Orson Welles and the Blind Soldier

Summary

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On the Media — “Orson Welles and the Blind Soldier”

Date: February 18, 2026
Hosts: Michael Ohinger (for this episode)
Series Origin: Radio Diaries
Main Theme:
Examining how Orson Welles’ national radio coverage of the blinding of African American veteran Isaac Woodard in 1946 transformed a local act of racist brutality into a national civil rights rallying cry, highlighting the power of media to shape public discourse and demand accountability.

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Episode Overview

This episode presents the first installment of “Orson Welles and the Blind Soldier,” a new narrative series from Radio Diaries, introduced on On the Media’s midweek podcast. The story revolves around the 1946 attack on Isaac Woodard, a Black soldier returning home after WWII, and explores how Orson Welles used his influential ABC radio platform to unveil the crime, galvanizing civil rights activism. The episode blends first-hand testimony, journalistic history, and dramatic readings from Welles himself.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Crime: Setting and Witness Account

• The attack occurred in South Carolina in 1946, when Isaac Woodard, a decorated African American WWII veteran, was assaulted and blinded by a white police officer shortly after his military discharge.
• Eyewitness Testimony:
  • Corrine Johnson (98-year-old surviving witness):
    • “You see that space right over there? That’s when it happened... I stood on the railroad track and I saw a man by the drugstore. He was down on the street there being beat up by the police...I ain't never forgot it.” (02:26)

2. The Crime’s Details and Immediate Aftermath

• James L. Felder Sr. narrates the timeline:
  • “On February 12th of 1946, an African American soldier in uniform on the day he is discharged is brutally beaten in South Carolina.” (03:39)
• Laura Williams (Isaac Woodard’s niece):
  • “Immediately after the attack, there was so much confusion because my family didn’t know where he was. Isaac didn’t even know where he was.” (06:47)

3. Context and Initial Responses

• Media Silence:
  • The case could have faded “if you did not have Orson Welles lifting it up to public attention.” – James L. Felder Sr., (04:01)
• Richard Gergle (author/historian):
  • Describes Woodard’s military valor and abrupt encounter with racism:
    • “[Woodard] is in the first hours of his return to America... and he is treated like he’s nothing. And he spoke up. The bus driver was now seething...left his bus in search of a police officer.” (05:33)

4. Woodard’s Own Account and Orson Welles’s Broadcasts

• Isaac Woodard’s affidavit read on air:
  • “I, Isaac Woodward, Jr... was brutally beaten ...While I was in uniform.” — Orson Welles reading (04:23)
• Graphic description of police violence:
  • “The policeman struck me with a billy across my head and told me to shut up... Punching me in my eyes with the end of the billy... I woke up next morning and could not see. I was blind.” — Orson Welles reading as Woodard (06:05, 06:35)

5. Orson Welles’s Role: Taking the Story National

• Welles uses his ABC platform to dramatize the case:
  • “What does it cost to be a Negro in South Carolina? It cost a man his eyes.” (08:03)
• Beatrice Welles (Orson’s daughter):
  • “Nobody talked about this kind of stuff in 1946 on the radio about a black man being beat by a white man.” (08:12)
• Welles explicitly aligns himself with the victim:
  • “The blind soldier fought for me in this war. The least I can do now is fight for him. I have eyes. He hasn’t. I have a voice on the radio. He hasn’t.” (08:25)

6. Demand for Accountability

• Welles calls out the unknown perpetrator:
  • “...the officer of the law who blinded the young negro boy... has not been named. For just now, we'll call the policeman Officer X. He might be listening to this... Wash your hands, Officer X... You won't blot out the blood of a blinded war veteran.” (08:48)
• The broadcast’s moral force:
  • “Even his tone caught your attention.” — James L. Felder Sr., (09:09)
• Welles’s escalating rhetoric:
  • “Wash a lifetime. You’ll never wash away that leprous lack of pigment, the guilty pallor of the white man.” (09:12)
  • “You’re going to be uncovered. We will blast out your name. I will find means to remove from you all refuge. Officer X. You can’t get rid of me.” (09:36)

7. Historical Significance

• Richard Gergle:
  • “[Welles] was demanding accountability for white people for inflicting violence against black people.” (09:26)
• James L. Felder Sr.:
  • “That was the beginning. That was the beginning.” (09:31)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “I have eyes. He hasn’t. I have a voice on the radio. He hasn’t.” — Orson Welles (08:25)
• “Wash a lifetime. You’ll never wash away that leprous lack of pigment, the guilty pallor of the white man.” — Orson Welles (09:12)
• “Nobody talked about this kind of stuff in 1946 on the radio about a black man being beat by a white man.” — Beatrice Welles (08:12)
• “He was demanding accountability for white people for inflicting violence against black people.” — Richard Gergle (09:26)
• “That was the beginning. That was the beginning.” — James L. Felder Sr. (09:31)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Introduction and historical setup: 01:08 – 02:26
• Eyewitness account by Corrine Johnson: 02:26 – 03:39
• Details and Woodard’s affidavit (Welles): 04:23 – 06:35
• Family confusion and NAACP involvement: 06:47 – 07:43
• Orson Welles’s broadcast, calling out ‘Officer X’: 08:03 – 09:36

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Tone and Style

• The storytelling is intimate—mixing survivor testimony, archival audio, and passionate narration. The language is direct, often dramatic, and unflinching. Orson Welles’s oratory style alternates between sorrow, outrage, and solemn moral force.
• The episode foregrounds both the personal trauma of Isaac Woodard and the systemic racism of postwar America, constantly underscoring the radical significance of telling such stories on national radio in the 1940s.

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Summary Takeaway

Episode one of “Orson Welles and the Blind Soldier” reveals how Welles’s platform transformed individual injustice into a national issue—a pivotal moment for media-driven advocacy in the emerging civil rights movement. Through eyewitness accounts, historical context, and Welles’s extraordinary broadcasts, listeners are reminded that amplifying the voices of the powerless can spark lasting change.

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Transcript

[WNYC Sponsor Announcer]

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[Michael Ohinger]

To the on the Media Midweek podcast. I'm Michael Ohinger.

[Orson Welles]

Hello. This is Orson Wells. Come to visit with you for a few minutes and with your permission, every week at this time, we'll have a little conversation about people and the things they're doing all over the world.

[Michael Ohinger]

In 1946, Orson Wellesley, the actor and director behind Citizen Kane, was at the pinnacle of his career. At the time, he had a national radio show called Orson Welles Commentaries on abc.

[Orson Welles]

I'll try to have a story for you each time and I'm going to speak my mind about the news. You know, we don't have to agree on everything to be friends.

[Michael Ohinger]

After a year on the radio discussing politics and Hollywood, Welles heard of a shocking crime. It was the end of World War II. A black soldier heading home was brutally beaten by a white police officer in South Carolina. No one knew the identity of the officer. No one even knew the town where it happened. And so Wells pledged to solve the mystery on the air. Today on the midweek podcast, we're bringing you episode one of a new series from our friends at Radio Diaries called Orson Welles and the Blind Soldier. It's the story of a crime in a small Southern town the that became a spark for the budding civil rights movement. We begin at the scene of the crime.

[Corrine Johnson / Laura Williams]

I'm right here at the spot where the theater was, right across the street here. But all these trees weren't there then. My name is Corrine Johnson. I'm 98 years old. When I was 18 years old, I had just got out of high School. I was working at the theater. One of the fellows that worked at the theater came over and he said, cody, some police over there beating up a man. I left the ticket box. I said, what I want to see. You see that space right over there? That's when it happened. And I stood on the railroad track and I saw a man by the drugstore. He was down on the street there being beat up by the police. I didn't know who it was. Well, that's what I saw. I'm the only witness living it, Kentucky, and I ain't never forgot it.

[James L. Felder Sr.]

On February 12th of 1946, an African American soldier in uniform on the day he is discharged is brutally beaten in South Carolina.

[Corrine Johnson / Laura Williams]

This horrific event happened to this young soldier, but we didn't know how and we didn't know who was responsible.

[James L. Felder Sr.]

This story could have easily have been just a footnote if you did not have Orson Welles lifting it up to public attention.

[Richard Gergle]

Orson Welles immediately recognized that this was a story. It was a great whodunit.

[Orson Welles]

This is abc, the American Broadcasting Company. Good morning. This is Orson Welles speaking. I'd like to read to you an affidavit. I, Isaac Woodward, Jr. Being duly sworn to depose and state as follows that I'm 27 years old and a veteran of the United States army, having served for 15 months in the South Pacific and earned one battle star while I was in uniform.

[Richard Gergle]

I'm Richard Gergle. I'm the author of Unexampled Courage, about the planning of Isaac Woodard. Here is the story. Isaac Woodard and a group of soldiers, black and white, who had been that day discharged from Fort Gordon, were heading home on a bus. They were sharing a bottle and talking and laughing. I'm sure they were a bit loud and a little rabunctious. And some of the white folks on the bus didn't like it. The bus driver didn't like it.

[Orson Welles]

About one hour out of Atlanta, the bus driver stopped at a small drugstore. As he stopped, I asked him if he had time to wait for me until I had a chance to go to the restroom. He cursed and said no.

[Richard Gergle]

The bus driver cursed him.

[Orson Welles]

When he cursed me and Isaac Woodard, I cursed him back.

[Richard Gergle]

Cursed him back. He is in the first hours of his return to America. And this is a man with battlefield medals on his chest, sergeant stripes on his shoulders, and he is treated like he's nothing. And he spoke up. The bus driver was now seething with the impudence of this black man, and he left his bus in search of A police officer and Woodard tried to explain that all I was trying to do was go to the bathroom and the response to that was to be hit over the head with a blackjack.

[Orson Welles]

They didn't give me a chance to explain. The policeman struck me with a billy across my head and told me to shut up. After that, the policeman grabbed me by my left arm and twisted it behind my back.

[Richard Gergle]

And a moment later, he was being led away and the bus left without him. And on the way to the town jail where he was being arrested, he was beaten repeatedly by a police officer. Eventually driving the end of the baton into both of Woodard's eyes, he started.

[Orson Welles]

Punching me in my eyes with the end of the billy. He pushed me inside the jailhouse and locked me up. I woke up next morning and could not see. I was blind.

[Corrine Johnson / Laura Williams]

Sergeant Woodard survived, but he was blinded permanently. My name is Laura Williams, and Isaac Woodard was my uncle. Immediately after the attack, there was so much confusion because my family didn't know where he was. Isaac didn't even know where he was.

[Richard Gergle]

A reporter, a guy by the name of John McCrae, who was also very active in the NAACP, heard the story that there was a black man at the va South Carolina hospital who had been beaten by a white police officer and was now blind.

[James L. Felder Sr.]

The brutality of beating a veteran like that, still in uniform, coming home from fighting a war, that was enough to really galvanize the support of the nacp. My name is James L. Felder Sr. I was executive director of the NACP from South Carolina.

[Richard Gergle]

The NAACP is looking for a way to reach a larger audience. And they knew that Orson Welles was a friend of the Civil Rights movement. They believed it would capture his imagination, and they were right. He heard about it, I think, on a weekday, and that Sunday he was on the national radio.

[Orson Welles]

There's a price for everything. There's nothing that does not have its cost. What does it cost to be a Negro in South Carolina? It cost a man his eyes.

[WNYC Sponsor Announcer]

My name is Beatrice Welles and I'm Orson Welles daughter. Nobody talked about this kind of stuff in 1946 on the radio about a black man being beat by a white man.

[Orson Welles]

The blind soldier fought for me in this war. The least I can do now is fight for him. I have eyes. He hasn't. I have a voice on the radio. He hasn't.

[WNYC Sponsor Announcer]

He wanted America to know who the culprit was.

[Richard Gergle]

Nobody knew who had beaten Isaac Woodard at the time, and no one knew what town it had actually happened in.

[Orson Welles]

Now it seems the officer of the law who blinded the young negro boy of the affidavit has not been named till we know more about him. For just now, we'll call the policeman. Officer X. He might be listening to this. I hope so. Officer X. I'm talking to you. Wash your hands, Officer X. Wash them well. Scrub and scour. You won't blot out the blood of a blinded war veteran.

[James L. Felder Sr.]

Even his tone caught your attention.

[Orson Welles]

Wash a lifetime. You'll never wash away that leprous lack of pigment, the guilty pallor of the white man.

[James L. Felder Sr.]

It's not something that just hit you and bounce off. It just kind of sears itself into your brain.

[Richard Gergle]

He was demanding accountability for white people for inflicting violence against black people.

[James L. Felder Sr.]

He was right on the case. That was the beginning. That was the beginning.

[Orson Welles]

You're going to be uncovered. We will blast out your name. I will find means to remove from you all refuge. Officer X. You can't get rid of me.

[Michael Ohinger]

That was episode one of Orson Welles and the Blind Soldier. You can find the rest of the series on the Radio Diaries podcast [e-mail] thanks for listening to the midweek podcast. Don't forget to follow us on Instagram, bluesky and TikTok. The big show drops on Friday. See you then. I'm Michael Oinger.

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