1951 New Year's Eve Letter
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My grandfather (Dad's father) was a newspaper reporter by trade, and a former Navy captain who fought the Japanese during World War II. When my father William (Grandpa's first-born son) was 2 1/2 months old, Grandpa sat in front of his typewriter, and wrote him this letter. I have copied it precisely as written, punctuation, spelling, wording and all. The photos are of my father from 1950s to 1990s. (He is in the foreground of each group shot.)
New Year's Eve, 1951
Dear Little Willie:
1951 will be another thing of the past in just a few more minutes but in that time I will write a few lines so that someday you may know a little more about it and what it meant to you and your mother and me.
Naturally the biggest event of the year was your birth. It happened, as do so many things, in the very wee hours of the morning. I don't imagine that your mother and I will ever again go through the high degree of anticipation we knew in the weeks, days and minutes before you were born. The fears, of that long two hours between the time we entered the doors of the hospital and the time they told me you had arrive and that you and your mother were alright were about the longest I have ever lived Right now it probably means very little to you. Someday, we all hope and pray, you will experience a similar experience and we are already anticipating somewhat becoming grandparents.
But for the year 1951-it was a rough one. It started out with the world divided into two camps and ended about the same. War in Korea at the beginning of the year was a particularly nasty setup for the United Nations troops and it looked for a few weeks as if they wuld be driven out by the increasing numbers of Chinese Reds. I want you to always remember that the men in the field, both sides included, are not warmakers. Chinese and North Koreans are victims of years of suppression and deprivation. They have known want for so long that any political orgainzation which stood for more food and security for them and their families would be the most desirable in their eyes. Those members of the United Nations forces were fighting for what they believed was a just cause, the freedom of man, regardless of nationality, from the oppression of a dictitorial ruler.
This year the one millionth United States serviceman was killed. It was late in the year and in late December the one millionth traffic fatality was recorded.Television was the thing and a family without it, as are we, was considered not in the know. The Charleston dance step of the 1920's was revived and a fellow named Ralph Flannigan was named the top dance band of the year. Colliers magazine printed an entire issue written about the idea that there had been a third world war and what its ramifications had been on the world. A woman named Dagmar with oversized bosom and undersized brain made a great deal of money on television. Liquor prices went up, as did almost everything else, but people continued to buy gallons of the stuff. Narcotics however was the crime of the year with exposures of terrific and terrible rings of addicts being uncovered in most of the major cities.
A fellow named Senator Estes Kefauver and a group of his congressional associates conducted hearings throughout the United States and learned that crime was a big business in our country. This aroused the citizenry a certain amount and resulted in a few convictions but was far from breaking up the criminal syndicate which seams to operate from coast to coast.Investigations in Washington proved that several of the political appointees of the Truman administration had been corrupted and probably even when you are grown they will talk about the deep-freeze and mink coat bribes to the officials of the government.
In England the socialist experiment failed and Winston Churchill was returned to the offices of Prime Minister. The English political situation has been going down hill since the war and this year saw many backward slides. In Iran the oil treaty with the British was broken because the Iranians felt that they were being cheated. In Egypt there was many riots protesting the very presence of the British in that country and the Suez canal zone. Financially the English people where suffering as great a wants as during the war years and yet they continued to trade with the Russians because the cut off of that trade, they claimed, would completely bankrupt their economy.
All in all I suppose that you feel it was a pretty bad year to be born...but it wasn't. Because you and others were born the world will have another chance to redeem itself. You and your fellow new citizens can do a great deal to make this world a better place if you will study the teachings of the great men who have gone before you. More people belonged to churches this year than ever before so maybe it won't be as bad a world when we finally turn it over to you.Well Willie 1952 is almost here so I will close for now and write again, God willing, in another year.
Happy New Year
your pop
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- This article was originally featured on RioDancesOnTheSand.com, a blog for the thinking person... Written by Rio Denali, a 30-something with peculiar curiosities, who makes the observations that many of us avoid. Full of useful links and entertaining articles, it is a fun favorite for the intelligent reader. For more great articles like this, please visit RioDancesOnTheSand.com.
