonderful story about Amerigo Vespucci who was a great explorer and traveler back in the 15th Century. The story begins with Vespucci’s birth in Florence, Italy on March 9th, 1451. It just so happens that Christopher Columbus was also born in Italy in the same year.
Vespucci was an eager learner during his childhood and loved the tales of faraway places and the strange wonders they held. Vespucci’s hero was Marco Polo and he became determined to become an explorer and traveler when he grew up.
Vespucci came into manhood during an exciting time in Italy – the Renaissance. As a young man, Vespucci’s Uncle Georgino helped form the thoughts in Vespucci’s mind that the world was round and helped him become an assistant to a philosopher who designed charts and maps, further convincing Vespucci that the world was round.
He became determined to take a voyage to find distant lands and to prove that the earth was round, but found out that another explorer, Christopher Columbus, was inquiring about maps and charts also.
Vespucci did build ships, but it’s doubtful that he ever sailed on a great voyage as he wanted to. As Columbus was quoted as once saying, “Vespucci built ships – I sailed them.” No one actually knows the truth.
Cavalcade of America was a radio broadcast that began in 1935 as a historical dramatic anthology. Such stars as Agnes Moorehead, Orson Wells and Ronald Reagan filled the roles of historical figures of America.
The Cavalcade of America broadcasts were designed to ‘sell’ America by stressing the romantic and positive parts of American history. Actually, the show was supposed to do more than that. At the end of World War I, the sponsor of the Cavalcade of America (the duPonts) had been branded with “merchants of death” because of profits they made from selling gunpowder during the war.
Cavalcade of America has a massive log of broadcasts, most – including the Columbus Day, Amerigo Vespucci broadcast – can still be heard today.
Happy listening my friends,
