One attempt at an explanation involves so-called Rossby Waves, named after the Swedish meteorologist Carl-Gustav Rossby whose research was published back in 1939.

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He had stories dating back to before some of his admirers were born, such as the time in 1939 when he and Leo Szilard, another Hungarian scientist, persuaded Albert Einstein to write to President Roosevelt, urging the need to make an atomic bomb before the Germans did.

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The American exception dates back to a highly technical 1939 federal court decision, one that Congress has never overturned, in large part because the nation's broadcasters have reliably lobbied against any such change.

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And by 1939, FDR gave in to deficit hawks afraid of government spending and had to cut back.

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