Observations — 1945, The Great War Ends

Franklin D. Roosevelt won an unprecedented fourth term as president.  Germany surrendered. Concentration camps liberated. Adolf Hitler killed himself.  Crocodiles in Burma killed 980 Japanese soldiers.  FDR died. Harry S. Truman became president. The U.S. dropped atomic bombs on two Japanese cities.  Japan surrendered. Italy’s Benito Mussolini was arrested and later executed, hung upside down in Milan. Ho Chi Minh declared Vietnam’s independence from France.  Grand Rapids, Michigan, was the first city to accept fluoride in its water. The World Bank was created. Pepe Le Pew debuted.  Arthur Godfrey began his legendary run on radio.  Kiss Me Kate opened in London. The Glass Menagerie opened on Broadway. The Pulitzer prizes went to: Aaron Copland (music) for Appalachian Spring, John Hershey (literature) for Bell For Adano, and Mary Chase (drama) for Harvey. We read W. H. Auden’s Collected Poems, The Crack-Up by F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Black Rose by A. J. Cronin, Black Boy by Richard Wright, Cannery Row by John Steinbeck, and The Black Rose by Thomas B. Chastain. In film, we watched The Lost Weekend, Mildred Pierce, National Velvet, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Spellbound, Children of Paradise, Picture of Dorian Gray, Blithe spirit, Scarlet Street, And Then There Were None, The Body Snatchers and Detour. Top of the music charts were: “Rum and Coca Cola” by The Andrew Sisters, “Sentimental Journey” by Les Brown, Till The End Of Time by Perry Como, On The Atchison, Topeka And Santa Fe by Johnny Mercer and the Pied Pipers, “At Mail Call Today” by Gene Autry, “Aren’t You Glad You’re You” by Bing Crosby, “This Heart of Mine” by Judy Garland and “Put Your Dreams Away” by Frank Sinatra.  Departed Souls: Anne Frank, Jerome Kern, Theodore Dreiser, Ernie Pyle, Robert Benchley, George Patton, and Béla Bartok. Arriving Souls included: Bob Marley, Diane Sawyer, Helen Mirren, Eric Clapton, Tom Selleck, Rod Stewart, Goldie Hawn, Carly Simon, Bette Midler, Steve Martin, Bob Seger, Linda Hunt, Jose Feleciano, and Pete Townsend.  If you we’re around, what were you doing during this year of the wood rooster?