Additional links; Thursday, November 20, 1975. Death of Franco.

Labels: 1930s, 1940s, 1970s, 1975, Central Intelligence Agency, Congo, Dachau, Fidel Castro, Francisco Franco, German SS, National Conservatism, Ngô Đình Diệm, Spain, Spanish Civil War, The Holocaust, World War Two

Waste Deep in the Big Muddy.

George Washington:   “[I}t is our true policy to steer clear of permanent alliance with any portion of the foreign world.”

Lyndon Johnson:  "But we are not about to send American boys 9 or 10,000 miles away from home to do what Asian boys ought to be doing for themselves."

Donald Trump: "Tonight, I'm pleased to announce that we're taking our military cooperation to even greater heights by formally designating Saudi Arabia as a major non-NATO ally."

What was that, MAGA, about forever wars? 

And why on earth would we want to designate a monarchy that will have a regime changing revolution within the next fifteen years as an formal "ally".

Friend of convenience, that's in the ICU, yes. Ally?

Monday, September 29, 1975. Driving 55.

Due to a failure on the part of the legislature to address the enabling act, Wyoming Attorney General Frank Mendicino opined that the 55 mph speed limit remained in effect.

Mendicino was only five years out of the UW's law school at the time.

Oops.

The Chicago Tribune abandoned its standard practice of phonetic spelling of certain common words. 

Kissinger sent a memo to President Ford.

September 29, 1975

MEMORANDUM FOR: THE PRESIDENT

FROM: HENRY A. KISSINGER

SUBJECT: Information Items

CIA Summary: Vietnam After the Fall: Nearly five months after the fall of Saigon, South Vietnam remains under a form of martial law in which North Vietnamese military personalities make all day-to-day political, administrative, and economic directives. The primary authority, however, appears to be Pham Hung, fourth-ranking member of the North Vietnamese Politburo, who is in charge of party and military affairs in the South. The South Vietnamese Provisional Revolutionary Government, which ostensibly serves as a national government, has no meaningful authority over either Pham Hung or the military management committee. Immediately after the take-over, the communists moved to offset the lack of capable and trustworthy administrators by importing large numbers of officials from the North. Many of these appear to have been former southerners who had come north at the time of the 1954 Geneva accords.

Communist policies to date have been aimed primarily at restoring order and the economy. The communists early adopted a relatively conciliatory approach in order to mobilize support. But given the long and bitter nature of the conflict and the abundance of firearms in the country, they are now admitting to opposition from a variety of sources, including former government soldiers, religious sects, and ethnic minorities in the highlands. The continued presence of 18 of the 20 North Vietnamese divisions in the south attests to the fact that security remains a problem. The economy is probably far more worrisome. The communists admit that it is still in bad shape. Low production and high unemployment have reduced the level of living throughout the country. Considerable help from Hanoi’s foreign allies will be required to get the economy on its feet. So far the communists have not attempted to make fundamental or sweeping changes in the South’s economic structure and they are depending heavily on private enterprises to revive the economy.

Vietnamese officials, both North and South, proclaim formal reunification as their foremost objective. At the same time, they make it clear that the process will be gradual, following progress in developing an acceptable communist administrative structure and in restoring order and economic stability. Although the communists are maintaining the fiction of an independent South Vietnamese state, there is no question that Vietnam is now one country with one policy.

Casey Stengel died at age 85.

Last edition:

Friday, September 26, 1975. Petroleum and The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

Labels: 1970s, 1975, 1975 at the movies, 94th Congress, Gerald Ford, inflation, Movies, Petroleum, The Great Inflation

Sunday, September 23, 1945. A call to arms.

The Viet Minh's Resistance Committee of the Saigon-Cholon Region was set up and issued an order calling for non-collaboration with the French.  It was effectively a call to arms.

The Egyptian government demanded that British forces withdraw from the Sudan, prior to its incorporation with Egypt.

Last edition:

Saturday, September 22, 1945. Patton spouts off . . . again.

Labels: 1940s, 1945, 1945–1946 War in Southern Vietnam, Chinese Civil War, Dwight Eisenhower, French Empire, French Indochina, George S. Patton, Post WWII Occupation of Germany, Việt Minh

Saturday, September 22, 1945. Patton spouts off . . . again.

 In what would prove to be a last straw for Gen. Eisenhower, Gen. Patton expressed skepticism over denazification, comparing the Nazis to Republicans and Democrats.

Patton was growing increasingly frustrated now that peace had arrived.  If Eisenhower could have read the comments in his journal, he would have been relieved by this time.

The Huaiyin–Huai'an Campaign ended in communist victory in China.

Former French pows went on a rampage in Saigon and killed members of the Viet Minh and innocent civilians, including children.  French civilians joined in.

Last edition:

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

Labels: 1940s, 1945, 1945–1946 War in Southern Vietnam, British Army, Chinese Civil War, French Army, India, It was because of World War Two, Kim Il Sung, Korea, New Zealand, Saigon Vietnam, United Nations, Vietnam, World War Two

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

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

Hideki Tojo attempted suicide when American troops arrived at his home to arrest him as a war criminal.  The self inflicted gunshot wound was not fatal.

He's entered the Japanese Army as an officer in 1905, right after the Russo Japanese War.  He became Prime Minister in October, 1941, and advocated for war against the United States, and occupied that position until July 1944, at which time he was replaced as it was realized that the United States would not negotiate with him, and indeed he was tried as a war criminal and executed in 1948.

The U.S. House voted for a Congressional investigation of Pearl Harbor.  The measure had already passed the Senate.

The Chinese Nationalist Army occupied Hanoi under agreement with the Allied Powers, pending resumption of French control of Indochina.

Last edition:

Monday, September 10, 1945. Eh?

Labels: 1940s, 1945, Animals, Birds, China, Chinese Civil War, Clothing, It was because of World War Two, Occupation of Japan, Post WWII Occupation of Germany, press, Rationing, The Press, The Shangdang Campaign (上党战役), Women

Sunday, September 2, 1945. Japan signs the Instrument of Surrender.

This Day in History: V-J Day effectively ends World War II

The Australian Minister of Defence announced that the South-West Pacific Command had come to an end.

The Democratic Republic of Vietnam was proclaimed by Ho Chi Minh.

The British government ended wartime censorship.

Last edition:

Saturday, September 1, 1945. Truman addresses the nation.

Labels: 1940s, 1945, Chinese Civil War, Coal, Harry S. Truman, Hong Kong, Japan, Philippines, Prisoners of War, Radio, Rationing, the spoken word, United Kingdom, VJ Day, World War Two

Thursday, August 30, 1945. Landing on Japan, meeting with Hồ

"U.S.S.R. naval attache in Japan. Commodore Anatoly Radionov passes out Russian cigarettes to press men at Atsugi strip, Tokyo. 30 August, 1945. Photographer: R.H. Mohrman."

America and British troops landed in the Tokyo region.  The US 11th Airborne Division flew into Atsugi airfield.  The 4th and 6th Marine Regiments landed  in the naval base at Yokosuka. General MacArthur flew from Manila to organize the US occupation and set up his temporary headquarters at Yokohama.

The USS San Juan started to evacuate Allied prisoners of war detained in the Japanese home islands.

The Royal Navy reoccupied Hong Kong.

Japanese surrenders in Burma continued..

The Allied Control Council took formal control of Germany.

A B-29 Superfortress on a supply flight crashed in bad weather in the neighbourhood of Mount Oyaji (親父岳, Oyaji-take) on Mount Sobo (祖母山). All twelve crewmen were killed.

Hồ Chí Minh invited several people to contribute their ideas toward his Declaration of Independence, including a number of American OSS officers.   While there were notable exceptions, like John Burch, the OSS was heavily left leaning and indeed included a number of Communists within its ranks, something that was not really very much frowned on at the time.  

Mexico recognized the Spanish Republican government in exile as the government of Spain.  The Spanish Republican government in exile was located in Mexico City, having relocated there after the fall of France in World War Two.  It'd return to Paris in 1946.  The body would recognize the restored Spanish constitutional monarch as the legitimate government in 1977.

Last edition:

Wednesday, August 29, 1945. The USS Missouri arrives at Tokyo Bay.

Labels: 1940, 1945, 1945 at the movies, boats and ships, British Army, Chiang Kai-shek, Chinese Civil War, George C. Marshall, Harry S. Truman, Mao Zedong, Pearl Harbor Hawaii, Southeast Asia, U.S. Navy, World War Two

Tuesday, April 28, 1945. U.S. Troops in Japan.

Flag of the Allied Occupation forces, Japan.

U.S. troops disembarked at Atsugi airfield and the occupation of Japan commenced.

The Red Army completed the occupation of Sakhalin.

Japanese forces surrendered in Burma.

Various Nazi officials, including Hermann Göring, and Ribbentrop, were indicted as war criminals.

Ho Chi Minh announced his provisional government for Vietnam with all the main posts held by communists.

Gee. . . what a surprise.

The Vietnamese Ministry of Health was founded.

The Southern Jiangsu Campaign ended in communist victory.

Brooklyn Dodgers general manager Branch Rickey held a three-hour meeting with Jackie Robinson on his signing up with the Dodgers.

Last edition:

Monday, August 27, 1945. The Allied Fleet enters Tokyo Bay.

Labels: 1940s, 1945, 1947, 1948, Burma, Chinese Civil War, Conscription, Harry S. Truman, Japan (Tokyo), New Britain, People's Liberation Army, Solomon Islands, Texas, The Cold War, Weather, World War Two

Saturday, August 25, 1945. Bảo Đại resigns, John Birch killed, Adm. Lee dies.

The Battle of South Sakhalin ended in a Red Army victory and also in an enduring territorial dispute between Russia and Japan.

Bảo Đại resigned as Emperor of the Nguyễn dynasty.  His position in Vietnamese history is complicated, as he clearly lacked real authority.

OSS officer John Birch was killed in a scuffle with Chinese Communist troops.  He had been a missionary in China immediately before the US entry into World War Two.  When the war broke out, he joined the U.S. Army from China, seeking to become a chaplain, but instead being assigned as an intelligence officer.

Birch was a Protestant Fundamentalist, so much so that his beliefs had caused conflict when he was in university.  Somewhat ironically, therefore, its notable that his funeral service in China, which was joint with two U.S. pilots who had been killed late in the war, was a Catholic one, presided over by Italian priests.

In the closing days of the war, Birch had written following on his post war aspirations:

I want some fields and hills, woodlands and streams I can call my own. I want to spend my strength in making fields green, and the cattle fat, so that I may give sustenance to my loved ones, and aid to those neighbours who suffer misfortune….

I want to live slowly, to relax with my family before a glowing fireplace, to welcome the visits of my neighbours, to worship God, to enjoy a book, to lie on a shaded grassy bank and watch the clouds sail across the blue.

I want to love a wife who prefers rural peace to urban excitement, one who would rather climb a hilltop to watch a sunset with me than to take a taxi to any Broadway play.

I want of government only protection against the violence and injustices of evil or selfish men.

I want to reach the sunset of life sound in body and mind, flanked by strong sons and grandsons, enjoying the friendship and respect of neighbours, surrounded by fertile lands and sleek cattle, and retaining my boyhood faith in Him who promised a life to come

Instead, his name would be appropriated by the extreme right wing John Birch Society, which was notorious in the 60s and 70s, but which still exists. 

Adm. Willis Augustus "Ching" Lee Jr. of the U.S. Navy died of a heart attack as the great die off of World War Two senior officers commenced.

Lee had been an Olympian and was a champion marksman.  He is the only individual to have won  the US National High Power Rifle and Pistol championships in the same year.  During the 1914 occupation of Vera Cruz he engaged in a sniper duel with three Mexican combatants and shot them all at long range.

Last edition:

Friday, August 24, 1945. The messy end of the war in the East.

Labels: 1940s, 1945, Battle of Wuhe (五河战斗), Chinese Civil War, Clement Attlee, Japan, Lend Lease, Nationalist Chinese Army, People's Liberation Army, United Kingdom, Winston Churchill, World War Two

Monday, August 20, 1945. Wainwright liberated.

Lt. Gen. Jonathan Wainwright, Lt. Gen. Arthur Percival, and the governor-general of the Dutch East Indies, Mr. van Starkenborch Stachouwer. were rescued from being Prisoners of War by a special American parachute detail at Mukden.  The goal was to free the POWs before the area was overrun by the Red Army.

The occupation of Mukden, as well as Harbin, in fact occurred on this day.

Anti Semitic riots broke out in Cracow, Poland.

The US War Production Board removed most of its controls over manufacturing activity, setting the stage for a post war economic boom.

The US standard of living had actually increased during the war, which is not entirely surprising given that the US economy had effectively stagnated in 1929, and the US was the only major industrial power other than Canada whose industrial base hadn't been severely damaged during the war.  Ever since the war, Americans have been proud of the economics of the post war era, failing to appreciate that if every major city on two continents is bombed or otherwise destroyed, and yours aren't, your going to succeed.

Having said that, the Truman Administration's rapid normalization of the economy was very smart.  The British failed to do that to their detriment.

British Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin condemned Soviet policy in Eastern Europe as "one kind of totalitarianism replaced by another."

The trial of Vidkun Quisling began in Oslo.

The Việt Minh consolidated their control of Hanoi.

Seventeen year old Tommy Brown became the youngest player in Major League Baseball to hit a home run.  Brown had joined the Dodgers at age 16.

Brown provides a good glimpse into mid 20th Century America.  Nobody would think it a good thing for a 16 year old to become a professional baseball player now.  Moreover, the next year, when Brown was 18, he was conscripted into the Army, something that likely wouldn't happen now even if conscription existed.  He returned to professional baseball after his service, and played until 1953 and thereafter worked in a Ford plant until he retired, dying this year at age 97.  Clearly baseball, which was America's biggest sport at the time, didn't pay the sort of huge sums it does now.

Last edition:

Wednesday, August 19, 1945. Bataan I and Bataan 2.

Labels: 1940s, 1945, Aircraft, Battle of Sakhalin, Battle of Yongjiazhen (雍家镇战斗), Chinese Civil War, Chinese Warlord Era, Japan, Manchuria, Nationalist Chinese Army, People's Liberation Army, Philippines, Red Army