As Elmer Petersen described it on this newscast for November 24, 1954 - a "sort of mellow feeling" had swept over the country on this particular Thanksgiving. On this day there were no American troops fighting a war anywhere. All indications were a picking up of business. The cost of living was declining for the second straight month. The cost of food was going down. The Thanksgiving feast would cost less this year than a lot of others in recent memory. Life was, for all intents and purposes, good.

But that's not to say the world wasn't free of conflict. In fact, it was disclosed the Red Chinese had just sentenced 13 accused American spies to heavy prison sentences, and this put our Foreign Policy in something of a predicament. And calls for retaliation were being largely ignored by the Eisenhower Administration in favor of waiting and seeing just how serious the Chinese were in their threats. The delicate chess game was in session.

But aside from that it was a world more or less at peace - even in this time of Cold War. President Eisenhower flew to "the little White House" in Augusta Georgia in the brand new Air Force One, a Super Constellation, for an extended holiday and working session away from Pennsylvania Avenue.

And that was what Thanksgiving sounded like on November 24, 1954. From NBC Radio News in Hollywood.