Articles from 1942
These assorted color photographs of the Japanese-American internment camp at Manzanar, California helped to illustrate this 1942 COLLIER’S MAGAZINE article by Jim Marshall as to what Manzanar was and was not, who was there and how it operated:
All we can do here is prove that we are good sports and good Americans, and hope that people will respect us and our problems.
This article remembers the relationship Wilson enjoyed with a much admired editor and columnist for the N.Y. World, Frank Cobb (1869 – 1923). A page from the newspaperman’s diary recalls his 1917 visit with the President on the night before he appeared before Congress seeking the declaration of war.
I’d never seen him so worn down. He looked as if he hadn’t slept – and he said he hadn’t…
The government, endeavoring to meet the problem by raising the economic stature of the Negro, create committees, change regulations. The Army admits Negro candidates for officer training to the same schools as whites. It is training Negro pilots for the Air Corps. Negro officers will command Negro troops. The Navy opens new types of service for the Negro in the Marine Corps, the Coast Guard, inshore establishments, Navy yards and construction crews.
When the fops answered the call in 1942, these are the hats and shoes they walked away wearing.
You will be able to easily print the attached page of fashion images.
On another note: the legendary fashion designer Christian Dior had a good deal of trouble with people who would illegally copy his designs; click here to read about that part of fashion history.
A well illustrated wartime review concerning what the women of fashion could do to enhance life in spite of the government shortages.
Illustrated with pictures of Winston Churchill’s weird zipper suit and Joseph Stalin’s all purpose costume, 1940s fashion critic Elizabeth Hawes (1903 – 1971) taunts the Great-American-Male and challenges him to respond in kind by wearing copies of these comfortable threads:
Today’s business clothes were worked out by the winners of the Industrial Revolution, whose descendants are the big tycoons of our day…Aspirants to leadership and success normally copy the clothes of existent leaders. Isn’t it about time the most of you changed your suits?
Elizabeth Hawes wrote more on the topic of W.W. II fashions…
When the general appearance of women’s uniforms prescribed for voluntary war work by various charitable organizations were deemed unfashionable, uncomfortable or simply embarrassing, the well-known fashion stylist and costume designer Irene (Irene Lentz, 1900 – 1962) stepped up to the plate designing an all-purpose green wool suit, topped-off by a beret:
The noted Hollywood stylist, Irene, performed a real service for defense when she designed her all-around defense suit. Of sturdy gabardine, worn with long cotton service socks and plastic shoes, it is nevertheless as attractive as any civilian suit, and more practical than most. In this outfit, women war workers will not feel self-conscious and ill at ease.
Two short, gossipy paragraphs from a Hollywood literary magazine printed early in the American home front experience concerning women war-workers, fabric rationing and the long-standing debate between ready-made uniforms vs custom-made uniforms:
Feminine uniforms are causing great dismay. Women of small means complain that while they would like custom-made uniforms, they can’t afford them. Nevertheless, designers are doing a capacity business, turning out ultra-chic numbers for those in the money…
Click here to read an article about women’s uniforms during W.W. I.
Here is a an Elizabeth Hawes (1903 – 1971) fashion review covering some of the hats for the autumn of 1942. They were all the creations of John-Frederics (1902 – 1993) – some are simply fantastical while others are a tad less dramatic, but not lacking in style.
Click here to read about the hats of 1947.
Although the WAAC uniforms were designed by Dorthy Shavers (1893 – 1959) of Lord & Taylor, this short article credits U.S. Army Colonel L.O. Grice – who actually served more in the capacity as the Army’s artistic director who supervised the designer.
He picked everything from purses to panties for Uncle Sam’s powder-puff army…
Click here to read about the WAVE’s uniform…
For the Americans, World War II was just four months old when these three color pictures appeared depicting the most up to date (and economical) methods used in the training of Stuart Tank gunners.
Another article about wartime Washington can be read here… Click here to read about the end of the Great Depression…
Attached is an eyewitness account of the Pearl Harbor attack as relayed to family members in a letter written home a few weeks after the assault:
The noise was like ten thousand factories gone nuts….Quicker than I can tell you, a bomb blows up the barracks with the gang in it, a ship explodes in front of me, a hangar goes up in flames…
The very next day President Roosevelt stood before the microphones in the well of the U.S. Capitol and asked Congress to declare war against the Empire of Japan; CLICK HERE to hear about the reactions of the American public during his broadcast…
Pearl Harbor Christmas: A World at War, December 1941
Click here to read about the Battle of Midway.
Attached is an eyewitness account of the Pearl Harbor attack as relayed to family members in a letter written home a few weeks after the assault:
The noise was like ten thousand factories gone nuts….Quicker than I can tell you, a bomb blows up the barracks with the gang in it, a ship explodes in front of me, a hangar goes up in flames…
The very next day President Roosevelt stood before the microphones in the well of the U.S. Capitol and asked Congress to declare war against the Empire of Japan; CLICK HERE to hear about the reactions of the American public during his broadcast…
Pearl Harbor Christmas: A World at War, December 1941
Click here to read about the Battle of Midway.
Hearst reporter H.R. Knickerbocker (1898 – 1949) had been closely watching Hitler since 1923 and pointed out that on April 29, 1941 the Axis forces had printed a trial balloon on the pages of the JAPAN TIMES ADVERTISER that clearly indicated the peace terms that were acceptable to the Nazis. Attached is Knickerbocker’s outline of this proposal, as well as the correspondent’s astute commentary that he had prepared for his 1942 bestseller, Is Tomorrow Hitler’s?
From Amazon: Is Tomorrow Hitler’s?
The German economist who made the Reich’s rearmament possible was named Hjalmar Schacht, click here to read about him…
The dilemma before Hitler is that he must marshall all his air strength to crush Russia. He cannot do so without weakening his air units in France or the Mediterranean. Such a move would threaten him either with an Allied invasion of the Continent or the disruption of the Axis supply lines to Africa… The Luftwaffe had lost 15,000 planes in Russia – and with them the hope of regaining air superiority in Russian skies.
The 76th Division at Fort Meade learns the latest scientific methods of hand-to-hand slaughter and free-for-all street fighting that will soon be taught to every infantry outfit in the Army. The article concerns the hand-t-hand combat instruction of one Francois D’Eliscu – a U.S Army major made famous for his 11-point training plan.
Major D’Eliscu is one of the toughest men alive. He can kill with a flick of his elbow, maim with a pinch of his fingers. He imparts this toughness into the course he gave to the 76th Division instructors and to the Special Service officers from the other divisions.
Click here to read more about W.W. II prisoners of war… KEY WORDS: Forgotten Story from Yank Magazine 1942,general rommel
