Professor Walter's History Lessons

The story of one WWII ship

During WWII the United States was producing many ships.  Each ship took an average of one week to complete and there were many shipyards working in unison on the war time project.  But, what happened to these ships after the war?  The Navy did not need that many ships, so quite a few were sold to the private industry.  This is the story of one of those ships.

In 1944 the Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corp. built a US Navy standard ship type C3 named the USS Queens.  Then in 1948 she was purchased by American Export Lines for use as a Mediterranean cruise ship with the new name SS Excambion (II).  In 1958 she was returned to the Maritime Administration under a trade-in program.  She went to the National Defense Reserve Fleet, Hudson River Group.  There she sat until 1965 when she was loaned to the Texas Maritime Academy for use as a merchant marine officer training ship under the new name of USTS Texas Clipper.  She remained in that service until she was intentionally sunk on November 17th 2007 to be an artificial reef.

-Professor Walter

Balls to the wall!

In today's language the phrase "Balls to the wall" means to push the limit, to go full speed.  Many believe the phase has a "dirty" connotation, but that is not the case.  The phrase is actually a reference to the throttle on planes.  When you wanted to accelerate, the throttle would be pushed toward the firewall.  When you wanted to go as fast as possible you would push the throttle with it's ball all the way to the wall.  Hence, the phrase balls to the wall was born.  The first time it was used is believed to be during the Korean war, it is likely related to the phrase "balls-out" from WWII, which has the same meaning.

-Professor Walter

The Forbidden Swastika

Throughout the western world the swastika is the forbidden symbol of the Nazi Party.  In some countries displaying anything related to the Nazi party for any reason other than academic will result in eight years of prison.  It is reasonable to expect that the pain the symbol represented is still strong even after so many years.  What must be understood though is that the Nazi Party appropriated a symbol, that was quite popular throughout the world, for their own purposes.  The swastika was a good luck charm for early aviators, a symbol Native Americans, and is prominent in a collection of eastern religions.  The popularity was prevalent throughout the United States prior to WWII and its image can be seen on many historic landmarks throughout the country including the Garfield Monument (President James A. Garfield's tomb), the Yale University library, and the entrance to the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

The rise in popularity of the swastika can be traced to the late 18th century work of Heinrich Schliemann who discovered the symbol at the site of the ancient city of Troy.  He noticed startling similarities between the swastikas in Troy and ones found on ancient pots in Germany and theorized that the swastika was a significant religious symbol of remote ancestors.  As a result, by the early 20th century, the symbol was used worldwide and considered a symbol of good luck and success.

Trouble arose when the work of Schliemann was used by the völkisch movements which grew out of German romantic nationalism.  Soon the swastika became the symbol of the "Aryan race" which was the supposed nordic master race that originated in northern Europe.  n 1920 the swastika was adopted as the symbol of the Nazi party.  In 1925 Adolph Hitler created a new national flag based on it.

I myself, meanwhile, after innumerable attempts, had laid down a final form; a flag with a red background, a white disk, and a black swastika in the middle. After long trials I also found a definite proportion between the size of the flag and the size of the white disk, as well as the shape and thickness of the swastika.

At the end of WWII the swastika became associated with hate groups, and the original distinction it once held was never restored.  Steven Heller, an American art director, journalist, critic, author, editor specializing in graphic design, wrote a book on the possible redemption of the swastika. 

It is safe to say that while the swastika maintains the stigma it does in living memory it will never recover from the atrocities in the past that are tied to it.

-Professor Walter

Joseph Friedman - Changing the world one drink at a time.

Born on October 9th in 1900 Joseph B. Friedman would grow into quite an inventor.  At the tender age of fourteen he had his first idea, a lighted pencil.  Over the course of his life he would be issued nine patents. The first was for improvements to the fountain pen which he sold to Sheaffer Pen Company in the mid 1930s.  He supported his family utilizing his education in optometry and real estate while inventing.  While working as a realtor in the 1930s he would create his most successful invention, one that is still in use today across the globe. 

While sitting in his brother's fountain parlor in San Francisco, Friedman watched his young daughter Judith struggling to drink a milk shake out of a paper straw.  Inspiration struck and Friedman took the straw and inserted a screw.  Using dental floss he impressed the grooves into the straw and handed it back.  The world's first bendable straw had been created. 

The Flexible Drinking Straw Corporation was formed in 1939, but the impact of WWII prevented Friedman from completing his drinking straw manufacturing machine until after the war.  In 1947 the first sales of the flexible drinking straw were to hospitals. Soon the straws began to sell to the general public.  On June 20, 1969, the Flexible Straw Corporation sold its patents, licensing agreements, and trademarks to the Maryland Cup Corporation whose current descendant is the Sweetheart Cup Company.

-Processor Walter

From blood plasma to the breakfast table

The ancient Peruvian Incas from the Andes developed a basic process of freeze-drying with is the removal of water content from frozen food.  The freezing temperatures of the mountains combined with the high altitudes made this possible.  With the advent of World War II this technique was considered as a solution to the problem of storing and preserving blood plasma and penicillin.

In 1940 Richard Stetson Morse founded The National Research Corporation in Boston, MA. to research vacuum packing and freeze-drying.  The US Army had a request for 500,000 lb powdered orange juice.  Under the leadership of John M. Fox NRC's new branch, Florida Foods Corporation won a contract to provide the powder for $750,000.  However, the war ended before the factory could be built.  The company chose to proceed forward despite the end of the contract, but decided against powered orange juice.  Instead they developed a procedure to remove 80% of the water from the orange juice and invented the first concentrate frozen juice product on the market.  From a slow start, going door to door, the product quickly became a hit with the name of Minute Maid.

In 1949 the company changed its name to Minute Maid and in 1960 it was purchased by Coca-Cola.  As of today Coca-Cola is the worlds largest producer of fruit juices.

-Professor Walter

The Bellamy Salute

In 1892 Francis Bellamy, a Baptist Minister and Christian socialist created the Pledge of Allegiance.

"I pledge allegiance to my Flag and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation indivisible, with liberty and justice for all"

President Benjamin Harrison proclaimed that it would be used on October 12, 1892, Columbus Day, in public schools.  Since that time the words have been changed four times to the current version from 1954.

"I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands: one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."

The pledge was originally accompanied by the Bellamy salute.  The Bellamy salute had the arm outstretched with the palm upwards.  It changed so that the palm was downwards after some time.  However, with the advent of WWII, the similarity between the pledge and the Nazi salute led many to be uncomfortable.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt instituted the hand over the heart salute that is so familiar today.  Officially the removal of the Bellamy salute occurred on December 22nd 1942 when congress amended the Flag Code.

-Professor Walter

Be careful what you say, someone may be listening...

1946 was a time of rebuilding across the world as WWII reached it's conclusion.  The allies had won, and the axis powers were defeated.  Hitler and Mussolini were dead, Japan had agreed to unconditional surrender.  The Cold War was just beginning. 

In 1946 a group of Soviet school children gave a beautiful carved replica of the Great Seal of The United States to Ambassador Averell Harriman.  The Ambassador hung the seal in the Ambassador's residence, Spaso House in Moscow, prominently on the wall.  In 1952 a routine security check turned up something strange about the seal.

Within the seal was a small compartment, and inside the compartment was an advanced passive repeater.  The repeater would activate when 330 MHz radio waves were received from an external transmitter.  This meant that the Soviets could hear anything inside the office, and that no power supply was necessary on the device itself.  As such, when the device was dormant, it was virtually undetectable.  George Kennan, the ambassador at the time, spoke of the discovery in his memoirs.

'Quivering with excitement, the technician extracted from the shattered depths of the seal a small device, not much larger than a pencil . . . capable of being activated by some sort of electronic ray from outside the building. When not activated, it was almost impossible to prevent. . . . It represented, for that day, a fantastically advanced bit of applied electronics.'

While simple by today's standards, the device was quite advanced for the time.  According to Henry Cabot Lodge Jr., United States Ambassador to the United Nations, there were more than 100 similiar devices discovered in U.S. Missions and residences in the U.S.S.R. and Eastern Europe.

So, always be careful what you say, you never know who may be listening.

-Professor Walter

USS Mayo - Tradegy at Anzio Italy Jan 24, 1944

During WWII the United States Navy had a large collection of vessels involved in various campaigns.  Among those was the Benson Class Destroyer USS Mayo DD442.  In January of 1944 the Mayo was stationed off the coast of Anzio, Italy providing cover fire to the beachhead.  The crew was skilled, and efficient, keeping the enemy in check.  The Mayo's efforts were instrumental in keeping the Nazi's large guns from firing.  On January 24th, the firing continued until 21:01 when a large explosion rocked the ship.

The vessel was nearly blown in two with six men killed and twenty five wounded.  Somehow, against all odds, the ship stayed afloat.  The valiant efforts of the crew, and a good bit of luck, saved the Mayo.  The ship was towed to Naples, for patching.  Then the great journey back to the US began by tow, miraculously the ship survived the perilous trip.  Upon arrival in New York, she was put into dry dock and four months of repairs followed.  After that she went back into service.

Many good men were injured and killed, yet the bravery and skills of those who survived made sure that the ship would survive as well.  The damage was so severe that the Mayo should have sunk.  Thankfully, it survived and carried it's surviving crew to safety.

-Professor Walter

The best people, only when we need them...

During World War II Alan Mathison Turing was a pivotal character in the British attempts to break German Cryptology.  During his time working he was a key player in the development of the Bombe which was a device to break the core of Germany's encoded messages.  His efforts were nearly revolutionary in impact.  Without his genius the war may have dragged on longer, and the outcome of many battles may have changed.

The tragedy of his success was the way in which he was treated by Great Briton after the war.  Despite his influences and continued impact, he had a major flaw.  He was homosexual, which was illegal and considered a mental illness at the time.  It cost him his clearance, job, and a conviction for gross indecency for admitting to sexual relations with a man.  He was given a choice of imprisonment or probation with chemical castration.  He chose probation, and was injected with estrogen, one of the side effects was him growing breasts.

On June 7th 1954 he died of cyanide poisoning.  The official report calls it a suicide, although his mother claims that it may have been accidental.  Many conspiracy theorists believe the British Secret Service had him assassinated, since he knew many state secrets and there were fears he could sell them. 

In the years after his death his real value has been realized, and he is now considered one of the greatest people in the 20th century.  On September 10th, 2009 British Prime Minister Gordon Brown made an official public apology,on behalf of the British government, for the treatment of Turing after the war.

  It is worth the time to read more about him here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Turing.