The year of 1950 is a very important year to me. It is the year I was born. I don't know about you but everything I encounter in studying history is referenced to or compared to my birth year. It is a year I count from each birthday so I'm always aware of it. Each historical event is either BIWB or AIWB in my frame of reference: Before I Was Born or After I Was Born.
As I have researched and written about each decade, I have found there have been more things I was familiar with as I got closer to 1950. But as I started looking at the 1950's, where I remember things first hand, I found many more things to relate to. Okay maybe not starting with 1950 to 1953 but somewhere after that I started to remember things and of course it all became more personal and of more interest.
So, as I write about 1950 to 1962, I will be listing a lot more items of significance to me than I have from the previous decades. Please bear with me.
From a national perspective the year 1950 starts off with yet another war, as the Korean War begins when North Korean forces invade South Korea on June 25, 1950. In January of 1953 Dwight D. Eisenhower was inaugurated as the 34th president of the United States. President Eisenhower is one of my favorite presidents because I was named after him. My first name is Dwight. General Eisenhower was immensely popular during and after World War II.
Description: Dwight D. Eisenhower photo portrait.
Date: 29 May 1959
Source: www.eisenhower.archives.gov/audiovisual/select_list_of_portraits.html Metadata] -
Author: White House
Permission: This image is a work of an employee of the Executive Office of the President of the United States, taken or made as part of that person's official duties. As a work of the U.S. federal government, the image is in the public domain.
The Korean War finally ended on July 27, 1953. It's conclusion produced a dividing line between the two Korea's along the 38th parallel. That is the same dividing line that had been in place before the war began. Though classified as a "Police Action" by the U.S., the war would claim an estimated 5 million lives before it's end. More that half of those deaths were Korean civilians. The U.S. casualties included more than 40,000 dead and 100,000 wounded. (1)
Description: Korean War: A gun crew checks their equipment near the Kum River. 15 July 1950. Korea. Signal Corps Photo #24/SIG-FEC-50-4242
Date: 15 July 1950
Source: http://www.history.army.mil/photos/Korea/kor1950/SC343463.jpg
Author: Signal Corps Photo
Licensing: This image is a work of a U.S. Army soldier or employee, taken or made as part of that person's official duties. As a work of the U.S. federal government, the image is in the public domain.
President Eisenhower served two terms so 1960 was an election year. The United States held it's first televised presidential debates during that election year and in January 1961 John F. Kennedy was inaugurated as the 35th president of the United States.
Date: 11 July 1963
Source: http://www.jfklibrary.org/Asset+Tree/Asset+Viewers/Image+Asset+Viewer.htm?guid={B9C835C6-2EF1-4C3F-A600-B4BE064F1A20}&type=Image
Author: Cecil Stoughton, White House
Licensing: This image is a work of an employee of the Executive Office of the President of the United States, taken or made as part of that person's official duties. As a work of the U.S. federal government, the image is in the public domain.
Space was not the only area where the USSR was active in 1961. East Berlin had been controlled by the Soviet Union since the end of World War II and West Berlin had been controlled by the Allies. In the summer of 1961 the U.S.S.R. demanded that all western Allies leave West Berlin. Of course the Allies refused and tensions quickly escalated. The Soviet Union then built a wall separating and isolating West Berlin from East Berlin to prevent anyone from fleeing East Germany or East Berlin into West Berlin. (4)
President Kennedy and the U.S. were not exactly inactive in 1961. In February of 1961he authorized the go ahead of a CIA plan formulated the year before, during President Eisenhower's last year, to invade Cuba using Cuban exiles. On April 17, 1961 the invasion took place at the Bay of Pigs and resulted in complete failure. Also, in 1961 around 900 military advisers were sent to South Vietnam. Some point to this action as the official start of the Vietnam War. (5)
In 1962 the United States and the U.S.S.R. came dangerously close to nuclear war during the "Cuban Missile Crisis". The U.S. discovered the Soviets were building missile installations in Cuba and immediately demanded their removal and moved to isolate Cuba. Intense, behind the scenes negotiations averted this looming nightmare. (6)
My long list of additional items of note during this time frame are as follows:
1950: First modern credit cards issued.
First organ transplant.
First "peanuts" cartoon strip.
The beginning of "McCarthyism" (1950 to 1954).
1951: "I Love Lucy" premieres.
Color TV introduced.
1952: Car seat belts introduced.
Princess Elizabeth becomes Queen of England at the age of 25.
1953: DNA discovered.
1954: Scientific report says cigarettes cause cancer.
Supreme Court hears "Brown vs Board of Education" and rules segregation illegal.
The "Tonight Show" premieres.
1955: Disneyland opens.
McDonald's Corporation is founded.
Rosa Parks sparks the Montgomery Bus Boycott when she refused to give up her seat on a bus.
Jonas Salk develops a polio vaccine.
Rock and Roll enters mainstream with Bill Haley and his Comets song
"Rock Around the Clock".
1956: Elvis appears on the Ed Sullivan Show.
The remote control is invented.
Velcro is introduced.
President Eisenhower's Interstate Highway Act is passed leading to our present
Interstate system.
1957: Dr Seuss publishes "The Cat in the Hat".
Little Rock, AR school desegregates.
1958: Hula Hoop becomes popular.
LEGO Toy Bricks first introduced.
Peace Symbol is created.
1959: Alaska and Hawaii become the 49th and 50th states, the last two admitted up to
this date.
1960: Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho" is released.
Lasers invented.
Birth control pill is approved by FDA.
1961: John F. Kennedy gives his "Man on the Moon" speech.
1962: First James Bond movie released.
First Walmart opens.
James Meredith admitted to segregated University of Mississippi.
Johnny Carson takes over as the "Tonight Show" host.
Marilyn Monroe found dead.
Rachel Carson publishes "Silent Spring". (7)
Each time, as I have looked at a particular time frame in history, I have tried to imagine how those events during that time were viewed by Harmon and Alice Meixner. It is difficult trying to put yourself inside their minds and trying to think like them. Generally it is more what I think based on other things I have read. Sometimes I have had what my Dad wrote and that helped me understand the times a little better. This time I do not have the perspective of my dad because he was married and gone from home. My cousin, Dale, has a much better perspective of the 1950's in this area around Concho County because he and his parents lived through this time and lived in this area. Dale's father, Frank Meixner (Harmon and Alice's oldest son and my Uncle) farmed some of the north part of granddad's land for a while before buying his own farm just to the north of the old home place. I'm sure he was a great comfort and help to Harmon and Alice as well as a great help to the rest of the family. Dale mentioned to me his dad helped support each brother and sister that chose to go to college.
From articles I've read about the late 1940's, it appears that the economy had improved after the end of the war. People seemed to be optimistic about the future. I think Harmon and Alice were probably feeling good about their prospects going into the 1950's. Once again, optimism and good feelings would turn into struggle and pain. No one could have predicted in 1950 that Texas was moving into a seven year drought, a drought that "drove people to town" (8). This phrase was heard often during this time and was a phenomenon that happened all over Texas. Many people left their farms and moved to the cities to try to find work. During this decade the rural population dwindled from more than 33% to just 25% of the total population. (9) Dale said his dad, who had been a barber part time while farming in earlier years, was forced to go back into the Barbering business during this drought. He was a barber and part time farmer. He bought his own Barber Shop in 1958 and continued to ranch part time after that.
I am sure granddad struggled during this drought, but the biggest blow of all came on September 13, 1953, when Harmon's wife of almost 48 years, partner in raising seven children and managing the family farm, passed away, probably of cancer, at the age of 72.
An early photograph of Alice Meixner sent to me by Claudia Brown.
Granddad and Grandmother Harmon and Alice Meixner. Sent to me by Oneta Eubanks.
Grandmother Alice Meixner in her later years. Due to my bad record keeping I lost who sent this to me but I think it was Claudia.
How did granddad survive these years? Somehow he did. I am sure it was a comfort and a great help to granddad that their youngest child, Victor, stayed on to help him farm.
Finally, in 1957, the rains came and when they did, they did not stop. The drought ended but it ended the only way it ever does in Texas, it Flooded! It proceeded to rain so much and so long that the ensuing floods caused $120 million in damages and claimed 22 lives. (10) Granddad made it through the drought and continued to farm through the 1950's in to the 1960's. This is a picture of granddad that was given to me many years ago. It was said he was in his 80's when it was taken. He told the person that took it that he was about to go down and bring a bull up from the pasture.
Harmon Meixner in front of his house. Sent to me sometime in the late 1970's by my Aunt Peaches.
Harmon Meixner in the living room of his home. Picture was in my Dad's possessions.
A lifetime of change from one part of the world to another, a lifetime of hard manual labor, a lifetime of tragedy, heartache, and pain, but, I believe, also, a lifetime of joy in living and enjoying his work building a family and a family farm, came to an end on April 15, 1962 when my granddad, Harmon Meixner, died from a heart attack at the age of 83.
My dad had so much love and respect for his father. I will let his words be the final words about Harmon Meixner. Here is what he said as a tribute to him:
"My Father only went through the third grade in school. He never had an opportunity to go further in school, but he did have a chance later in life to learn. My mother, a school teacher, began to teach him to read and write after they were married. He must have been an apt student because he learned a lot. Dad learned to read and write and how to figure. No man was able to beat him in a business transaction. When he sold his cattle he got the top price for them. Cattle buyers made it a practice to go all over the county back in that day. They would go to people's homes and in a very real sense just beat people out of their herds. The buyers would go to a man's home and in most cases have a quart or two of whiskey along with him. His objective was to get the seller to take a few drinks of the booze and get him a little woozy and then purchase his cattle for a low price. My Dad would tell them straight off, 'You are not coming out here and get me intoxicated and beat me out of my cattle,' and they never did."
"When Dad went to town in Ballenger, San Angelo, Paint Rock, Eden, Millersview, Eola, Melvin, Brady or other places he would talk for hours with his friends. He not only knew the ranchers and businessmen, but he knew the cowboys and others. Dad knew where ranchers moved to if they had relocated in some other county. Dad knew ranchers around Menard, Junction, back toward Sonora, and in all directions. He had a masters degree in connections and in keeping up with people."
"One could not begin to tell all of the skills that my Father was efficient in doing. Dad knew how to drive cattle, rope them, dehorn them, castrate them, skin them, butcher them, feed them - in fact Dad was a master hand at many things. He was not timid or afraid to tackle anything. Dad knew everything about cattle, horses, sheep, goats, hogs, turkeys, chickens, cats, dogs, and you name it. If he were riding a horse and the horse was running and bucking toward a bluff and there was danger of him running over the bluff, Dad would take his rope down and rope the front feet of the horse that was out of control, bring him to the ground and then the horse would get his feet tied up and would receive a good whipping with the lariat. The horse would never forget that experience. Dad worked as many as eight horses and mules at one time. He was little but loud. We built our own barns, fences, and even the old homestead. He repaired all types of machinery, including breaking plows, binders, cultivators, harrows, disk harrows, wagons, buggies, hacks - or you just mention it."
"My Father was a community oriented man. When there were prairie fires, he went out and helped to put them out. If a neighbor's house burned down, he donated generously to help them. Dad took his boys and helped tear the old schools down and build new ones. We helped build the community tabernacle and (classrooms at) the Methodist Church. When a neighbor died, Mother and Dad helped. We helped dig graves for all the neighbors that died in that community. He served as trustee for the Longview and White Point schools for years. When school began, we cleaned the school, including rooms, toilets and the grounds. We hauled most of the fuel, which was coal for the schools, and sometimes the water. My Dad detested any person who would not do his rightful part. Whether it was a rabbit drive or a sick room, Dad was there to do his part."
"My Dad was a real man. He was honest, upright and a man of integrity in every respect. I never heard him tell a lie or misrepresent the truth in any respect. He, in a real sense, was a man made of steel. He was small, but he was very, very strong. Dad had a life time of hard work and hard knocks, but he was the kind of man who could take it." (11)
This is my final post about the "Meixner Family History". When I started aver a year ago, on June 20, 2012, with my first post, I had no idea that over a year later I would still be writing about this family's journey from Bohemia in the Austrian Empire to Concho County, Texas in the United States.
I have developed a much deeper understanding of the tremendous sacrifices that my ancestors made and a much greater appreciation for those sacrifices. Certainly I have only scratched the surface of the lives of the Meixner Family but it has been a wonderful learning experience for me writing about them. I feel a lot closer to them and it has helped me appreciate and love them so much more.
Pedigree Chart for Harmon Meixner printed from my family tree on Family Tree Maker.
I hope to write on another line of my family tree sometime in the next few months. I have to pick the line and do some research first. Let me know if you have a suggestion.
Thank you for following this blog over the last year.
References:
(1) http://www.history.com/topics/korean-war
(2) http://history1900s.about.com/od/timelines/tp/1950timeline.htm
(3) http://history1900s.about.com/od/timelines/tp/1950timeline.htm
(4) http://history1900s.about.com/od/timelines/tp/1950timeline.htm
(5) http://history1900s.about.com/od/timelines/tp/1950timeline.htm
(6) http://history1900s.about.com/od/timelines/tp/1950timeline.htm
(7) http://history1900s.about.com/od/timelines/tp/1950timeline.htm
(8) Burnet, John, "How One Drought Changed Texas Agriculture Forever", July 07, 2012
6:08 AM
http://www.npr.org/2012/07/07/155995881/how-one-drought-changed-texas-
agriculture-forever
(9) Ibid.(10) Ibid.
(11) Meixner, Robert Harmon, Sr., Memoirs of Robert Harmon Meixner, Sr. July 10, 1910
– June 13, 1994. Unpublished. Compiled by Margaret Avis Meixner, pgs
18,19,23,24,26.
