 Presenting Herbert Marshall in Washington and the Trader on the DuPont Cavalcade sponsored by the DuPont Company, maker of better things for better living through chemistry. DuPont cellophane, duco, nylon are well known. Later on in the program, we bring you DuPont's story of the week about products of chemical research which are doing an interesting job in the production of helicopters. The DuPont Company presents Herbert Marshall as General George Washington in Washington and the Trader on the DuPont Cavalcade. This is a story of crisis of 24 critical hours, one of the most crucial days in American history. The day begins on the morning of September 25th in the year 1780. As the clock ticks off the minutes of this eventful day, a man's life and honor hang in the balance. And before the day is gone, still another man, then prusted with the fate of a young nation and of an idea, walks to the very edge of despair, September 25th, 1780. And along the east bank of the Hudson River, there are signs of autumn. Sumac, the first red at the Dogwood trees, white caps in the river, and war and revolution seem for the moment remote. As General Washington rides south from Fishgill, accompanied by his staff, Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Hamilton, Major General Knox, Lafayette, Colonel McHenry, and others. General Washington! Yes, Hamilton? Do you think we'll reach General Arnold's headquarters for breakfast? I did, but I doubt we'll get there in time now. If we omit this next schedule stop! Yes, Your Excellency, the fort in the east bank is properly manned, sir. I've been over the ground myself. No, Colonel McHenry, I promised myself an inspection of that fort. If it's well manned, there's nothing last but an hour or two. May I suggest, sir, that some of the men are, well, that is to say... Hungry? Yes, sir, they've had nothing to eat since supper last night. One moment. Well... Hey, move away. I know, Colonel, neither have I. I'll send someone to tell General Arnold we've been delayed. I'll go, sir. Yes, I thought of sending you and Captain Shaw. And, uh, could I go along with the Colonel, sir? Three men to carry a message, Hamilton. Is there need for so many? Well, no, sir. I wonder. Seems to me I detect a considerable eagerness. What is it? Is there rumour he eats well that his larder is well-stocked? Well, no. Oh, no, of course not, sir. Because I presume that General Arnold eats saltfish as we all do. Or could it be that the young officers of my staff wish to feast their eyes on the renowned beauty of Madame Arnold? Well, you'll be plain about it, sir. I think it's important we get there. We shall, in good time. But soon, sir. After all, General Arnold commands West Point. And West Point is the key fort of all our Hudson River defenses. That's right. And since it's a vitally important service... One moment, Hamilton. Since West Point is the key to our defenses, I have put our most important general in command there. Oh, yes, sir. But we know you trust the place you place in General Arnold, sir. But still, sometimes some of us are a bit uneasy. Uneasy? You don't mean, uh... envious, do you, Colonel? I know it sounds that way, sir. But it's simply that we know that General Arnold is often a little undisciplined. Or even at Saratoga, sir. He refused to take advice. And worse, he disobeyed a direct order. Yes, yes, he did. But General Arnold did something else at Saratoga. Yes, he won a victory. A great victory, Colonel McHenry. And in this war, victories are even more needed than blind discipline. And what do you think? Blind discipline. And so the day begins. A serene day. A day of apparent calm in the progress of the war. McHenry and Shaw leave with a message for General Arnold, and Washington continues his inspection of the Fort's up river. He is leisurely and thorough. But in General Arnold's headquarters across the river from West Point, for two people the crisis has already come, for General Arnold and his wife, Peggy Arnold. Hours later, on the road outside the headquarters, two young officers, adjutants to General Arnold, await the imminent arrival of Washington and his staff. That damnably slow at getting here. Ah, it's the waiting makes you think so. The last messenger said they'd be here in an hour. Lacks ten minutes of that. Well, it seems afternoon on. You're nervous, that's all. Come on, sit down, Major Franks, here on the wall. You're wasting boot leather walking about like that. Well, yes, I am nervous. But there's something, there's a smell of storm. The quietest, clearest day I remember. See that sky. I don't mean weather, I mean... Colonel Farrick, what do you feel about the things that have been going on here? Ah, you mean Smith, huh? Yes, among other things. Joshua Smith, renegade turncoat, sitting at dinner with General Arnold as an honored guest. No, I couldn't stomach it either. But, maybe the general's right. You've had experience. Right. How? Eh, in saying that sometimes in war you gloss over the fine points. Sometimes you put your conscience in your pocket. It was a question of food. This Smith, it seems, can get supplies. Well, perhaps. Now there's this business of the general leaving. Why? Isn't he upstairs? I thought you heard him leave. Well, you know he got a dispatch at breakfast when directly up to Mrs. Arnold. Yes, I thought he was still there. No, he came downstairs in a devil of a hurry. He told me he wanted a horse. I said, what horse? He said anything. Saddle a wagon horse would need be. Then he saw the saddled horse of Washington's dispatch rider. He took that? Yes, and rode off at a clip, I can tell you. I told him General Washington was arriving any minute. What did he say? He said, tell the general, I have urgent business at West Point. We'll be back in an hour. And you've no worry. I suppose not. Simply strange that he... Right. We'll be on now. Looks like a large party. Has his entire staff with him. General Washington, sir. Colonel Berwick? Yes, sir. And this is Major Franks. Adjutant to General Arnold. May I help you dismount, sir? Thank you, sir. We'll dismount here, gentlemen. There you are, sir. That's good to leave the saddle. And how is General Arnold Major? How? How is he, sir? The state of his health, man. The thighbone he cracked at Saratoga. Oh, I'd say the general isn't enjoying the best of health, sir. You men serve under a brave and brilliant officer. We're sure of that, sir. The nation is greatly in his debt. The general will be pleased to hear your high opinion, sir. And he begs that your excellency will await him. Await him? Yes, Colonel Hamilton, urgent business has called General Arnold across the river to the forts at West Point. How long will he be gone? Well, he said he'd be back as soon as possible, sir. You see, Hamilton, you and McHenry are concerned over the forts at West Point. And all the while, they are commanded by a man who is even more concerned than you. Oh, yes. Yes, I can see that. So we'll have our breakfast now and then cross over and see the West Point forts. Drop in on General Arnold and surprise him. The sun is high and the day like mid-summer when General Washington and his staff cross by barge to the West Point forts. General Arnold is not there. But the commander-in-chief inspects the fortifications, finds some neglect, some disrepair. About noon, Washington and his party recross the river and start back on horseback toward General Arnold's headquarters. I can't make head and tail of this, Hamilton. Where is Arnold? It's wearing me too, General Knox. His Excellency's courier just brought news that Arnold hasn't returned to his headquarters. And General Washington's calm enough? Calm as a rock. Look at him ahead there. Can you direct me to General Washington's company, sir? This is it, Captain. I have to dispatch for his Excellency. You can hand it here, Captain. When I was told to hand it to the general personally, sir, it's very confidential. I'm Colonel Hamilton. His Excellency's aide. Well, sir, I'd like to take it to myself as I was told to do. You don't trust me? Oh, it's not that, sir, but is he in this party, Colonel? Up ahead. Well, I'd like to look at his face again, sir. I was at Valley Forge. Oh, well then I'll take you to him. Come along. General Washington? General Washington, sir? Yes, Hamilton. The dispatch rider has just arrived. Captain Drake reporting, sir. I have dispatch from Colonel Jamison at Surgeon. Very well, Captain. Thank you. I've seen you before. Oh, yes, sir, at Valley Forge. I was with your headquarters there for a while. You have quite a memory, sir. Yes, I remember faces. Well now, this dispatch. General Washington. Anything wrong, sir? What, Hamilton? Has there been a battle, sir? Yes. A way of battle. A battle for a man's soul. What do you mean, sir? Hamilton, I wanted to call a meeting of all my staff in General Arnold's headquarters as soon as we get there. Tell them it's most urgent. And General Arnold, sir? Should he be there, too? General Arnold? By all means, Hamilton. If you can find him. September 25th, 1780. A day of crisis. And yet, there is no hint in the slant of the early afternoon sun. Or in the crisp, ruffled waters of the Hudson River. Still, it is crisis. For in the study of General Arnold's fieldstone headquarters across the river from the West Point Fortes, the staff of General Washington is gathered together, and Washington is hurrying to meet with them. Well, Hamilton, they're all inside, sir. Knox, Lafayette, Colonel Lamb, and the others. We haven't been able to locate General Arnold. Thank you. But I took the liberty of including General Arnold's agitance. Colonel Verrick and Major Franks. Oh, you did. Well, let's go in now. Good afternoon, gentlemen. Good afternoon, sir. Be seated. Gentlemen, I have a matter of extreme gravity to discuss with you. But before I begin, Colonel Verrick. Yes, your Excellency. Major Franks. Yes, your Excellency. I must ask you two gentlemen to step outside until we have finished. But, sir, I thought you were all right, Hamilton. You had no way of knowing. Gentlemen? Very well, Excellency. We'll wait outside. Now then, this dispatch I hold in my hand is from Colonel Jameson, commander of our outpost downriver. It bears, gentlemen, most serious tidings, whose full implications I have not yet been able to face. Will you eat it, sir? I'll tell you in effect. The dispatch says that a man named John Anderson was arrested on the Tarrytown Road. He carried with him certain plans and drawings, which I have here. Will you look at them, Colonel Hamilton? Yes, your Excellency. Well, sir? Why, they're the plans of the West Point Fort, sir. I'll take my oath on it. Which point? Yes, look here. We stood on that hill just two hours ago, remember? And this, this cannon in placement. Thank you, Colonel Hamilton. Yes, these are the plans of West Point. And the man called Anderson has confessed to being Major John Andre, Adjutant to General Clinton, who commands the British forces in New York. I see you all understand the gravity of this news. But, sir, where did Andre get the plans? And how was he able to move through our lines? Ah, I was coming to that. For that factors the gravest of all. And for me, a matter of great personal grief. Not Arnold? Yes. Major Andre carried the safe conduct, signed by General Benedict Arnold. What? Gentlemen, we must first concern ourselves with the possible consequences of this conspiracy. Even now, British vessels in the Hudson may be moving to attack West Point. And if such an attack was successful, all our northern armies would be isolated. Cut off. Like gates in South Carolina? Exactly. And that defeat would mark the end of the war. For we would have no army left for resistance. Therefore, gentlemen, we must take what immediate steps we can to prevent such attack. Colonel Lamb? Yes, your Excellency. You will ride to Stoney Point at once and take command. Yes, sir. General Knox, I want you to take command of the force at West Point. Yes, sir. Captain Shaw, ride post haste to General Green. Tell him I wanted to put the division on the left in motion as soon as possible. Yes, your Excellency. Left by a two will remain with me. Yes, sir. And now, Hamilton, for you, what is, I suppose, the plum. What is that, sir? I want Benedict Arnold, Hamilton. I want him brought here to me. But, sir, have you any idea... Yes, yes, we talked a minute the landing. Shortly before we arrived this morning, Arnold rode to the river, jumped into a barge, and ordered the men in it to row downstream. That's all we know. Well, it's a long start he has on us, sir. That was hours ago. If we'd been sooner, well, still we must try. I have to look at his face. Look at him, sir? I thought I'd never known a traitor. And yet, all this time, I've had one beside me and was blind to it. I've praised him, loved him, and he was a traitor. If I couldn't see it in him, treason may be everywhere around me, and I wouldn't see it. It has probably gone no further, sir. You will find there's no one else. No one else? When a man like Benedict Arnold is a traitor, I tell you, the ground may be rotten under our feet. The very will of the revolution brought it away. Bring him to me, Hamilton, if you can. I'll try, sir. Then, when I've looked at him, when I know what treason looks like, he will hang by the neck until he's dead. You're listening to Herbert Marshall in Washington and the Traitor on the DuPont Cavalcade, sponsored by the DuPont Company of Wilmington, Delaware, maker of better things for better living through chemistry. As we return for act two of Washington and the Traitor, starring Herbert Marshall as George Washington on our DuPont Cavalcade, it is late afternoon. The air chill and darkening. The orders are given and the men are gone. And for General Washington, there's a long, a heavy time to wait. But if he wavers, if he fears for his nation, there is no one but Lafayette to know as they wait and talk together in the study, listening to time take by. Wait, wait, there's no, there's so much waiting in this wall, Lafayette, and I'm sick of it. And never come up to you again. No, thank you. I feel sometimes that I'm condemned for some reason to sit forever and watch a clock. And sometimes it will say one thing to me, and sometimes another. Another time the clock asked, will there be an alliance with France? I remember that waiting, sir, also. Another time the clock said, can bone and flesh on the hearts of your men endure this winter? That was at Valley Ford. And today it says, did Lamb reach Stony Point? Is Knox all right? Is Clinton sailing on West Point? Did Shaw get to Green? Time. Time and always before, I had a certain answer for that clock, Lafayette. What was that, sir? I answered, can bone and flesh will endure. There will be a nation, because the men who fight for this cause are strong and united, and can never be corrupted. And now, sir? Now, there is Benedict Arnold. Lafayette, do you grasp what this may mean to find there is a Benedict Arnold in our ranks? What treason means? Out there, walking so aimlessly in the garden of two young officers. Varric and Franks. Are they in this, too? They were very close to Arnold, sir. How far has it gone beyond Benedict Arnold? How far? That's what treason means. You think it may be a conspiracy, sir? Worse. Maybe you and I, and a handful are all who really believe in this elusive cause we've been chasing these long months. Oh, you don't believe that, sir? No. But I know this. That nothing I faced, no danger had frightened me more than this knowledge of treason. I don't know where I stand, Lafayette. Or who are our friends? You know your friends, sir? Upstairs. Locked in her room since morning as a woman. Peggy Arnold, the beautiful Peggy Shipman of Philadelphia. Is she a traitor, too? Of course. She may be with her husband in this. Yes. I always thought she was unscrupulous. Lafayette, I'm going up and talk to Madame Arnold. Oh, I won't talk to anybody. Madame, you must compose yourself. I am your physician. Doctor, perhaps I have better... No one! No one! Yes, I will. I'll talk to General Washington. But this is his excellence, say, General Washington. Madame... Oh, no! No, you're trying to fool me. I know him. He wants to kill my child. He's trying... She's raving mad directions. Perhaps if you tried. Very well, doctor. Peggy. Peggy Shipman. Who called me by that name? I used to know that name. I knew a little girl once who had that name in Philadelphia. Then she grew up and got married. What was her name, then? Her name became Arnold. Is the name Arnold a laughable one, Peggy Shipman? Her name was Arnold. But then she became a Duchess. A Duchess? Did you know that? No. How did she become a Duchess? Her husband served his country and his king. But her husband is done, Peggy. He deserted her. You liar! Don't you see? Yes, General Washington. Please help her all you can. Yes, your excellent. My husband... My husband will never come back. He's gone. Where's General Washington? Oh, you're waiting here, Lafayette. Did you learn anything, sir? Is Madame Arnold a traitor? Yes, she's a traitor. She is? Then will you...? She's a traitor to a little girl I used to know. A red-haired girl named Peggy Shipman. Treason. And in its wake a madwoman shrieking the ambitions which are the seed of treason. And by evening, this is all General Washington knows. He fears much more. It's a quiet evening along the Hudson. The air is sharp and clear. Downriver, there are lights on an anchored ship. And opposite in the West Point Fortes, there are lights too. After supper, Washington goes out into the garden and there he finds young Colonel Verrick and Major Franks. Gentlemen, I assume you've had some sort of report about what's happened here today? Yes, sir. Of course, we haven't been told much, sir. That's only natural. All that is necessary for you to know is that General Arnold is a traitor to his country. Yes, we know that. As a matter of fact, we reported to Colonel Hamilton that we've had certain suspicions, sir. You've had suspicions? Well, there was the call from Joshua Smith. You've heard of him, sir? The renegade Smith. He called on Arnold. Yes. And then we knew the forts were badly damaged. And you never reported any of these things? Why, Colonel Verrick? Well, sir, when you arrived, you praised General Arnold so highly, told me what a fine soldier he was, what a hero. Yes. Yes, I did. I believed he was all that. Well, gentlemen, I really have nothing much to talk to you about, but I felt since you had been close to Arnold... We know nothing more, sir. No, it's only that I thought I could tell. Well, I... I don't know what I thought. General Washington, sir, I... I know something you should have said to me. My conduct has been stupid, irresponsible, and unbecoming an officer. I, uh... I want to resign my commission, sir. But I don't ask that. And I, sir, I'm no less kill you than Colonel Verrick. I see. And you wish to resign your commission? Yes, sir. You see, sir, since we were associated with General Arnold so closely, you couldn't help but feeling uneasy about us. Well, if you resign, what will you do? I'll re-enlist, sir. Re-enlist? As a private, of course. And you major? I'll re-enlist, sir. Resign your commissions under a cloud, under suspicion of prison, and then re-enlist, why? Why? Well, there's the revolution, sir. Yes? It seems to me, sir, that it may take another year or so to win. We, uh... can re-enlist, can't we, General Washington? No. No, gentlemen, you cannot. I'm sorry, sir. You cannot re-enlist as privates because I haven't accepted your resignations. I haven't accepted your resignations as officers. A day of crisis, and now the gray or steerman Washington knows much more that the infection of treason is Benedict Arnold's alone. It has not spread. And the hours go by. Midnight. One o'clock. Two. Three. Captain Shaw reporting, sir. Well? General Green's division is in motion, sir. He reports no enemy true movements upriver. General Knox is here, Your Excellency. Yes, General. I wish to report all quiet across the river, sir. There have been no attempts made on the forts and no British forces have been sighted in the river, sir. Thank God. Now there will be no attempts. And now, Your Excellency, we'll go to bed. No left eye yet. There's still one thing to wait up for. We haven't heard from Hamilton. General Washington, sir. Come in, Hamilton. We were waiting for you. It's not good news, sir. By now it can't be bad news. Arnold escapes, sir. He rode hard with his barge, took him to the British loop, the voucher. Well, he'll feel at home there. But essential, sir, under a flag of truth. It was brought to me. Here it is. So he feels the need to explain. Well, we'll read it. Hmm. Listen. The principle of love to my country. Which country, Hamilton? Actuates my present conduct. However, may appear inconsistent to the world. I ask no favors for myself. I have too often experienced the ingratitude of my country to expect that. No, why read more? Well, sir, we've got Major Andre anyhow. Yes, and he'll hang. Hamilton, now I'll never be able to look at General Arnold and see what treason looks like. I tried, sir. But now I don't have to, Hamilton. Today I learned all there is to know. I learned in the raving of a madwoman. Madame Arnold? Yes, and I learned from the simple belief of two men, Varric and Franks. Learned what, sir? That treason is a fungus kernel. A creeping growth to nature's evil. But it can only grow like any other fungus where there is already decay. It grows in mold and rot, Hamilton. Yes, sir. So when I talk to Varric and Franks, I learn that treason can't flourish, can't develop in men such as those who follow us. No, sir. No, Hamilton. For such men are made of steel. Thanks to you, Herbert Marshall, and to all the other members of tonight's DuPont cavalcade. Did you know that we're actually building planes today that can stand still in mid-air and raise a man by a rope from the ocean or from an impenetrable jungle? These planes, called helicopters, are designed by Igor Sikosky and have been thoroughly tested at Wright Field, so they're no longer experiments. In fact, they're in mass production right now, and the Army has amazing plans for them because helicopters can do so many different things. For example, as observation planes, they can hide behind a hill, pop up to take a look at the enemy's position and quickly drop out of sight again. As hospital planes, they can descend into the narrowest valley, pick up wounded men, and take off again, where ordinary planes are useless. Navy helicopters can rescue men floating on life rafts by dropping a line to them and using a power winch to haul one man at a time into the air. Perhaps in the newsreels, you've seen a helicopter with its great rotor blades in motion. These rotor blades are made of laminated spruce and balsa wood over a metal core and then covered with fabric. 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Next week, the DuPont Cavalcade will bring you Marsha Hunt and Marjorie Reynolds in Flight Nurse. Perhaps of all the work that is being done by the young American women, the most packed with danger and excitement with sacrifice and devotion, with fatigue and heart's pain, is the work that is being done by the young American women, still in their 20s, most of them, who are flight nurses, angels of mercy with wings. Our play next week is based on the actual experiences of these efficient heroines. Listen next Monday night to Flight Nurse, starring Marsha Hunt and Marjorie Reynolds on the DuPont Cavalcade. Music on tonight's Cavalcade was composed by Arthur Arendt, who's based upon material supplied by Carl van Doren. This is Gain Whitman inviting you to tune in next Monday to Flight Nurse, starring Marsha Hunt and Marjorie Reynolds on the DuPont Cavalcade, brought to you by E.I. DuPont's Diney Morrison Company of Wilmington, Delaware. This is the National Broadcasting Company.