In 1946, Orson Welles, the director of Citizen Kane, was at the height of his fame. At the time, he had a national radio show called Orson Welles Commentaries on ABC. After a year on the radio, discussing politics and Hollywood, Welles heard of a shocking crime.

It was the end of World War Two. A Black soldier, heading home, was brutally beaten by a white police officer in South Carolina. No one knew the identity of the police officer. No one even knew the town where it happened. 

Welles pledged to solve the mystery… on the air...

Today, we’re bringing you a special episode from the Radio Diaries Podcast and their new series, Orson Welles and the Blind Soldier. It’s the story of a crime in a small, southern town…that became a spark for the budding civil rights movement.

To find out more, go to radiodiaries.org