COLD WAR: Eisenhower Parcels

Like locusts descending on a desert oasis, the hungry people of Communist Germany poured into West Berlin. The West, with one million 10-lb. food packets, was ready for a flow of several thousand a day. But hundreds of thousands came. They traveled on foot, by train and subway, by car and bicycle from all corners of East Germany. They brought empty cartons, shopping bags, even empty baby carriages in which to carry home their precious "Eisenhower Parcels"—free food contributed by the U.S.

Poison & Dog Food. Officials had expected to dole the food...

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