The Cold War – Page 14 – Old Magazine Articles

The Allure of the Private Bomb Shelter
(People Today Magazine, 1955)

This is a consumer report concerning various bomb shelter plans that were commercially available to the American public in 1955:

The most elaborate of five government-approved home bomb shelters is a combination tunnel and emergency exit in reinforced concrete, extending outward under ground from cellar walls It holds six persons and offers maximum protection from all effects of an atomic explosion… But the FCDA (Federal Civil Defense Administration) also recommends a practical type type that can be put together by any do-it-yourselfer for around $20.00.

U.N. Dilemma
(Pathfinder Magazine, 1950)

With the expansion of the Korean War, the United Nations realized that World War III was at their doorstep if they wanted to engage. Withdrawing in order to fight another day made sense – but such a decision was not without costs.

More Letters From Vietnam
(Coronet Magazine, 1970)

More article about the Vietnam War can be found here…

British Moles Defect
(Quick Magazine, 1951)

On May 19, 1951 two officials of the British Foreign Office were reported as missing; their disappearance raised many eyebrows within the intelligence community.
One of the men, Donald MacLean (1913 – 1983) had been working in various trusted positions within the British diplomatic corps since 1934, but his handlers in Moscow called him Homer. The other Englishman, Guy Burgess (1911 – 1963) began working for the Foreign Office in 1944; the KGB called him Hicks. The two men were members of a spy ring that would soon be known as the Cambridge Four (the other two being Kim Philby and Anthony Blunt. In later years a fifth spy would surface: Roland Perry. All of them were recruited by the Soviets while attending Cambridge University in the 1930s).

The information that was fed to the journalist who wrote the attached article was clearly meant to disguise the fact that all the Western intelligence agencies were totally freaking out.

‘Uncle Ho Strikes Back”
(Pathfinder Magazine, 1950)

Three years before the total French withdrawal from Vietnam, this one Frenchman summed up his comrade’s frustrations concerning their battles against the Viet Minh:

We can’t win a guerrilla war unless we have the support of the people. Frankly, we have not got it. Hitler or the Russians could conquer this country in two months with mass executions, wholesale reprisals and concentration camps. To fight this war and remain humanitarian is difficult.

The Kaesong Cease-Fire
(Time Magazine, 1951)

The Korean War peace negotiations that took place at Kaesong during August of 1951 are remembered as one of the many failed peace conferences to be convened during the course of that war. The talks were broken off early as a result of a series of U.N. raids that were launched in two different enemy held positions – in addition to an nighttime airstrike that almost decimated the grounds where the talks were being held. The U.N. negotiators were especially frustrated with the fact that the Communists wished that both armies adhere to the 38th Parallel as the post-war border; exactly where the war began.

The March from Chosin to the Sea
(Pathfinder Magazine, 1950)

This is an eyewitness account of the fortitude and endurance exhibited by the freezing members of the 1st Marine Division as they executed their highly disciplined 100 mile march from the Chosin Reservoir to the Korean coastline – inflicting (and taking) casualties all the while. The account is simply composed of a series of diary entries – seldom more than eight sentences in length recalling that famous fighting retreat in the frozen Hell that was Korea. The journalist’s last entry points out that the number of Marine dead was so high, we need never think of the Battle of Tarawa as the bloodiest engagement in Marine history.

The Proxy Wars
(Pathfinder Magazine, 1950)

On June 24 [1950] Soviet Russia dug deep into her bag of tricks and came up with a new one – war by proxy. Today, still sadly unprepared for satellite warfare, the US may yet profit by tragic experiences – so that even possible defeat in Korea will not be totally without gain. What has been learned and how this knowledge might be used in future satellite wars is discussed here.

The Early CIA
(Coronet Magazine, 1951)

The CIA is a young and relatively untested child in the strange world of intelligence. The enemy dourly accuses it of ‘Black Warfare.’ But there is definite proof of its success. Radio Moscow never misses a chance to scream shrilly of ‘the extended spy network of the Wall Street mercenaries.’

The CIA formula avoids the fog of rumor that fills any world capital, and goes straight to the hard facts of the enemy’s economy, production, transportation, raw materials and manpower. A modern war must be organized, much of it in the open, long in advance. Guns must be manufactured; munitions, food, and raw materials stockpiled; railways and roads expanded and soldiers trained. The allocation of scarce Soviet-controlled steel is far more important than the minutes of the Politburo.

In 1958, Fidel Castro wrote an article for an American magazine in which he thoroughly lied about his intentions; click here to read it.

Peace At Last
(Newsweek, Quick Magazine, 1953)

While the fighting raged on the central front the negotiators at Panmunjom rapidly approached an agreement on armistice terms. The July 19th (1953) agreement was reached on all points by both sides. The next day liaison and staff officers began the task of drawing up the boundaries of the demilitarized zone… At 1100 hours on July 27, Lieutenant General William K Harrison, Jr., the senior United Nations delegate to the armistice negotiations, signed the armistice papers. At the same time the senior enemy delegate, General Nam Il, placed his signature on the documents.