A Second World War, over Iran, was averted.
The day's cartoons.
Last edition:
Showing posts with label J.R. Williams. Show all posts
Showing posts with label J.R. Williams. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 25, 2026
Tuesday, March 25, 1946. Crisis in Iran averted. Navy veteran turns out to be 10th Mountain Division deserter.
Last edition:
Monday, March 23, 2026
Saturday, March 23, 1946. Marilyn Monroe and the Wedding Industrial Complex. Truman warns Stalin, and holds up testing the bomb. No public necking in Japan.
A really interesting Richard C. Miller photograph of Marilyn Monroe was taken, which we learned of due to Reddit's 80 Years Ago Sub, and which we repost here via fair use.
Miller had "discovered" Monroe, who was already modeling following her photo spread in World War Two's Yank. Miller, typical for the era, photographed her in swimsuits, including bikinis (very modest ones by today's standards), but also had a an entire series of other topics, including the subject shooting firearms. Here he depicted her in a wedding dress.
The real life model had already been married and divorced by this time, having married at age 16 and then filing for divorce while her husband was deployed in the Navy during the Second World War. This photograph is actually commonly claimed to be a wedding photo from her first marriage, which it is not, although the veil is remarkably similar to the one she actually wore in her wedding.
Actual photograph of Monroe at her first wedding, when she was 16 years old.
In the studio photograph she's holding some sort of book with a Christian cross on it, with that style of cross depiction very common for the era. This is what causes us to note this photograph in a way, as it brings up the topic addressed here:
The Wedding Industrial Complex
Notes from the Spesia Underground
A really interesting episode.
This really fascinating look at modern weddings brings up a whole host of things we routinely discuss here, including agrarianism and subsidiarity. The episode from Catholic Stuff You Should Know points out the extent that weddings were, at at the time the photo of Norma Jean was taken above still remained, community affairs and not big bride focused shows.
We've lost a lot here.
And we really need to recapture it.
While indelicate, this also shows the portrayal of a really beautiful woman before Playboy perverted all of that.
Monroe was, as is well known, Playboy's first, and unwilling, centerfold. But what's interesting here is that prior to Playboy arriving on the scene, this was not an uncommon depiction of a really beautiful woman. There were, of course, already some women who were focused on for being really busty, Jane Russell giving an example, but the theme did not absolutely dominate. To look at the 19 year old Monroe here, you would not have thought of her in that fashion. A decade later, you would, and even after Life intervened to push her nude photograph first as an art item. We've dealt with that before here as well, although frankly we need to modify our entry. That post is here:
Appearance. Shape and being in shape and women (men will come next).
Also posted via fair use, Colliers had an article on keeping everyone employed year around, showing how times were in fact changing.
We've looked at that here too.
Women in the Workplace: It was Maytag that took Rosie the Riveter out of the domestic arena, not World War Two
Truman presented an ultimatum to Stalin demanding the Soviets comply with the agreement to pull their troops from Iran.
The Rocky Mountain News was a morning paper, so they didn't catch that, but they did catch something else that Truman had ordered the day prior.
The Army issued an order prohibiting soldiers from engaging in public displays of affection with Japanese women.
Out Our Way's gag was based on cleaning out the ash bin of a stove, something that's likely completely lost on modern readers.
Argentina extended its claims over Antarctica.
Mad King Donny must not be aware of this or we'd be staking a claim.
Indonesia Tentara Republik Indonesia (Armed Forces of the Republic of Indonesia) evacuated Indonesian citizens from the city of Bandung, West Java, Indonesia, after which the area was burned to avoid its use by the Dutch.
Commemorated as the Bandung Sea of Fire and a great patriotic act, poor people really don't have much of a say in things like this.
Last edition:
Friday, March 22, 1946. First U.S. rocket to escape the atmosphere.
Monday, March 16, 2026
Saturday, March 16, 1946. Route 66. George Mikan turns pro.
Route 66 was recorded for the first time, the introductory edition of the Bobby Troup work by Nat King Cole.
Troup was a songwriter and actor, married to actress Julie London
He was also a graduate of Wharton, which produced the unfortunate Trump and Gray, but that's another matter. He served in the Marine Corps in World War Two, by which time he was already a songwriter. The war did not really interrupt his songwriting.
Route 66 was an absolute masterpiece, and has been recorded an innumerable number of times, and was even used for the basis of a television series that ran from 1960 to 1964.
In some very real ways, Route 66 symbolized the post war world and its sense of youth, indicability, and automotive freedom.
Route 66 itself was one of the original U.S. Highways of the United States Numbered Highway System. It was established on November 11, 1926, with road signs erected the following year. It became a huge factor in Depression Era migration to California, which makes the way its nostaglically remembered somewhat ironic, but as
College basketball player George Mikan, who was hugely popular turned pro.
He was a great player, and notably played with glasses. He struggled with diabetes in his final years, which focused attention on the plight of pre big money players.
He died in 2005 at age 80, a basketball great.
The Rocky Mountain News focused again on gambling.
An intersting service was being offered:
A tryst with a German Madchen went rather poorly.
To popular one panel cartoons of the day:
Last edition:
Friday, March 15, 1946. Soviets in Iran.
Labels: 1930s, 1940s, 1946, Harry S. Truman, Iran, Nazi Germany, Propaganda, Radio, Skiing, United States, USSR, World War Two
Tuesday, March 16, 1926. Sgt. Stubby crosses the Rainbow Bridge.
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Boston Terrier Sgt. Stubby, mascot of the mascot of the 102nd Infantry Regiment, died at age 10. He'd served for 18 months in France in the Great War, participating in 100 battles and four offensives. He provided warnings of attacks and of the use of mustard gas, and captured a German soldier by holding him by the seat of his pants.
He was a genuinely heroic dog.
The Casper recaptured fugitives indicated that they'd left Casper by rail.
I posted this page for the bus schedule. I have a detailed thread coming up on trains, and then noted this. I wasn't aware that there was a bus by 1926.
A closer look.
What isn't clear is how long the bus trip took.
There is bus service from Casper today. Greyhound. We'll take a look at that in some future post.
Apparently unrestrained immigration was worrying some. Others were worrying about Wyoming's oilfield population leaving for Texas.
Robert Goddard launched the first liquid fuel rocket in the United States at his Aunt Effie's farm in Auburn, Massachusetts.
Rocketry, like aviation, advanced like crazy. By World War Two rockets would be in use as ground weapons, air to air weapons, and of course, with the first ballistic missiles.
Last edition:
Friday, January 23, 2026
Wednesday, January 23, 1946. Soviet Agent installed by Truman.
Soviet agent Harry Dexter White was appointed by President Truman to be the American representative to the International Monetary fund despite a warning from the FBI that White had passed secret information to the Soviet Union.
He'd later be exposed by Whitaker Chambers.
The Soviets managed to place an impressive number of operatives into the U.S. government during the 1930s and into the 1940s. This was in part because the Roosevelt Administration simply didn't take the matter seriously, even though its now very clear that there were warnings, probably mostly from the FBI. There's fairly good reason to believe that McCarthy's "lists" of Soviet agents, which later proved to be quite accurate, probably came from the FBI which had grown frustrated with successive administrations ignoring what it was learning. The Army likewise had a list of Soviet agents that it closely held, in part out of the reasonable fear that it wouldn't be taken seriously and that if too much was revealed, it'd be leaked.
FWIW, there's every reason to believe that the Soviets continued to attempt to penetrate Western governments after the McCarthy era and also inserted sleeper agents into the U.S. The great American mini series The Americans is based on this widely known effort, as well as the movie Little Nikita. While known, it isn't particularly paid attention to, today. As has been noted recently, and not without good reason, there are questions as to whether or not Donald Trump may be a Russian asset of the captive type today, which would explain some of his actions. He's definitely a Russian asset, but it may be because he simply has a weak 19th Century mind.
The USS Brevard rescued 4,296 Japanese civilians from the ship Enoshima Maru as it sank near Shanghai. The event retains the record for being the largest number of civilians rescued at sea.
The nationwide strike wave had spread to packing plants.
The Army was looking for a way to recruit men into the post war service.
Out Our Way had a cartoon about medical advice, which would still be good advice today.
Last edition:
Tuesday, January 22, 1946. Central Intelligence Group formed.
Wednesday, January 14, 2026
Monday, January 14, 1946. Wartime and Post War foodstuffs.
I"m putting up this interesting Out Our Way cartoon from this day in 1946 as it refers to something we've discussed here before, and its a bit surprising.
What we've discussed here before is hunting during World War Two.
Here's where we looked at it earlier:
Lex Anteinternet: So you're living in Wyoming (or the West in genera...So what about World War Two?
I've always thought this was one of the more interesting threads on this blog, and it's one of the many ones I post and wonder why there's never any comments on it. But that's common for blogs. Usually, they don't get posts.
Anyhow, this cartoon by J. R. Williams sort of confirms what I'd suspected. Some people supplemented their table fare during the war by hunting.
Williams was, as we've discussed before, a Canadian cartoonist who moved to the U.S. with his family at age 15, locating in Detroit. He soon dropped out of school and became an apprentice machinist, providing topics for his cartoons which frequently depicted machine shops. He drifted after that, something not uncommon in that era, and worked as a cowboy in the West, as well as serving a three year stint on the U.S. Army as a cavalryman. All of that experience likewise reflected itself in his cartoons. Family life, in spite of his being a bit short (again, not all that uncommon for the time) also featured frequently.
He became a professional cartoonist in 1922 and remained one until his death in 1957 at age 69. He'd used the proceeds of his cartoons to buy a ranch in Arizona, before relocating later on to Pasadena, California. His cartoons carried on to some extent after his death in the hands of other artists.
Anyhow, one of the things about his cartoons is that depict fairly accurate slices of life, and this running gag from 1945-46 no doubt did. The father has taken an elk and a deer, and the family is keeping it in the ice box. The part that surprises me is that I really like venison, and these cartoons suggest that this venison was bad, which may be explained in an earlier cartoon I'm not familiar with.
Eighteen nations entered into an Agreement on Reparation from Germany.
"Southern Resorts Fashions" were on the cover of Life.
Last edition:
Sunday, January 13, 1946. The relentless advance of malevolent technology.
Monday, December 29, 2025
Saturday, December 29, 1945. Korean protests on US decision.
Korean civilians attacked U.S. soldiers in Seoul in protests of a U.S. decision two days prior to wait five years before granting the country independence.
It would in fact come quicker than that, with South Korea becoming independent in 1948. Originally, the entire peninsula was to have been part of the new republic, but the post war separation into two occupied halves kept that from coming about. U.S. occupation of South Korea would end at that time.
The period from 1945 to 1950 in South Korean history is not looked at much, but it was marked by strife, including what would become a hard fought guerilla war between the newly formed Republic of Korea and Communist guerillas.
Hitler's will and marriage certificate were found.
And the Coast Guard was going back to the Treasury, which is where it should be.
Last edition:
Friday, December 28, 1945. War Brides. Yank ends.
Wednesday, December 24, 2025
Monday, December 24, 1945. Patton laid to rest.
He was interred next to a Private of the Third Army.
The same paper ran a classic edition of Out Our Way.
Last edition:
Saturday, December 22, 1945. Truman prioritizes displaced persons in immigration.
Thursday, December 11, 2025
Tuesday, December 11, 1945. Steel Workers announce strike.
The United Steelworkers voted to go on strike on January 14. They were seeking an additional $2.00/day.
A B-29 set a new coast to coast speed record, flying from Burbank, California to Brooklyn, New York in 5 hours, 27 minutes and 6 seconds.
Last edition:
Friday, December 7, 1945. Command Responsibility.
Labels: 1940s, 1945, Commentary, Displaced Persons, Ethnicities, Germany, Imperial Japanese Army, It was because of World War Two, law, United States, War Crimes
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