Lexington, KY - December 7th, 1941. A date which will live in infamy." Thus intoned President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in his call for a declaration of war against Imperial Japan on the day after the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor.
Of course, we all know how the story ends. But at the time, there was great uncertainty. Germany and Italy had not yet declared war on the United States. They would, but at the time no one knew for sure.
What was it like, then, in Lexington, Ky., on Sunday, Dec. 7, 1941? The best source is the morning paper for Monday, Dec. 8. And a look at the Lexington Herald, drilling past the war news, helps reveal what the community was doing other than reacting to the bombing. (As the old joke goes, "Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?")
If an indication of what is important is the placement of non-war articles near the front of the paper, then the biggest news is the Post Office hiring 108 extra workers for the Christmas season and Transylvania's president Raymond McLain embarking on a three-state swing of alumni meetings (his wife heading to Carlisle to address a Women's Day program). One wonders if those stories would have been pushed onto the front page had the attack not occurred when it did.
Drilling further down the page, we learn that an organizational meeting to form a Cub Scout Pack in Nicholasville will be held and the Jessamine County Red Cross has raised $1,000 (but no mention of the war).
Next follows what today would be called an advertising supplement, but at the time is designed to look like news articles with photos. In this section, we find that Skuller's Jewelry on West Main Street is ready "for a big Christmas season," as is the newly refurbished Edwin Bogaert Jewelry Store. S.J. Amato, tailor, has also improved his shop on West Short Street for Christmas. In a cryptic note, he suggests shoppers make their clothing purchases early in anticipation of the increase cost of wool. Little does he know.
Taylor Tire Company on Vine Street and Southeastern (now the location of Wines on Vine on Old Vine Street, among others) suggests new tires (of course) for Christmas, as well as table radios, Edison batteries, spotlights and fog lights.
United Service Company on East High Street across from the viaduct (now South Martin Luther King Boulevard) offers something called "baconizing" to recap (not re-tread, we are informed) tires by applying new rubber over the worn out tread. Meanwhile, down on West Main Street, Kaufman's is advertising men's silk pajamas for $5-6.50. Of course, in short order, rubber and silk, even wool, will not be available at any price.
In sports, Major League Baseball owners are meeting in Chicago to discuss the winter trades (one wonders how that turned out), and the Bears beat the Cardinals 43-24. Believe it or not, third down the list is an item noting Georgetown College will play Duke University that evening. It gets better: the night before, Georgetown beat North Carolina State 45-36 in a five-game road swing at which they now stood 4-0. University of Kentucky basketball is nowhere to be seen, even though they beat Miami (Ohio) 34-21 at home Dec. 6.
Tobacco auction action is big news for the day. Closing out the first week of the sales season, the statewide average stands at $27.84, up from $18.74 a year ago. A large ad placed by the Lexington warehouses claims, "It pays to come a long ways to sell in Lexington," touting the local average of $29.10. (Gas rationing will put an end to any such claims.)
Other large ads include one by Charlie Sturgill for the 1942 Pontiac with the reassuring line, "Pontiac's Job -- producing anti-aircraft for the United States Navy and building the fine car with the low price for the American people." Soon, Pontiac and the rest of Detroit's product would be entirely war-related.
Movies would become one of the few acceptable entertainment choices for the propaganda value of newsreels. But for now, there's hardly a whiff of war in what's playing downtown. At the Kentucky Theatre, it's "New York Town" with Fred MacMurray and Mary Martin. Next door at the State is "Flying Cadets" and "Hard Guy." Across the street at the Ben Ali, the prolific Mary Martin and Bing Crosby in "Birth of the Blues." Next door at the Strand is "Sun Valley Serenade" with Sonja Henie and John Payne. And at the lowly Opera House, Bob Hope in "Lost in the Draft" ends today.
Perhaps the best evidence that life does go on are two headlines toward the rear of the paper. The continued story of Pearl Harbor gets the headline "Jap Bombs Take Heavy Toll," while the article directly under it is headlined, "Dump Protest Meeting Is Slated Tonight."
It's going to be a long 33 months.
(The Lexington History Museum opens a new exhibit on Dec. 7, 2011, marking the 70th anniversary of the United States' entry into World War II after the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor. The exhibit runs through August 2015.)