Outweighing The Enemy

By Patrick Appel

From John Crawford's 1962 article on beating the Russians by packing on the pounds:

Muscles may be useful in hand-to-hand combat, but I fail to see what advantage they give one in the Cold War. Indeed, that gaunt and bony look so much in fashion among Americans today may be a positive liability in the battle for the minds of men. How can we expect the world's starving masses to believe that a nation of emaciated people is as well off as it pretends to be? We seem to have forgotten that while obesity is the bane of modern America, it remains the ultimate symbol of happiness and security to that portion of mankind which goes to bed hungry every night.