1953

Articles from 1953

Reds in the Government (Weekly News Review, 1953)

This article makes a passing reference to a Soviet defector who jumped ship in 1937 in order to escape Stalin’s seemingly random purges, his name was General Alexander Barmine (1899 – 1987). In his READER’S DIGEST piece from October, 1944 (the article can be read here) Barmine declared that Soviet spies were rapidly filling up positions within the U.S. Government. His more alarming proclamation was when he wrote that FDR’s administration was protecting them – this implied that Red agents were already perched in the highest positions. When W.W. II ended (along with the Soviet alliance) both political parties in Washington agreed to weed out these moles – but they couldn’t agree as to how deep the infiltration was. The Democrats believed that by 1953 most of the Communists had been found, the Republicans felt otherwise.

American POWs in North Korea (United States News, 1953)

Here is a collection of interviews with the men who, just a week earlier, had all been POWs in North Korea. Each of them recall their own unique account as to how they had been captured, their forced march to the camp, the poor medical care, sanitation and the high death toll from exposure to the cold. The intense practice of Communist brainwashing is described in detail.

America’s Ever-Changing Mind: 1929 – 1952 (Pageant Magazine, 1953)

In an effort to show how American thought can vary between decades, a retired pollster from the Gallup organization collected the data gleaned from various opinion polls that were launched between 1929 on up through the dawn of the Atomic Age in order to show what a different people we had become. The topics that were addressed were


• Racial tolerance


• Taxes


• Women in the work place


• Labor unions


• Women smoking

• Bathing Suits

A Rug by Raymond Loewy (Quick Magazine, 1953)

A small notice from a news digest featured a photograph of a carpet that was designed by famed industrial designer Raymond Loewy (1893 – 1986) in the early Fifties

Something new in room dividers are area rugs designed by Raymond Loewy to define areas of activity within a room; dining sections, TV corners for example. Sophisticated but adaptable to almost all interiors, the new rugs come in such decorator colors as pink, lime green [and] turquoise.

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.

The Cold War Began with Igor Gouzenko (Coronet Magazine, 1953)

On September 5, 1945, N.K.V.D. cipher clerk Igor Gouzenko (1919 – 1982) severed ties with his masters at the Soviet Embassy in Ottawa and high-tailed it over to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police with tales of extensive Soviet espionage throughout all of North America. The news of this defection and the intelligence he delivered sent shock waves throughout Washington, London, Moscow, and Ottawa – historians insist that this was the event that sparked the Cold War and altered the course of the Twentieth Century.

The Prominent Color (Quick Magazine, 1953)

Red is the color which is going to add excitement to the fall scene. In a season when black is everywhere, the woman who wants to stand out is going to turn to red to express her own sense of drama. Red will be seen in suits, in coats, in after-dark dresses. The color itself is so dramatic that designers rely on cut and line for interest.

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