Three Sons of the 20th Century

This story is about three ordinary men who were born and raised in opposite corners of the world…sort of “astral siblings”…born within fourteen months of each other in the United States, China and Japan. Although these ordinary men experienced the twentieth century’s extraordinary events and incredible technological changes through their unique personal filters, all three coincidentally were attracted to successful careers in media.
Quite a number of books have been written about the larger issues of the century and those universal concepts woven into the historical tap- estry of this epoch. However, rarely do readers get an opportunity to walk simultaneously in three sets of ordinary men’s shoes, vicariously experiencing and observing along the way. Late in their journeys, the three individual roads intersect at the junction of the media and infor- mation highway. As a result of this conjunction, their ensuing friend- ship, mutual admiration and mutual respect provide the impetus for the writing of this highly personal autobiographical trilogy. The world was troubled and sometimes dangerous in 1932 and 1933. There was no internet…no Email…no computers…no cell phones… no stereo, hifi, music CDs…no electronic calculators…no jet planes… and NO TV!
There was radio, newspapers, magazines and telegraph. Most coun- tries in the world were struggling to work out of a grinding worldwide economic depression. In the U.S. there were breadlines and widespread unemployment following the collapse of the stock market. China was war torn and overrun by an aggressive and warring Japan spreading its



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military influence through Southeast Asia. Adolph Hitler was preparing to seize power in Germany. Britain readied itself for war with Germany. Russia was in the early stages of Communism.
The three men begin their lives at this point in time.
Xu XiongXiong (Lao Xu) was born in Qingdao, China, in December
1932. As part of a stream of Chinese refugees fleeing the invading Japanese troops, Lao Xu, his mother, and brothers and sisters, embark on a dangerous journey through the western part of China. They finally settle in Sushou as the war ends. Lao Xu narrates his youthful experi- ence as a soldier-interpreter in Korea resisting the “American aggressor” during the early fifties. He then relates his experiences as a diplomatic courier. Later, during the “Cultural Revolution” he and his family are relocated to the distant countryside for “re-training”, enduring physical hardships and chaotic political mind games. He concludes his narration with the fortuitous events that lead to his eventual high-ranking assign- ment at Central China Television (CCTV).
Naotada Osaki (Tad) was born in Kyoto, Japan, in December 1933. Tad recounts his boyhood experiences of the war. Spared the bombing raids, he recalls the “starvation” lines and the emperor’s radio announcement on the day of surrender. Tad takes us through his early adult years, his love for music, and his flair for the entrepreneurial. He begins his media career as reporter for the Japan Times, moving into public relations, and then working for Coke in Public Relations and Marketing in Tokyo. Tad moves on to coke headquarters in Atlanta, returning to Tokyo to form his own consultancy business.
John Francis Hobbs (Jack) was born in Shenandoah, Pennsylvania, in October 1932. Jack describes his young life during the depression and later during the war years. While his first serious love was music, Jack began his media career in the hometown newspaper’s ad sales depart- ment, moving later to metropolitan newspapers in Philadelphia. He moved to the radio business and describes his radio station general manager’s experiences in Boston, Indianapolis, San Francisco and New
York. Jack joins Ted Turner’s CNN in the early eighties and subse- quently oversees CNN ad sales in Asia and in Europe.