1941 Army-Navy Football Program

This is a football program for the 1941 United States Military Academy vs. United States Naval Academy football game. The cover is white with a color illustration of a soldier and a sailor, each holding their academy's flag in front of a globe. The program is 212 pages long with several black and white photographs and illustrations. Navy would win the game 14-6 at Municipal Stadium in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The first Army/Navy game was played in 1890 and has been played annually since 1930.

There are several parts of the program that are now of immense interest for World War II historians. For instance, page 180 features a bow view of the U.S.S. Arizona with text that says, "It is significant that despite the claims of air enthusiast no battleship has yet been sunken by bombs." The game was played on November 29, 1941. On December 7 (the next week) the Arizona would be destroyed by Japanese bombers at Pearl Harbor. There are also several other pictures highlighting and describing ships throughout the U.S. fleet, such as, the aircraft carriers Lexington and Saratoga. Other pages contain pictures of Franklin D. Roosevelt, Frank Know (Secretary of the Navy), Henry Stimson (Secretary of War), the Naval Academy and West Point.

The program also has a unique look at popular culture from the period. There are several cartoon illustrations featuring popular characters, such as, Popeye, Dagwood and Blondie and Snuffy Smith. The cartoons all carry a unique Army or Navy theme. Overall the program is an excellent representation of the crossover between sport and American history/culture.

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