How did people in the States learn that world war 1 had ended When did they find out World War 1 had ended?

Answer 1

People learned generally from their local newspaper office. Even small, county seat towns had newspapers, and most of them were connected via telegraph lines to the wire service news bureaus. War correspondents in Europe began to file stories as soon as it was announced at 9:00 AM in France that the Armistice was signed, and to go into effect at 11:00 AM French time. That was about 4:00 AM in the US, to take effect at 6:00 Am Eastern time. So the news was in time to be included in the morning newspapers, and in larger towns and cities the newspapers immediately put out an "extra" edition of the day's paper, for immediate sale, as soon as it could be rushed to news vendors. Many people learned before it could be printed up. As soon as word was received over the wires, people began rushing into the streets to celebrate, church bells were rung continuously, drawing more out to see what the commotion was, car horns were honked. Almost forgotten today is the "false armistice" that happened four or five days earlier. An erroneous wire service report that Germany had surrendered got by the censors and was received by one of the big news bureaus - I think it was AP. They put it on the wire but noted it was "unconfirmed". Nevertheless this report triggered wild celebrations, followed by despair as people learned that the report was false and the war was not over. The real joy unleashed at the time of the false armistice drew much of the ardor out of the spontaneous celebrations which ensued after the real armistice a few days later, in the opinion of many who were alive at the time.