1936

Articles from 1936

The U.S. Urban Murder Rate: 1926 – 1935 (Literary Digest, 1936)

Attached is a chart pulled from a 1936 issue of THE LITERARY DIGEST that reported on the U.S. urban homicide rate spanning the years 1926 through 1935. It indicates that the murder rate began climbing during the economic depression (from 8.8 in 1928); the years 1934 through 1936 saw a steady decline in urban homicide, more than likely as a result of the end of Prohibition.

The U.S. Urban Murder Rate: 1926 – 1935 (Literary Digest, 1936) Read More »

1918: An Armistice Remembrance (American Legion Monthly, 1936)

St. NAZAIRE, 1918. It was eleven in the morning when we first heard the news. A piercing whistle from one of the steamers in the harbor, a sudden blast so loud and so startling that even the nurses in their rest camp in La Baule fifteen kilometers away could hear it…L’ARMISTICE EST SIGNÉ…by noon the entire town was outdoors; a truck load of German prisoners rolled past, apparently quite as happy as the rest of us.

1918: An Armistice Remembrance (American Legion Monthly, 1936) Read More »

The Monument at Vimy Ridge (The Literary Digest, 1936)

The attached article was written nineteen years after the smoke cleared over Vimy Ridge and succinctly tells the story of that battle in order that we can better understand why thousands of Canadian World War One veterans crossed the ocean a second time in order to witness the unveiling of the memorial dedicated to those Canadians who died there:

Walter S. Allward (1876 – 1955), Canadian sculptor, worked fourteen years on the completion of the monument, which cost $1,500,000.

The article also touches upon some of the weird events that have taken place at Vimy Ridge since the war ended…


Click here to read an article about the German veterans of W.W. I.

The Monument at Vimy Ridge (The Literary Digest, 1936) Read More »

American Horses in the First World War (American Legion Monthly, 1936)

I have read many interesting stories about heroes of the war and interesting accounts of pigeons, and police dogs, etc., but very little about the horses that served…Many of them were taken prisoner by the Germans, taken back into Germany and exhibited in their American harnesses and equipment. After the war, immediate plans were made to return the American men to their native country, but the equine warriors were forgotten…


This article is about the 32 American horses that were captured in the war and never repatriated.

American Horses in the First World War (American Legion Monthly, 1936) Read More »

Japan’s Puppet (Literary Digest, 1936)

A brief notice reporting on Prince Teh Wang (Prince Demchugdongrub 1902 – 1966), ruler of Inner Mongolia, who, in an attempt to create an independent Mongolia, simply ruled as an appeaser of Imperial Japan:

While Prince Teh’s position, as a Japanese puppet, can scarcely be less comfortable than it was before , Japan has a grip on the bottle-neck controlling a vast, ill-defined hinterland of North China; and has as well a buffer State between her own influence and that of the Soviets.

Japan’s Puppet (Literary Digest, 1936) Read More »

The Military Buildup in France and Britain (Literary Digest, 1936)

This 1936 magazine article reported that Germany had spent a considerable sum on munitions and armaments throughout much of the previous year and was not likely to stop anytime soon. In light of this fact, the French and British governments were moved to do the same:

Winston Churchill, a cherubic reddish-haired Cassandra, bobbed up in the House of Commons again last week to warn his countrymen of the ‘remorseless hammers’ of the world.

The Military Buildup in France and Britain (Literary Digest, 1936) Read More »

The Military Buildup in France and Britain
(Literary Digest, 1936)

This 1936 magazine article reported that Germany had spent a considerable sum on munitions and armaments throughout much of the previous year and was not likely to stop anytime soon. In light of this fact, the French and British governments were moved to do the same:

Winston Churchill, a cherubic reddish-haired Cassandra, bobbed up in the House of Commons again last week to warn his countrymen of the ‘remorseless hammers’ of the world.

The Military Buildup in France and Britain
(Literary Digest, 1936) Read More »

Military Buildup in the United States (Literary Digest, 1936)

At midnight, December 31, the Naval Limitations Treaty of 1930 will expire and, tho a treaty of a sort was negotiated last April, apparently it will not be ratified and put into effect by the end of the year.

With this in mind, Congress authorized the construction of two battleships at the cost of $50,000,000 each.

And is it worth it, in these days of fleet and deadly torpedo planes or great diving bombers clutching demolition bombs weighing a ton apiece? Naval experts think so. The Battleship, they say, is still the backbone of the battle-fleet. In the phrase of the street, the battleship can dish it out.

The Navy would soon learn that they were actually living in the age of the aircraft carrier.


Click here to read more about the expansion of the U.S. Navy.

Military Buildup in the United States (Literary Digest, 1936) Read More »

The Birth of the Green Bay Packers (American Legion Monthly, 1936)

This is a sports article that summarizes the meteoric course of the Green Bay Packers, from their earliest days in 1918, when Curly Lambeau approached a meat packing plant beseeching their patronage in order that the team could have uniforms, to the high perch they held in 1936.

Consider for a moment the success this team has had, coming as it does from the smallest city in the pro league. After battling first division teams in the National Professional Football League for many years, the Packers finally came through and won three successive world championships in 1929, 1930 and 1931… If you were to ask most college football stars which pro team they would like to play on, most of them would invariably answer, ‘The Green Bay Packers‘.

The Birth of the Green Bay Packers (American Legion Monthly, 1936) Read More »