U.S. At War: Champagne & Tea

For matronly Bess Truman the week brought two minor troubles and one triumph:

¶At Washington's National Airport she murmured, "I christen you the U.S. Capitol" and smartly swung a scored, netcovered* bottle of domestic champagne against the shiny nose of an Army C-54 hospital plane. Nothing happened. Pursing her lips, Bess Truman struck again, a backhand swipe. There were nervous titters. After nine determined tries the plane's nose was dented, the bottle still unbroken. Bess Truman passed it to an Air Forces major; when he failed to break it the party admitted defeat, moved on to christen a Navy plane with another...