The Battle Over History in the Twenties
(Pathfinder Magazine, 1926)
What do you know: the same arguments existed 100 years ago, too…
Pathfinder Magazine
Articles from Pathfinder Magazine
The Battle for the Atlantic
(Pathfinder Magazine, 1943)
The attached is an uncredited article from the later days of 1943 concerning the continuing struggle for supremacy of the North Atlantic:
It was plain to see that due to the Allied tactics which drove the U-boats from the seas last summer, sinking 90 subs in 90 days, something new had to be added… the newer [German] subs have larger conning towers, painted white this time instead of black – packing at least two new guns, and shooting it out in the open instead of from ambush… Brazil has recently reported 11 sinkings in the South Atlantic.
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
The Soviet Invasion of Finland
(Pathfinder Magazine, 1940)
Just as Lenin had a triumphal military adventure, Stalin, too, believed that he could deploy Soviet forces victoriously. However, when Lenin launched his enterprise against neighboring Georgia in 1921, he had the benefit of skilled military leaders under his command – this was not the case with Stalin, who had seen fit to purge his military of thousands of officers (1934 – 1939). When Stalin’s legions attacked Finland in November of 1939, the Soviet losses that were inflicted by the numerically inferior Finns were far greater than he ever thought possible.
The article appeared during the closing weeks of the war and it reported on the outside aid the Finns were receiving. The attached file also includes an article from 1931 concerning some of the bad blood that existed between the two nations.
Read an article explaining how the Soviets used early radio…
FDR’s Alphabet Agencies
(Pathfinder Magazine, 1934)
Listed herein are the sixty-two alphabet agencies as they existed in 1934. More were on their way and, as this article makes quite clear, a good number of them were created by the Hoover administration. If you’re looking for an article indicating that Hoover and Roosevelt had similar approaches to governance, this might be a good place to start.
Youth at Risk
(Pathfinder Magazine, 1937)
By the year 1937 it became a concern that an eighth of all those admitted to the nation’s state-run mental hospitals were between the ages of 15 through 24. On a similar note, it was revealed that 40% of employable youth were entirely unable to secure positions during this this same period. These matters were made known as a result of the efforts put forward by the Youth Commission of the American Council of Education – a group that began compiling such data in 1935.
‘Soak the Rich”
(Pathfinder Magazine, 1935)
‘SOAK THE RICH!’ has been a popular slogan for generations. President Roosevelt knows the people and he knows that this cry is even more popular now than it ever was before. Taxes which increase the cost of living and hang so heavily on the poor cannot be popular… But pick some taxes that bear down on the rich and – and then you have something which everyone will hurrah for. The number of rich are comparatively few, and hence their votes and influence can be disregarded entirely.
President Roosevelt’s plan was to tax this minority for 75 percent of their income.
To read about the dwindling good fortune of the rich, click here…
The First Fifty-Years Behind the Wheel
(Pathfinder Magazine, 1952)
There is no organization that has compiled more facts about cars and their impact on society, than The American Automobile Association – AAA for short. And why shouldn’t they? the AAA predates turn signals, starter buttons and stop lights. They were around before seat belts, parking lights and jay-walkers. They even predate car doors and windshields – to say nothing of their wipers. As you should all know by now, the AAA was not established as a car trivia repository but a coterie of motorists who banded together to aid other motorists.
Written in 1952, this article serves to mark the 50th anniversary of the AAA; these columns are positively packed with assorted automobile trivia which, when pieced together, spells out the first fifty years of the car in America.
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.
Sugar Rationing Hits The Candy Industry
(Pathfinder Magazine, 1943)
The candy-makers of the nation are not having a such a sweet time of it, for, like most other manufacturers, they are bothered by scarcities of labor and materials and so must cut corners and find substitutes.
The article goes on to point out that the sugar that was available was largely devoted to military personnel (18 pounds a year); as a result of this candy rationing, movie-goers were introduced to popcorn as a substitute (you can read about that here).
A Spike In Illegitimate Births
(Pathfinder Magazine, 1944)
A new problem of the war is the fact that children are born to married women whose husbands have been long overseas… Department of Labor figures show that more than twice as many illegitimate children were born this year than in 1942.
Click here to read more on this topic.
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.
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.
The Archbishop Did His Bit
(Pathfinder Magazine, 1947)
A small notice from 1947 that reported on the archdiocese of St. Louis standing up in favor of racially integrating their school system – while simultaneously threatening excommunication to all members of the flock who contested the decision.
The Ice was Thawing…
(Pathfinder Magazine, 1949)
Starting in the 1940s, small articles like the one here began appearing in magazines and newspapers across the nation – snippets indicating that the American people (ie. whites) were slowly catching on to the system of racial injustice they had inherited – and wondering aloud as to the tyranny of it all:
To 13 co-eds at Uppsala College, East Orange, N.J., democracy is something more than a worn text-book theory. It is a living, though thorny, reality. Shortly before school’s end, they formed one of the nation’s first interracial, interfaith college social sororities.
Another article about segregation’s end can be read here.
The Birth of Special-Effects Makeup
(Pathfinder Magazine, 1939)
Here is an article about one of the most innovative minds in the nascent world of Hollywood makeup design; it belonged to a fellow named Jack Dawn (1892 – 1961). Dawn was under contract at MGM for decades and worked on over two hundred films, his most being the film that is discussed herein: The Wizard of Oz (1939, MGM). The article briefly touches upon the thin, rubbery masks that he created after having made numerous in depth studies of human bone and muscle.