(June/July 1986)

On June 27, 1950, President Harry S. Truman announced he is
ordering U.S. air and naval forces to South Korea to aid the
democratic nation in repulsing an invasion by communist
North Korea.

In addition to ordering U.S. forces to Korea, Truman also deployed
the U.S. 7th Fleet to Formosa (Taiwan) to guard against invasion
by communist China and ordered an acceleration of military aid
to French forces fighting communist guerrillas in Vietnam.

The total U.S. dead in the Korean War
numbers 36,516.

After 59 years, the iconic Route 66 enters the realm of history
on June 27, 1985, when the American Association of State
Highway and Transportation Officials decertified the road
and voted to remove all its highway signs.

Measuring some 2,200 miles in its heyday, Route 66 stretched
from Chicago, Illinois to Santa Monica, California, passing
through eight states.

On June 26, 1948, U.S. and British pilots began delivering food
and supplies by airplane to Berlin after the city was isolated by
a Soviet Union blockade.

As a result, beginning on June 24 the western section of Berlin
and its 2 million people were deprived of food, heating fuel and
other crucial supplies.

Though some in U.S. President Harry S. Truman’s administration
called for a direct military response to this aggressive Soviet
move, Truman worried such a response would trigger another
world war. Instead, he authorized a massive airlift operation.

Harry S. Truman (1884 – 1972). The 33rd
president of the United States, serving
from 1945 to 1953.          
      
      
     

The last Packard—the classic American luxury car with the
famously enigmatic slogan “Ask the Man Who Owns One”—
rolled off the production line at Packard’s plant in Detroit,
Michigan on June 25, 1956.

The Packard brothers, William Doud (left) and James Ward
(right) as seen in company portraits.