The Nation’s Nightmare with Bill Downs – July 26, 1951 – “The Gambling Machine” – Gordon Skene Sound Collection –
Gambling – if you were to ask what America’s biggest addiction was – it would most likely be Gambling, with Drugs a close second. When this program, part of a six episode series on the problems facing America first aired in 1951, Gambling was easily the one vice which wrecked more American homes and created more crime than just about anything. Drugs were around in 1951, but the world hadn’t discovered Crack yet, and Drug addicts were very much in the minority. Gambling (both legal and illegal) were flourishing and the recently opened in 1946 of The Flamingo Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas signaled the birth of Sin City and Mecca for those with dollar signs dancing in their heads.
But Gambling and organized crime were always considered one in the same, as it was Organized crime that used gambling to launder drug money (and illegal liquor sales during the Prohibition era) and it became a yet another avenue to capitalize on human weaknesses and fantasies – along with Gambling and a city that never sleeps, came legalized Prostitution, also with a mob connection.
But Gambling was, for the most part, illegal in the rest of the country and therefore largely underground and prone to a whole host of bribes, blackmail, and threats.
The focus of this radio series The Nation’s Nightmare, a six part series produced by CBS News and featuring veteran reporter Bill Downs as Narrator was to expose how deep and all-encompassing Organized Crime was in America – how steps were being taken to go after these elements and that any moves to diminish the power of The Mob lay directly in the hands of the American people. Which, considering the mass popularity of gambling and gambling of most all forms was a way of life on planet earth, would be a tough nut to crack.
But this was the 1950s and we were a determined and confrontational people, eager to rid the world of ills and influences. Don’t forget – we were knee-deep in looking for Communists and we were burning “sick” Comic Books by the ton, raiding “Adult” movie houses and going on crusades against pornography. So targeting the Mob was a shoe-in and Bill Downs gives his alarming best. And because we were in the midst of technological advances in broadcasting, we were gradually converting to the use of tape, which was smaller, lighter and able to cover news events as it was never able to do before, we were able to listen to eavesdropped conversations with Mob figures and become wrapped up in the “reality” of the subject matter.
This was the second of six parts – the first part, on Narcotics, I ran a few weeks ago. I am gradually working my way through all of them, and they will all be up pretty soon.
BIG CAVEAT: Because radio outlets weren’t quite converted over to tape yet (this was 1951), everything was still mastered on disc. Some discs weathered the vagaries of time quite well, some haven’t. About ten minutes into the first half hour, there is a nasty bit a water damage, which causes a periodic rash of noise during the program. It cleans up completely at the 15 minute mark, but for the three minutes before that, it’s something of an endurance test to get through – but it a GOES AWAY. So, apologies for the noise, but it couldn’t be helped and some crucial elements of the broadcast were right in the middle, so it could be edited out.
But otherwise, it’s a compelling episode, a little over-the-top in places, but that’s 1950s America.
Take notes and make comparisons between 1951 and 2023 – it might be surprising.
