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THIS WEEK IN PEOPLE’S HISTORY, OCT 1–7, 2025  
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_ ‘Operation Paperclip’, the U.S. Space Program’s Creepy
Pedigree (1945), Plugging a Hole in Earth’s Atmosphere (1985), A
Coal Miner’s Daughter and Proud of It (1970), A Hard Look at a
Failed Strike (1990), Show Your Opposition to Censorship This Week! _

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_‘OPERATION PAPERCLIP’, THE U.S. SPACE PROGRAM’S CREEPY
PEDIGREE_

OCTOBER 1 IS THE 80TH ANNIVERSARY of the War Department’s
announcement it planned to bring “a number” of German scientists,
who were at the time prisoners of war, to the U.S. for a “temporary
stay,” beginning in 1945, during which they would work on research
and development projects for the Army and Navy.

Before the Pentagon’s Operation Paperclip ended, at least 1600
German scientists would be brought to the U.S. and to the United
Kingdom under the program. They would include German rocket scientists
Wernher von Braun and Arthur Rudolph and medical doctor Hubertus
Strughold.

Von Braun had been in charge of developing the rocket-driven Nazi
terror weapons V-1 and V-2 (the “V” stood for the German word for
“vengeance”). Von Braun had also been a major in the
Schutzstaffel, or SS, and had been a Nazi party member for at least
nine years. He eventually became the director of NASA’s Marshall
Space Flight Center, part of the Army’s Redstone Arsenal in Alabama.
Von Braun died in Alexandria, Virginia, in 1977.

Another Operation Paperclip recruit was Nazi rocket scientist Arthur
Rudolph, who had been in charge of V-2 production and who was also a
Nazi party member. In the U.S., Rudolph worked first for the Army,
where managed production of the medium-range, nuclear warhead armed
Pershing missile. In 1961 he transferred to NASA where he managed
production of the Saturn 5 rocket, the launch vehicle for U.S.
missions to the Moon. 

In 1979 a Justice Department lawyer discovered by chance that Rudolph
had probably been responsible for the use of slave laborers in the
production of V-2s. When confronted with the evidence he could be
prosecuted as a war criminal, Rudolph and the Justice Department made
a deal; Rudolph would leave the U.S. and renounce his U.S.
citizenship, the U.S. would not prosecute him, but the U.S. would pay
Rudolph the federal retirement and Social Security benefits he had
accrued while working for the War Department and for NASA.  

Yet another Operation Paperclip recruit was Dr. Hubertus Strughold,
who had been both Director of Germany’s Research Institute for
Aviation Medicine and a major in the Nazi air force. After the war he
was suspected of having committed war crimes, but was never indicted.
Once in the U.S., he continued his aviation medicine research, and in
1962 was appointed Chief Scientist at NASA's Aerospace Medical
Division. He died in San Antonio, Texas, in 1986.
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_PLUGGING A HOLE IN EARTH’S ATMOSPHERE_

OCTOBER 3 IS THE 40TH ANNIVERSARY of the 1985 publication, by the
National Aeronautics and Space Administration, of the one of the first
images of the newly-discovered hole in the Earth’s protective layer
of ozone that was being created by the interaction of freon and other
chlorofluorocarbon gases with the ozone. The hole was slightly larger
than the continent of Antarctica.

The ozone layer in the stratosphere prevents the most powerful
ultraviolet radiation from reaching the ground. If the ozone hole,
which only appeared during winter in the southern hemisphere, were to
grow larger and become permanent, sun’s radiation would begin to
kill many plants and cause a much greater incidence of skin cancer in
humans and other animals.

When the hole in the ozone layer was discovered, the DuPont
corporation was the world’s largest manufacturer of
chlorofluorocarbons. The company’s board chairman said the ozone
depletion theory was "a science fiction tale ... a load of rubbish ...
utter nonsense," but the scientific evidence of the growing hazard was
compelling.

In 1987 the governments of the U.S. and 16 other nations that produced
large quantities of chlorofluorocarbons signed the Montreal Protocol
on Substances That Deplete the Ozone Layer, with the result that the
hole in the ozone layer began a long, slow return to normal.  It is
expected to return to its former size by 2075. To see the image of the
giant hole in the ozone layer released by NASA in 1985, visit
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_A COAL MINER’S DAUGHTER AND PROUD OF IT_

OCTOBER 5 IS THE 55TH ANNIVERSARY of the 1970 release of Loretta
Lynn’s ballad, “Coal Miner’s Daughter,” an impassioned
expression of pride at having been raised by working-class parents. It
quickly rose to number one on the Hot Country Singles chart and was
soon considered to be one of country music’s most significant
recordings. You can listen to it here:
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_A HARD LOOK AT A FAILED STRIKE_

OCTOBER 6 IS THE 35TH ANNIVERSARY of the 1990 release of Barbara
Kopple’s Oscar-winning documentary “American Dream” about the
tragically unsuccessful strike by United Food and Commercial Workers
union local P-9 against the Hormel Company. 

Roger Ebert was inspired to write this of Kopple’s film: “This is
the kind of movie you watch with horrified fascination, as families
lose their incomes and homes, management plays macho hardball, and
rights and wrongs grow hopelessly tangled… The people in this film
are so real they make most movie characters look like inhabitants of
the funny page.”
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_SHOW YOUR OPPOSITION TO CENSORSHIP ON BANNED BOOKS WEEK!_

OCTOBER 7, 2025, IS THE THIRD DAY OF BANNED BOOKS WEEK, an annual
event that has probably never been more important than it is this
year. 

There are public events related to censorship all over the U.S. every
day of Banned Books Week including these on October 7: Lunchtime Book
Discussion: Parable of the Sower at the Public Library of Mount Vernon
& Knox County in Mount Vernon, Ohio; We Read Banned Books! at Hive
Center for The Book Arts in Evanston, Illinois; Movie Matinee: Banned
Together at Putnam County Public Library in Granville, Illinois;
Fighting Book Bans and Censorship: An Activation of Hope at Chestnut
Hill Library in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Banned Together: Screening
& Discussion at Oden Hall in Gambier, Ohio; The Censor’s Cut:
Weavings for Intellectual Freedom at Fanwood Memorial Library in
Fanwood, New Jersey; and Fall Educator’s Night: Banned Books
Edition! At Greenlight Bookstore on Fulton Street in Brooklyn, New
York. Plus there are many virtual events happening on October 7.

For details about any of the Banned Books Week events October 5-11,
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For more People's History, visit
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* Operation Paperclip
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* Ozone depletion
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* Loretta Lynn
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* Barbara Kopple
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* Banned Books Week
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