1954

Articles from 1954

The Jokes of Abraham Lincoln (Pageant Magazine, 1954)

Lincoln could use humor as an explosive weapon as well as employing it as a constructive force… For Abraham Lincoln never told a story except with a purpose. He himself pointed this out often. His anecdotes were the precision tools of a highly skilled and intelligent wit… ‘I laugh because I must not cry: That’s all, that’s all.’


Click here to read another article about Lincoln’s use of humor and story-telling.


Click here to read the back-story concerning the Star-Spangled Banner…

The Jokes of Abraham Lincoln (Pageant Magazine, 1954) Read More »

U.S. Racial Diversity and the Cold War (Quick Magazine, 1954)

With the end of the Second World War in 1945 came numerous social changes to the nation. Among them was the Civil Rights movement, which soon began to find followers in the white majority and acquire an unprecedented traction in Washington as a result of the Cold War (an article on this topic can be read here). It was these two factors, the Cold War and the Civil Rights movement, that combined in the Fifties to call for the creation of a new immigration policy. It would be naive to assume that race alone was the sole factor in drafting a more inclusive policy because, as the attached editorial spells out, the Cold War climate demanded that the U.S. make more friends among the developing countries if the Soviets were to be defeated economically and militarily.

U.S. Racial Diversity and the Cold War (Quick Magazine, 1954) Read More »

‘The Communists Are After Our Minds” (The American Magazine, 1954)

Oh how we all laughed when we used to read of these old Cold Warriors who actually believed that Communists were active in our schools in the 1990s! Gosh, it was funny! But it wasn’t funny when we discovered how close an actual Marxist came to winning the presidential nominations of the Democratic Party in both 2016 and 2020. It seems like the long march through the institutions has finally paid off for the Leftists. The attached article was written by J. Edgar Hoover and it was penned in order that Americans would know that this day would come if we were not vigilant.

‘The Communists Are After Our Minds” (The American Magazine, 1954) Read More »

The Lady was a Spy (Coronet Magazine, 1954)

During World War II many women played roles as daring and courageous as were required of any man. This is the true story of one such woman, who gambled her life to help the Allies win the final victory in Europe.

…I began my mission in wartime France as a British secret agent. Colonel Maurice Buckmaster had told me what my assignment was:

You will parachute into France with a wireless operator and a demolition specialist. The drop will be 40 miles from Le Mans, where Rommel’s army is concentrated…


Click here to read about the women who spied for the Nazis during the Second World War.

The Lady was a Spy (Coronet Magazine, 1954) Read More »

The Army Restrained (U.S. News & World Report, 1954)

Sitting before a senate committee convened in order to understand what went wrong in Korea, Lieutenant General Edward M. Almond (1892 – 1979), U.S. Army, was not shy to point out that it was the the back-seat drivers in Washington who interfered in their ability to fight the war.


Senator Welker: Could we have won the war in 1951…?


General Almond: I think so.


General Matthew Ridgway experienced the same frustration – click here to read about it.

The Army Restrained (U.S. News & World Report, 1954) Read More »

Open All Night (The American Magazine, 1954)

Ever since America established the car culture, there came a need for all-night retail establishments: hamburgers, hot dogs, beer, pharmaceuticals – you get the picture. During the late Thirties this became apparent to the Reverend John Welles as he drove aimlessly through the West – he saw that it was quite possible to acquire meatloaf at all hours of the night, but if you wanted to speak with a minister of the Gospel, you were just plain out of luck. It was then that Welles swore to himself:


If ever I have another church, it will be open day and night. The soul doesn’t come alive on Sunday mornings only, and some day I’ll build a church where people can pray whenever they wish.

Open All Night (The American Magazine, 1954) Read More »

Leopard and Zebra Prints Become the Thing, Again (Quick Magazine, 1954)

Two years before this article went to press, some Delphian at Quick Magazine scribbled these words:

Expect fashion designers to jump on the African trend in literature and entertainment. Examples: four new African [themed] films (Cry the Beloved Countrystyle=border:none, The Magic Gardenstyle=border:none, Latuko and The African Queenstyle=border:none) to be followed by a Walt Disney African wildlife film.


– next thing you know, down fashion’s runways sashay the teen waifs – all clad as if they were the striped and spotted beasts who prance upon the Serengeti Plain.

Leopard and Zebra Prints Become the Thing, Again (Quick Magazine, 1954) Read More »

The Battle of Gettysburg: Day Two (National Park Service, 1954)

By the afternoon of July 2, the powerful forces of Meade and Lee were at hand, and battle on a tremendous scale was imminent. That part of the Union line extending diagonally across the valley between Seminary and Cemetery Ridges held. Late in the forenoon, General Dan Sickles, commanding the Third Corps which lay north of Little Round Top, sent Berdan’s sharpshooters and some of the men of the 3rd Maine Regiment forward from Emmitsburg Road to Pitzer’s Woods… as they reached the woods, a strong Confederate force fired upon them…

The Battle of Gettysburg: Day Two (National Park Service, 1954) Read More »