Mark Scott Smith's Blog: Enemy in the Mirror, page 43

Microwave Oven

American engineer Percy Spencer invented the modern microwave oven from radar technology developed during WWII. Named “Radarange,” the oven went on sale in 1946.

A microwave oven introduced by Tappan in 1955 was too large and expensive for general home use.

The first microwave oven with a turntable was produced by the Sharp Corporation in 1964.

In 1967 the Amana Corporation introduced a countertop microwave oven.

Affordable microwave ovens became available for residential use in the late 1970s.

Source: Wikipedia

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First US Advisors Sent to South Vietnam

After WWII, American Cold War policy was based on the “domino theory”— if one country fell to communism, the surrounding countries would fall, like dominoes.

The Eisenhower administration was worried that the potential fall of Vietnam could result in communist control of other Southeast Asian and Pacific nations.

In 1955, the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO) was formed to prevent communist expansion in the region.

In February 1955, President Eisenhower sent ~700 military personnel plus military and economic aid to the government of South Vietnam.

Source: JFK Library

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1950s Cigarette TV Commercials

These were the cultural and media messages I received when I began clandestine smoking at age 13.

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Georgy Malenkov Resigns

In 1953, Georgy Maximilianovich Malenkov briefly succeeded Joseph Stalin as the leader of the Soviet Union. However, at the insistence of the rest of the Presidium, he relinquished control over the party apparatus in exchange for remaining Premier within the Soviet collective leadership.

In 1955, a power struggle with Nikita Khrushchev  culminated in Malenkov’s removal from the premiership.

In 1957, after a failed coup against Khrushchev, Malenkov was expelled from the Presidium and exiled to Kazakhstan.

In 1961, Malenkov was expelled from the Party.

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Scrabble

Scrabble is a word game that gained enormous popularity in the 1950s. In the game, two to four players may score points by forming words with placement of single letter tiles onto a board divided into squares. Like a crossword puzzle, Scrabble words are read left to right in rows or downward in columns.

The game is sold in 121 countries and is available in more than 30 languages. Approximately 150 million sets have been sold worldwide, and roughly one-third of American and half of British homes have a Scrabble set.

Source; Wikipedia

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President Eisenhower upholds use of atomic weapons

In March 1955 Secretary of State John Foster Dulles told reporters “… in the event of [a] general war in the Far East, we would probably make use of some tactical small atomic weapons.”

When asked to comment the following day at a press conference, President Dwight D. Eisenhower upheld the use of battlefield nuclear weapons.

Source: Politico

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Marian Anderson Sings at the Met

In 1955, at the age of 58, Marian Anderson became the first African-American soloist to sing at New York’s Metropolitan Opera.

Singing the role of the sorceress Ulrica in Verdi‘s Un ballo en maschera, Anderson later said: “I was there onstage, mixing the witch’s brew. I trembled, and when the audience applauded and applauded before I could sing a note, I felt myself tightening into a knot.”

The performance received a huge ovation.

Source: NPR

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West Germany joins North Atlantic Treaty Organization

In 1949, the Americans, British, and French combined their zones of occupation in West Germany to establish the Bundesrepublik Deutschland (Federal Republic of Germany).

The Soviets responded by forming the Deutsche Demokratische Republik (German Democratic Republic) in East Germany. 

Encyclopedia Britannica

In May 1955, ten years after the defeat of Nazi Germany in WWII, West Germany joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in a move to counter potential Soviet expansion in western Europe.

With entrance into NATO, the Federal Republic of Germany became integral to the defense of Western Europe.

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Elvis Presley on the Louisiana Hayride

Louisiana Hayride was a country music show (first in radio, then TV) that from 1948 to 1960 helped launch careers of some country and western music performers (including  Hank Williams).

Elvis Presley performed on the radio version of the program in 1954 and made his first television appearance on Louisiana Hayride in March 1955.

Ecstatic at 14 with my first Elvis 45

I stood between my

big brother’s speakers

and turned the volume up

to absorb the voice

and ride the rhythm

surging through my body.

My Mom disapproved of Elvis,

Marlon Brando with his motorcycle

and the no cause rebel James Dean.

Their cocky masculinity, she said

could influence her son,

and spin him around

until he goes off

in the wrong direction.

Years later when I was away at school

Mom tossed my hot rod club jacket

along with my Elvis LP

Mark Scott Smith

This is the song I listened to over and over, standing between my big brother’s towering speakers.

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Egypt & Britain Suez Canal Pact

The 1954 Anglo–Egyptian Treaty terminated the presence of British armed forces along the Suez Canal.

Pinterest

Although Britain relinquished its military presence in other parts of Egypt after WWII, it continued to keep its forces in a number of camps, airfields and other military installations along the Suez Canal.

After the Egyptian monarchy was abolished in 1953, the Arab Republic of Egypt, demanding total British withdrawal from the country, resorted to guerrilla warfare against British troops in the Canal Zone.

In 1954, with a need to curtail its financial burdens, and under some pressure from the U.S. administration, Great Britain decided to quit the Suez Canal. The treaty allowed however, access to British civilian contractors in order to maintain peacetime installations and the return of British forces to a Canal base in the event of war. 

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