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Ray Bradbury was Born
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Nazi Book Burning
German student associations (Burschenschaften) chose the 300th anniversary of Luther’s 95 to destroy in a public book burning as these books represented anti-nationalism, and were considered to be un-German by those whom supported Hitler's rule.
Very similar to "Fahrenheit 451" as they planned to censor all of those whom opposed the new rain of Hitler at that time, much like the government opposed reading books of knowledge in "Fahrenheit 451". -
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World War 2
Thousands of soldiers died fighting against the intensions of Adolf Hitler to create a world in which all were treated as equals "cough" -
The Famous Anne Frank was being held within the home of Miep Gies
Within the Novel, "Diary of Anne Frank" there are many parallels to the book "Fahrenheit 451" one of which being the event of the old woman and the attic. In "The Diary of Anne Frank", Anne was kept in the attic of the home by Miep Gies to protect her from the German police of which would take her to a labour camp. In "Fahrenheit 451" an elderly woman also hid her book in an attic to protect them from the invasion of the fire fighters. Both women protected what the government wished to distroy -
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The Cold War
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Stalin Hostile Speech
Communism and Capitalism were considered incompatible This fatal but important event lead to the massive war, known as the Cold War, to start the massive amount of soviet "containment" by democratic countries. This is similar to the movement stated in the book in which the government implimented in order to ensure true happiness for all (no thinking no regretting) Ignorance is truly bliss. -
George Kennan Makes his Famous Telegram in which states America's intensions toward the Soviet Union
George Kennan states, “long-term, patient but firm and vigilant containment of Russian expansive tendencies.” This is very similar to the act placed by the government in the novel as they contained possible novels that could spread different ideas against the government. (Only to finally burn them) -
Burning of Obscene Comic Books in Missuri
The obscene graphic comic books of Bill Gaines were long shunned for their limited amount of censorship from the government. They were almost considered a communist threat, as the government did not approve these ideas. Obviously communist influence How could the government leave something as obscene as this enter the public in a democratic scenario? -
The National Security Council Report NSC-64
American National Defense reports that they plan to "contain" all possible forms of communist expansion. This event is very similar to the book in the sense that all of those whom questioned "why?" in the book were isolated, or viewed as insane as to know such answers would supposedly make them "unhappy". -
McCarthy's Hunt starts
McCarthy starts his hunt for communist spies and loyalty tests to determine communists within America. These suspects were not permitted any form of travel out of the country and had their rights greatly restricted. (McCarthyism) This is in fact similar to the obvious views against communism displayed in the book where he would state such ideas as "unified happiness" and the lack of recognition towards the death of a human being as it may cause people some "sadness". -
Korean War starts
The Korean War was a battle between the Soviet supported North Korea and the Democratic support of South Korea started to determine the future of Korea's government. The idea of sending thousands of young people off to fight this war over seas directly relates to the concept in "Fahrenheit 451" where you have "disposable teenagers" of which can simply be replaced if they are killed -
Burning of "Soviet" books in Countries Under Democratic Rule
Books were found in Sydney, Tokyo and Singapore, which were than immediately burned to prevent the possibility of Communist influence in countries in alliance to America. This is directly related to the events of the book in which the "firemen would search homes they found to have "explicit" material that was not acceptable for the general public. They would than burn these books attempting to destroy any possible beliefs that could contradict that of the government.
