The United States News – Old Magazine Articles

Hunger in Axis Lands
(United States News, 1942)

American diplomats caught in Germany, Austria, Italy and other occupied lands at the time of FDR’s declaration of war were subject to five months of incarceration before they were repatriated. The attached article tells of the hardships and hunger experienced by the citizens of those nations as the war entered its third year. Also seen was the tremendous distrust that was developing between the Italians and the Germans.

His Tragic End
(United States News, 1963)

Here is pithy little article that encapsulates the tragedy that was November 22, 1963 and how numerous people reacted upon hearing of the death of President Kennedy.

Spotlight on the Secret Service

“The chief responsibility of the U.S. Secret Service is to guard the life of the President… In Dallas, on November

Spotlight on the Secret Service
(United States News, 1963)

“The chief responsibility of the U.S. Secret Service is to guard the life of the President… In Dallas, on November 22, a sniper hidden in an office building shot and killed President John F. Kennedy… It was the first time since the Secret Service took over its protective mission 62 years ago that a President had been harmed.”

‘The Strange War the U.S. Is Not Winning”
(United States News, 1963)

It’s a dirty, vicious war that Americans are [waging] in the swamps of South Vietnam. Men forget about the politics of Saigon when they stand gun to gun with the Communist guerrillas…

The Lack of German Naval Power
(United States News, 1946)

Not only did Germany limit the size of her fleet, but she failed to push technical developments. For example, she was behind the Allies in developing radar, and her torpedoes were mechanically deficient. She was ahead of the Allies in perfecting magnetic mines, but these proved to be a short-lived advantage… The priority for naval construction was so low that when the war began in September, 1939, the naval strength allowed in the treaty of 1935 had not been reached.

Thus, in the opinion of Admiral Doenitz, Germany, for the second time within 25 years, lost her bid for world supremacy because of her weakness at sea.

Click here to read about an American destroyer on D-Day.

Results of the Economic Boom On The Home Front
(United States News, 1943)

After suffering eleven years of the squalor brought on by the Great Depression, many Americans were in shock to find their pockets fully lined with cash and their days spent in gainful employment when W.W. II came along (in 1943, the U.S. unemployment rate stood at 1.9%). The bars and restaurants that were situated around defense plants found that for the first time in years they were fully booked with paying customers. This article points out that this new economic boom on the home front was not without complications: absenteeism. As more factory workers discovered the joy of compensated labor, the more frequent they would skip work – which was seen as a nuisance for an industrial nation at war.

Many workers, not just youngsters, are making more money than they ever made before in their lives.

The New Normal
(United States News, 1942)

This was an important article for its time. It seems hard to believe, but it took the Federal Government the full six months after Pearl Harbor to figure out how the home front would be governed and what would be rationed. This article heralds that new day and clarified how the war would affect their salaries, savings, education, shopping, clothing, taxes, leisure time, transportation and their general manner of living:

In 1944, a class of sixth graders wrote General Eisenhower and asked him how they can help in the war effort; click here to read his response…

Click here food rationing at U.S. POW camps.

‘No More Wars In Asia”
(United States News, 1954)

Ridgway wants no repetition of the Korean experience. If the U.S. is to fight in Asia again, he wants an army equal to the task and free to win. And, until his Army is capable of undertaking the job, he opposes even limited action by air or sea forces. The General disagrees with those who hold that a war can be won by air or sea power alone.

King’s March in Washington
(United States News, 1963)

Although the attached article is indeed about the famous civil rights march on Washington that took place in August of 1963, the journalist made his primary concern the political gains and losses that remained after all was said and done.

Does Smoking Really Cause Cancer?
(United States News, 1953)

Some time ago we posted an article from 1921 about legislation that the U.S. Congress was considering concerning the prohibition of cigarettes (Click here to read about that) we thought that the cat was out of the bag at that time as to the fact concerning the connection of smoking and cancer. But we were wrong. The 1953 article attached herein concerns four doctors who appeared before Congress in an appeal for federal funding for cancer research. They made it clear that research was indicating that there was a clear link between smoking and cancer, but more exploration was needed.

In 1921 there was talk in Congress of outlawing cigarettes – you can read about it here

Click here to read about one of the greatest innovations by 20th Century chemists: plastic.

Harry Hopkins – FDR’s Right Hand
(United States News, 1944)

This article makes it quite clear that Harry Hopkins (1890 – 1946) wore many hats in the administration of FDR.
During the first five years of the New Deal he had the unique title Special Assistant to the President, he not only wrote speeches for FDR – Hopkins also oversaw the goings-on at the Civil Works Administration (CWA), the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA), and the Works Progress Administration (WPA). Between the years 1938 through 1940, he served as Secretary of Commerce and when the war came he supervised the Lend-Lease program, the Chairman of the Munitions Assignment Board and traveled frequently as the President’s representative to Moscow and London.

When the U.S.S.R. collapsed, it was discovered that one of his additional duties was being a Soviet agent.

Click here to read about another member of the New Deal Brain-Trust…

Read an anti-Gandhi article from 1921…

American Resolve Made Manifest
(U.S. News & World Report, 1965)

This article was published six weeks after 32,000 military personnel landed at Danang and the big unit war began:

A showdown with Communists in Asia is approaching fast. The U.S. offer of peace just got a short shrift from the Reds. Talk is not of peace , but a bigger war. The U.S. is determined to stand firm, no matter what. The strategy is to put more pressure on the enemy – making the cost unbearable. The hope is that the Reds will back off, but top U.S. officials are getting ready for the worst.

The Returning Army
(United States News, 1944)

The young man going into the Army has a course in orientation to fit him for fighting. He has to be shown what kind of people his enemies are. He has to be told why it is necessary to fight. In the same manner, the Army is finding that the men returning from war have to be fitted for civilian life. They bring back resentment against men and women who have known little privation and less hardship.

The Road to Pearl Harbor
(United States News, 1945)

It now becomes apparent that the U.S. Government, long before Pearl Harbor, knew Tokyo’s war plans almost as thoroughly as did the Japanese. To all practical purposes, Washington had ears attuned to the most intimate, secret sessions of Japan’s cabinet.

A year and a half before the Pearl Harbor attack, Naval Intelligence sold a Japanese agent some bogus plans of the naval installation – more about this can be read here.

The Congressional Hearings Regarding the Pearl Harbor Attack
(United States News, 1945)

The Navy’s own story of the events that led up to Pearl Harbor now can be drawn from top-secret documents placed before the Pearl Harbor Committee. These documents show that misunderstanding, inadequate co-ordination and other factors helped the Japanese surprise attack, even though the Navy was almost certain a Pacific war was coming.

The Un-Secret Secrets
(United States News, 1945)

To get a sense as to how thoroughly the Japanese diplomatic codes had been compromised, we recommend that you read the attached article. It is composed entirely of the chit-chat that took place between the government functionaries in Tokyo, their diplomats in Washington, their spies in Hawaii and their representatives in Berlin.

The article winds up explaining that the one vital communication that contained the information regarding the day of Japan’s attack was not translated until December 8.

With The War Came New Opportunities
(United States News, 1942)

The government, endeavoring to meet the problem by raising the economic stature of the Negro, create committees, change regulations. The Army admits Negro candidates for officer training to the same schools as whites. It is training Negro pilots for the Air Corps. Negro officers will command Negro troops. The Navy opens new types of service for the Negro in the Marine Corps, the Coast Guard, inshore establishments, Navy yards and construction crews.