THERE WAS A TIME... – AT 11:17 A.M. ET:  I've never been a fan of mindless nostalgia.  You know, people who tell us how perfect everything was "back then," as opposed to right now.  There were plenty of things wrong in the America of my youth, including the exclusion from full participation in American life of a number of groups. 

However, there were many things right about our country back then.  A wonderful popular culture, with music written by real composers like Cole Porter and Irving Berlin, and lyricists like Oscar Hammerstein II.  Great movies that we still watch today, as we wonder whatever happened to our storytelling talent.  A media that was respectful of the country and its values.  Schools that existed to teach students the fundamentals of a fine education, not to indoctrinate them in leftist babble.  And a certain indescribable warmth that linked us together as Americans.   It was something we felt.

Bob Greene has a wonderful column today describing something else about that era – the fact that American companies identified with the American soldier, and were proud of it: 

The two wars in which the United States became engaged after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, have often felt as if they have little to do with the daily lives of civilians at home. People in the nation's cities and towns carry on with their business; the volunteers in the military fight. Life on the home front goes on.

It's rare to find an advertisement that makes a direct point of linking a company or manufacturer with America's wars.

And...

Contrast that with advertising that appeared in U.S. newspapers and magazines during World War II. The difference is stark. Back then, many ads went out of their way to show consumers that the companies -- whether they made wristwatches or paint or ball bearings -- were proudly involved in the fight overseas.

"Time is Short, Adolf!" proclaimed the headline on a 1942 ad from the Philco Corp., manufacturer of radios, phonographs, refrigerators and air conditioners. The illustration showed a skeleton holding a pistol aimed at the right ear of Hitler. The text praised the men and women of Philco: "The incentive and inspiration for their war achievements are Victory and the survival of America's freedom."

If you ever get a chance, go to a library that has the bound volumes of LIFE magazine from World War II.  You'll see page after page of the ads that Greene is talking about. 

Maybe all those ads were there because it was a different kind of war.

Or maybe it was because, back home, this was a different America.

COMMENT:  Alas, it was a different America.  Sure, it was an America that could stand improvement, and we improved.  But it was an America with so many wonderful things about it. 

Think of this:  Sixty-five years ago, American kids were dancing to the music of George Gershwin.  They were going to movies like "Thirty Seconds over Tokyo" and musicals like "Meet Me in St. Louis."  They were laughing at the clean comedy of Jack Benny.  Contrast please with today.

I'm afraid we threw out the baby with the bath water.  If we don't invite that baby back into our homes, we will never have that America again.

June 12, 2011