– Voices And Events- week ending July 17, 1949 – NBC Radio Network – Gordon Skene Sound Collection –
News for the week, ending on July 17 in 1949 had much to do with plane crashes and turmoil.
A plane crash over Bombay India claimed the lives of a group of reporters, heading back from covering the situation in the Dutch East Indies. And while that was going on, a plane crash on the West Coast near Los Angeles claiming 34 as it was coming in for a landing.
But there was other news – a threatened Steel Strike was narrowly averted as President Truman stepped into offer an 11th hour peace proposal, slated to last for at least 60 days. The move, lauded by many as a triumph for the President, was blasted by critics as a move towards Socialism. Just can’t please everybody.
And there were concerns of another kind this week – an invasion of Locust in the west, as a swarm of millions were spotted in Northern Nevada, heading east. Farmers were braced for the worst.
In the rest of the world – Strikes were going on everywhere, it seemed. A Dock Strike in London added to severe economic woes in Britain as hundreds of ships, loaded with food and cargo lay idle as pickets refused to work unless demands were met. Britain called out troops to handle the off-loading. However, truck drivers and tugboat operators refused to accept the cargo handled by soldiers. By the end of the week, a mass demonstration took to the streets of London. The strike was going on with no end in sight.
Back home – the upcoming Mayoral elections in New York brought an adamant “no” from current-Mayor O’Dwyer, who flatly refused to accept a “draft O’Dwyer” movement to run for another term. However, political wrangling as it often is; 24 hours after issuing a resounding no to a re-election bid, O’Dwyer did an about face and agreed to run for another term. A wave of cynicism swept over Manhattan as many felt O’Dwyer had every intention of running for another term, but played the “I Will Not Run” card to see what happened. Politics.
However, the Mayoral elections in New York faded from people’s minds as a Transit Workers Strike erupted, promptly stranding some 2 million New Yorkers and sending Mayor O’Dwyer into emergency mode.
And that’s just a sampling of what went on in the world this week – the one which ended on July 17th 1949 as reported by NBC Radio’s Voices And Events.
