The day before Thanksgiving in 1954 just happened to fall on a Wednesday, just like today. Aside from the ever-present Red Menace (on this day in the form of Red China), things were pretty much the same as they always were. The economy was looking hopeful, the recent election (the mid-term elections of 1954) were a foregone conclusion and the future seemed as mysterious and vague as it always does.

This newscast, narrated by veteran newsman Elmer Davis, gives an outline of those events on this particular day, and a commentary:

Elmer Petersen (NBC News): “Tomorrow is Thanksgiving Day, a day of old and deep tradition in this nation. A holiday. A day of traditional feasting, a day in which, over the years has acquire a rich spiritual meaning. And this year is well suited in many ways it seems, to the Thanksgiving celebration. True, we have our fears and our problems as a nation. But our soldiers are not fighting on foreign shores. We have just finished with a national election which showed in its way, that the nation is strong and steady on its course. On the economic side, on the financial side, there is strong talk now of a pickup in business, some idle workers are back at their jobs. Industrial production is higher. Inventories are lower. And then today we had the announcement that living costs, as evaluated by our Labor Department declined in October for the third straight month.”

Always hopeful and forever mysterious. It never changes.