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By the 1980s, the situation in agriculture was worse. At least a third of Nebraska farmers were in danger of loosing their farms. Banks were foreclosing on loans to farmers, and auctions were increasing, selling off ... Read more
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On September 18, 1945, the last of 531 Omaha-produced B-29s rolled out of the final assembly hall of the Martin Plant. On April 1, 1946, the Martin Company’s last 100 workers left the plant. The bomber plant was used for storage of machine tools from 1946 to 1948. Fort Crook, which was where the ... Read more
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Former Nebraska Gov. Val Peterson was head of the Federal Civil Defense Administration when he warned citizens against the dangers of massive fallout from the hydrogen bomb.
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Television, more than anything else, changed the way Nebraskans viewed the world and spent their free time. As more and more television sets were purchased, the entire country could watch the same event or entertainment show. ... Read more
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Did farm homes in Nebraska need fallout shelters, even if they were located far away from the supposed targets of nuclear bombs?
"Shelters make good sense," declared Mrs. Lorraine Still, Custer County home agent, "even though farm families may live hundreds of miles from military targets or large population centers." In ... Read more
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In the late 1980s, the Cold War came to a dramatic end. The economies of nations behind the Iron Curtain were in trouble. People in East Germany, for instance, could see the prosperity and wealth of their West German neighbors. In Russia, there were long lines of people waiting to buy food. ... Read more
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One day after the Kansas troop train misunderstanding, a young, 26-year-old woman, Rae Wilson, wrote to the North Platte Bulletin (now North Platte Telegraph) and suggested running a canteen for soldiers traveling through North Platte.
"During World War I the army and navy mothers, or should I say the war mothers, had canteens at our own depot. Why can’t we? . . . I say get back of our sons and other mothers’ sons 100%. Let’s do something and do ... Read more
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"Outside of the death of one’s own child, I think sending a boy to war would be the most difficult."
—Marialyse Hager Knobel
Fairbury High School Student
What happened to Corporal William E. Green is one of the many stories of a mother experiencing both the anxiety of sending her son to war, and then, the pain of losing him there. Bill Green was in Europe only a few months before he was killed at the Siegfried Line between Luxemburg and Germany on ... Read more
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Verdigre is a small, close-knit Nebraska community of around 600 people near to the South Dakota border. In September, 1984, the Bank of Verdigre closed and its assets and outstanding loans were seized by Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or FDIC. The FDIC, of course, was set up in the 30s to protect the depositors in a bank, and so when a bank has bad loans, the FDIC tries to recoup as much ... Read more
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As more and more farmers came under stress, neighbors and eventually statewide organizations tried to help. The goal of most of these support groups was to help the farmers work through the hard times, if possible. If that was impossible, the goal turned to providing emotional support as the farmers found new careers.
Personal ... Read more
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In 1950, the U.S. government adopted a new cornerstone of its foreign policy based on the finding that the Soviet Union was likely to launch a surprise attack on us "once it has sufficient atomic capacity." That assessment was included ... Read more
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Throughout the history of the central Great Plains region, there have been cycles and factors that affect the lives of those who live here. These factors have always produced results that we can see later.
Some factors are natural — like the cycle of wet years and dry years. This "drought cycle" ... Read more
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Not all of the original Nebraska National Guard served with the 134th in Europe. Companies E, F, G, and H were transferred to the 197th Infantry and served in the Aleutian Islands in Alaska.
Few Nebraskans realized that an American possession and future state was invaded by Japan during World War II. Fewer still realized that a former Nebraska National Guard battalion was deployed to help stop Japanese expansion the area.
In 1942 the 134th Infantry Regiment’s Second Battalion was selected for ...
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The resentment that many farmers felt against bankers reached the boiling point during the height of the farm crisis in the 1980s. Some bankers said they got the silent treatment on the street. A few were even assaulted by angry customers. Some farmers wore black armbands to protest foreclosures. Bankers became the target of bitter jokes making the rounds in Nebraska communities.
Question: What’s the difference between a dead skunk on the road and a dead loan officer?
Answer: There are skid ... Read more
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John Falter was a Nebraska artist who applied his talents to the war effort, producing numerous recruiting and incentive posters while on active duty with the U.S. Naval Reserve.
Born in Plattsmouth and raised in Falls City, Falter gained fame for his cover illustrations for the Saturday Evening Post. Throughout the war, he continued to work as a free-lance commercial artist, though most of his commercial works also addressed patriotic themes.
Between 1942 and 1946, Falter produced a body of work impressive ... Read more
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Even before America entered the war, production for it had begun. In Omaha, for instance, the Martin Bomber Plant was commissioned in September 1940 — well over a year before Pearl Harbor. Other plants were commissioned across the country to build bombs, tanks, rifles, and other weapons, some for sale or "loan" to other countries and some for our own stockpiles.
Although many Americans felt that we were isolated from the war, ... Read more
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There are very few people who have seen an atomic bomb explode — or who would want to. But in 1955, there were several Nebraskans who were among the 5,800 civilian and military witnesses to an atomic test blast. The civilians were there by choice, while most of the military observers had been ordered there. The experiment was known as Operation Cue.
Operation Cue was not the first attempt to test the effects an atomic explosion would have on buildings and ... Read more
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What is it like to be born and raised an American, but to be considered an enemy because of where your parents were born? That’s what happened to many Japanese Americans in World War II.
Racism and war hysteria motivated the U.S. government to forcibly move more than 120,000 Japanese citizens and Japanese Americans from their homes on the west coast to internment camps between 1942 and 1945. Nebraska’s central location kept its Japanese American citizens comparably safe from this process, ... Read more
