Topics
Understanding our world and that of our enemies
45 RPM RECORDS
https://youtu.be/jKlIwvKYIzI In March 1949, RCA Victor released 7- inch 45 revolutions per minute (RPM) records as smaller, higher-fidelity replacements for the 78 rpm shellac discs. The first 45 rpms were monaural and recorded on both sides. Almost all 45 rpms were...
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Civil Rights 1949
The Law of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties: A Handbook of Your Basic Rights, by Edwin S. Newman, Oceana Publications 1949. In 1949, racism was still firmly rooted in the laws of many individual statest in the United States of America. States without stripes or...
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Network Television
https://youtu.be/yX4Cea5pIlE In January 1949 WDTV on Channel 3 (owned and operated by the DuMont Television Network, a TV equipment and set manufacturer) became the first American "networked" television station, providing a link between thirteen Midwestern and East...
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Council for Mutual Economic Assistance
https://youtu.be/dx2IUWXBcoQ In 1949, in response to the 1947 U.S.-backed Marshall Plan, eastern European countries established the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance...
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Pingjin Campaign
https://youtu.be/wdTPFW6RZPo Pingjing Campaign (Wikipedia) People's Liberation Army enters Peking January 1949 (Wikipedia) The Pingjin Campaign was part of the three major campaigns launched by the People's Liberation Army during the late stage of the Chinese Civil...
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Recession
https://youtu.be/cORVhtz0zIg Following "Fair Deal" economic reforms and monetary tightening by the Federal Reserve, the U.S. economy took an 11-month downturn from November 1948 to October 1949. https://www.thebalance.com/unemployment-rate-by-year-3305506...
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Truman Begins Second Term
https://youtu.be/vkQlSD8KDKI State of the Union Address January 1949 On January 5, 1949, President Harry Truman presented the state of the union address to the U.S. Congress. Issues discussed included: poor medical care, low minimum wage, inflation, poorly managed...
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Top Songs of 1948
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izaQaJSR-_Y Here is a list of the top 100 songs of 1948
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Christmas in America
In 1948 Christmas was a period of peace, productivity, and prosperity for Americans. https://youtu.be/E7PBOub4j8U Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer first appeared in a 1939 booklet written by Robert L. May and published by the Montgomery...
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Casper the Friendly Ghost
Casper, The Friendly Ghost, a fascinating post-WWII cartoon creation, first appeared in a 1939 children's book and several animated cartoons in 1945. In 1950-59, he was serialized in theatrical shorts before Harvey Comics bought the rights...
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Tojo Sentenced to Death
https://youtu.be/2HgdXDkmV60 Hideki Tojo, a general of the Imperial Japanese Army, was Minister for War from 1940 to 1941 and Prime Minister of Japan from October 1941 to July 1944. Tojo was best known for ordering the attack on Pearl Harbor (although planning...
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Truman Defeats Dewey
Although New York Governor Thomas E. Dewey was fully expected to win the 1948 presidential election, Democratic incumbent Harry S. Truman defeated him by >2 million popular votes. Wikipedia Prior to the vote, political analysts,...
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American Economy
US federal spending as a share of GDP Here is a conservative view of this epoch from the Mercatus Center/George Mason University (alternative comments would be most welcome) In the four years from peak World War II spending in 1944 to 1948, the U.S. government cut...
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Pearl Harbor
On the morning of December 7, 1941, the surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service against the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii catapulted a reluctant America into the Second World War. There are not many...
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Drunken Angel
The 1948 Japanese film Drunken Angel (醉いどれ天使), about and alcoholic physician and his yakuza patient, was the first collaboration between the director Akira Kurosawa and actor Toshiro Mifune. Released during the American occupation in Japan, the screenplay was...
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UN Mediator Assassinated
In September 1948 members of the Lehi militant organization (AKA the Stern gang) assassinated the Swedish UN mediator Count Folke Bernadotte in Palestine -- presumably for proposing an Arab administration for Jerusalem. The Lehi (Hebrew for "Fighters for the...
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America Reinstitutes Military Draft
Although a great proponent of demobilization after WWII, President Harry S. Truman re-instituted the military draft in July 1948 with a proclamation calling for conscription of ~10 million men. > 16 million men and women served in the U.S. military during...
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General Elections in Korea
In May 1948 the United Nations Temporary Commission on Korea (UNTCOK) arrived in Seoul to set up supervised Korean elections, after which the country would become independent of U.S. and Soviet control. Rejecting U.N. supervision of elections, Northern Korea blocked...
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London Olympic Games
The 1948 Games of the XIV Olympiad were the first Summer Olympics held since the 1936 Games in Berlin. The 1940 Olympic Games, originally scheduled for Tokyo, then Helsinki, were canceled with the outbreak of World War II. The 1944 Olympic Games, provisionally...
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U.S. Armed Forces Desegregated
During WWII, the U.S. Army had become the nation's largest minority employer. More than one million of 2.5 million African-American males were inducted into the armed forces by 1945. African Americans, ~11% of all registrants liable for military service,...
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Post-WWII Life is Good
In 1948 post-WWII prosperity was rising for most Americans. Consumerism was on the march. While cartoon humor often had a violent edge to it. And the Babe died.
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Armistice Day
November 11, 1918: World War I Ends Veterans Day is an official American holiday that originated after WWI as Armistice Day and was originally intended as a remembrance of November 11, 1918 when major hostilities of World War I formally ended at the 11th hour...
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Berlin Airlift
In June 1948, in response to Allied currency change in West Berlin, the Soviet Union closed vehicular and railroad entry routes through East Germany into the Western sectors of Berlin. The Western allies responded with daily flights to transport goods to West...
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Polaroid Land Camera
Land Cameras, instant cameras with self-developing film named after their inventor Edwin Land, were manufactured by Polaroid from 1947 to 1983. Instant cameras have made quite a comeback these days.
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