Tuesday, February 14, 2017

History: The Year is 1952

I've uploaded year 1952 to the TSP Wiki...

http://tspwiki.com/index.php?title=1952

PLEASE NOTE: Included is a segment by Southpaw Ben. I am including it here because my intent to to provide a secondary means of access to the History Segment. However, I do not want to give the impression that his work is my own. If he would like for me to remove his part, I'll be glad to do so. No bad feelings.

Here are some one liners...


The Reunification of Germany... DENIED! -- Stalin favors the reunification of Germany, butterflies, and pretty girls. As negotiations fail, the borders are closed. Only West Berlin is left open.

The State of Nuclear Weapons -- Southpaw Ben goes through the problem of nuclear proliferation. I offer my own comments about the difference in power of an fission bomb vs. a fusion bomb.


Notable Births -- See below.

This Year in Film -- See below.

This Year in Music -- See below.

In Other News -- See below.




he Reunification of Germany... DENIED!

Since the closing days of World War 2, Germany has been occupied by the Allied forces, but each Ally has its own assigned region. The region of Soviet occupation is officially called (in English) "The German Democratic Republic" or DDR for short because actually using the word "Democratic" is just too much BS even for the communists. (I wish that was a joke.) This year Stalin proposes to unify Germany once more. He promises freedom of speech, freedom of religion, bread and circuses. Hooray! Everything a nation could want except self-defense, and a mutual defense treaty with NATO. Travel between the DDR and the West is fairly easy in certain places. At this point about 8 million German refugees have crossed into the West. They don't believe Stalin. (Imagine that.) As negotiations break down the German borders are sealed by the Soviets. Entry into West Berlin is still open, so an additional 16,000 Germans flee there in August alone. Next year over 200,000 will make their way West. Berlin is a shining jewel of capitalism in the midst of communist oppression... oh... I mean a workman's paradise. The contrast will become so stark that the DDR leadership will insist on a wall of separation... a high wall... the Berlin Wall. Construction will begin in 1961. [1] [2] [3]
My Take by Alex Shrugged
Oddly enough, the Chancellor of Germany, Angela Merkel, grew up in the DDR, and Vladimir Putin was a KBG agent there, so there is no love lost between them today. In 1987, President Ronald Reagan called for the General Secretary of the Soviet Union to "tear down this wall," meaning the Berlin Wall. Reagan's advisors thought it would be too confrontational, but he was the President. It said so on TV. A few years later, the wall came tumbling down. A piece of the Berlin Wall is currently set up as a monument at the Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California. It's not too pretty, but freedom rarely is. [4] [5]

The State of Nuclear Weapons

1952 was a big year for the proliferation of nuclear arms. To start of the trio of major advances in nuclear arms was the maiden voyage of the Boeing B-52 Stratofortress.[6] While it wouldn't be operational until 1955, this was new jet-powered major step to better allowing the US to be able expand it's operational range of delivering nuclear weapons. The B-52 was a replacement for the B-36 Peacemaker, which used a piston-engine that drives propellers, though it was later retrofitted with an added pair of jet-engines.[7] The B-52 is still in use today due to it's good performance at high subsonic speeds, and it's low operational costs. The next major advancement of nuclear weapons in 1952 was the October 3rd testing of the United Kingdoms first nuclear weapon in Australia during Operation Hurricane. The test was successful and had a 25 kiloton yield, which was only slightly more powerful than the US's "Fat Man" bomb.[8] The final major advance in nuclear armament in 1952 was the first ever successful test of a hydrogen bomb by the US on October 31st during Operation Ivy[9], code named "Mike", this test resulted in a yield of 10.4 megatons, which is almost 500 times as powerful as the "Fat Man" bomb dropped on Nagasaki.


My Take by Southpaw Ben
What possible legitimate use could there be for a single weapon that could create a crater 6,240 ft across and 164 ft deep?[10] This crater was the result of the "Mike" test from operation Ivy. The US government, in it's infinite wisdom, had decided that the best way to remain in the lead during the Cold War arms race was to create a weapon that's use could be reasonably called genocide. As Japan had spread it's means of productions out instead of having them contained in a single factory convenient for bombing, the bombings of Nagasaki and Hiroshima were nominally on military targets, as these factories produced goods that were vital to the Japanese war effort. If the US were ever to use a H-bomb, it's hard imagine that even the United State's closest allies could justify this use as being against an actually military target, and not just using the nearest actual military target as an excuse for the inevitable massive amount of destruction. With the amount of destruction possible, maybe even probable, should the US ever go to war with Russia, it never fails to amaze me how many Americans view working with Russia as tantamount to treason. While Russia definitely has some human rights violation issues, perhaps we would be better off by attempting friendly relations with Russia and trying convince them as allies to change their ways, rather than aggressively pressuring a paranoid country that, within most adult's lifetime, was in a position to wipe the US off the map just as well as the US could return the favor, and that likely could do so still today.[11]
My Take by Alex Shrugged
Good one, Southpaw Ben! I live outside of Austin, Texas just across the county line. I sometimes contrast the difference between the atom bomb at Nagasaki with the hydrogen bomb as follows: if an atom bomb hit Austin, it would beat the ever-lovin-tar out of downtown, but out here in the sticks, it would probably crack a few windows and knock down my fence. A hydrogen bomb would knock down my fence, my house, and very likely I'd burst into flames. Regarding nuclear proliferation as we have come to call it, the communist threat of nuclear annihilation in 1952 was real. Only the sanity of Stalin prevented it from happening... and that was a very thin reed to grasp for. It was actually Mao of communist China that was the real threat. Mao was the only man that Stalin thought was crazier than he was. [12] [13]

Notable Births

  • Vladimir Putin: KGB agent, FSB Director, Prime Minister and President of Russia. [14]
  • John Kasich: Governor (R) of Ohio, and presidential candidate. [14]
  • David Petraeus: 4-Star General and CIA Director. [14]
  • Maureen Dowd: New York Times columnist. [14]
  • And in Entertainment...
  • -- Billy West: The voice of "Fry" on Futurama. [14]
  • -- Jonathan Frakes: Star Trek: 2nd Generation's Commander William T. Riker. [14]
  • -- Michael Dorn: Star Trek: 2nd Generation's Mr. Worf. (Klingon Starfleet officer) [14]
  • -- Dan Aykroyd: Saturday Night Live comedian, The Blues Brothers, Coneheads, and Ghostbusters. [14]
  • -- John Goodman and Roseanne Barr: The TV sitcom couple on Roseanne. [14]

This Year in Film

  • The Greatest Show on Earth: Circus drama and Academy Award winner. [15]
  • Singin' in the Rain: Musical comedy, directed, choreographed, and acted by Gene Kelly. [15]
  • Hans Christian Andersen: Starring Danny Kaye in various fairy tales. [15]

This Year in Music

  • Delicado: Instrumental by Percy Faith and his Orchestra . [16] [17]
  • You Belong To Me: Jo Stafford, "See the pyramids along the Nile...just remember all the while..." [16] [18]
  • I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus: Jimmy Boyd. (He's 12-years-old!) [16]

In Other News

  • Project Blue Book begins: It is a statistical survey of UFO sightings, but without computers, it is really a filing cabinet and people making notes. [19]
  • The Mau Mau Uprising begins: Also known as the Kenya Emergency, this uprising was against the British rule of Kenya. [20]
  • Selman Waksman discovers the cure for tuberculosis. It's streptomycin. He gets the Nobel Prize this year. [1] [21]

This Year in Wikipedia

Year 1952, Wikipedia.

This Year in Newsreel

1952 Newsreel, YouTube.

No comments:

Post a Comment