History: The Year is 1953

I've uploaded year 1953 to the TSP Wiki...

http://tspwiki.com/index.php?title=1953

This posting contains a section from Southpaw Ben. I am including his work in this posting as per my mandate to provide more than one method to provide the history segment. (The other is through email and the wiki). If he wants me to remove it, I will do so. Just let me know.

Here are some one liners...


The Secret is Out: The Polio Vaccine is Here! -- Jonas Salk does not deserve sole credit for the discovery, but he is the face of the research team and he is a good man. People feel it.

MK Ultra: Making Super Spies Out of Citizens -- Yes. Your tax dollars at work as the CIA uses drugs, abuse and torture on American citizens without their knowledge or consent.

The Death of Stalin -- Southpaw Ben offers his thoughts on whether Stalin really died of a stroke or was he poisoned?

Notable Births -- See below.

This Year in Film -- See below.

This Year in Music -- See below.

In Other News -- See below.

The Secret is Out: The Polio Vaccine is Here!

"It's not the Salk vaccine! ... I'm not entitled to that kind of credit and everyone knows it!"

-- Dr. Jonas Salk complaining about reporters crediting him rather than the team for the discovery of the polio vaccine. ^[1]

Dr. Jonas Salk is working with a team of researchers at the University of Pittsburgh looking for a vaccine for polio. Everyone is, but polio vaccines of the past have always ended in tragedy... until now. Salk himself is a genial man, easy with children and teenagers. He has a knack for gaining the trust of parents as well, which may explain why he is identified with the polio vaccine. He is also the first doctor to speak about his research on the radio. As a result, reporters have been hounding him, but he fears giving false hope. Nevertheless, his friend and supporter, Basil O'Connor, has announced trials for the vaccine to be begin late this year or the next which is... crazy. But figure 50,000 children are hit with polio each year. 10,000 of them end up crippled and a few thousand die outright. Quarantines are the rule of the day. Homes for the crippled are commonplace. Parents are terrified. So you can't run this like a normal research project. It's risk vs. benefit. The thing of it is... Salk may have something. He injected his own family with the vaccine last year, including his 2-year-old son, but those are small batches made up in a lab. He needs to test a mass-production vaccine, and that is where these things go wrong. They want to run a double-blind test meaning that patients will THINK they are getting the vaccine, and the people injecting them also think it... but some of those shots contain nothing but saline solution. Salk hates that idea, so he runs his own secret trial early this year on 166 children. (God! Where is the FDA! Out to lunch? Good!) It works. Official trials will begin early next year, but the news is out. The Salk vaccine is here!... oh... I mean the polio vaccine. ^[2]

My Take by Alex Shrugged
It is no wonder that older people look upon doctors as minor deities, but scientists universally agree that this sort of project NEVER could have been run today. The oral vaccine came out a few years later. It is easier to administer, but a little dangerous if you don't handle it right. Remember... risk vs benefit. YOU be the judge. I remember parents with their children lined up around the block waiting for the polio vaccine. I had a friend who survived polio mostly intact. She could walk, but couldn't dance. Nice girl. Her name is Joy. I hope she is having a good life. Now children have a chance to dance. ^{[3] [4] [5] [6]}

MK Ultra: Making Super Spies Out of Citizens

Your CIA has a little project in the works. They call it Project MK Ultra. It is an experiment in mind control. Not to worry. They aren't conducting the study without help. They have farmed out pieces of it to 149 universities, research facilities, hospitals, prisons, and pharmaceutical companies. Many of them have no idea they are working for the CIA. Some of them are fully aware, but you can trust them. They are from the government. Right? Drugs are used (such as LSD), sensory deprivation, verbal and sexual abuse as well as psychological torture. After the Watergate scandal in 1973, the CIA will stop the MK Ultra project and the core documentation will go into the shredder. Final oversight of this project will come in the form of a Freedom of Information Act request 25 years later. Thousands of documents with incidental mentions of MK Ultra will spill out, prompting a Senate hearing. By the time your government guardians get on the dime the Project will be long gone. Several Americans will be killed, having been administered drugs and other procedures that simply rendered them dead... without prior knowledge of the risk nor their consent. Have a nice day. ^{[7] [8] [9]}

My Take by Alex Shrugged
EMERGENCY REBOOT! Hello Siri. Make an appointment on my Calendar... earliest possible date... to visit my contact officer. Thank you, Siri. SHUTDOWN.

The Death of Stalin

On March 1st, 1953, Stalin had a stroke. Due to strict orders to his guards to not enter, he was left alone the entire day, despite not getting up at his usual time. When he was found around 10 PM, he was covered in urine and couldn't speak. On March 3rd, his body double, Felix Dadaev,^[10] was ordered to return from his vacation; however on March 4th, in a move that shocked the world, Stalin's illness was broadcast with extensive medical details of his stroke. Following his death on March 6th^[11], Georgy Malenkov took over as First Secretary of the USSR^[12], until March 14th, when Nikita Khrushchev was selected to be the new First Secretary of the USSR.

My Take by Southpaw Ben
Joseph Stalin officially died of a stroke. However, a 2011 study based on his autopsy and memoirs of those there on the night of his alleged stroke, suggest he may have been poisoned.^[13] The autopsy report was carefully worded to back up the initial's doctor report of Stalin having a stroke to protect themselves from the new rulers in the Kremlin, likely, in part, due to the recent doctors' plot. However, the study revealed that the doctors had also done their due diligence, potentially to allow future generations to discover what actually killed Stalin. Several key points towards Stalin having been poisoned: while high blood pressure, which Stalin was known to suffer from, does commonly cause strokes, it doesn't usually cause the vomiting of blood which was documented to have done. It has been suggested that Stalin's wine the night before had been poisoned with warfarin, which would cause the same symptoms shown by Stalin in his last days.^[14] If even a rumor had escaped that Stalin had been assassinated, it could cause a violent reaction, as many Russians saw Stalin as almost a god. Stalin's death changed the face of the USSR's relations with the United States, and led to Khrushchev's policy of de-Stalinization.

My Take by Alex Shrugged
Beria, former head of the NKVD, also died of a stroke in 1953 caused by a bullet entering through his forehead. General Paval Batitsky pulled the trigger, and the population of Hell was increased by 1, but the man who ordered Beria's death was Nikita Khrushchev. A man who could do that was a powerful man indeed.^[15]

Notable Births

• Gary Johnson: Founded one of New Mexico's largest construction companies. Republican Governor of New Mexico from 1995 to 2003, and Libertarian Party nominee for President in 2012 and 2016. ^[16]

• Tony Blair: UK Prime Minister. ^[17]

• Jeb Bush: Gov. of Florida and presidential candidate. ^[17]

• Paul Krugman: Nobel Prize economist. (They also gave a PLO terrorist the Peace Prize so don't read too much into it.) ^{[17] [18]}

• And in Entertainment...

• -- Tim Allen: The Santa Clause, Galaxy Quest, the voice of Buzz Lightyear, and TV's Last Man Standing. ^[17]

• -- Hulk Hogan: Professional wrestler, actor, TV personality. ^[17]

• -- Colm Meaney: Star Trek: Second Generation's Miles O'Brian. (Transporter Chief) ^[17]

• -- Dennis Miller: Saturday Night Live comedian and radio talk show host. ^[17]

• -- Mary Steenburgen: One Magic Christmas, The Butcher's Wife, The Proposal, and more.. ^[17]

This Year in Film

• The Robe: Starring Richard Burton. (The plot surrounds the crucifiction of Jesus.) ^[19]

• Disney's Peter Pan: The last animated film by Disney's core team: the Nine Old Men, as they are called. ^{[19] [20]}

• House of Wax: Starring Vincent Price. ^[19]

• How to Marry a Millionaire: Starring Betty Grable, Marilyn Monroe, and Lauren Bacall. ^[19]

This Year in Music

• That's Amore: (pronounced: ah-MORE-aye) Dean Martin. ^[21]

• Your Cheatin' Heart: Hank Williams. (He dies in January of this year.) ^[21]

• (How Much Is) That Doggie in the Window?: Patti Page. ^[21]

In Other News

• The USSR's H-Bomb: This year the USSR tests it's first hydrogen bomb and later announces to the world that they are now a thermonuclear power. ^[22]

• Collective Agriculture in Germany: Walter Ulbricht, First Secretary of East Germany, declares that East Germanagriculture will be collectivized. ^[23]

• Doctor's Plot: In the USSR many prestigious doctors, mostly Jews, were alleged to be plotting to poison the political and military leaders by the Pravda. ^[24]

This Year in Wikipedia

Year 1953, Wikipedia.