editor – Page 204 – Old Magazine Articles

Fascism Political Religion | Political Religions of the 1930s

1935, Pseudotheology, The Literary Digest

The Era of Nationalized Religions
(The Literary Digest, 1935)

By editor / February 22, 2017

In 1935 the Biennial Congress of the Western Section of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches (13,000,000 strong) gathered in Richmond, Virginia in order to discuss their concerns regarding the spread of nationalized religions in such nations as Soviet Russia and Nazi Germany:

As for anti-religious communism, said Doctor Charles S. Cleland, ‘In our missionary circles this is more to be feared than nationalism. The latter may be, and oftentimes is, a patriotic movement, while the former aims only at destruction. Communism of the type now referred to seeks not only the suppression of Christianity, but of all religions. Its purpose is to make governments entirely secular, and to free the national life from all forms of faith and worship.

Nazi euthanasia policy opposed by Catholic Bishops 1940 | German Cardinal Faulhaber 1940

1945, America Weekly, Pseudotheology

Defending the Mentally Ill
(America Weekly, 1945)

By editor / February 22, 2017

Here is a short notice from a Catholic weekly crediting the editors of THOUGHT magazine for having printed a 1940 protest lodged by the German Cardinals Faulhaber (Munich) and Bertram (Breslau) for the obscene Nazi practice of murdering mental patients.

1943, American Traitors, Pic Magazine

Robert Best of South Carolina
(Pic Magazine, 1943)

By editor / February 14, 2017

On July 26, 1943, in the same U.S. Federal Court that tried the American poet Ezra Pound (in absentia) for treason, Robert H. Best (1896 – 1952), formerly of the Associated Press, was also convicted on the same charges. What Iva Toguri (the alleged Tokyo Rose) was believed to have done for Hirohito, and what Pound did for Mussolini is what Best did for Adolf Hitler: he had broadcast Nazi radio propaganda.

You might also care to read about the American Bund.

1943, American Traitors, Coronet Magazine

Fred Kaltenbach of Iowa
(Coronet Magazine, 1943)

By editor / February 14, 2017

Pencil-necked geek Frederick Kaltenbach was born in Dubuque, Iowa, in 1895. A former school teacher, he left the U.S. to earn a Ph.D in Germany but somehow ended up translating German texts into English for the Nazi aviation magazine, ADLER. By-and-by this eventually lead to his own radio program, just like all translation jobs always do.

1922, Ku Klux Klan, The Literary Digest

The Klan Influence Within the Protestant Churches
(Literary Digest, 1922)

By editor / February 13, 2017

The zeal of the Ku Klux Klan to ‘support the Church’ has been displayed by many signs, and intimations multiply, we are told, that certain Protestant ministers are in its confidence and would seem on occasion to be directing it’s activities. But to some ministers the Klan’s mark of approval appears to be embarrassing, a favor which they would much prefer to do without. Scarcely a Sunday passes without the publication of the news that a Klan has visited a church in a body, simply to signify approval, or to remain decorously through the service.

1924, Ku Klux Klan, The Literary Digest

The KKK Factor and the 1924 Elections
(Literary Digest, 1924)

By editor / February 13, 2017

Written on the heels of the 1924 election, this article listed who among KKK candidates won or lost their respective contests. The journalist collected a number of opinions pulled from as many as twenty mid-western newspapers, including two Klan-owned papers: The Oklahoma Fiery Cross and The Illinois Kourier.

1923, Ku Klux Klan, The Literary Digest

Lofty Words Printed on Behalf of the Klan
(The Literary Digest, 1923)

By editor / February 13, 2017

A collection of remarks made by Klansmen in their own defense as well as a smattering of similar statements made by newspaper editors and various other high-profiled swells of the day:

This editor has repeatedly affirmed privately and publicly that he is not a member of the Ku Klux or any other secret organization. But when it comes to secret societies, he sees no difference absolutely between the Ku Klux and many others, the Knights of Columbus, for instance…

Click here to learn about the origins of the term Jim Crow.

1922, Ku Klux Klan, The Literary Digest

Klan Victories in Oregon and Texas
(The Literary Digest, 1922)

By editor / February 13, 2017

The Ku Klux Klan victories in Texas and Oregon, where the influence of the hooded organization is said to have elected a United States Senator in one instance and a Governor in the other, indicates to The Nation that

the Ku Klux Klan has now passed out of the amusing stage and has entered the domain of practical politics to challenge our existing parties.

1927, Ku Klux Klan, The Literary Digest

Alabama Klan Convictions
(Literary Digest, 1927)

By editor / February 13, 2017

A few of the members of the Hooded Order down Alabama way got some unexpected news in 1927 when they discovered that their standard maneuvering tactics, so often relied upon to skirt the law, had failed them utterly. Three separate set-backs in as many months had resulted in the criminal convictions of thirty-six members of the Ku Klux Klan; so surprising was this event to the local residents, the Alabama press corps and those ink-stained wretches way up North at the THE LITERARY DIGEST, that soon the nation found everyone was discussing it. This article is essentially a collection of assorted opinions gathered from across the United States concerning this stunning defeat for the Alabama Klan.

1922, Ku Klux Klan

The KKK in Oklahoma
(The Outlook, 1922)

By editor / February 13, 2017

An article by one of the KKK‘s most outspoken enemies in the press, Stanley Frost (author of Challenge of the Klan), who reported on the political dust-up that took place in the Oklahoma state government when the Klan made serious attempts to be a dominate factor in Oklahoma politics.

THE OUTLOOK sent Stanley Frost to Oklahoma to study the amazing political conflict which has taken place in the state. The forces at odds in the state may have a far-reaching influence upon national politics.

President Truman Education Commission 1947 | American Public Schools in the 1940s

1947, Education, Pathfinder Magazine

Spotlight on U.S. Schools in the Late Forties
(Pathfinder Magazine, 1947)

By editor / February 10, 2017

One can’t but help but cry a little when reading that the Americans of 1947 actually believed that their public school system was substandard; they had no idea the depths this same system would be thrust just thirty years hence. The Forties was a time when most school teachers believed that the school’s biggest problem was talking in the classroom or lingering in the halls. However, this article lists the ten firsts that both state and Federal governments had initiated in order to make a fine education system better.

1923, Foreign Opinions About America, The Literary Digest

Critical Thinking from South of the Border
(Literary Digest, 1923)

By editor / February 10, 2017

More harsh words for Uncle Sam are found in some Brazilian journals, such as the JOURNAL DO PAIZ, which observes:

Happenings like the Negro massacre at Chicago in 1919 are still fresh in our minds; nor must we forget that at the time mentioned many in this country advocated a boycott on all American goods to serve as a protest and a warning to the Unites States.

Click here if you would like to read about the American race riots of 1919.

1943, Music History

Maestro Toscanini on the Home Front
(Pathfinder and Coronet, 1943)

By editor / February 8, 2017

Unlike most other musicians in Italy, Arturo Toscanini (1867 – 1957) refused to scramble onto the Fascist bandwagon. He refused to preface his concerts with the Fascist anthem and eventually was made a virtual prisoner at his home. When he was permitted to leave his country, he vowed never to revisit it so long as Fascism held it in bondage.

Nowhere has the magic baton of Toscanini been more acclaimed than in the United States. Under its spell, the Metropolitan Opera made its highest artistic mark, and the New York Philharmonic became the world’s greatest symphonic ensemble.

1950s Fashion, 1953, Quick Magazine

Pants in High Fashion
(Quick Magazine, 1953)

By editor / February 6, 2017

1953 was the year that designers from both Paris and New York included pants in their respective evening wear collections – even their homely little sister, Los Angeles – the new fashion capitol of sportswear, provided a pair of pants for dinner occasions.

1951, Pathfinder Magazine, The Cold War

Japan Chipped-In
(Pathfinder Magazine, 1951)

By editor / February 1, 2017

War-weary Japan recognized that when the U.S. and her assorted allies went to war in Korea, she too, could play an important roll in the struggle as a reliable, non-combatant partner.

Interviews: 1912 - 1960

Ronald Reagan and Jane Wyman Divorce
(Photoplay Magazine, 1948)

By editor / January 26, 2017

Attached is an article from a 1948 PHOTOPLAY MAGAZINE that illustrated quite clearly how much easier Ronald Reagan, the 40th President of the United States, had it with the Soviet Union, when compared to his failings with his first bride, Jane Wyman (1917 – 2007). The journalist, Gladys Hall, outlined nicely how busy the couple had been up to that time yet remarked that they had had a difficult time since the war ended, breaking-up and reconciling as many as three times. In 1948 Wyman, who had been married twice before, filed for divorce on charges of mental cruelty; the divorce was finalized in ’49 and the future president went on to meet Nancy Davis in 1951 (marrying in ’52); click here if you wish to read a 1951 article about that courtship.

Historically, Ronald Reagan was the first divorced man to ascend the office of the presidency. Shortly after his death, Wyman remarked:

America has lost a great president and a great, kind, and gentle man.

Click here to read about the Cold War prophet who believed that Kennan’s containment policy was not tough enough on the Soviets…

Click here read an article about Hollywood’s war on monogamy.

1948, Hollywood History, Photoplay Magazine

Mother of the Year: Joan Crawford
(Photoplay Magazine, 1948)

By editor / January 26, 2017

This article, I’m an Adopted Mother, by Hollywood movie actress Joan Crawford (1905 – 1977) rambles on column after column about her four adopted children and the tremendous fulfillment they brought to her life. It was all a bunch of hooey, and we might have ended up believing it all, if it weren’t for her daughter Christine, who, in 1978, published a bestselling memoir testifying to the beatings that the movie star could be depended upon to deliver regularly; a first edition of the book is available at Amazon – it was titled Mommy Dearest

1945, POWs, Yank Magazine

Two Who Escaped the Germans
(Yank Magazine, 1945)

By editor / January 24, 2017

Remarkable for lacking bravado and deeds of cunning daring-do, this is a war story about two hapless GIs of the 84th Division who got themselves captured and, do to a heavy U.S. artillery barrage (that served as a backdrop throughout much of the story), were able to escape and allude further incarceration. The German officers who (briefly) lorded over these men are beautifully painted as dunderheads that will surely amuse. Wandering in a southerly direction through the frost of Belgium, they make it back to their outfits in time for a New Year’s Day supper.

Click here if you would like to read about a World War One German P.O.W. camp.

Author name: editor