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Picture of the Day

Kids remote learning during a polio outbreak in the 1940s. Teachers read lessons over the radio.

In 1937, a severe polio epidemic hit the U.S. At the time, this contagious virus had no cure, and it crippled or paralyzed some of those it infected. Across the country, playgrounds and pools closed, and children were banned from movie theaters and other public spaces. Chicago had a record 109 cases in August, prompting the Board of Health to postpone the start of school for three weeks.

This delay sparked the first large-scale “radio school” experiment through a highly innovative – though largely untested – program. Some 315,000 children in grades 3 through 8 continued their education at home, receiving lessons on the radio.

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Picture of the Day

The KKK used to run a youth group called the Klu Klux Kiddies

They were the children of the Ku Klux Klan, and their baptism included more than a promise to God. Along with their vows to raise religious children, their parents dedicated their children to “the principles and ideals of Americanism.” To an outsider, that promise might sound like a patriotic one. But to the KKK, it meant dedicating the children to a lifetime upholding segregation, bigotry, and the violent suppression of anyone who was not a white Protestant.

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Picture of the Day

american airline stewardess

Portrait of an American Airlines stewardess posing in uniform on an airplane in 1967, part of an ad campaign for the airline.

The post-WWII America changed drastically and millions of Americans started to travel on airplanes and the stewardess profession expanded further.

Now, young working women did not have to change bedpans or take dictation; they could travel the world, meet important people, and lead exciting lives. The stewardess position was well paid, prestigious, and adventurous – and it quickly became the nation’s most coveted job for women.

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Picture of the Day

last man to die in ww2

“The Last Man to Die in WWII” Leipzig, Germany April 18, 1945

War photographer Robert Capa took this iconic photo of an American soldier shot and killed by a German soldier in the battle for Leipzig on April 18, 1945. The soldier became known as the ′′ last man to die′′ in WWII after the picture appeared in Life’s Victory Parade magazine.

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Why Were So Many Japanese Pilots Willing To Conduct Kamikaze Missions?

The Japanese people were very, very patriotic. In addition, they firmly believed that the emperor was god on earth. He was a living god and whatever his decisions, they were from god himself. Between those beliefs and feelings, the opportunity to die for the preservation of the country was not even a question. They all knew that their country was in dire straits with a terrible enemy approaching their shores. As soldiers in the service of their living god, they were much more than willing to sacrifice their lives to save their country.

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Picture of the Day

chinese foot binding

A Chinese woman whose feet, known as lotus feet, were bound in the late 1800’s – Foot binding was the Chinese custom of breaking and tightly binding the feet of young girls in order to change the shape and size of their feet, considered a status symbol and a mark of beauty

Foot-binding is said to have been inspired by a tenth-century court dancer named Yao Niang who bound her feet into the shape of a new moon. She entranced Emperor Li Yu by dancing on her toes inside a six-foot golden lotus festooned with ribbons and precious stones. In addition to altering the shape of the foot, the practice also produced a particular sort of gait that relied on the thigh and buttock muscles for support. From the start, foot-binding was imbued with erotic overtones. Gradually, other court ladies—with money, time and a void to fill—took up foot-binding, making it a status symbol among the elite.

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Picture of the Day

wa77ddclswy51

By 1942 the FBI was adding 400,000 file cards a month to its archives, and were receiving 110,000 requests for “name checks” per month. By 1944 the agency contained some 23 million card records, as well as 10 million fingerprint records. Around the war, the federal government invested huge resources into the FBI to investigate potential defectors and spies. President Roosevelt, for one, was concerned about the lure of Communism and the subsequent threat to democracy. By the end of 1943, the FBI employed around 13,000 people.

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Picture of the Day

teddy roosevelt shot

Theodore Roosevelt was shot mid-speech in an assassination attempt in 1912. He refused to have medical treatment until he delivered his 90 minute speech, in which he showed off the bullet wound to the crowd.

He was wearing his Army overcoat and carrying a 50-page speech – folded double to fit into the breast pocket where he had also tucked his metal spectacles case and that saved his life that day. The bullet was slowed and didn’t reach his lungs or heart.

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Picture of the Day

Mussolini headquarters

The headquarters of Mussolini’s Italian Fascist Party, 1934

The building in the picture is Palazzo Braschi in Rome, the headquarters of the Fascist Party Federation (the local one, not the national Party headquarters). It was not always covered up like that; this set-up was displayed for the 1934 elections, in which Italians were called to vote either for or against the Fascist representatives list. The “SI SI…” lettering (meaning “Yes Yes…”) was propaganda for one of the two plebiscite elections held during the Fascist Regime, where electors didn’t vote for individual parties (there wasn’t any but the Fascist one), neither for single candidates, but just voted “Yes” or “No” to a single list of candidates presented by the Duce himself.

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Picture of the Day

(photo: Tristan Surtel)

Dummy head used by John Anglin to fool prison guards during his escape from Alcatraz Prison. Him and his 2 companions whereabouts are still unknown. The head was made of cloth, soap, toothpaste, concrete-dust and human hair.

While John and Clarence Anglin, 2 of the 3 men who ever escaped from Alcatraz, were officially reported to have drowned in the bay, their mother received flowers anonymously every Mother’s Day until she died, and two very tall unknown women were reported to have attended her funeral. 

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