Friday, July 28, 1911. War ending as other prepare for war.

Government troops defeated Haitian rebels at Les Cayes.

The Australasian Antarctic Expedition departed London aboard the SY Aurora.

Gen. Joseph Joffre was made the Chief of the General Staff of the Army of France, the first person to hold that position..

Canadian Prime Minister Wilfrid Laurier announced a plan of cooperation between the Canadian, British, Australian and New Zealander navies.

Last edition:

Thursday, July 27, 1911. Ordered to ride.

Labels: 1910s, 1911, Art, Coles Phillips, Equine Transportation, French Army, Health, Military, Old Age, Omar Bradley, Theodore Roosevelt, Women

Thursday, July 27, 1911. Ordered to ride.

French Minister of Defense Adolphe Messimy ordered that any officer who was "unable to ride a horse" to retire.  The order was given as a way to force the retirement of elderly officers, but ws not really unprecedented.  Theodore Roosevelt had issued a similar order, requiring a long ride, when he was President of the United States.

The French order was not in effect long as it was regarded as impractical.

Omar Bradley received notice that he'd been accepted to West Point.

Last edition:

Monday, July 24, 1911. Hiram Bingham at Machu Picchu.

Labels: 1910s, 1911, baseball, boats and ships, Exploration, Inca people, Iran, Peru (Machu Picchu), Sports

Tuesday, July 20, 1926. Turning up the heat.

 

Coolidge gave a press conference at White Pine Camp.

Secretary Davis and I discussed only incidentally the question of munition depots. He said that there was a location in Utah that would he available, but the expense of moving our munitions out there would be pretty heavy. I think he said that none of the munitions that belong to the War Dept. have been exploded. What he did say which was of most importance was that careful studies were being made to make the locations of munitions as safe as possible.

I am not just certain when I shall go to Plymouth. I had rather expected that I might go last week some time, but I wasn’t able to get away. I haven’t any definite plan about it. What would the members of the conference prefer, to go by automobile or by train?

Press: Train.

President: Seems to be unanimous. Well, I think I can arrange to take you over there by train, if that would suit you better. I will do what I can in that direction. I suppose I will have to set down a time when I have made up my mind to go and then stick to it. Otherwise there is something coming up all the time that seems to make it desirable for me to be here. I got word that the Secretary of War was coming up, and now the Secretary of State is coming up here later in the season. He is going to speak at Plattsburg at the celebration there of the MacDonald victories on Lake Champlain.

The resignation of Commissioner Fenning is in the hands of the Attorney General. It was received just about the time we were leaving Washington. He has some small matters that we wish to have him clear up before he relinquishes the office. That will take but a few days and then he is to retire. I suppose that he would have given in his resignation any way, but I did send a request to him that he should retire.

Press: Was that request since you have been up here?

President: Why no, I said I got the resignation just as I was leaving. The request was made just before I came away.

There isn’t any particular significance in the visit of Senator Fess. He told me while I was in Washington that he was to be in the Adirondacks this summer. He has some friends up here. I think he makes it a practice to come up here every summer. They are located within 30 or 35 miles. I understood he was to be at Tupper Lake, but he is at Loon Lake. Perhaps he was going to Tupper Lake later, and I told him of course that if he was here I hoped very much ae would have a chance to come and stay a day or two with me.

I am not expecting to speak at Plattsburg at the unveiling of the MacDonald monument. As I indicated before, the Secretary of State will be there. I understand there will be some representatives of the Canadian Government there, which makes it especially appropriate for the Secretary of State to be present.

Press: Do you think you will go over, Mr. President?

President. No.

I haven’t any information about what Chairman Parker or other members of the House Commerce Committee are contemplating in relation to coal legislation for a conference with the coal operators and coal miners during the vacation. I knew that Representative Parker had prepared a bill, or that his Committee had, I coal legislation, which they were proposing to take up immediately on the convening of Congress. There didn’t seem to be time to take it up at the last session. I think I have said enough to make that plain. I didn’t know anything about a plan for trying to make an adjustment between the operators and miners, other than what I have seen in the press. I think I indicated at a conference that was held long ago that perhaps the railroad legislation which was passed at the last session might furnish a foundation principle for legislation and adjust in the coal industry. There are two or three things that I wanted as coal legislation. The first was the opportunity to call in a temporary Board to adjust differences whenever an emergency might arise, and the second was an opportunity have a coal administration whenever a scarcity was threatened. Those are the principal things.

There isn’t any comment that I can make on the fall of the French Cabinet. It is hardly appropriate to comment on a matter of that kind.

I hope that I may have a chance to go to the training camp at Plattsburgh some time during the summer. That is about 50 miles away and I judge we could go over in the morning and return in the afternoon.

If I go by train to Plymouth I shall go to Ludlow, and I think the members of the press would find accommodations at Ludlow or at Tyson, which is about 6 or 7 miles from Plymouth. It i s in the town of Plymouth, but that is post office name, 5 miles toward Plymouth from Ludlow. There Is a very good hotel there that was opened long ago but has been closed quite a good deal and reopened last summer. I went down there to lunch with Secretary Mellon and Senator Smoot when they came to Plymouth to confer with me relative to the Belgian Debt settlement, so that I know that it is a very comfortable place. And there is also at Woodstock a very good Inn that some of you are already acquainted with.

I haven’t had any report from the Secretary of Agriculture relative to his work in putting into operation the bill that was passed at the last session relative to cooperative marketing.

And I haven’t any information other than that which has appeared in the press about bank failures in southern states. That seemed to be due to some local conditions there. It i s my understanding that those were mostly state banks and not national banks.

I also expect to visit the Saranac Veterans Bureau Hospital for tubercular patients while I am here.

The Adirondacks climate is very much like that with which I am acquainted over in Vermont. I noticed that a number of the old-timers over here came from Vermont. Paul Smith came from Milton. A man named Plumbley, a very famous Adirondack figure for a good many years, came from Suesbury, next to Plymouth. Suesbury is even more like the Adirondacks region than Plymouth is. The fishing is better here than it is in Vermont.

I have an inquiry about the appropriations. If anyone is interested to analyze the increased appropriations for the present year you will find that there is a very complete study of that in the remarks of Martin B. Madden, as you know, the Chairman of the Appropriations on the part of the House. It is in the Congressional Record for Monday, July 12, 1926, beginning on Page 13,006. Of course our Post Office Department is a growing Department. We mean to keep it practically self-sustaining. Sometimes there is a deficit. There has been all the time since I have been President. Wages have been greatly increased in the Post Office Department since 1914, increased about 50%. Those that were getting $1400 at that time are now getting $2100, and the general average of increases in the postal service is very close to 50%. That accounts for a very large part of the increase in the appropriations for 1926 and 1927, that is the budget that has just passed. The Government expenditures are $273,000,000 greater. There is $100,000,000 of that which is accountable for on account of the adjusted compensation, or the bonus law. The first year that it went into effect it was estimated that the expenditure would not be known and that an appropriation I believe of $50,000,000 would take care of it , so that for this year we made up that deficiency with $100,000,000 I think put in the regular appropriation for the bonus bill. As I recall, it was $125,000,000. I won’t be sure about that. I know it is $100,000,000 extra we had that we put in. So that the Veterans Bureau has $173,000,000 more in the present budget than it had in the last budget. Than there was a great deal of money that came due on the matter of roads. We had been making appropriations that took care of the current needs, but last year there were very large bills that came in, so that the appropriation for this year is $26,000,000 greater. Than we have adopted the public buildings bill. Haven’t had a public buildings bill for 12 years, and that accounts for $14,000,000 more. Prohibition costs are $13,000,000 more. Rivers and Harbors carries $10,000,000 more. That is for special work that is being done in the Mississippi Valley, notably from Kansas City, or rather from St. Louis to Kansas City going up the river, or from Kansas City to St. Louis down. If you are reporting for the Kansas City papers it would be Kansas City first, if you are reporting for St. Louis papers St. Louis first. Than there were some refunds, $5,000,000 of refunds on cigars taxes and automobiles. We have increased pensions for Civil and Spanish War veterans $5,000,000. The Arlington Bridge $2,250,000. Then we have begun construction of military posts to replace the temporary housing erected during the war. That doesn’t come out of tax money really, but of course it does appear as an appropriation item. That is $2,250,000. We passed a law that as that military land was sold off the proceeds might be taken to make better housing facilities for our military posts. And the Sesquicentennial is $2,000,000. Judgments against the Government in the Court of Claims and other judgments are nearly $9,000,000. The total increase outside of the Post Office, of which these are the principal items, is $273,000,000. I think these items that I have given you figure up to about $260,000,000. But there are some other small items of one kind or another and you can refer to this little table here in the Congressional Record to give you a very complete explanation of it if you wish to. Now, some of those of course are permanent. The public buildings program runs for five years. The Veterans Bureau bill for the next year won’t be nearly as big. The cost for the Post Office next year I should expect would not be as large public buildings will be larger next year because we expect to appropriate about $25,000,000 a year, but we found that $14,000,000 was all that we could expend advantageously this year. It takes so long to make plans and lay out the work. It is difficult to make any estimate about pensions. The Civil War veterans are dropping away very fast. That item which now runs about $2,000,000 will naturally decrease. Of course the country is a growing country. It keeps expanding all the time and there is tremendous pressure on the Federal Government to take on new activities which the Congress resists as well as it can and which I resist as well as I can. As we pay off the national debt of course the expenses are going to be reduced for interest, but I think the plan is that as interest charges are reduced more money will go into the sinking fund. That isn’t spoken of here, but it is my recollection that there is $30,000,000 more in the sinking fund for the present year than last year. That means we are using that to pay off the public debt.

Soviet monster Felix Dzerzhinsky died of a heart attack at age 48.

French General Auguste Dubail of France and British Field Marshal Sir Henry Wilson reached an agreement for a joint plan to mobilize 150,000 men in the event that Germany declared war on either nation.

Rebels in Haiti captured Cap-Haïtien.

Last edition:

Saturday, July 17, 1926. Boicotear

Labels: 1920s, 1926, Boycott, Catholic, Christianity, Cristero War, Mexico, Plutarco Elías Calles, religion, Taxes

Friday, May 24, 1946. Truman and the railroad strike.

President Truman made a radio address promising that if railway workers had not returned to work by 4:00 p.m. May 25, he was going to seize control of the railroads.

 

The French Army crossed the Mekong into Thailand from Laos in pursuit of Communist forces. Both Communist troops and Thai forces clashed with them there.

Last edition:

Thursday, May 23, 1946. Chick-fil-A.

Labels: 1940s, 1946, Georgia, Georgia (Atlanta), restaurants and bars, Strike Wave of 1945-1946, The American Midwest, Weather

Thursday, February 7, 1946. France attacks in Bến Tre Province, Truman speaks. Bikinis appear in the press. Strike controls. Army shoes on the market.

France launched a large-scale campaign to take the island province of Bến Tre Province in the Mekong Delta which was held by the Việt Minh.

President Truman gave a press conference.

The President's News Conference

February 7, 1946

THE PRESIDENT. [1.] I have a most interesting letter which I would like to read to you this morning, from the famous Dean of Canterbury, Mr. Hewlett Johnson. He says:

"My dear Mr. President:"--

This is dated 31st of January, 1946·

--"May I categorically deny a statement, which I understand has appeared in the American press, that I regarded America as 100 years behind in everything save religion and 150 years behind in that." [Laughter] "That statement, which is of course ridiculous, was made in a jocular mood by my predecessor." [More laughter]

"I neither endorsed such a statement, nor do I think it is true.

"I believe and constantly affirm that America leads the world in industrial adventure, activity and achievement. Indeed, I am accused in England of over-enthusiasm for America's achievement.

"I am convinced that we in Europe have rich lessons to learn from America, especially in enterprise and the arts of production.

"I believe also that America may learn in the future from some European experiments in distribution and planned economy.

"I only write because had such a statement really been made by me, it would have shown the most gross ingratitude for the over-abundant kindness I received from you and your countrymen."

If anybody wants a copy of that letter, we will furnish it.

[2.] Now to get down to serious things, I am particularly interested in this food situation.

In most of the wheat-producing countries of the world, outside of the United States and Canada, there has been almost a total crop failure in wheat. Australia's crop is a failure. South Africa had a drought. All Europe suffered from a drought, so far as the wheat situation is concerned. And in the far East, the production of rice in India is from 12 to 15 percent short of the usual crop, and they are always an importing country on that part of their food, and they import from Burma and Siam and Indochina. Those countries' rice crops are, of course, a total failure on account of the fact that they have--were in this war situation, and they also have had adverse weather conditions along with the war situation. The Japanese crop, I am informed, is 15 percent short of normal, and they import usually 15 percent of their rice for food.

It is proposed under this program which we have inaugurated, that we hope to be able to ship 6 million tons of wheat in the first half of 1946. Now, if anybody needs a lesson in arithmetic, that is about 200 million bushels. The measures ordered should make it possible for us to come closer to what we want to do by about 500,000 or a million tons.

Wheat and other food products which we plan to export during the first 6 months of this year will provide 50 million people with a diet of 2,000 calories a day, or 100 million with 1,000 calories a day for a 6 months' period.

Now, some of the people in the devastated countries of Europe are living on much less than 1,500 calories a day. We eat about 3,300 here in the United States. The situation is so serious that we felt it was absolutely essential to take every measure possible to help keep the people in these countries from starving; because in those countries which are our friends and allies, they are not to blame for the situation.

And in enemy countries we can't afford to see our enemies starve, even if they did bring this situation on themselves. We can't do that and live according to our own ideals.

We have asked Canada and Australia, and all the countries which are supposed to have surplus foods, to join us in this program; and I think every one of them will.

If you want a copy of these figures and things, Mr. Ayers will be able to furnish them to you after the conference.

Q. Mr. President, is it possible we may have meat rationing as a--may we have to come to that eventually?

THE PRESIDENT. I hope not. If the packing plants can run at full blast, it will not be necessary. If it becomes necessary, in order to keep 10 or 15 million people from starving to death, I think we ought to do it.

Q. Mr. President, can you throw any light, in that connection on that same story, in your meeting with the Cabinet?

THE PRESIDENT. That is substantially the statement that was issued yesterday as adopted by the Cabinet as a whole.

Q. Mr. President, under the Potsdam Declaration, the rations of the Germans should be no higher than the European average?

THE PRESIDENT. That's right.

Q. Does this worldwide shortage, particularly as it affects Europe, indicate there will have to be a cut in German rations?

THE PRESIDENT. There will probably have to be a cut in the whole European ration. There is a cut in the whole European ration now. That is what we are trying to meet. We are trying our best to meet the thing on as equitable a basis as we possibly can.

Q. But this thousand calories would be less than the Germans are getting. Are we going to feed the enemy better than our allies?

THE PRESIDENT. No, we are not. That is what we are trying to prevent. We are not going to do that. We are going to take care of our allies first. That figure is in Poland and Germany, principally.

Q. I was thinking of Poland, that is what I mean.

THE PRESIDENT. Poland and Germany. But we certainly are not going to treat our allies worse than our enemies, you can be assured of that.

Q. Mr. President, are there any mechanical difficulties in milling the flour?

THE PRESIDENT. I don't know. I don't know enough about the milling business to answer the question.

Q. Mr. President, can you say whether there is any problem of hoarding wheat in other countries at the present time?

THE PRESIDENT. I am not familiar with it, if there is.

Q. Mr. President, in connection with the extraction order, there are some rough spots in the milling industry, and I take it that the objection to that order is to get the wheat and the order--you would not object to the order being workable or flexible, so long as you got the wheat?

THE PRESIDENT. That's the point exactly. And I think we will get their cooperation-I don't think there will be anybody who isn't anxious to keep people from starving to death. It's un-American, I think, to have the idea to let people starve.

Q. Mr. President, when you were discussing this with the experts--with the agricultural people particularly--did they bring up details of this wheat shortage--grain shortage--in certain areas where farmers would be anxious to keep the wheat right with them, and you have to get it out? Is that part of the problem?

THE PRESIDENT. Yes. I think every phase has been gone into by the agricultural experts.

Q. Any particular answer to that situation ?

THE PRESIDENT. I can't give you an answer to that. We hope that this situation will work out. The reports that have been made indicate that everybody seems to think it answers the purpose.

Q. Mr. President, if there will be no rationing here, are the mechanics such that we will cut down, just not buy so much; that is, the American people--

THE PRESIDENT. Yes. Make contributions, just like they would clothing and everything else. I think they will do that. I think they will be pleased to do that.

Q. Mr. President, who will handle the equitable distribution of these food supplies in the various countries?

THE PRESIDENT. UNRRA will handle most of it.

Q. It will continue under UNRRA?

THE PRESIDENT, Yes.

Q. Mr. President, does this 6 million tons represent an increase in our commitments, or a decrease in our commitments?

THE PRESIDENT. No. There is, I think, a slight decrease in our first commitments. You will have to get those figures categorically from the Secretary of Agriculture, who has been the conferee with our allies in this setup.

Q. Mr. President, can you tell us what estimate you have on wheat saving from the livestock reduction program?

THE PRESIDENT. About--between 25 and 50 million bushels.

Q. Well, do you believe that this saving is justified in the light of the danger of short liquidation of livestock?

THE PRESIDENT. I don't think there will be any short liquidation of livestock. Livestock will be slaughtered at a lighter weight than they ordinarily would. And 225-pound hogs will, I think, make just as good eating as 300-pound ones; and I used to raise them.

Q. [Aside] Better.

[3.] Q. Mr. President, about Mr. Pauley. Are you going to withdraw his nomination?

THE PRESIDENT. I am not. I am backing Mr. Pauley. I think Mr. Pauley is an honest man, and I don't think he is the only honest man in Washington or in the oil business.

Q. Have you any comment?

THE PRESIDENT. I think he is a very capable administrator, because he was the Reparations Director up until just recently and did a magnificent job in that, and I have the utmost confidence in him.

Q. Did Secretary Ickes advise you of his testimony before?

THE PRESIDENT. No, he did not. I didn't discuss it with him.

Q. Do you intend to now?

THE PRESIDENT, No.

Q. Mr. President, did Ed Flynn confide in you yesterday, when he was going to leave your office, that he was going to criticize Mr. Ickes?

THE PRESIDENT. No, he did not. I didn't discuss Mr. Ickes with Mr. Flynn. He was discussing other matters.

Q. Can you tell us what you were discussing, sir?

THE PRESIDENT. It was political matters in the State of New York. [Laughter]

Q. Mr. President, you don't consider that this situation involves anything at all, any change in your relations with Mr. Ickes?

THE PRESIDENT. I don't think so. Mr. Ickes can very well be mistaken the same as the rest of us.

[4.] Q. Mr. President, how is the price-what is the situation on the wage-price balance?

THE PRESIDENT. I hope to be able to make a complete statement on that in a day or two. I can't do it now.

Q. Will it come today possibly?

THE PRESIDENT. I don't think so.

Q. Do you anticipate, sir, that that would bring on an early settlement of the steel and other big strikes?

THE PRESIDENT. I hope so.

Q. Mr. President, has the administration made any suggestions on that wage-price formula that may be under consideration by U.S. Steel and Labor in their current sessions?

THE PRESIDENT. I haven't discussed the matter with either one, up to the present time.

Q. I was wondering whether Mr. Snyder may have passed it along for some suggestions for a formula?

THE PRESIDENT. I don't think so. They are working on it. That's what they are working--it will all be worked out.

Q. Is it a materially new wage-price stabilization policy, Mr. President?

THE PRESIDENT. No, it isn't. It's a working out of the situation we are faced with now, and I think it will be worked out in a very satisfactory manner.

Q. Can you say when, sir?

THE PRESIDENT. I hope in the next day or two.

Q. There has been some speculation, Mr. President, that this will be called "the big steel formula"?

THE PRESIDENT [laughing]. I haven't heard that one.

Q. Does that mean it will be temporary, Mr. President, in meeting the present situation?

THE PRESIDENT. Here is the situation that we are trying to meet: We are all aware of the fact that what we need is production. We know that if we get production--mass production--on the basis that we are capable of putting out here in this country, that the situation will adjust itself; and whenever that situation comes about there will be no reason for a wage-price formula, for that will adjust itself.

And that is exactly what we have been working for, ever since V-J Day. That was the reason for the first directive on a wage price formula. It was my hope that we would, as soon as possible, begin working just as hard as we could to create production to meet the demand that has now piled up as a result of the war.

We have had some stumbling blocks. We are trying to meet those stumbling blocks now. The first wage-price formula would have worked, if we had been able to arrive at the production we were hoping we were going to get.

[5.] Q. If the steel and other strikes are not settled, will there still be a Florida trip?

THE PRESIDENT. I am still going to Florida.

Q. [Aside] Good!

THE PRESIDENT. I can still do business by telephone.

[6.] Q. Has the committee from the House Territories Committee reported to you on their investigation of statehood for Hawaii?

THE PRESIDENT. That's right. They recommended

Q. Can you report your views?

THE PRESIDENT. They recommended that Hawaii ought to have statehood.

Q. As you made in your annual Message for immediate statehood?

THE PRESIDENT. That's right. I think they were--they are in favor of that very thing.

Reporter: Thank you, Mr. President.

THE PRESIDENT, All right.

NOTE: President Truman's forty-seventh news conference was held in his office at the White House at 10:30 a.m. on Thursday, February 7, 1946.

How nice it must have been to have a President who didn't sound like an idiot every time he spoke.

The India Burma Theater Roundup came out.  It was one of the many service newspapers of the Second World War.

The paper's masthead.

We've had Yank up here from time to time and that service magazine notably had a pinup in ever issue, an unfortunate indication of things to come, even though the pinup was always clothed.  Perhaps because of its distance from the continental US, the Roundup was packed with pinups.  This issue, which I'm not going to fully post, had a bikini clad young woman on every page.  I note that because, for whatever reason, I'd assumed that the bikini had come into being in the 1950s.  Not so, it had clearly arrived by the mid 1940s.

Because we put some newspapers up from the 1940s, well because we do it quite often, we've looked at quite a few and that's been revealing as well  The Rocky Mountain News was very obviously much more of a tabloid than it was later, and it had cheesecake photos in it a fair amount.  However, the other day going through it it had an article entitled "Denver Women Do Not Like Nude Look" featuring a woman wearing a see through blouse.  I don't doubt that Denver women didn't like it, but the fact that it even came up says something about the standards of the time.  Indeed, in looking at the issue for this day in 1946, a bikini clad actress was featured.  In a recent issue, a cartoon that focused on post war life had women a dressing room, naked bare backs to the viewer, in the drawing, with the cartoon page being the one that children favored.

Perhaps related, the Rocky Mountain News had this article for the day:

Hmmm.

In a more serious article:

And the Cold War was heating up.

This article for shoes in the same issue featured a type of shoe that we'd call a Service Shoe, that being an ankle high boot.  That type of boot has been discussed at length here, and is still made by companies like Red Wing and Whites.  They were the boot of the U.S. Army from 1902 until into World War Two, when they were replaced by the M1943 combat boot.  In 1945 some troops would still have had them.

The advertised manufacturer, Roblee, is still around.  They came into existence in 1908.  Roblee had been an Army contractor during World War Two and had made service shoes as well as jump boots.

Indeed both of the shoe designs depicted above would have worked for the Army uniform at the time, which leads us to suspect that these were contract overruns, or perhaps left over after contract terminations.

Related Threads:

Munson Last Boots, or how I became a hipster and didn't even know it. And reflections what hipster affectations mean.

Labels: Agrarianism, Agriculture, Army, Clothing, Commentary, Contra Mudum, Footwear, James Montgomery Flagg, Work

Sunday, October 4, 1925. Fawzi al-Qawuqji attacks Hama.

Fawzi al-Qawuqji lead an assault on French security installations in the city of Hama, Syria.

Fawzi al-Qawuqji had started his military career as an Ottoman officer, and then under King Faisal.  He thereafter served in the Syrian Legion for the French, before deserting in the Great Syrian Revolt.  He served the Saudis after that, and then the Palestinian Cause against the British in the 1930s.  He was wounded in the Palestinian uprising and ultimately took refuge in Germany, where he joined the German Army, ending up a prisoner of war of the Soviets.  Released in 1947, he made his way back to the Middle East and was appointed the Arab League field commander of the Arab Liberation Army (ALA) in the 1948 Palestine War.   His forces ultimately lost control of territory that was to have been Palestinian.  He retired to Syria thereafter and died in 1977.

Al-Qawuqui is one of those rare military refigures who had a track record of serving in uniformly losing causes and who not only survived them, but inexplicably continued to receive further commands.

Fawzi al-Qawuqji in May, 1948.

The Soviet Union gave up on restricting the alcohol content of beverages.

Ty Cobb, who was normally a centerfielder, pitched against the St. Louis Browns for one inning.  The Browns had George Sisler first baseman pitch for two innings against the Tigers.  Non pitchers in the pitching role would not happen again for another 92 years.

The Finnish torpedo boat S2 sank in a storm with the loss of all 53 hands.

Last edition:

Saturday, October 3, 1925. The launch of the USS Lexington.

Labels: 1920s, 1925, 1940s, 1942, Art, Birds, boats and ships, Food, football, Highways, Pan American Highway, Sports, Transportation, U.S. Navy

Wednesday, September 29, 1915. The Great New Orleans Hurricane.

A hurricane made landfall in Louisiana, killing 279 people.  The destruction of the storm would not be surpassed for fifty years.

The Germans recaptured lost ground in the Second Battle of Champagne resulting in a French suspension of their campaign.

6,000 or more Ottoman troops were dispatched to break Armenian resistance at Urfa, Turkey.

Last edition:

Tuesday, September 28, 1915. La Matanza of Ebenezer

Labels: 1910s, 1915, Battle of Loos, Crime, Ethnicities, Indian Army, Iraq, Mexican Border War, Ottoman Army, Ottoman Empire, panoramic, Racism, Texas, Texas (Texas City), Texas Rangers, World War One

Thursday, September 24, 1925. French advance in Syria.

French forces took the Druze city of As-Suwayda.

Life magazine noted the increase in automobiles.

Last edition:

Saturday, September 19, 1925.

Labels: 1920s, 1925, Art, Norman Rockwell

Wednesday, September 19, 1945. Kim Il Sung returns to Korea.

Kim Il Sung arrived at Port Wonsan and began to organize the Communist Party of Korea.

Kim was born into a Presbyterian family.  He fled to Manchuria in 1920 after being involved in anti Japanese activities.  He was in  his mid teens at the time and then attended military schools.  It was while he was in China that he became interested in Communism.  He was a figure in the Chinese Communist Army during the pre World War Two Chinese Civil War and then again during World War Two, crossing into the Soviet Union in 1940.  He then joined the Red Army. The Soviets chose Kim in order to have a Communist figure to introduce into Korea even though he was poorly educated and by 1940 his Korean was very poor.  His early life is not very well known.

Navy aircraft over Inchon, September 1945.

The US banned reporting on the atomic bombs in Japan.

British and French troops complete the suppression of the Việt Minh in Saigon.

New Zealand ratified the UN Charter.

William Joyce was sentenced to death.

The British announced that Indian would shortly be granted home rule.

Shirley temple married Sgt. John Agar, a fellow actor.  She was 17 years old. Agar was 25.

The marriage wouldn't last.

Agar had a real drinking problem, although he amazingly lived to age 81.  Apparently he's associated with B science fiction movies, but I always associate him with John Ford westerns.  He also appeared in The Sands of Iwo Jima.  He met Shirley Temple in 1943 when he escorted her to a Hollywood party.  She would only have been 15 years old at the time.

His second marriage lasted 49 years.

He had a remarkably long film career, although many of his roles were very minor.  In World War Two he served first in the Navy, joining in 1941 and then in the Army Air Force as a physical instructor.  He was discharged from the Navy due to an ear infection.

Shirley Temple in 1943.

Temple is a film legend, of course, but had trouble transitioning from being a child actress to adult film roles, even though the ones she appeared in showed her to be a very talented adult actress.  This would lead to an early retirement from film, something that was hastened by a negative reaction to being propositioned by MGM figure Arthur Freed and Louis B. Mayer on the same day, when she was only 12, leading to her returning to Fox from MGM without much success.  She later became the US Ambassador to Czechoslovakia during the Reagan Administration.

Last edition:

Tuesday, September 18, 1945. The first desegregation student protest.

Labels: 1910s, 1940s, 1945, 1945 at the movies, actors and actresses, Chinese Civil War, Education, Henry L. Stimson, Indiana, Movies, Nationalist Chinese Army, People's Liberation Army, Racism, Roosevelt, Rust Belt, Taft

Thursday, September 13, 1945. Start of the 1945–1946 War in Southern Vietnam,

The 1945–1946 War in Southern Vietnam began with the arrival of Major General Douglas Gracey in command if Indian troops.  He arrived to take the Japanese surrendered but immediately apprised the situation as being nearly out of control.

One of his first acts was to arm liberated French POWs.  His Indian Forces and the rearmed French soon evicted the Việt Minh from Saigon.

Gen. Leclerc of the French Army reviewing British Indian troops, Gen. Gracey in the background.

One of the really astounding elements of this is that the British not only won the Malayan Emergency, but arguably won their own portion of the Vietnam War. 

The Japanese surrendered at Rangoon, save for their commander who would not surrender until October.  The Japanese 18th Army surrendered in New Guinea.

The Chinese Communist prevailed in the Battle of Dazhongji while the Wudi Campaign (无棣战役) began.

British military authorities publish a  Gestapo "death list" of 2300 British and Allied notables, including Churchill and the leaders of the French, Polish and Czechoslovak governments in exile.

Spain abolished the Falangist salute.

Last edition:

Tuesday, September 11, 1945. The arrest of Tojo.

Labels: 1940s, 1941, 1944, 1945, China, French Indochina, Hideki Tojo, Japan, Nationalist Chinese Army, Pearl Harbor Hawaii, Personalities, Russo Japanese War, Vietnam, Vietnam (Hanoi), War Crimes, World War Two