1956 – Page 3 – Old Magazine Articles

Harley Earl on Car Design
(Gentry Magazine, 1956)

Few realize that when we applaud the tremendous style that went into so much of the design of 1950s American cars, we are actually praising the fertile mind of Harley J. Earl (1893 – April 10, 1969):

Earl, who served as the Vice-President of Design at General Motors, conceived of so many design elements that are associated with that period, such as wrap-around windshields, tail-fins and two-tone paint styling. In the attached article, written when he was at the top of his game, Harley Earl tells his readers what is involved in automobile design:

Shakespeare has told us ‘neither a borrower nor a lender be’. An automobile stylist must be both. He must borrow his ideas from the creatures and creations of nature which are all about him…

The Two Korean Armies Compared
(Dept. of the Army, 1956)

This single page analysis of the North Korean People’s Army and the Army of South Korea will clue you in pretty quickly as to why President Truman hastened to get the necessary beans, bullets and band-aids delivered to the South as quickly as he did. This comparison, written by the U.S. Army History Section, clearly indicates that the North Korean force was intended to be an offensive army; well-equipped and fast-a-foot; the army of the South, by comparison, was intended (for some unexplained reason) to fight limited engagements – rather than prolonged, corps sized campaigns.

It was no surprise to the assorted military insiders of the world when the South Korean capital of Seoul was seized three days into the war.

The Beau
(Gentry Magazine, 1956)

Widely remembered as the best dressed man of the Nineteenth Century, Beau Brummell, (né George Bryan Brummell 1778 – 1840), set the standard for male sartorial splendor and as a result, his name
liveth ever more.

The attached men’s fashion article was written at a time when American leisure wear was going through it’s birth pangs and slovenly attire was on the rise all over the fruited plain; it was thoroughly appropriate for the editors of GENTRY MAGAZINE to print this article which not only examined the clothing philosophy of the Beau but also paid heed as to which actors portrayed him on screen (oddly, there was no mention made whatever as to who the various costume designers were).

He dressed simply, without ornamentation. What was it then that set him apart so ostentatiously from the crowd? What made him the best dressed man of the century? The answer lies not, as history has decided, in his clothes. It lay entirely in the way he wore them.

A further study of Dandies can be found here…

Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address
(National Park Service, 1956)

Here is the brief text to President Lincoln‘s very eloquent second inaugural address, that was delivered during the closing weeks of the Civil War.

Lincoln Remembered
(National Park Service, 1956)

Shortly after Abraham Lincoln’s assassination, William H. Herndon (1816 – 1891), Lincoln’s law partner, devoted much of his life to collecting as much original source material on the man as he could possibly find. Indeed, scholars have pointed out that there never would have been an accurate word written about Lincoln if not for the efforts of Herndon. The following description of Lincoln is from a lecture delivered by Herndon in 1865.

The Lincoln – Douglas Debates: Defining Slavery
(National Park Service, 1956)

The Republican Party, which developed rapidly as a new political force following the enactment of the Kansas-Nebraska Bill in 1854, gathered its strength chiefly from those who opposed the extension of slavery into the territories. In the Lincoln – Douglas Debates this issue was paramount. Perhaps nowhere can a more concise and explicit statement of the position of the Republican Party on this issue be found than in Mr. Lincoln’s opening speech at Quincy [Illinois] in the sixth of the joint debates.

Styling the Fifties
(Gentry Magazine, 1956)

A one page essay by automobile-stylist William H. Graves, a former Vice President and Director of Engineering at the Studebaker-Packard Corporation.

Two years ago a new product philosophy was approved at Packard which gave the engineering department a green light that had not been on since 1935. This enabled us to set up a program to style future cars for the luxury field…The Packard program was launched in October, 1952, with the formation of a new styling group of young men, whose average age was 28. An advanced design section and a special section to experiment with plastics as a possible material for both parts and dies were established.

Click here to read the obituary of J.M. Studebaker.

Traveling to the Lincoln – Douglas Debate
(National Park Service, 1956)

Stephen Douglas (1813 – 1861), Lincoln’s Democratic rival in the contest for the U.S. Senate seat from Illinois, was a popular figure with a great deal of political capitol who enjoyed wide spread fame throughout much of the fruited plain; this all contributed to a robust ego which would not suffer anything less than traveling to the debates in a grand style. By contrast, Honest Abe traveled in economy class, packed among the masses (although as a railroad lawyer, he certainly could have afforded better).

This short paragraph (accompanied by a photograph of both men) was written by a friend of Lincoln who recalled his train ride with the (losing) candidate as he made his way to Ottawa, Illinois, the site of the first debate.

Color Styling and the Cars of the Fifties
(Gentry Magazine, 1956)

A 1956 article by Eugene Bordinat (1920 – 1987), one of Detroit’s grand old men of automotive design; during his reign at Ford, Bordinat oversaw the styling of such cars as the Mustang and the Falcon:

The average American likes to think that he is an independent thinker and a rugged individualist, while actually he is closer to a sheep and follows the herd. He resists change. He wants just enough change in cars so his neighbors will know it is the latest model, but not so much that he has to explain to his friends why he bought the strange contraption…The stylist must consider these factors when he out-lines his advanced thinking on trim and color…he must be sure that the scheme isn’t so radical that it will frighten the color-timid public.

John Hay Recalls Lincoln
(National Park Service, 1956)

John Hay (1838 – 1905), formerly one of Lincoln’s private secretaries, wrote out some of his recollections of Lincoln’s daily personal and official habits as President.

He was very abstemious, ate less than anyone I know. Drank nothing but water, not from principle, but because he did not like wine or spirits.

Hay was in Paris serving as Secretary of United States Legation when he wrote the letter, about a year and a half after Lincoln’s death.

The conduct of the war contributed mightily to Lincoln’s rapidly aging appearance. Look at this photo-essay examining his facial decay year by hear: click here.

The Berlin Blockade: A Definition
(R.O.T.C. Handbook, 1956)

In his 1989 book, Master Spy: The Story of Kim Philby, author Phillip Knightley pointed out that when the Soviet spy Philby, stationed in Washington, discovered that the U.S. had no atomic bombs on hand, Stalin soon gave the order to commence the blockade of the German capital. That said, here is a two paragraph essay briefly explaining what the 1948 Berlin Blockade was and how the Anglo-American masters of West-Germany dealt with the issues at hand:

Soviet counter-action to American efforts to rebuild the European economy came swiftly. Besides rejecting participation in the program the Soviets, in October 1947, announced the organization of a permanent committee for coordinating the activities of the Communist parties in Europe…By June 1948 the Russians had cut off all land and water traffic with Berlin and the only means of entry was by air.

The Fall of Seoul
(Dept. of the Army, 1956)

The very first engagement of the conflict, when the North Koreans crushed South Korean defenses at the 38th parallel, demonstrated the superiority of the North Korean Army. On June 28, three days after the opening attack, a tank/infantry force leading the main North Korean thrust entered Seoul… In the face of the onslaught, the South Korean Army retreated, leaving most of its equipment behind. Whatever effectiveness it may have possessed was already lost.