1956

Articles from 1956

The Depression and Humor of President Lincoln (National Park Service, 1956)

This 1956 article addressed the issue of Lincoln’s depression:

Lincoln’s story telling proclivities were well known in his own time. On the old eighth circuit in Illinois his humor and fund of anecdotes were proverbial. What was not so well known was that the tall, homely man needed a blanket of humor to suppress the fires of depression, gloom, and sense of tragedy that almost consumed him.


Click here to read about Lincoln, the joke teller.

The Depression and Humor of President Lincoln (National Park Service, 1956) Read More »

The Blitz Diet of 1956

A confident declaration makes clear at the top of these columns that all adherents will lose 5 pounds in 2 days if they seriously follow the dictates of the Blitz diet:

Breakfast, lunch and dinner are the same… Eight ounces of fresh creamed cottage cheese; two or three Elberta peach halves and juice…

(F.Y.I. – the Blitz diet allows for Norwegian flat bread, butter, sugar, and cinnamon.)

The Blitz Diet of 1956 Read More »

The Military Results of the Korean War (Dept. of the Army, 1956)

Attached is an article concerning a page from American Military History and it outlines the losses and gains of the Korean War (1950 – 1953). In five sentences this article gives the number of American dead and wounded, the number of U.N. dead and wounded and the amount of ground lost to the Chinese and North Korean military; a map of the stabilized front is provided.

The Military Results of the Korean War (Dept. of the Army, 1956) Read More »

William Holden (Coronet Magazine, 1956)

The attached profile of actor William Holden (1918 – 1981) appeared in print when his stock was about to peak.


When the summer of 1956 rolled around, Holden was already a double nominee for a BAFTA (Picnic), an Oscar (Sunset Boulevard) and was the grateful recipient of an Academy Award for Best Actor one year earlier (Stalag 17). In 1957 his performance in the Bridge on the River Kwai would bring even more pats on the back (although the Best Actor statue would go to Alec Guinness).


This five page interview tells the story of Holden’s initial discovery in Hollywood, his devotion to both the Screen Actor’s Guild and Paramount Pictures. His Hollywood peers held him in especially high-regard:

In a poll of Hollywood reporters recently he was designated ‘the best adjusted and happiest actor around’; by contrast, the same poll identified Humphrey Bogart as a total pain in the keister – click here to read that article.

William Holden (Coronet Magazine, 1956) Read More »

1863: The Importance of Chattanooga and East Tennessee (National Park Service, 1956)

Situated where the Tennessee River passes through the Cumberland Mountains, forming gaps, Chattanooga was called the Key to East Tennessee and Gateway to the deep South. The possession of Chattanooga was vital to the Confederacy, and a coveted goal of the Northern armies. Chattanooga’s principal importance during the Civil War was it’s position as a railroad center.


Click here to print American Civil War chronologies.

1863: The Importance of Chattanooga and East Tennessee (National Park Service, 1956) Read More »

1863: The Importance of Chattanooga and East Tennessee (National Park Service, 1956)

Situated where the Tennessee River passes through the Cumberland Mountains, forming gaps, Chattanooga was called the Key to East Tennessee and Gateway to the deep South. The possession of Chattanooga was vital to the Confederacy, and a coveted goal of the Northern armies. Chattanooga’s principal importance during the Civil War was it’s position as a railroad center.


Click here to print American Civil War chronologies.

1863: The Importance of Chattanooga and East Tennessee (National Park Service, 1956) Read More »

1863: The Importance of Chattanooga and East Tennessee (National Park Service, 1956)

Situated where the Tennessee River passes through the Cumberland Mountains, forming gaps, Chattanooga was called the Key to East Tennessee and Gateway to the deep South. The possession of Chattanooga was vital to the Confederacy, and a coveted goal of the Northern armies. Chattanooga’s principal importance during the Civil War was it’s position as a railroad center.


Click here to print American Civil War chronologies.

1863: The Importance of Chattanooga and East Tennessee (National Park Service, 1956) Read More »

‘The Dictator and his Woman” (Coronet Magazine, 1956)

The article attached herein is oddly titled The Dictator and his Woman; a more apt title would have been The Woman and her Dictator

From the start, the relationship between Peron and Evita was a curious and contradictory liason. It is true that she was still a struggling actress when Peron met her, but she had achieved a considerable reputation for spreading her favors around with a sharp eye to the future,


Read about Fascist Argentina…


Read about the post-war Nazi refuge that was Argentina…

‘The Dictator and his Woman” (Coronet Magazine, 1956) Read More »

The Life and Death of Hank Williams (Coronet Magazine, 1956)

Country Music legend Hank Williams (1923 – 1953)
died just four and a half months after being kicked out of the Grand Ol’ Opry for drunken and erratic behavior. He was at the peak of his fame, earning over $200,000 a year and enjoying the enthusiasm of ten million fans in the U.S. and five million abroad. He was 29 years old and known only for 35 songs. The attached article will let you in on the short and painful life of country music’s fair haired boy.


Like many artists, his creativity was nurtured by an empty stomach. Hank Williams was raised under dreadfully impoverished conditions in Depression era Alabama; suffering from spinal bifida, the illness that eventually overcame him, he sought relief from the pain with liquor and drugs and died in the back of the Caddy that was ferrying him to a gig in Canton Ohio.

The Life and Death of Hank Williams (Coronet Magazine, 1956) Read More »

The ICBM (Collier’s Magazine, 1956)

The U.S. and Russia are engaged in a race whose outcome may determine the course of history. The goal: development of the most frightful weapon conceived by man – a virtually unstoppable 16,000-mph intercontinental ballistic missile that can drop a hydrogen warhead on a city 5,000 miles away. At stake is not only the security of the free world , but our position as the world’s most technological and industrial power.

The ICBM (Collier’s Magazine, 1956) Read More »