America heading toward nuclear war...

The Cuban Missile Crisis

The recent events involving the Russian invasion of Crimea and the Ukraine by Vladimir Putin stir vivid memories for Baby Boomers. By placing military forces in a sovereign country, Putin has taken aggressive action which comes as something of a surprise to the rest of the world. This has placed America in a very precarious position. 

An equally nervous era occurred over 50 years ago when United States President John F. Kennedy faced a somewhat similar conflict with Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev. Let’s hop into the Wayback Machine and revisit the events surrounding the Cuban Missile Crisis.

This crisis consisted of a 13-day confrontation during the month of October in 1962. The primary players in this tense standoff were the Soviet Union and Cuba (on one side) and the United States on the other. This event is considered to be the time during which the Cold War came closest to turning into a nuclear war.

But let’s briefly examine what led to this tense situation. We can trace its beginning back to the fact that the United States had placed some of their nuclear missiles in Italy and Turkey—aimed at Moscow. These missiles presented a perceived threat to the Soviets.

To make matters worse, the earlier attempted overthrow of Fidel Castro in Cuba by the United States had failed. Then, in 1962, in order to prevent any future attempts by the United States in this effort, Khrushchev decided to install some of his missiles in Cuba. A secret meeting in July of that year between Khrushchev and Castro resulted in an agreement allowing the Soviets to construct several missile sites on the island, and that project began later that summer.

The United States Defense Intelligence Agency noticed what was happening in Cuba, and on October 14, 1962, an Air Force U-2 flew over the area and snapped incriminating photographs of the installation, which included medium-range and intermediate-range ballistic nuclear missiles at the site.

Although President Kennedy considered launching an air and sea attack on Cuba, it was determined that a military blockade was a better choice and announced that the United States would not permit any additional weapons to be delivered to Cuba. In addition, he demanded that the existing missiles be dismantled and returned to the USSR.

Kennedy held little hope that the Kremlin would agree to his demands and expected a military conflict in response. In fact, Khrushchev sent a letter to Kennedy on October 24, 1962, stating that the blockade of sea and air space constituted “an act of aggression that was propelling human kind into the abyss of a world nuclear-missile war.”

Fortunately, in a secret communication, Kennedy and Khrushchev initiated a proposal to resolve the crisis. However, during these tense negotiations, and unaware of the secret deal on the table, Soviet ships attempted to run the blockade. This served to increase tensions to the point that orders were sent to US Navy ships to fire warning shots, and then open fire.

The tension increased when, on October 27, a Soviet missile crew shot down a U-2 plane. This action could have resulted in immediate retaliation from Kennedy, but he decided to hold off and let the negotiations continue.

Finally, on October 28, 1962, Kennedy reached an agreement with Khrushchev in which he agreed that the Soviets would dismantle their missiles in Cuba and return them to the Soviet Union. In exchange, Kennedy agreed that the United States would never invade Cuba. In addition, he agreed to dismantle the US nuclear missiles in Italy and Turkey. 

The blockade formally ended at 6:45 pm EST on November 20, 1962. This crisis made clear the necessity for a direct communication method between the United States and the Soviet Union and resulted in the Moscow-Washington Hotline being implemented.

The world was watching America back then to see what we would do. Today, the world has its attention on Barack Obama and Vladimir Putin. Let's hope that Putin doesn't decide to escalate his aggression and place the world in an even more precipitous position.

The Cold War Era...

Duck and Cover

It all began in 1949 (not too long after the Roswell Incident). We were only player in the field for a few years, but the United States’ monopoly on nuclear weapons ended when the Soviet Union tested its first nuclear device. With nuclear weapons in the hands of our enemy, the US became much more vulnerable to attack than it had ever been previously. And America needed answers on how to protect themselves in the event of a nuclear bomb. So, some genius came up with the procedure named Duck and Cover.

From Wikipedia: Duck-and-cover exercises quickly became a part of Civil Defense drills. Every American citizen, from children to the elderly, practiced these in order to be ready in the event of nuclear war. In 1950, the movie Duck and Cover was produced.

However, duck and cover was not a one-size-fits-all solution to prevent injury in the event of a nuclear explosion. In fact—depending on the explosion's height and yield—ducking and covering would offer negligible protection against the intense heat, shock waves, and radiation that would accompany and follow such a nuclear detonation.

According to Wikipedia: The advice to "duck and cover" holds well in many situations where structural destabilization or debris may be expected, such as during an earthquake or tornado. At a sufficient distance from a nuclear explosion, the shock wave would produce similar results and ducking and covering would perhaps prove adequate. It would also offer some protection from flying glass and other small, but dangerous, debris.

Ducking and covering would also reduce exposure to the gamma rays. Since they are mostly emitted in a straight line, people on the ground will have more chance to have obstacles such as building foundations, cars, etc. between them and the source of radiation. The technique offers a small protection against fallout - people standing up could receive a large, possibly lethal, dose of radiation, while people protected will receive less of it. The technique assumes that after the initial blast, a person who ducks and covers will move to a more sheltered area. It is a first response only.

Duck and Cover was a suggested method of personal protection against the effects of a nuclear weapon, which the United States government taught to generations of United States school children from the early 1950s into the 1980s. This was supposed to protect them in the event of an unexpected nuclear attack that, they were told, could come at any time without warning. Immediately after they saw a flash they had to stop what they were doing and get on the ground under some cover—such as a table, or at least next to a wall—and assume the fetal position, lying face-down and covering their heads with their hands.

Proponents argued that thousands could be saved through this precaution, without which people would instead run to windows to find the source of the big flash. During this time a shock wave would cause a glass implosion, shredding onlookers.

So, there’s some concern that the duck and cover procedure would be effective in reducing physical damage. Fortunately, we haven’t needed to test it so far. Let’s hope it stays that way. Meanwhile, if you want to practice the procedure again, just to see if your old bones can still bend like they did in 1955, check out that video again.

Get ready for the Oscars...

How about a TV Dinner?

Well, tonight is the night that all of Hollywood learns who and what the Academy has chosen to receive their highest award. I remember watching the Academy Awards way back in the fifties — back when the world was transmitted in black and white. 

Sometimes my mother would fix us what they called a TV Dinner so we could watch the festivities in the living room.

But, why do they call them TV Dinners? Is it because they taste like eating a television? Isn’t it amazing what one invention can do? I’m speaking of the television. Not only was its creation responsible for all of the television shows we watched — and all the commercials — without the television there would be several things we just wouldn’t have today.

We wouldn’t have a TV Guide. We wouldn’t need a TV tray. And we might never have had the experience of enjoying a TV Dinner. As anyone who grew up in the fifties knows, a TV Dinner is a prepackaged, frozen or chilled meal which usually comes in an individual package. It requires very little preparation and contains all the elements for a single-serving meal. And they certainly made Mom’s life a lot easier back in the fifties. But where did it come from (of course it came from the grocery store, but I mean how did it get there?)

We're going to have to hop in the Wayback Machine again and let Max set the dial for 1953. That’s the year C.A. Swanson and son’t originally developed the product we all came to love (sort of).

They were first called TV Brand Frozen Dinner. The original TV Dinner came in an aluminium tray and was heated in an oven. The first Swanson-brand TV Dinner was produced in the United States and consisted of a Thanksgiving meal of turkey, cornbread dressing, frozen peas and sweet potatoes packaged in a tray like those used at the time for airline food service.

Each item was placed in its own compartment. The trays proved to be useful: the entire dinner could be removed from the outer packaging as a unit; the aluminum tray could be heated directly in the oven without any extra dishes; and one could eat the meal directly out of the same tray.

The product was cooked for 25 minutes at 425°F and fit nicely on a TV tray. The original TV Dinner sold for 98 cents, and had a production estimate of 5,000 dinners for the first year. Swanson far exceeded its expectations, and ended up selling more than 10 million of these dinners in the first year of production. Their early packaging featured the image of a TV set.

The identity of the TV Dinner's inventor has been disputed. In one account, first publicized in 1996, retired Swanson executive Gerry Thomas said he conceived the idea after the company found itself with a huge surplus of frozen turkeys because of poor Thanksgiving sales. Thomas' version of events has been challenged by the Los Angeles Times, members of the Swanson family and former Swanson employees. They credit the Swanson brothers with the invention.

Either way, Swanson's concept was not original. In 1944, William L. Maxson's frozen dinners were being served on airplanes. Other prepackaged meals were also marketed before Swanson's TV Dinner. In 1948, plain frozen fruits and vegetables were joined by what were then called 'dinner plates' with an entrée, potato, and vegetable.

Later, in 1952, the first frozen dinners on oven-ready aluminum trays were introduced by Quaker States Foods under the One-Eye Eskimo label. (How politically correct is that image today?) Quaker States Foods was joined by other companies including Frigi-Dinner, which offered such fare as beef stew with corn and peas, veal goulash with peas and potatoes, and chicken chow mein with egg rolls and fried rice. (Oh, yummy.)

However Swanson, a large producer of canned and frozen poultry in Omaha, Nebraska, was able to promote the widespread sales and adaption of their frozen dinners by using its nationally-recognized brand name with an extensive national marketing campaign nicknamed "Operation Smash" and the clever advertising name of "TV Dinner," which tapped into the public's excitement around the new device that soon became a staple in every home and remains so today.

The Space Race

Sputnik I

Let’s hop once again into the Wayback Machine and set the dial for October 4, 1957. When we arrive we see the smoke billowing from beneath the rocket. A moment later it begins rising into the sky. And at the very tip of the rocket is the satellite that started it all.

Sputnik 1 was the world's first Earth-orbiting artificial satellite. Launched into a low altitude elliptical orbit by the Soviet Union, it was the first in a series of satellites collectively known as the Sputnik program. The unanticipated announcement of Sputnik 1's success precipitated the Sputnik crisis in the United States and ignited the Space Race within the Cold War.

Sputnik-1 was launched during the International Geophysical Year. This was an undertaking by 68 nations and involved exploration into thearctic, the sea, and outer space. Sputnik helped to identify the upper atmospheric layer's density, through measuring the satellite's orbital changes. It also provided data on radio-signal distribution in the ionosphere.

During its journey, the satellite traveled at 18,000 miles per hour. It emitted radio signals which were monitored by amateur radio operators throughout the world. The signals continued for 22 days until the transmitter batteries ran out on October 26, 1957. Sputnik 1 burned up on January 4, 1958 as it fell from orbit upon reentering Earth's atmosphere, after traveling about 37 million miles and spending 3 months in orbit.


Today's video contains a documentary of the program. As mentioned earlier, it was a bit of a surprise to American that the Russians had beaten us to the punch. A month later, Russia launched Sputnik II, carrying a stray dog found wandering the streets of Moscow, and she became the first living creature launced into space.

I remember well those fall and winter evenings when the sky was clear and the millions of stars winked in the heavens. It wasn’t unusual on those nights to see Sputnik travelling across the night sky. If you spent time gazing at the stars and looking for Sputnik, leave a comment and tell us about it. 

The Computer Era...

In the Beginning

Do you ever stop to wonder how this whole computer universe began? Let's hop in the WaybackMachine, set the dial for 1951, and take a look at the UNIVAC I.

Look! There's Walter Cronkite.

The UNIVAC I (UNIVersalAutomatic Computer I) was the first commercial computer made in the United States. In the years before successor models of the UNIVAC I appeared, the machine was simply known as "the UNIVAC". I wonder if they used a similar system when naming Preparation H. Was there a Preparation G?

See those four people to the right? Click on it to enlarge. Deer in the headlights?

The first UNIVAC was delivered to the United States Census Bureau on March 31, 1951. The fifth machine (built for the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission) was used by CBS to predict the result of the 1952 presidential election. With a sample of just 1% of the population it correctly predicted that Eisenhower would win.

Originally priced at $159,000, the UNIVAC I rose in price until they were between $1,250,000 and $1,500,000. (They were selling a lot of them to the government.)
UNIVAC I used 5,200 vacuum tubes and weighed 29,000 pounds. The Central Complex alone (i.e. the processor and memory unit) was 14 feet long, 8 feet wide, and 8.5 feet high.



The girl pictured above is hypnotized 
by the wonder of it all. 

The girl on the right is

searching for the
Control-Alt-Delete thingy.

So if you get weary carrying your laptop back and forth to work or around the house, be grateful someone figured out how to compress that UNIVAC I equipment into a much smaller and lighter package.

We've come a long way, baby!

Into the Wayback Machine

And back to the fifties we go . . .

It's going to be a long journey. There's a lot to talk about. And whether you're a member of the Baby Boomer Generation or not, it was an interesting time in American history. 

This first post will be a brief summary of what I have in mind and the types of things you'll be seeing on here as we continue.

First of all, there are multiple subject areas we need to cover. And we'll cover all of them. Things like current events, food, science and technology, sports, movies, television, Disneyland, Route 66, toys and games, music and teen idols. And, of course, those great automobiles of the 50s.

So let's hop into the Wayback Machine, buckle up, and hang on for a ride back to a simpler time. I'll be driving, but I would love to hear your comments along the way. Don't forget to use that COMMENT link at the bottom of this post so you can tell me what you think and what you'd like to see on here. There's probably a lot of things I don't remember. I'm a Baby Boomer, and we tend to forget things.