Podcast Summary: Harold's Old Time Radio

Episode: The Free Company 41-03-02: The Mole on Lincoln's Cheek
Air Date: September 8, 2025
Summary Prepared For: Listeners who want a detailed breakdown without listening

Episode Overview

This episode features a broadcast of “The Mole on Lincoln’s Cheek,” an original radio drama by Mark Connolly, presented by The Free Company, a consortium of prominent writers, actors, and radio professionals. The episode is centered on the theme of freedom of speech in education, exploring issues of academic freedom, censorship, and the challenges of teaching American history truthfully in times of suspicion and social tension.

Main Themes

• Freedom of Speech & Academic Freedom: Addressing the teacher’s right to present historical facts, even those that are uncomfortable.
• Civic Responsibility: The duty to engage with American history honestly to ensure a responsible and patriotic citizenry.
• Dangers of Censorship: How fear and misunderstanding can lead to calls for book banning and witch-hunts in schools.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

Introduction to the Play and Its Purpose

00:24 - 02:36

• Burgess Meredith introduces “The Mole on Lincoln’s Cheek” as a play dealing specifically with the freedom of speech, especially in the context of education and teaching. It’s the second in a series meant to illuminate the meaning of freedom in America.

  "Some of these plays will deal with one or more of the eight basic freedoms assured to all citizens in the Bill of Rights. Today's drama, for example, concerns freedom of speech as applied to teaching." (Burgess Meredith, 01:02)

Schoolroom and Community Dynamics

02:36 - 06:37

• New schoolteacher Miss Thatcher tries to make a connection with her class and community. She’s greeted warmly but is quickly drawn into a tense dinner conversation with school board members Mr. Roberts and Mr. Etheridge concerning education content.

• The elders express suspicion about teaching politics, foreign affairs, and particularly about anything perceived as “radical” or “communist”.

  "They're teaching them too much, Mr. Roberts." (Mr. Roberts (School Board), 04:44)
  "That ain't the way the communists feel. They like to get at em young." (Mr. Roberts (School Board), 05:19)

• Miss Thatcher reveals she toured Europe (including Russia), which raises further suspicion.

The Tension around Textbooks and History

06:56 - 08:35

• Mr. Hunter, the principal, discusses challenges brought by the school board over his adoption of the Clavering textbooks, which present American history with both its virtues and flaws.

• Mr. Roberts and Mr. Etheridge see this as potentially subversive. There’s an undercurrent of fear that honest history is being equated with anti-American sentiment.

  "Roberts acted as though I brought the Clavering series personally from Moscow." (Mr. Hunter, 08:12)

The Spark: Charges of “Un-Americanism”

09:10 - 12:34

• Eddie, Etheridge’s son, mentions learning that John Hancock was a smuggler from a schoolbook, alarming his father.

• Mr. Etheridge examines the textbook and decides this is evidence of anti-Americanism that must be stopped, rallying the American Veterans League to formally protest.

  "When my kid got through talking, I thought he might be just making things up. ... But I saw the things he was talking about printed in the book the kids are learning from. Printed right there in that book." (Mr. Etheridge, 11:43)

The School Board Confrontation

13:38 - 20:51

• At the local school board meeting, Mr. Etheridge quotes from the Clavering books, asserting they undermine patriotism by exposing flaws and less-than-heroic truths about American Founders.

• Mr. Hunter and Miss Thatcher defend the books’ honesty, emphasizing that recognizing the complexities of heroes like John Hancock and the chaotic reality of historical events doesn’t diminish patriotism—rather, it empowers thoughtful citizenship.

  “In many instances, the devotion of the leaders in the fight for independence in 1776 was caused less by patriotism than by the opportunity for what today we would call graft.” (Quoting Clavering, read by Mr. Etheridge, 14:18)

  "What good is there in saying John Hancock was a Smuggler? ... All these dirty personal insults to great men's memories." (Mr. Etheridge, 15:19)

The Hitler Toy Incident

17:03 - 20:51

• To bolster claims of un-American teaching, Etheridge prompts a boy, Wilbur, to describe an incident in class where a toy of Hitler was discussed. Wilbur’s version is alarming, but under questioning by Miss Thatcher, it becomes clear it was a lesson on the dangers of blind hero worship, not Nazi glorification.

  "Now, I want you gentlemen to look at that statue you heard so much about. I think you'll admit that statue isn't a very accurate description of it. Wilbur, is this what I showed you and the other children in class Thursday?" (Miss Thatcher, 18:43)

  "Didn't we all laugh when you imitated the little figure and raised your arms?" (Miss Thatcher, 20:09)
  "Yes, ma'. Am." (Wilbur, 20:10)

The Heart of the Argument: Why Teach History Truthfully?

21:18 - 24:23

• Mr. Hunter insists the duty of teachers is not to whitewash, but to equip children with tools to face reality and improve society. He invokes Santayana: “Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

  "The chief purpose of teaching history is not to glorify the past, but to ensure the future. And our children have the right to be given history truthfully so that they can use its lessons to solve the problems every human being faces today." (Mr. Hunter, 22:45)

• Mr. Etheridge retorts that instilling patriotism means sheltering children from unflattering truths.

  "There's a lot of things that are true that you don't have to tell children." (Mr. Etheridge, 21:36)

The Episode's Namesake: The “Mole on Lincoln’s Cheek”

24:23 - 26:54

• Mr. Roberts delivers the episode’s central metaphor, arguing that Americans value Lincoln’s humanity—including his mole—over idolized perfection. He equates honest history with honest portraiture: the warts and all are what make our heroes, and our country, real and relatable.

  "All our lives we've been used to seeing pictures and photographs and statues of Lincoln with a mole on his cheek. ... If any painter or sculptor dared to show us Lincoln without that mole, there ain't nobody over eight years old in America wouldn't say, put that mole back. ... We know Lincoln pretty well. We ought to know America just as well as we know Lincoln. ... If you want to see what happens to a country that has nothing but little tin gods in it, look at Germany." (Mr. Roberts, 24:50–25:46)

Resolution and Reflection

27:27 - 29:55

• The board votes to keep the controversial textbooks. Miss Thatcher and Mr. Hunter reflect that as long as there are people like Mr. Roberts to “keep their eyes open,” academic freedom and reasoned patriotism will persist.

• Burgess Meredith concludes with a stirring reminder linking academic freedom with the survival of democracy, quoting Lincoln and reaffirming the show’s purpose.

  "Our freedom then has this meaning: that here in our land the truth may be taught always. Academic freedom is the first liberty to die when dictators rule, for dictators know the power of education. ... Let us resist any attempt to suppress truth or to distort it." (Burgess Meredith, 28:09)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Teaching History:
  "The only way to make a child a real patriot is to give him history. Not an arrangement of eulogies and flowery obituaries under the guise of history."
  — Mr. Hunter (Principal), 22:45

• On Honest Patriotism:
  "You're doing that by implying that they weren't big enough to survive a comparison of their faults and virtues."
  — Mr. Roberts (School Board Member), 24:47

• Central Metaphor:
  "If any painter or sculptor dared to show us Lincoln without that mole, ... we'd say, put that mole back. Cause that's the way he was. ... We ought to know America just as well as we know Lincoln. … If you want to see what happens to a country that has nothing but little tin gods in it, look at Germany."
  — Mr. Roberts (School Board Member), 24:50–25:46

• Closing Reflection:
  "Academic freedom is the first liberty to die when dictators rule, for dictators know the power of education. … Let us resist any attempt to suppress truth or to distort it."
  — Burgess Meredith, 28:09

Important Timestamps

• 00:24 – Episode/Play Introduction
• 04:38 – Debates over educational content at the dinner table
• 06:56 – Miss Thatcher & Principal Hunter discuss school board challenges
• 11:03 – Mr. Etheridge’s alarm over teaching about John Hancock
• 13:38 – School Board meeting and challenge to textbooks
• 17:03 – Hitler toy incident and its clarification
• 21:18 – Mr. Hunter’s defense of the Clavering books and truthful history
• 24:23 – Mr. Roberts’ "Mole on Lincoln’s Cheek" speech
• 27:41 – Board votes; Mr. Hunter and Miss Thatcher reflect
• 28:09 – Burgess Meredith’s closing remarks on freedom and truth

Episode Tone & Language

The episode is earnest, direct, and reflective—typical of radio dramas with social messages from the 1940s. The dialogue oscillates between community small talk, tense confrontations, and heartfelt speeches. The tone is both reverent of American ideals and skeptical toward dogma, inviting listeners to wrestle with the complexities of patriotism, history, and education.

Summary Prepared by Harold’s Old Time Radio Podcast Summarizer
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