Monday, September 7, 2015

PETITION FOR A WILLIS CONOVER POSTAGE STAMP REACHES 8000 SIGNATURES

Willis Conover was one of the most-listened-to voices heard on the Voice of America from 1955 to 1996. His program “Music USA” introduced the world to jazz music, a uniquely American type of music. Jazz music was banned in countries behind the iron curtain. The only way for hundreds of millions of listeners to hear jazz was by listening to the Voice of America.

On the radio, Conover used “Special English”, a slower paced speech that uses only the 1,500 words found in the Special English Dictionary distributed worldwide by the VOA. Many people around the world learned to understand and speak English as a result of listening to Music USA.

Willis Conover (1920-1996)
Conover was recognized in the halls of Congress on more than one occasion, with two news articles read into the Congressional Record in July of 1985, H. Res 189 of the 103rd Congress (June 14, 1993, passed), and most recently, H Res. 324 of the 111th Congress (April 2, 2009, introduced), which proposed designating April 25, 2009, as “Willis Conover Day.” He was featured in a Wall Street Journal article by Doug Ramsey in July.


A petition to honor Willis Conover with a postage stamp for his 100th birthday in 2020 has reached 8,000 signatures.

Visit the museum to view our two large pictures of Willis Conover and read the Wall Street Journal ariticle.

Additional, interesting links:
http://www.npr.org/2015/07/25/426029637/willis-conover-the-voice-of-jazz-behind-the-iron-curtain

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