1943.12.19 “News of the Week”
by Herbet F (Dinty) Dugan (1897-1976)
14 x 14 in, ink on paper
Coppola Collection
Little can be found about Dugan’s life outside of his brief obituary. He was an artist for several Boston newspapers for more than 30 years. Among others, he supplied versions of the “News of the Week” feature that Norman Ritchie did for years, in a style remarkably like Norman’s.
He also illustrated the “Newton Newkirk” feature. Newkirk was a satirist who wrote a column called the Bingville Bugle, a weekly poke at the news of the week. The column was carried nationally, and a neighbor of the young Harry Lillis Crosby, Jr., who was a fan of the column, started to call the young Harry by the nickname “Bingo” because of the character named “Bingo” was pear-shaped with protruding ears. The name stuck, but not after it was shortened to “Bing.”
US invades New Britain Island at Arawe. In December 1943, US forces invaded New Britain Island at Arawe as part of the larger New Britain campaign. This operation, codenamed Operation Director, was a preliminary landing intended to disrupt Japanese operations and divert attention from the main landing at Cape Gloucester. The initial landing, which occurred on December 15, 1943.
Berlin smashed again in the worst bombing of the war. Part of the "Battle of Berlin": These raids were part of a larger offensive known as the Battle of Berlin, an attempt by the RAF to win the war through sustained bombing of the German capital. On December 17, extensive damage was done to the Berlin railway system. By this time cumulative effect of the bombing campaign had made more than a quarter of Berlin's total living accommodation unusable.
A citizen is befuddled about Income Tax Payment at a Federal Tax Office. In December 1943, a citizen might be confused about paying their income tax due to the recent enactment of the Current Tax Payment Act of 1943. This act significantly changed how income taxes were collected in the United States. The Act moved the U.S. to a "pay-as-you-go" system, where taxes were withheld from paychecks throughout the year rather than paid in a lump sum the following year.
Secretary Ickes arrives in New England and gets a taste of bad weather. Harold Ickes was Secretary of the Interior under FDR, known for his outspoken views and high public profile. He was often sent on fact-finding trips, especially related to fuel, housing, labor conditions, and infrastructure. On December 15, 1943, New England and most of the northeast experienced a harsh winter storm, which at that point in history was the 11th worst on record.
Winston Churchill ill with pneumonia in Cairo. Winston Churchill was ill with pneumonia in December 1943. He fell ill while in North Africa, specifically in Tunis (near the ruins of Carthage), after attending the Cairo and Teheran Conferences. He was in Tunis, North Africa, staying at General Eisenhower's villa, the White House, near Carthage. He arrived in Tunis on December 10th, and by December 14th had developed full-blown pneumonia.
17 cargo vessels blasted by Nazi Bombers at Bari in surprise attack. On the night of December 2, 1943, the Germans bombed a key Allied port in Bari, Italy, sinking 17 ships and killing more than 1,000 American and British servicemen and hundreds of civilians. Caught in the surprise World War II air raid was the John Harvey, an American Liberty ship carrying a secret cargo of 2,000 mustard bombs to be used in retaliation if Hitler resorted to gas warfare.
Admiral Nimitz announces dropping 50 tons of bombs in start to sweep Japs out of Marshalls. In December 1943, Admiral Chester W. Nimitz initiated the Central Pacific offensive, also known as Operation Galvanic, which involved the invasion of the Gilbert and Marshall Islands, including the notable Battle of Tarawa.
FDR arrives home from Teheran (and I wasn’t grounded in the Azores). FDR returned to the US following the meeting of the Big Three in Tehran (where Churchill fell ill). The pathway back the US was circuitous and secret, where bad weather could easily ground the trip in the Azores, which was the last stop on the trip FDR is recorded to have been on the USS Iowa by December 16, 1943, before stepping back onto ground in DC the next day. This trip marked the first transatlantic flight by a sitting US president (Tehran to Cairo to Benghazi to Dakar to Azores to US).
