The Cold War – Page 2 – Old Magazine Articles

‘How We Can Win in Asia”
(Quick Magazine, 1952)

In the attached editorial, Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas (1898 – 1980) weighs in on how the United States could forge stronger Cold War alliances in Asia and the Middle East:

We have thought that we could stop the spread of communism by guns and by dollars. We have spent billions upon billions and yet the Red tide of communism seems to spread… We should show Asia how her revolution can follow the pattern of 1776. What will win in Asia are not guns and dollars but but ideas of freedom and justice. To win in Asia, America must identify herself with those ideas.

To understand some of the diplomatic challenges Douglas was referring to, click here

Russia’s Fifth Column in America
(American Opinion, 1964)

Over the last thirty years the United States, as well as Central and South America, has been invaded repeatedly by ununiformed soldiers of the Soviet Government – agents of the International Communist Conspiracy. Our government has been furnished repeatedly with conclusive evidence of this invasion and yet has done nothing to exclude and deport the invaders… To make matters worse, ‘Liberal’ administrations since the time of Franklin Roosevelt have urged that what few immigration restrictions we have to prevent their entrance be removed… Roosevelt was not interested in the fact that many of those entering were Communists; after all, he told me that some of his best friends were Communists.

The Coeds of the Cold War
(Quick Magazine, 1953)

The original Generation X was that group of babies born in the late Twenties/early Thirties: they were the younger brothers and sisters of the W.W. II generation. There seemed to have been some talk in the early Fifties that this group of Americans were becoming sardonic and cynical – raised on the W.W. II home front, only to find that when they came of age they were also expected to sacrifice their numbers in a foreign war:

How can you help being pessimistic when you hear that the boy you sat next to in high school English was killed last week in Korea?

– opined one of the nine college women interviewed on the attached pages. These Cold War women were asked what was on their minds as they prepared for jobs, marriage and family.

The Damaged Prestige of the FBI
(Quick Magazine, 1952)

When this article appeared on the newsstands, J. Edgar Hoover had been FBI chief for nearly thirty years. In all that time he had enjoyed being photographed among celebrities and adored patting himself on the back by writing numerous magazine articles about the FBI. But by the time the early Fifties came along Hoover and his Federal agency were no longer the teflon icon that they used to be; the failings of the FBI were adding up and Hoover did not seemed accountable.

Journalist Daniel Schorr and Premier Khrushchev
(Coronet Magazine, 1961)

When C.B.S.’ Daniel Schorr (1916 – 2010) and U.S.S.R.’s Mr. K meet head on – sparks and fur fly; and Nikita doesn’t always come out on top.

Premier Khrushchev has been known, upon spotting the 44-year American newsman, to boom, ‘Ah, there’s old Schorr, my sputnik.’

Let The UN Keep The Peace
(Pathfinder Magazine, 1950)

In the fall of 1950, U.S. Secretary of State Dean Acheson stood before the United Nations General Assembly and reminded them that five years earlier, when the U.N. Charter was conceived, it was agreed that the U.N should have a military arm with which to enforce its edicts. He prodded their memories to a further degree when he reminded them that they’d have one today if the Soviet delegates hadn’t objected so vociferously.

Korea has shown how ill prepared the United Nations is to stop aggression. The defense of Korea is nominally a U.N. responsibility. But 98% of the effort, and an equally high percentage of the ‘United Nations’ casualties, come from the United States.

President Eisenhower’s Thoughts on Vietnam
(Why Vietnam, 1965)

Here is a segment of the letter many historians tend to agree was the one document that lead to the American involvement in the Vietnam War. Written in the Spring of 1954 when the French military was in the throes of losing the Battle of Điện Biên Phủ, President Eisenhower reached out to the former British Prime Minister to express his concerns regarding the place of Vietnam within the strategic structure of the Pacific and openly wondered what a Communist Vietnam would mean in the balance of power.

If I may refer again to history; we failed to halt Hirohito, Mussolini and Hitler by not acting in unity and in time. That marked the beginning of many years of stark tragedy and desperate peril. May it not be that our nations have learned something from that lesson?…

In 1954 the French gave up on Vietnam and the U.S. accepted the challenge – click here to read about it…

Click here to read an article about American public opinion during the early Cold War years

More about Winston Churchill can be read here.

The Necessity of Overthrowing Russia
(Pathfinder Magazine, 1950)

This is a profile of the American Cold Warrior James Burnham (1905 – 1987), who is remembered as being one of the co-founders of the conservative monthly, National Review. What is little known about Burnham is the fact that he was a communist in his early twenties and a steady correspondent with Trotsky. It didn’t take long before he recognized the inherit tyranny that is the very nature of communism – and from that moment on he devoted much of his life to revealing to the world the dangers of that tyranny.

The Communist on Capitol Hill
(Newsweek Magazine, 1945)

Although his membership in the Communist Party would not be known until he had already been out of the House of Representatives for six years, Hugh De Lacy (1910 – 1986) was easily recognized by his colleagues as quite the radical…

No doubt De Lacy’s favorite presidential candidate was the American socialist Norman Thomas – and you can read about him here…

Communism vs Democracy
(Pathfinder Magazine, 1950)

Pathfinder Magazine publisher Graham Patterson put pen to paper in an effort to articulate what the Cold War was in its simplest form, and what were the differences between a communist government and a democracy.

It is important for free people to know their avowed enemy, to understand communism, to recognize the difference between their present freedom and the way of life communism would force upon them.