Grandpa mentions "Major Bowes Amateur Hour," a radio amateur show that ran in the 1930s and 1940s. Frank Sinatra was perhaps the best-known alumnus of the Bowes program, having appeared as part of the Hoboken Four quartet. Maria Callas also appeared on the program at age 11, performing as Nina Foresti when she sang a selection from Madame Butterfly.
In his research, John-Boy discovers that Hilary Von Kleist's husband was co-publisher of "the very liberal and influential Frankfurter Tageblatt." This may be a reference to the Berliner Tageblatt, an influential liberal German newspaper hostile to Hitler's National Socialist administration. It was shut down by the Nazi authorities on January 31, 1939.
John-Boy mentions a Reverend Niemöller being sent to jail. Martin Niemöller (1892-1984) was a prominent Lutheran pastor in Germany. He emerged as an outspoken public foe of Adolf Hitler and spent the last seven years of Nazi rule in concentration camps. He is perhaps best remembered for his postwar words, "First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out..."
The news report on the radio briefly mentions John L. Lewis (1880-1969), a leader of organized labor and president of the United Mine Workers of America from 1920 to 1960.
When the Waltons are listening to the radio, a news story about labor leader John L. Lewis plays. Will Geer, knew John L. Lewis and worked in labor union causes with Pete Seeger, Woody Guthrie, and Burl Ives.