1941 – Page 2 – Old Magazine Articles

Debauchery Near the Army Camps
(Collier’s Magazine, 1941)

Even before the Home Front kicked into high-gear, the men who had been picked up in the 1940 draft were causing real problems in every area where a military training camp could be found. Knowing that the enlistments were soon to grow and these problems would be getting worse, the brass hats joined arms with the town elders to curb the drinking and whoremongering. The cure for these difficulties came in the form of the USO, which would be eatablished before the year was out.

A similar article can be read here.

Weegee’s New York
(Spot Magazine, 1941)

“When most of Manhattan is sound asleep, the free-lance photographer Arthur Fellig (1899 – 1968) – better known as Weegee – begins his wide-awake work of catching the city’s nocturnal drama. Weegee sleeps by day and at midnight sets out to cruse the city in his car, equipped with [a] police radio and bought with the proceeds from crime photos. He earned his nickname through his uncanny Ouija Board ability to know about distant happenings and beat others to the scene.”

Click here to read more about New York City.

Blitzkrieg
(Newsweek Magazine, 1941)

“Lightning warfare suggests initiative and spirit of the offensive; it carries with it the element of surprise, not so much in the happening as in the speed and force with which the attack is launched and delivered.”

Click here to read about the nature of Total war.

Click here to read about a Kamikaze attack like no other…

Blitzkrieg
(Newsweek Magazine, 1941)

Click here to read about the nature of Total war.

Click here to read about a Kamikaze attack like no other…

Blitzkrieg
(Newsweek Magazine, 1941)

Click here to read about the nature of Total war.

Click here to read about a Kamikaze attack like no other…

”My Patient, Adolf Hitler”
(Collier’s Magazine, 1941)

Dr. Eduard Bloch (1872 – 1945) was the Austrian physician who treated the family Hitler throughout the 1880’s up until 1908. He knew the future tyrant well. Oddly, the doctor seems quite sympathetic toward Hitler – he couldn’t have known that his patient would become one of the greatest monsters of the Twentieth Century, but he had read Hitler’s book and knew what he was capable of.

“What kind of boy was Adolf Hitler? Many biographers have put him down as harsh-voiced, defiant, untidy; as a young ruffian who personified all that is unattractive. This simply is not true. As a youth he was quiet, well-mannered and neatly dressed.”

W.W. II-Era Immigrants and Americanization
(Newsweek Magazine, 1941)

“Convinced that the best way to combat fifth columnists is to teach aliens how to become good citizens, the Department of Justice announced a $14,000,000 program to expand Works Projects Administration classes in ‘Americanization’…”

The First Nazi Prisoners
(Spot Magazine, 1941)

The first Nazi prisoners to be incarcerated by the U.S. were not from North Africa or Atlantic U-boats, they were the officers and men of the German passenger liner Columbus in 1939.

The Radio Facsimile Transmitter
(Spot Magazine, 1941)

Throughout the course of the Second World War the Radio Facsimile Transmitter (Radio Fax) was used by the Allied Armies to transmit maps, orders and weather charts across God’s vast oceans. War correspondents used the technology to transmit articles and images to their editors.

Mr. Nystrom’s Car Won’t Quit
(Spot Magazine, 1941)

Mr. John Nystrom of New York City drove a 32 year-old Model T Ford. Judging by the writer’s tone, we can guess that not many cars from 1909 were around to see Roosevelt’s third term. The Flivver (as she was nicknamed) had 250,000 miles on her (no mention as to how that was known) and still got 20 miles per/gallon, with a top speed of 48 miles per/hour. We can assume that Mr. Nystrom went to his rewards some time ago, but his car is probably still out there being written about.

His Mail
(Spot Magazine, 1941)

Unlike his many predecessors, FDR used to encourage the American people to write him with their thoughts. At times, the President used to boast to Congress concerning the volume of his mail in favor of his programs, but the mails did not simply deliver stamped envelopes:

“Almost anything you can think of has arrived as a gift at some time or another – dogs, sheep, eagles, baby chicks, toads, alligators. Mr. Roosevelt has never received any lions, but Calvin Coolidge got two, from Johannesburg…”

Explaining the Need for the USO
(Spot Magazine, 1941)

This article said it all honestly and without flowery metaphors – plainly stating the facts that if American military personnel were not provided some wholesome distractions, they would simply loiter around barrooms and whorehouses during their leisure time and become a drag on society.

Explaining the Need for the USO
(Spot Magazine, 1941)

An Anti-Discrimination Law on the Home Front
(Collier’s Magazine, 1941)

Inasmuch as the Roosevelt administration believed that the integration the armed forces was far too risky a proposition during wartime, it did take steps to insure that fair hiring practices were observed by all industries that held defense contracts with the Federal government; during the summer of 1941 a law was passed making such discrimination a crime.

The attached editorial from Collier’s Magazine applauded the President for doing the right thing.