The 2026 Election, 25th Edition. The casting the vote edition. More Labels.

 

Sunday, October 13, 1946. Death of Vinegar Joe Stillwell, Horrific crime in Casper, The Price of Meat, French Fourth Republic.

I failed to note it yesterday, but October 12, 1946, was the day that controversial World War Two General "Vinegar Joe" Stillwell died at age 63 following surgery for stomach cancer.

Stillwell is famous for being in command of US forces in China for much of the war, where he clashed constantly with Chiang Kai-Shek.  He frequently insulted Chiang, who took it, and with Stillwell not realizing that Chiang understood the insults.  He was recalled from China in October 1944, but was slated to have command of the Tenth Army in Operation Olympic, which the end of the war kept from occurring.

Stillwell was one of the many senior military commanders who died almost immediately after the war.

The Rocky Mountain News noted the death on this day.

The murder of a woman from Denver, which occured in Casper, made the news.

I'm surprised by this, as usually I've heard of the more notorious crimes in the Casper area, and this one was horrific.  Nonetheless, I've never heard of this one.

I haven't included the article, but the price of meat was a huge deal and the news noted that Truman was going to take up the topic the following day.

It was a Sunday, so the Parade magazine section was part of the very large paper.

Meat prices, and food prices in general, continued to be a real problem into 1946.  I've posted an essay here regarding hunting during the Second World War, as that struck me as a way to try to offset rationing.  I didn't realize at the time that a related problem, availability of meat, carried on into the immediate post war era.

Lex Anteinternet: So you're living in Wyoming (or the West in genera...So what about World War Two?

One answer to whether this was common or not was interestingly provided by the J. R. Williams cartoon Out Our Way, where it was a bit of a running gag for awhile.

The post war era would not have been hampered by gasoline rationing, like wartime hunting was, which again makes me wonder to what extent some folks people supplied their tables by hunting.

Voters in France went to the polls and approved a constitution for the country's Fourth Republic.  The constitution created as weak president.

Last edition:

Friday, October 11, 1946. Cancelling conscription.

Labels: 1940s, 1946, 1946 World Series, baseball, Conscription

Sunday, October 21, 1945. A pink France.

Women voted in a French election for the first time as France chose a Constituent Assembly to draft a new constitution for a Fourth Republic.

The elections were won by an alliance of the French Communist Party, the Christian Democratic Popular Republican Movement and the Socialist French Section of the Workers' International.

A disaster for French conservatives, the coalition saw the Communists take the most votes, drawing 26.08% and taking 148 seats, followed by the Republican Movement taking 24.91% and 141 seats.  The Socialists took 23.77% and 134 seats.  The pre war far left, the Radicals, took a beating, as did all the conservative parties, given that they had supported the government of Petain.

Basically, all the parties that had not participated in prewar French politics came out on top, which resulted in an alliance, albeit one that was temporarily very much left wing.  Socialist Guy Alcide Mollet became the Prime Minister, with Communist Maurice Thorez the deputy prime minister.

The Fourth Republic would last until 1958, having seen, in spite of its hard left origins, the French effort to retain Indochina and much of its efforts to retain Algeria.

In Luxembourg the Christian Social People's Party won the general election.

Last edition:

Saturday, October 20, 1945. 100%?

Labels: 1910s, 1911, 1940s, 1945, China, Chinese 1911 Revolution, Indonesia, Indonesian National Revolution, Mongolia, Red Army, USSR, White Russian Army