JULY 24, 1940

Full News Archive

• Headline: Air Defense Challenges in 1940. Impact: The delays in air defense plans led to a historic shortage of combat-ready planes, which ultimately caused a butterfly effect in air travel. If planes had been ready sooner, perhaps commercial airlines would have been invented earlier, leading to a world where you'd be complaining about your middle seat on a transcontinental flight in the 1950s. Fact: Did you know that bureaucratic bottlenecks have been around since the dawn of time? Ancient Egyptians probably had meetings about the pyramid construction delays too.
• Headline: Havana Parley Addresses Colonial Defense Strategies. Impact: The plans drafted in Havana led to a tangled web of colonial conflicts that would ripple through the Americas, eventually resulting in the rise of a new flavor of coffee in every hipster café, because who doesn't love a good colonial backstory with their morning brew?. Fact: Fun fact: South American railroads have been the stuff of dreams and nightmares, often leading to more political drama than actual transportation!.
• Headline: Trial of Daladier and War Aides. Impact: The trial of Daladier and his aides set a precedent for future political accountability in France, which may have inadvertently inspired the infamous 'Trial by Twitter' that would come to dominate political discourse centuries later. Fact: Trials like these are often the stuff of legends. It’s a bit like a soap opera, but with more berets and fewer commercial breaks.
• Headline: 60 MORE AMBULANCES ASKED TO AID BRITAIN; Groups Here Push Drives for Funds and Supplies. Impact: The push for more ambulances inadvertently inspired a future generation of medical dramas on television, where every episode furthers the myth that every ambulance ride leads to heartwarming reunions. Fact: Ambulances have a rich history of being both lifesavers and the punchlines of bad jokes. You know, like, 'Why did the ambulance get stuck in traffic? Because it was having an emergency!'.
• Headline: U.S. ALIEN RULE CHANGED; Identification Cards No Longer to Be Issued in Canada. Impact: This seemingly mundane rule change set off a chain reaction of identity crises, leading to Canadians coming up with creative ways to prove their identity — including turning everyday items into makeshift identification. Fact: Fun fact: If you think the U.S. and Canada have complicated rules now, just wait until you hear about the time they debated whether maple syrup should be classified as a condiment!.
• Headline: MAY 'INVITE' DEWEY; Senate Committee Wants to Ask Him About Wiretapping. Impact: The idea of inviting Dewey to testify about wiretapping created a legacy of paranoia that would lead to future generations questioning every phone call, resulting in the invention of the mute button. Fact: Wiretapping: the original 'you’ve got mail!'—only slightly less exciting and way more illegal.
• Headline: DIES INQUIRY ASKED BY EQUITY ON REDS; Resolution Calls for Sifting of Lambertson Charges. Impact: The inquiry into the Reds marked the beginning of a long tradition of paranoia surrounding communist influence, ultimately leading to a future where everyone suspects their neighbor of being a secret agent. Fact: The term 'Reds' was used so often it might as well have been a popular brand of ketchup in the 1950s.
• Headline: JONES & LAUGHLIN MAKE $2,141,645 NET; Steel Concern in 2d Quarter Earned $1.93 a Share, Against Loss in 1939 Period $3,276,256 IN SIX MONTHS Profit This Year to June 30 Is in Contrast to Loss of $847,812 Year Before. Impact: Jones & Laughlin's profit margins inspired a generation of business students to believe that steel was the new gold, leading to the Great Steel Rush of 1945, which was mostly just an excuse for people to buy shiny things. Fact: Steel was once so valuable that it was practically treated like currency. Imagine that—trading steel for coffee! But then again, who wouldn't want a latte made of steel?.
• Headline: U.S. LASHES SOVIET FOR BALTIC SEIZURE; Welles Sees Three States 'Deliberately Annihilated' by'Devious Processes'. Impact: The U.S. lashing out over the Baltic seizure created a diplomatic tension that would echo through the Cold War, ultimately leading to international relations that resembled a game of chess played by toddlers—lots of shouting and not a lot of strategy. Fact: The Cold War: where the only thing colder than the relations were the winters in Moscow. So, pack your thermal underwear if you plan on visiting!.