A Technosocio-educational History Appendix to Postblogging Technology, April 1951: The American Mind Is Closed For The Season

 

On 12 April 1951, the search committee of the board of trustees of the University of Chicago announced the replacement to Robert Hutchins as Chancellor of the University of Chicago: Lawrence Kimpton (1910--77)[corr]. A deeply obscure figure (his Wikipedia page doesn't even get his death date right), Kimpton was a successful chancellor and his life makes for a rich reading of a critical decade in technological and educational policy. 

On the morning of 25 April, 1951, 45 Field Regiment, RA, broke position  to withdraw behind the Delta Line, stripping First Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment, isolated far behind the PVA advance on Hill 235, overlooking the Imjin River, of fire support. Fifty-nine Glosters had been killed in action to this point, and 522 now went into captivity, of a total of 1091 casualties killed, wounded and missing suffered by the   29th Commonwealth Brigade in this single action.

Apart from happening in the same month, and the dominating influence over all news that month of the MacArthur dismissal, the two are not unrelated, a point brought to mind by a recent email correspondence with friend of the blog, Chris Manteuffel, over the last few days.

Postblogging Technology, April 1951, II: Fade Away

R_. C_.,
Shaughnessy,
Vancouver,
Canada

William Chase

Dear Father:

This is  my delayed last, since in spite of the Siam Air Lines crash I am still flying to Macao next week for my confinement. My mother will be there the week after, and has telegrammed ahead with some words about Alyce that just about curled off the page. 

I don't honestly know what to feel. We all know that Uncle Henry is a cad. He  was obviously carrying on with Alyce before Aunt Bess left us in the body, but who knows whether it started before her mind left us? One thing is for sure, Uncle Henry has badly needed a woman to keep  him in check. I don't think he appreciates just how many enemies he has made in the aviation business.  Sherman Fairchild has amply proven his talents as a boardroom intriguer, and he is going to swoop in the moment Uncle Henry slips up, which we both know he will.

Reggie is over the moon about the news about the Chase Mission. He has already been to a private meeting in Taipei where he has been assured that he  and his fellow "Yankee Air Piratets" will have official status with the mission and probably some consideration with respect to promotion. Quite frankly, it is time for the Navy to step up, considering the sheer number of "Engineers Wanted" ads in recent numbers of Aviation Week.

As I leave for the plane comes the news of the Battle of the Imjin and the fate of the Glosters. For me, it all blurs together in the sorrows and horror of war, but could you please check with your cousin? Uncle  George will, I think, be taking it badly, especially as it seems to have pushed HMS Affray out of the Hong Kong press.

Your Loving Daughter,

Ronnie

A Technological Appendix to Postblogging Technology, April 1951, I: Mad Science

 

I feel a bit out of my wheelhouse when it comes to the Medicine section of Time. Hoo-boy, those mid-century medical people, hunh? But the story of Andrew Conway Ivy and "Krebiozen," is something else. It is very, very tempting to make our dubious Yugoslav refugee, "Dr." Stefan Durovic, a mad scientist right out of central and a good match with Ronald Richter, but on closer examination this really takes Big Science off the hook. This story needs to be about "the most famous doctor in the country" and, at a bit more of a stretch (and stealing material from 1958), Nobel laureate Sir John Douglas Cockroft.

Postblogging Technology, April 1951, I: Lost At Sea

R_. C_.,

Shaughnessy,

Vancouver,

Canada.

Dear Father:

I know that you probably expected to hear that I have landed safely in Macao by this time, but my mother has, completely unexpectedly, decided that she is going to come to Macao to see me through my confinement, as opposed to sitting in Chicago and complaining that I won't come to America for the blessed event. I have no idea what is going on, which leaves me free to speculate that my mother is another victim of taking Mr. Rohmer seriously and believes that your grandfather's organisation commands all the mad scientists of Asia, in aid of which I presumably will either have a safe delivery or give birth to a cruel and brilliant superman (-woman) born fifty thousand centuries before his time!!!

Either way, I am pretty sure my mother would be happy. Well, okay, maybe not if the first born is female. Other than that, I mean. Cruel and brilliant superman, I mainly mean. 

Oh! My point! She's not coming until the end of the month, so I am putting off my trip to Macao.

Your Loving Daughter,

Ronnie