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AndNow...
The Plain Truth
Enters
Its 53rd
Year
N
EW READERS
may not
realize that with this
Februa ry issue
The
Plain Truth
enters its 53rd
year of publication.
Its modes t first edition in
1934-the depth of the Great
Depression- totaled abou t 250
copies.
It
was an eight-page,
mimeographed issue.
Today,
The Plain Truth
has a
monthly circulation of more than
seven million copies and, in addi–
tion, is translated into six lan–
guages.
The
World
In 1934
The whole world then was in great
economic stress. Small, isolated
"hot wars" were occurring regu–
larly.
Imperial J apan had occupied
Manchuria. Mussolini was care–
fully planning the invasion of
Ethiopia. Late in 1934 French For–
eign Minister Louis Barthou would
be assassinated . And in Germany,
Adolf Hitler had proclaimed him–
self dictator of the Third Reich.
The United States was hard hit
that year by drought and lack of
soil conservation measures. In the
midwestern United States, farm
after farm was literally blown
away by the winds of the " Dust
Bowl."
I t was in those tumultuous times
that
The Plain Truth
made its
humble appearance. Here are two
headlines with drop heads from
10
those early issues of
The Plain
Truth:
Is a World Dictator
About to Appear ?
Everybody senses that some–
thing is wrong with t h e
world .
..
that sorne mighty
event is about to occur. What
is it? Bible prophecy tells!
H e r e is a solemn warn–
ing ..
.
and it is t!ze plain
truth!
What Is Going to Happen?
When wi/1 che next war come?
Which wi/1 be first, the war
precipitated by Russia .
..
or
the reviva/ of the Roman Em–
pire?
A
Look
at 1986
Today our world faces severe debt
problems. In terna! conflicts beset
many nations in Southeast Asia,
Southern Africa and Central
America. Nuc lea r destruction
looms on the horizon like some
foreboding cloud. Yet,
The Plain
Truth
has a message of hope. It
continues not only to inform its
readership of what is happening,
but why events are happening- the
true causes
of the problems facing
mankind today. In this sense, the
Plain Truth
magazine is unique.
The world has changed consider–
ably since 1934. And while
The
Plain Truth
remains
"a magazine
of understanding,"
it has under–
gone significant changes too. In
November 1958, ci rculation had
reached 175,000. By July 1967, the
one million mark was passed . This
figure was doubled by August,
1969. In 1973 worldwide ci rcula–
tion stood at more than three mil–
lion copies. And by September
1982,
The Plain Truth
's
circula–
tion passed five million, including
more than two million newsstand
copies.
Besides the growth in circula–
tion, the magazine itself has under–
gone significant physical changes.
From 1934 to 1957,
The P/ain
Truth
remained a black and white
magazine with a gradual increase
in the number of pages over the
years, from eight to 24. In Febru–
ary 1957, the magazine received a
new look with the addition of color,
giving the magazine a duotone ap–
pearance. Later, in February of
1965, a color cover was added to a
now 32-page magazine.
Finally, in February of 1966,
The Plain Truth
became a full–
color magazine.
When he began publishing
The
Plain Truth ,
Herbert W. Arm–
strong and his wife, Loma, were
the complete staff. Mr. Arm–
strong wrote the entire magazine,
typed the stencils and ran the
copies off on a Neostyle printer
while his wife kept up the sub–
scription list.
Today, there are over 100 men
and women employed in Publishing
and Editorial Services alone. These
people write for, edit, design, type–
set and do all prepress work on
The
Plain Truth,
as well as other liter-
The
PLAIN TRUTH