As I've alluded before, the wallowing in 9/11 nostalgia is not for me, in fact, I feel it a form of disrespect for the victims and heroes of that day. A dignified and solemn ceremony, a moment of silence or a prayer, and a footnote in the press about those ceremonies, would have been better than an all-out media frenzy.

The material you have presented could be explained in two ways.

First, the government in 1951 could still pressure the media into toning down (or boosting) a news story to bring it into line with national foreign policy objectives.

Second, the media, not as desperate for any means of pumping up ratings (or selling newspapers) so they could please their advertisers as they are today, could afford to act in a more restrained manner.

Patriotic displays and demonstrations are important, and they are good. They should not be ignored or forgotten, and they should never be dismissed or ridiculed. But neither should they be cynically exploited or made into garish publicity events, or used to strut and swagger; spectacles which we cannot even wince at for fear of being accused of being "unpatriotic". It cheapens the sentiment and insults that which it should honor.