The Cold War – Page 2 – Old Magazine Articles

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.

The Domino Theory (Collier’s Magazine, 1951)

In 1951, N.Y. Governor Thomas Dewey (1902 – 1971) made a fact-finding trip to French Indochina (Vietnam), and as impressed as he was with the French command, he wrote urgently in this Collier’s article of his belief in the Domino Theory – Indochina, Thailand and Burma were the Rice Bowl of Southeast Asia:

The Rice Bowl of Southeast Asia is the cornerstone of our Pacific defenses. And Indochina is the cornerstone of the cornerstone.

The Satellite War (Pathfinder Magazine, 1950)

Then came June 24 [1950]. Her skirts legally clean, Russia hit upon a way to fight the U.S. without technically using a single bullet or soldier of her own. It mattered little if Korean mercenaries, not identifiable nationally with the USSR, were doing the fighting. A satellite war was just as good a way to weaken the U.S. as a direct war – if not better.

The Draft Dodgers (People Today Magazine, 1950)

With the U.S. inducting some 50,000 men a month there must necessarily be a high number of delinquents… Few draft dodgers realize that the FBI steps in when the draft board steps out of the picture. Furthermore delinquents are liable to five years imprisonment.

To read an article about American draft dodgers of W.W. II, click here.

Expanding The American Draft Pool (Pathfinder Magazine, 1951)

Nine months after the American intervention into the Korean War, the Congress saw reason to expand the draft pool to an even wider degree:

Eighteen-year-olds were a little closer to the draft this week, and America was a step closer to a system of permanent universal military training…

The Draft (Pathfinder Magazine, 1950)

Christmas in khaki became the new theme song of thousands of the nation’s young men last week when the Army handed Selective Service a new quota… the Army wants 70,000 in November.