Americans in 1939 didn't want to think about a war in Europe and most preferred to stay neutral. But, they knew what was happening as some reporters tried to keep their listeners informed.
Ambivalence prevailed. While many people were outraged by what Hitler was doing, not everybody was. In New York, 22,000 pro-Nazi sympathizers held a large and noisy rally. Up in Canada, the government banned Father Coughlin's newspaper Social Justice for being excessively racist and prejudiced. But, in the U.S. he was still on a large number of stations and causing controversy. Good for ratings, you know.
Popular programs were The was The Aldrich Family, The Guiding Light, Phil Spitalny's All-Girl Orchestra starring in the Hour of Charm, Life Can be Beautiful and The Lone Ranger. First Lady, Eleanor Roosevelt was a frequent guest on the networks and she gave several talks in 1939, including one around Mother's Day about the contributions women made to the founding of the United States. Listen to old time radio commercials.
In Ventnor City, New Jersey there was a big chess tournament that was held from July 8th to July 16th. Invitations were sent out to all the big name players on the east coast. Those who accepted were:
Milton L. Hanauer (1908-1988), who had a law degree but never practiced law. He had also had a PhD in French Literature and taught French in high school and later became a high school principal. He authored some chess books for beginners.
Fred Reinfeld (1910-1964) is best remembered for his books on chess and other subjects. He won the NY State Championship twice.
Jacob Levin was born in Latvia, but came to the U.S. as an infant. He received his law degree from the University of Pennsylvania. He won the state championship in 1945.
Edgar T. McCormick (1914-1991) helped establish the first chess club at his high school in East Orange, NJ. In 1935 he earned a mathematics degree from Princeton where he was also the star of the chess team. In 1941 he enlisted in the army and worked as a cryptologist in Iceland. in conjunction with the CIA. A chess promoter in inner-city chess programs, a member of the Log Cabin Chess Club, McCormick won the New Jersery Championship twice and the Virginia State Championship once. At the time of his death in 1991, he was the U.S. Amateur Champion.
Harry R. Morris (1905-1966) was a president of the Mercantile Library Chess Club in Philadelphia and won the Pennsylvania championship four times. He was a procurement officer in the Air Force until he retired at age 55.
Olaf Ulvestad (1912-2000) won the Washington State Championship in 1934 and in 1952 and 1956. After the 1939 tournament, Reinfeld called Ulvestad "the finest attacking player I ever had the pleasure to encounter." Some have wondered why Ulvestad, who was from the West coast, was invited to the tournament. The June 15, 1939 issue of The Brooklyn Daily Eagle explained that Ulvestad was the dark horse of the tournament. Born in Tacoma, Washington, in 1933 he won the Puget Sound tournament in Tacoma and in 1934 the State championship in Seattle. He had gone to Alaska for three years and then came East and for the past six months had been in New York City.
Harold R. Burdge, Sr. (1896-1979) was the NJ state chess champion in 1938 and in 1939.
Anthony E. Santasiere (1904-1977) had a career that spanned five decades, from the 1920s to the 1960s. He had a great many success in local tournaments and in the 1930s ,he defeated two of the country's top players, Albert Simonson (+3 -1 =0) and Fred Reinfeld (+3 =3 -0) in match play. Santasiere competed in 34 consecutive Marshall Chess Club Championships. He won the NY State Championship four times and in 1953, he won a tournament in Milan, Italy. He wrote many, many articles for the American Chess Bulletin. Santasiere retired to Florida in 1965 where he continued playing in local tournaments, even winning a few.
John J. Leary of Philadelphia won the Pennsylvania championship four times.
John W. Collins (1912-2001) was confined to a wheelchair his entire life. He started an informal neighborhood chess club in his parent's home on Hawthorne Street in Brooklyn, calling it the Hawthorne Chess Club. Frequent visitors included Irving Chernev and Herman Helms and Marcel Duchamp. Later the club was a visiting place for Bobby Fischer, William Lombardy, Raymond Weinstein and Robert and Donald Byrne. Collins was the U.S. Postal Chess Champion in 1943, NY State Championship in 1952 and the Marshal Club Championship in 1953.
Ted Knorr of Hillside, New Jersey was a member of the Marshall Chess Club and participated in their team events and club championships. He also belonged to Collin's Hawthorne Chess Club.
Mary Bain had finished second in 1937 U.S. Women's Championship and was the U.S. representative for the Women's World Championship in Stockholm where she took Adele Rivero’s place. While she was a last-minute substitute in this tournament. This was Bain’s first tournament since recovering from injuries she received in an automobile accident.
Dr Hanauer was the first tournament director in my first JHS tournament at the Manhattan Chess Club when it was located at the henry Hudson Hotel. I represented Wade JHS 117 Bronx NY
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