David Sarnoff And The Titanic Myth

This week I learned that a history story I have told many times over a couple of decades is untrue! As I prepared a presentation on NBC’s history, I was preparing to retell a famous story. David Sarnoff, the man considered the father of NBC, was often credited as a hero during the Titanic sinking. 

Young David SarnoffDavid Sarnoff And The Titanic Myth

The legend is that the plucky young immigrant Sarnoff, while doing a demonstration of wireless radiotelegraphy on the rooftop of Wanamaker’s department store in New York City, heard the distress call of the Titanic and stayed at his station for 72 hours, helping coordinate the rescue and relaying the names of the survivors.

It’s a fantastic story that I have seen repeated in many very reputable publications. I found it in biographies, in Forbes magazine, the Washington Post & The New York Times obituary, which wrote:

 ———————-

“His real first step on the rise to fame and considerable fortune was taken the night of April 14, 1912, the night the Titanic crashed into an iceberg in the North Atlantic and sank.

Mr. Sarnoff had the monotonous job of manager of an experimental wireless station installed by John Wanamaker on the roof of his department store at Ninth Street and Broadway. That April night, the dullness was broken in staccato dots and dashes by this message:

S.S. TITANIC RAN INTO ICEBERG. SINKING FAST.

The young telegrapher quickly notified the authorities and the press, and for the next 72 hours, he sat constantly before his equipment, straining to make out the dots and dashes coming from the Carpathia and other rescue ships. In those days of weak signals, primitive circuits, and howling atmospheric interference, it was immensely difficult to receive messages accurately. President William Howard Taft ordered all wireless stations on the Eastern Seaboard except Mr. Sarnoff’s shut down to facilitate receipt of messages.”

———————-

Sinking of the TitanicIt’s a great story, right? There is only a problem with David Sarnoff and the Titanic Myth. The problem is that it isn’t true! And I didn’t realize that until this week. One of the differences between real historians and conspiracy interests is that historians change their minds when discovering new evidence. It turns out that the reliable sources I had used depended on for the information were wrong!

The truth is that David Sarnoff made up and then embellished the story in 1923, some eleven years after Sarnoff and the Titanic Myththe 1912 tragedy. The evidence that the story of David Sarnoff And The Titanic is false is overwhelming.

For one thing, Wanamaker’s department store wasn’t even open the day the Titanic sank – it would have been a Sunday evening in New York City.

Another powerful piece of evidence is the realization that no contemporary newspaper – especially not any in New York City – made any mention of this supposedly glorious and heroic action by the tale-spinning David Sarnoff. Had the story been confirmed, the NYC press would have lionized Sarnoff! The report did not appear in print until Sarnoff told it to a writer a decade later.

 What appears to have happened is that David Sarnoff, like most of New York, heard about the sinking from newsboys on the street selling the latest additions of the local newspapers. Sarnoff then rushed to his station at Wanamaker’s and did, indeed, oversee a crew of telegraphers for the next three days. Sarnoff and his team published the names of the survivors of the Titanic tragedy.

Facts matter. The author of the Washington Post obituary of Sarnoff repeated the myth and later admitted to his mistake. I respect him for that.

Let my mistake remind you to check your facts before repeating a story you see on social media. Or, in my case, a story I’ve read in major publications!

6 thoughts on “David Sarnoff And The Titanic Myth

  1. BARRY, YOU ARE A PLEASURE TO KNOW. I WILL TRY TO FOLLOW YOUR PRESENTATIONS FOR THE HIGHLAND PARK SENIOR CLUB. .
    STAY WELL
    IRWIN

  2. I read your story about David Sarnoff and myth around his activities and sinking of Titanic. I have always been shy of the sinking story because of the way people were housed according to class. The caste system in this US history comes from our very beginning. There are probably more myths out there so keep vigilant. Happy New year friend. Lost my husband 8 Nov 2020 from Multiple Myeloma. Still in a tissy. Stay well. Raylawni

  3. Col. Branch,

    That segregation by class was standard in its day. And you are exactly right – it led disproportionally to the deaths of many poorer people. We see vestiges of this today in access to health care, as an example.

    Definitely one of the saddest aspects of a tragic day,

    Barry

  4. Well this is news to me. I’m a third cousin to David. Blood relative. My grandparents were married in his home in Manhattan back in the day. I never met him but read the book about him. Oh, Eugene lions. He was my great uncle my grandmothers brother. He became very good friends with President Regan. Wrote about President Hoover. Interviewed Joseph Stalin for two hours. Came to America as a child. Thought he wanted to be a communist. Went back to Belarus Minsk. That’s when as a journalist he did his interview with Stalin. Realized after awhile he no longer wanted to be a communist. Went back to NYC and like many became a republican.
    If his story was exaggerated that lend to his fame. I’m not saying it was right , but he started RCA and NBC and was summoned to the White House on many occasions for his expertise in communications. No one is perfect. He did pretty good for himself. He was very very smart. One of his visions which shows him speaking about a device people will be able to communicate with one another and the world. His vision was the cell phone and smartphone. He was a true pioneer.

  5. Thanks for this very clear reminder of how easily we can be fooled and how honest storytellers will point out when reality and fiction part ways, but conspiracy tellers just keep making up lies trying to convince using further lies.

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