UNITED STATES POST OFFICE on 20 November 1948 issued a First Day Cover commemorating the 100th anniversary (1848-1948) of the American Turners. This particular cover featured a block of four red, 3-cent stamps. 62,285,000 of these stamps were printed using a rotary process with electric-eye perforation. FDC cancellation postmark originated from Cincinnati, Ohio. The stamp's design caused some controversy upon release.
Acting Postmaster General Joseph Lawler initially opposed the stamp, arguing that issuing a commemorative stamp for the Turners, a German-American gymnastics organisation, would set a precedent and could be perceived as discriminatory or unfair to other organisations, i.e. YMCA, Knights of Columbus, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, etc.
The 80th Congress, supported by the Senate, passed a resolution authorising the stamp, overriding the Post Office's objections. Under pressure from Congress, the Post Office eventually relented and issued the stamp, commemorating the 100th anniversary of the American Turners Society. The stamp's eventual issuance became a landmark, even though it was controversial at the time.
By 1961, Life magazine mocked the cluttered design of the stamp: “Upon this stamp appear a torch, a pair of hanging rings, the dates 1848 and 1948, the words ‘One hundredth anniversary of the’…American Turners’ emblem with its motto, ‘Sound mind sound body,’ an athlete about to throw a discus, a wreath, two oak branches and a profusion of ribbon-work, shields and other ornaments. Now, to get all that on one stamp…was a great accomplishment; it must have destroyed the retinas of a dozen steel engravers. But were the people who mailed letters impressed? They were not. They complained that the stamp looked crowded.”
Turnvereine are German-American gymnastic clubs, also known as Turners. This association of gymnasts was founded by the German teacher and patriot Friedrich Ludwig Jahn in Berlin in 1811. The term now also denotes a place for physical exercise. The early turnvereins were centres for the cultivation of health and vigor through gymnastic exercise, including the use of such modern gymnastic equipment as the horizontal bar, parallel bars, pommel horse, and vault. The organisations were also intended to prepare German youth to defend their country against Napoleonic France, and gymnasts were encouraged to develop a spirit of patriotism and Deutschheit (“Germanness”).
In the German states during the Revolution of 1848, some turnverein members sided with factions who unsuccessfully revolted against the monarchy, and they were forced to leave the country.
Turnvereins were subsequently established by such émigrés in other countries, notably the United States, at Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1848, where the organisation now called the American Turners was founded. Francis Lieber, a prominent Turnverein member, was a leading figure in promoting gymnastics and field of study in the United States.
Source: Wikipedia, Smithsonian, American Turners and Mystic Stamps
