Lehigh University - Epitome Yearbook (Bethlehem, PA)

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Hawkers for the Campus Chest Drive, Bill Brennan, Jack Brenner, Al Beardslee, Bob Courtney, and Al Pettit more politicking going on in the world only with higher stakes. 1948 was an election year, and all the fuss began early in the spring. The U.S. stand with Russia, the European Recovery Plan, and the Palestine issue were the big factors in U.S. foreign policy and they got talked about by all political parties. The big issue on the home front was high prices and both the Democrats and Republicans claimed to have cure-alls for the inflation. The Republicans nominated Thomas Dewey and the Democrats ran Truman for another term. There was dissension in the ranks when the Solid South split with the Democrats over States Rights and Thurmond was nominated with the hope that he might collect enough votes to prevent Truman from winning the presidency. Of course Henry Wallace and his Progressive Party captured some campaign notice, but the Com- munist tinge in Wallace ' s platform was too much for the voters to stomach. The campaign raged all fall, and it looked like a sure victory for Thomas Dewey; at least, that ' s what the poll takers and half the nation thought. I remember how I stayed up until three in the morning listen- ing to the election news. Harry S. Truman piled up a good lead and won the election for the big- gest upset of the year. Since I was a diehard Re- publican, it seemed like the end of the world to me. The loud laugh- ter around the table and the noise of the crowd in Joe ' s stopped my reminiscing and attracted my attention to all the goings-on. Joe ' s hadn ' t changed one bit since I had last been there. I ex- cused myself from the table and went walking around the room, mingling with the after game crowd. The back room was still the same dingy dungeon, and the men ' s room had its trite say- ings penciled on the wall. I wandered over to the ' 49 class table top and looked for my name. 19

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Mil Department on review Hall. The festival began to look like big time show business, and it was at that. The f estiva I played to a full house for three nights in March. Almost half of Grace Hall was built up as the stage for the show that went with the music of the Collegians, the Band, and the Glee Club. Cedar Crest and Beaver College girls danced in the show too. I guess half of the student body must have been doing something in the produc- tion. Both festivals were great, and I ' ve never for- gotten them because they showed me that things really could be done around Lehigh besides the grinding out of answers to engineering problems Mv thoughts were interrupted by a new line in the conversa- tion. Sam said, Do you remember the Arcadia elections back in ' 48? That question was typical of Sam. He was a politician from way back and once ran for Arcadia. That was a real campaign that year, continued Sam. I thought everyone at Lehigh was out for office. All the trees and telephone poles on campus had a poster on them campaigning for someone. You ' re right about that, Sam, said Chick. I remember the last night of the campaign when they came around to the dorm and made all kinds of noise to vote for Swanson or someone. Chick Nicholls was elected president, said Sam. Andhowabout you, Sam, asked Doug, you got elected to Arcadia, didn ' t you? Well, not ex- exactly. I ran for class office a couple of weeks later and sort of flopped at that too I guess I wasn ' t much of a politician, said Sam. Ed Leaton was elected president of our class, and I can ' t say now that I envy him the job one bit. It had more work to it than I ever would want to do. We all laughed, and just then I noticed that the pitchers were empty. I spied Joe Kinney and called him over to get us a refill. Twenty years hasn ' t helped Joe any, remarked Chick as Kinney waddled off to the bar. Twenty years, I thcught, it seems like yesterday. While we had our own little politics at Lehigh, there was much New faces in Lamberton Hall 18

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The Radio Workshop works out Where once the table top was clean plywood, Bethlehem soot and years of haze and tobacco smoke had mellowed the wood a deep brown. The writing was hard to read and I had to look a long time before I found my name. I soon reached the booth again where the boys were talking about football. Sam was saying, We sure beat Lafayette today. Remember how we lost that game back in ' 48? It got talked about by a lot of people. The New York and Phi I ly columnists said it was a rotten call by the referee that gave Lafayette the game, and I agree with them We took a nasty defeat, said Chick. Maybe so. Just the same, we had a good football team for my money, ' Doug said. Take Gabriel and Doyne. They were two backs that no school could go Disseminating pep before the pre-game rally 20