Recent Articles – Page 11 – Old Magazine Articles

Antisemitism Grows Globally
(New Outlook Magazine, 1934)

Although the title of this 1934 article pertains to “racial prejudice”, make no mistake: it actually addresses the growth of Jew hatred. Reporter Cedric Fowler examined numerous hate groups throughout the United States, such as the German-American Bund, the Silver Legion of America, the American Fascists, the White Shirts of California, the White People’s Club of West Virginia, and the Patriotic Speakers Bureau. Nasty groups all.

The Japanese Spy Problem
(American Legion Magazine, 1939)

“At the end of last year, our authorities discovered that there were nearly one hundred Japanese leg men in New England reporting to the Boston office. More than five hundred in Washington; something above two hundred in Chicago; twenty-five hundred were in the New York area; twenty-five in Cleveland; thirty-eight in Detroit; eighty-odd in Florida, and so on out to the West Coast where around three thousand Japanese are ‘on duty’ from San Diego to Port Washington.”

Amerikanskies
(American Legion Magazine, 1939)

This article is one that has reoccurred throughout the Twentieth Century and into the Twenty-First. It recalls the good will that has existed between the American soldier and the children in the countries that hosted them or the lands they occupied. The American Doughboys in W.W I France were very sympathetic with the numerous orphans that were created in that war and contributed heavily to their charities. Their comrades serving in Siberia were charmed by the boys and girls of that land and quickly became fast friends. The attached article was written by a former officer posted to the Siberian Expedition, and in this column, he put pen to paper and recounted the happy friendships he witnessed between the Amerikanskies and the children of Siberia.

Observations Concerning Comic Strips
(Vanity Fair, 1923)

“From a study that covers practically all the comic sequences, I have roughly estimated that sixty percent deal with the unhappiness of married life, fifteen percent with other problems of the home, such as disagreeable children, and in the other fifteen is grouped a miscellany of tragic subjects – mental or social inferiority, misfortune and poverty. This last group contains a few subjects that carry no definite plan from day-to-day but are based on transient jokes such a Prohibition and the income tax.”

W.W. II and the Absent Poets
(Pageant Magazine, 1944)

Attached is an interesting article by the noted poet and poetry anthologist, Louis Untermeyer (1885 – 1977). He praised the soldier poets of the First World War and expressed his bafflement concerning the absolute dirth of competent rhyme-slingers in the Second World War:

“Why then, it has been asked again and again, is the poetry of this war so thin, so emotionally anemic, so unrepresentative of the fierce struggle in which the world is engaged? Why has no poet, not even a single poem, emerged to stir the heart and burn into the mind?”

The Truman Doctrine
(See Magazine, 1947)

“The Truman Doctrine is the only road to lasting peace. Twice within 30 years the stubbornly-observed practice of ‘minding our business’ has brought war.”

”Impregnable Pearl Harbor”
(Collier’s Magazine, 1941)

Six months before Japan’s devastating assault on Pear Harbor came this article concerning how remarkable the Navy’s defensive measures were and how unlikely it would be if the installation was ever to be attacked. A large part of the article concerned how overwhelmingly Japanese the Oahu population was, and the many steps taken by the Army and Navy to keep them off-base. How terribly unimaginative of them to think that Japanese Naval Itelligence wouldn’t think to farm-out spying to an Englishman like Frederick Rutland – which they did.

Pecos Bill, Among Others
(Pathfinder Magazine, 1948)

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Pecos Bill, Among Others
(Pathfinder Magazine, 1948)

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The First Stars and Stripes Looks at Yank
(American Legion Monthly, 1942)

In 1942 a couple of veterans from the first go-round of
The Stars & Stripes (February 8, 1918, through June 13, 1919) visited the New York offices of Yank Magazine, after having read many of their first issues. Although wars had changed, the Army had changed soldier-journalism had changed in 24 years, the old men were impressed with Yank and had to reluctantly admit it.

“[Yank has] profited by all our old mistakes, made some gorgeous ones of their own, and profited by them – and have the guts to admit it! Which means the fighting-writing America of 1942 has actually progressed 24 years over the fighting-writing America of 1918.”

POWs at Fort Dix
(PM Tabloid, 1945)

“German prisoners of war are not coddled at the Fort Dix camp. The PWs are not mistreated, but neither is any kindness shown them. The officers supervising them are not cruel or lenient; they adhere strictly to the letter of the Geneva Convention on the treatment of prisoners.”

PM reporter Jack Shafer knew all this to have been true, because he went to Fort Dix and saw for himself.

How the ‘Stars & Stripes’ Operated
(The Stars and Stripes, 1919)

Written during the closing days of the paper’s existence, the reporting journalist could not emphasize enough how lousy the paper was with enlisted men serving in the most important positions. You will come away with a good amount of knowledge concerning the manner in which The Stars and Stripes crew addressed their daily duties and still made it to the presses on time. Surprising is the high number of experienced newspapermen who wrote for the paper during the paper’s short existence.