St Marys High School - Bluebook Yearbook (Akron, OH)

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Anything New in Current Events? This was a famous question among many of the juniors and seniors during the past year. They were asked it daily in history and civics classes. Of course ,ua group of girls seated around a cafeteria table or some boys standing around in the auditorium having a bull session during noon hour also kept each other well-informed about current events . But now we want to consider what went on in the world while we spent our days attending school, do- ing homework, going to games and dances, and working after school. As this is being written we cannot fully realize the significance of many of these events which changed the course of history and determined what the future will hold for us. In years to. come, after these events have been judged by history, we will understand what was and what was not important. The period from September, 1956 to June, 1957 was filled with events which will alter and illumi- nate the future and, through our highly developed media of commimication, we were there. One of the biggest and most tragic events of the year was the collision of the ocean liners, Andrea Doria and the Stockholm , off the coast of Long Island due to an as yet unexplained breakdown in communications in a heavy fog. The Andrea Doria sank along with fifty people. Two important occurrences overseas even helped to decide the outcome of thel956 presidential elec- tion. In Hungary, the unrest because of conditions under the domination of Communism flared up into an open revolt by workers and students against their Russian persecutors-, The freedom fighters succeed- ed in overthrowing the puppet government of Hun- gary and for four days set up their own government and released Cardinal Midzenty from captivity. The Russians cruelly repressed the revolt, however, and again forced a puppet government upon these brave people and sent many of them into exile in slave labor camps. Was this an isolated event or was it the beginning of the end for Communism? Only time will tell.

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In Egypt, Col. Nasser seized the Suez Canal. Israel invaded Egypt under the pretense of protecting the canal. In this case, the United Nations set up an international police force to end the fighting. Because of these two inci- dents many people in this country felt that a military man such as President Eisenhower should be retained in the White House. The worst disaster in commercial airline history, the mid-air collision of two airliners over the Grand Canyon, caused the government to consider new safety measures in air travel. This was also a year of continuing trouble in racial desegregation. In many Southern cities Negro children went to and from school escorted by National Guard troops. The Ku Klux Klan also became more active, even to the extent of sponsoring a baseball team. Many varied events made headlines during the year: The Southwest finally got relief from the drought which had threatened to create a new dust bowl but the cure proved to be worse than the sickness. Heavy snows and rains caused floods in many areas . . . The irish Republican Army made raids on North Ireland in an attempt to forcibly unite the country . . . A remark by the secretary of the Treasury that continued high government spending would cause a depression that will curl your hair caused the biggest economy wave in Congress in memory . . . The Federal Government initiated its huge interstate highway program and Ohio announced plans for a S900 mil- lion road building program . . . Nikita Kruschev made his famous statement that If God existed, He would be on our side . . . Thirty thousand Hungarian refugees were admitted to this country . . . Bob Feller announced his re- tirement from baseball . . . lt was quite a cold winter, too, with the mercury registering 18 below . . . Anthony Eden resigned because of the fiasco in Egypt and ill health and his place was taken by Harold MacMillan . . . In New York City, a 15 year search finally ended with the capture of the Mad Bomber . . . A little boy trapped in a well in New York for twenty four hours had the country holding its breath until he was removed alive and safe . . . One of the most controversial men of our time, Senator Joseph McCarthy, died of hepatitis . . . Several de- cisions of the Supreme Court limited the investigative powers of Congressional committees to an extent as yet undetermined. Many people became concerned over these decisions because of the Communist conspiracy. This year saw the beginning of the great debate on whether or not we should continue tests of large nuclear weapons. It began as an issue of the presidential campaign when Adlai Stevenson questioned the advisability of contaminating the atmosphere by continuing these tests. Scientists were soon divided into two camps, one insist- ing that these explosions were endangering the present and future generations and the other just as insistent that little harm could come from the tests. The debate goes on with the public caught in the middle. The Communist boss, Nikita Kruschev, again made the news with the statement that Russia had developed a hydrogen bomb so powerful that if it were tested, it would melt the polar ice cap and flood the seaports of the world. The population of the seaports has not yet begun to leave. The automobile manufacturers seemed to be out to outdo themselves this year. The 1957 models are longer, lower, more powerful, and better riding. This was the big year for tail fins with cars taking on the shape of huge darts or jet planes. ln entertainment, movies seemed to be regaining some of the audience they had lost to television. Along with several really good productions there was a rash of rock 'n roll and calypso movies reflecting the current trends in popular music. The television airwaves seemed full of nothing but quiz shows and westerns while radio concen- trated almost solely on playing popular music. Many parents and educators were still concerned about the effect of the type of music which teen-agers were listening to,upon our generation. Let us hope that we can survive this craze and become responsible adults in spite of it. Labor made news in a big way due to the Senate labor rackets investigation. Many corrupt influences in the union movement were exposed to the rank and file of labor and to the public in general. This was a big year for tranquilizing pills. Many people decided that if they couldn't solve their problems they might as well take a pill that would make them forget the problem. The disarmament conference in london seems to offer some hope that the countries of the world can reach some agreement on limiting the means of blowing each other to kingdom come. In several ways this was a historic year at St. Mary's. The pope relaxed the communion fast to three hours from solid food and one hour from liquids. During the month of May the students were given an opportunityito take advantage of the new regulation by the daily 11:30 Mass. This enabled all the students who wished to do so to receive communion daily. Monsignor Price's amazing regaining of his eyesight was the answer to the prayers of his many parishoners and friends. The doctor was astonished at the speed with which Monsignor's eyes gained strength after a serious opera- tion. The band this year decided not to hold a Military Ball and put on the Harvest Dance instead. From now on, St. Mary's will be able to admit boys from St. Mary's parish only but will be able to take girls from throughout the area. Yes, this has been an interesting and exciting year. We hope that our generation has profited from the mis- takes that were made in this and in previous years so that we will be able to assume the role assigned to us in history in this era of atomic power, the beginnings of the conquest of space, and what we hope to be a rebirth of religion among our people and to bring peace on earth to men of good will. 3