Topics
Understanding our world and that of our enemies
B-36 Crash~British Columbia
https://youtu.be/uLnagDIlfZQ In February 1950 a US Air Force B-36 crashed near the coast of northern British Columbia during a simulated nuclear attack on San Francisco. A Mark 4 nuclear bomb, which lacked the plutonium core needed for a nuclear blast, was...
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Mao and Stalin
Transcripts of the December 1949 and January 1950 sessions between Mao Tse-tung and Joseph Stalin were obtained from Soviet archives by the New York Times in 1995, Moscow December 1949: The first meeting between Mao Tse-tung and Joseph Stalin took place only months...
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Silly Putty
When the Japanese invasion of Asia threatened America’s rubber supply during World War II, chemists at General Electric began looking for a synthetic substitute. James Wright stumbled upon ... a stretchy material that withstood decay and bounced 25 percent higher than...
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FBI Ten Most Wanted List
https://youtu.be/nWgn0lb9q3A In March 1950 the FBI officially released a list of Ten Most Wanted Fugitives designed to increase law enforcement's ability to capture dangerous fugitives. If fugitives were captured, died, had charges dropped or were no longer considered...
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Einstein Warns of Arms Race
https://youtu.be/K4MjwIFoPn0 Transcript: The Eleanor Roosevelt Show." NBC Radio February 1950 ALBERT EINSTEIN (Physicist): ... The idea of achieving security through national armament is, at the present state of military technique, a disastrous illusion. On the part...
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Radio Free Europe
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pQh2PjdziQ&t=65s Headquartered in Munich Germany, Radio Free Europe was founded as an anti-communist propaganda platform in 1949 by the National Committee for a Free Europe (a CIA front organization). Although...
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First Kidney Transplant
https://youtu.be/EP9gnlmEyo8 In June 1950 Dr. Richard Lawler performed the first successful kidney transplantation. The donor kidney was removed from a patient who had died of cirrhosis of the liver. The recipient was a 44-year-old woman with polycystic kidney...
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Arthur Godfrey
https://youtu.be/3FlVhQTIL1Q Sponsored by Lipton Tea, Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts was broadcast on CBS radio and television from 1946 until 1958. Godfrey was also hosting Arthur Godfrey and His Friends at the same time. Arthur Godfrey delivered...
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Diners Club Card
https://youtu.be/iR5QYkdiaq4 In February 1950 the Diners Club issued the first credit card which only allowed charges at restaurants. By the end of the year, Diners Club had 20,000 members. In 1950 the company charged participating establishments 7%...
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U.S. Reveals H-Bomb Plans
In 1949 the United States had lost its nuclear supremacy when the Soviet Union successfully detonated an atomic bomb at their test site in Kazakhstan. https://youtu.be/ZQOZp4ThymU USSR conducts its first atomic bomb test - 1949 Several weeks after a successful Soviet...
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Klaus Fuchs Atomic Spy
https://youtu.be/mqQ5_Na8DIc The German theoretical physicist Klaus Fuchs helped develop the first effective atomic bomb at Los Alamos during the WWII Manhattan Project. German born, Fuchs fled Nazi Germany and became a British citizen in August 1942. As a long-time...
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Fats Domino
https://youtu.be/7eU90nf7xJg Antoine "Fats" Domino's 1950 song "The Fat Man" is widely regarded as the first million-selling Rock 'n Roll record. One of the pioneers of rock and roll music, Domino sold more than 65 million records. LISTEN Fats Domino: 12 Essential...
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D-Day
https://youtu.be/WNzPvxmYG1A 75 years ago today on June 6, 1944 U.S., British, and Canadian forces invaded Normandy France on five separate beachheads. By the end of August northern France was liberated, and the Allies were advancing into Germany. ...
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Bảo Đại
https://youtu.be/rfzHg9wEXV0 Bảo Đại, the last of the Nguyễn dynasty, was the Emperor of Annam (a protectorate within French Indochina) from 1926 to 1945. After the Japanese ousted the Vichy-French administration in March 1945 Bảo Đại was named ruler. He soon renamed...
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Bogart on Baseball
Concerned that the emerging medium of television would hurt ticket receipts, Major League baseball officials produced TV commercials similar to those used to promote movies in the early 1950s.
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Memorial Day
https://youtu.be/YChfpVD5xpk PROCLAMATION 2889 - May 22, 1950 PRAYER FOR PEACE, MEMORIAL DAY Since war is the world's most terrible scourge, we should do all in our power to prevent its recurrence.It was the hope of mankind that with the cessation of...
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Storm Clouds ~ U.S. & China
https://youtu.be/61dGhZPzSxs Australian Associated Press - January 15, 1950 Despite British recognition of the new regime, Communist seizure of U.S. consular property in Beijing prompted the United States to recall all consular officials from China in January 1950....
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God Bless America
Kate Smith' s version of Irving Berlin's song God Bless America has been part of American sports tradition for decades. https://youtu.be/-BIoN9bWTMo However, a recent revelation that she also recorded two songs with racist content in the 1930s (That's Why Darkies Were...
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U.S. Census
For the first time, the 1950 U.S. census counted a population in the United States >150 million people. State rankings RankStatePopulation1New...
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R.I.P. Doris Day
https://youtu.be/D0MtzQDltr0 Doris Day, the freckle-faced movie actress whose irrepressible personality and golden voice made her America’s top box-office star in the early 1960s, died on Monday at her home in Carmel Valley, Calif. She was 97. ~ NY Times May 13, 2019...
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What’s My Line
What's My Line? was a game show on the CBS Television Network from 1950 to 1967. Blindfolded celebrity panelists questioned a weekly "mystery guest" to determine his/her employment. Moderated by John Charles Daly, regular panelists included Dorothy Kilgallen, Arlene...
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Joseph McCarthy
Speech of Joseph McCarthy, Wheeling, West Virginia, February 9, 1950 ...The reason why we find ourselves in a position of impotency is not because our only powerful potential enemy has sent men to invade our shores . . . but rather because of the traitorous actions of...
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Korean War Vets Memorial
I just visited the American war memorials in Washington D.C. All evoke powerful emotions. The Korean War Veterans Memorial is located near the Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. It was dedicated on July 27, 1995. The Memorial was designed and...
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The Broad High Road
At the end of WWII, with a Conservative Party defeat in the 1945 general election, Winston Churchill became leader of the British opposition. Midst the developing Cold War with the Soviet Union, Churchill warned of an "iron curtain" of Soviet influence in Europe and...
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Popular Music
https://youtu.be/Oi6oSjmDV4U https://youtu.be/j11rwc6Sf4o
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