Dennis M. Spragg

Glenn Miller was already famous when he enlisted in the Army Air Forces. Glenn Miller and His Orchestra was one of the most popular and successful bands of the big band era. While the bands of the Dorsey brothers, Benny Goodman, and Artie Shaw were identified by their leaders’ instrument, Miller focused on orchestration. In 1942, Miller volunteered for the US military. During World War II, Generals "Hap" Arnold and Barton K. Yount sought ways to wage influence instead of war. They commissioned musicians, actors, and artists such as Samuel Barber, Ronald Reagan, and Ogden Pleissner to help raise morale at home, on the front lines, and behind enemy lines, where new music and even jazz were prohibited by the Third Reich. Miller, considered the father of the modern US military bands, worked to hone his sound. It was at Yale that he added strings, French horn, and extra percussion to his musical palette, assembling the finest group of musicians in the military. His distinctive sound was the result of years of serious study in harmony, form, and orchestration. Swinging Against the Axis: Glenn Miller's WWII Army Air Forces Band at Yale explores not only Miller’s compositional style, but also his managerial and organizational innovations that would change the way military bands do business today. Equally intriguing is the setting in which Miller, Yale’s president, the OSS, and a few Air Force generals transformed a sleepy, isolationist college into a center for the clandestine services, including the band’s "secret" psychological warfare recordings.

Glenn Miller was already famous when he enlisted in the Army Air Forces. Glenn Miller and His Orchestra was one of the most popular and successful bands of the big band era. While the bands of the Dorsey brothers, Benny Goodman, and Artie Shaw were identified by their leaders’ instrument, Miller focused on orchestration. In 1942, Miller volunteered for the US military. During World War II, Generals "Hap" Arnold and Barton K. Yount sought ways to wage influence instead of war. They commissioned musicians, actors, and artists such as Samuel Barber, Ronald Reagan, and Ogden Pleissner to help raise morale at home, on the front lines, and behind enemy lines, where new music and even jazz were prohibited by the Third Reich. Miller, considered the father of the modern US military bands, worked to hone his sound. It was at Yale that he added strings, French horn, and extra percussion to his musical palette, assembling the finest group of musicians in the military. His distinctive sound was the result of years of serious study in harmony, form, and orchestration. Swinging Against the Axis: Glenn Miller's WWII Army Air Forces Band at Yale explores not only Miller’s compositional style, but also his managerial and organizational innovations that would change the way military bands do business today. Equally intriguing is the setting in which Miller, Yale’s president, the OSS, and a few Air Force generals transformed a sleepy, isolationist college into a center for the clandestine services, including the band’s "secret" psychological warfare recordings.

On December 15, 1944, Maj. Alton Glenn Miller, commanding officer of the Army Air Force Band (Special), boarded a plane in England bound for France with Lt. Col. Norman Francis Baessell. Somewhere over the English Channel the plane vanished. No trace of the aircraft or its occupants has ever been found. To this day Miller, Baessell, and the pilot, John Robert Stuart Morgan, are classified as missing in action. Weaving together cultural and military history, Glenn Miller Declassified tells the story of the musical legend Miller and his military career as commanding officer of the Army Air Force Band during World War II. After a brief assignment to the Army Specialist Corps, Miller was assigned to the Army Air Forces Training Command and soon thereafter to Supreme Headquarters, Allied Expeditionary Force, in the UK. Later that year Miller and his band were to be transferred to Paris to expand the Allied Expeditionary Forces Programme, but Miller never made it.Miller’s disappearance resulted in numerous conspiracy theories, especially since much of the information surrounding his military service had been classified, restricted, or, in some cases, lost. Dennis M. Spragg has gained unprecedented access to the Miller family archives as well as military and government documents to lay such theories to rest and to demonstrate the lasting legacy and importance of Miller’s life, career, and service to his country.

America Ascendant vividly portrays the global crisis that brought the media and the government into an alliance that changed the course of American and world history. President Franklin D. Roosevelt organized an extraordinary partnership between the U.S. government and America’s media outlets to communicate to the reluctant and isolationist American public the nature of the threat that World War II posed to the nation and the world. The coalition’s aim was to promote the concept of American exceptionalism and use it to galvanize the public for the government’s cause.America Ascendant details the efforts of many prominent individuals and officials to harness the collective energy of the nation and guide the United States throughout World War II then describes its aftermath and the Cold War period. Dennis M. Spragg demonstrates how the news and entertainment of American broadcasters such as David Sarnoff, William Paley, and Elmer Davis helped rally the American people to fashion a new liberal democratic order to stop the global spread of Communism. This media-government alliance, however, was not achieved without difficulty. Spragg highlights the competing visions and personalities that clashed, as media and government leaders tried to develop the paradigm that ultimately shifted American cultural and political thought. Throughout this searching history he sheds light on the underappreciated coordination between the media and the government to establish a liberal democratic world order and demonstrates why American exceptionalism still matters.

On December 15, 1944, Maj. Alton Glenn Miller, commanding officer of the Army Air Force Band (Special), boarded a plane in England bound for France with Lt. Col. Norman Francis Baessell. Somewhere over the English Channel the plane vanished. No trace of the aircraft or its occupants has ever been found. To this day Miller, Baessell, and the pilot, John Robert Stuart Morgan, are classified as missing in action. Weaving together cultural and military history, Glenn Miller Declassified tells the story of the musical legend Miller and his military career as commanding officer of the Army Air Force Band during World War II. After a brief assignment to the Army Specialist Corps, Miller was assigned to the Army Air Forces Training Command and soon thereafter to Supreme Headquarters, Allied Expeditionary Force, in the UK. Later that year Miller and his band were to be transferred to Paris to expand the Allied Expeditionary Forces Programme, but Miller never made it. Miller’s disappearance resulted in numerous conspiracy theories, especially since much of the information surrounding his military service had been classified, restricted, or, in some cases, lost. Dennis M. Spragg has gained unprecedented access to the Miller family archives as well as military and government documents to lay such theories to rest and to demonstrate the lasting legacy and importance of Miller’s life, career, and service to his country.