Check out the Class Photo Album.
Do you remember what was happening on campus, in Chicago, around the world, and in arts and culture during your years in the College?
- This was the first class to graduate from President Kimpton’s restructured, post-Hutchins-era college. In a state of the University address, Kimpton remarked that the gates were open to those committed to a “justified belief in the life of the mind. In all else, we encourage heterogeneity.”
- Rumors of a resurgence of inter-collegiate football rose and fell during the Class of 1957’s time at the University. The main concern was the commercial nature of the sport and the effect that it could have on the University as a whole.
- Senator Joseph McCarthy’s Red Scare of the early 1950s landed heavily on the University. Several professors were brought under suspicion in 1953, and Chancellor Kimpton was even touched by the scandal. The American Legion protested a recital at Mandel Hall given by African-American bass Paul Robeson for his alleged communist affiliation.
- World events such as the newly founded Jewish State and apartheid in South Africa were subjects of wide debate on campus in 1953.
- The discriminatory nature of several national fraternities was brought to bear by their chapters around the country. The University of Chicago’s Phi Delta Theta chapter underwent restructuring as the national charter was challenged by its local members.
- The University launched a three-year $32 million campaign in 1955.
- In 1957, the Blackfriars student group returned to campus after years of absence.
- The campus bus service began in February 1957. The original plan called for only one station wagon to serve the entire campus.
- Historic campus visitors included: W.E.B. DuBois, Dylan Thomas, Ralph Vaughan Williams, William Carlos Williams, e.e. cummings, and Count Basie.
- World-renowned physicist and University of Chicago professor Enrico Fermi died on November 28, 1954. A memorial service was held in Rockefeller Chapel.
- Ray Croc opened the first McDonald’s in Des Plains in 1954.
- Richard J. Daley was first elected mayor in April 1955.
- In 1956, the Congress Expressway opened, fulfilling Daniel H. Burnham’s expectation in his 1909 Plan of Chicago. It was renamed the Dwight D. Eisenhower Expressway in 1964. The plan cost an estimated $100 million.
- Kukla, Fran, and Ollie began broadcasting in 1955.
- O’Hare Airport opened in 1955.
- In 1957, Chicago was declared the most segregated city in the nation.
- Chicago’s population peaked at 3.5 million people during the Class of 1957’s time on campus.
- The USSR organized the Warsaw Pact to defend against the Western European Cold War alliance NATO in 1955.
- Pakistan adopted a new constitution and officially became an Islamic state in 1956.
- In 1954’s case, Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously that racial segregation violates the 14th Amendment to the Constitution.
- Francis Crick and James Watson discovered the “double helix” of DNA.
- In late 1955, Rosa Parks refused to move to the back of the bus. In Montgomery, Alabama, a bus boycott organized by Martin Luther King brought the young preacher into the national eye.
- Inaugurating a new era in space exploration, the USSR launched Sputnik I and II, the first earth satellites.
- In 1957, the Supreme Court passed the Civil Rights Act. Federal troops sent by President Eisenhower forced integration of schools in Little Rock, Arkansas.
- Books and Literature: Dr. Zhivago by Boris Pasternak, A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry, Rabbit, Run by John Updike, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Catch-22 by Joseph Heller, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey. Nobel Prizes for Literature were awarded to Boris Pasternak, Salvatore Quasimodo, St.-John Perse, Ivo Andric, and John Steinbeck.
- Music: “Venus” by Frankie Avalon, “Runaway” by Del Shannon, “Blue Moon” by the Marcels, “Travelin’ Man” by Ricky Nelson, “Will You Love Me Tomorrow” by the Shirelles, and “Duke of Earl” by Gene Chandler. Motown was founded and would become a major force in rock music in the 1960s. Billie Holiday and Buddy Holly died in 1959. Chubby Checkers’ 1960 “The Twist” started a dance craze. In 1961 Bob Dylan was discovered; his songs subsequently came to symbolize the civil rights movement and hippie culture.
- Television: In 1960 Charles Van Doren was among 13 contestants on TV quiz show “21” arrested for perjury in testifying that answers were not given to them in advance. The top rated television shows were The Beverly Hillbillies, The Andy Griffith Show,and The Dick Van Dyke Show.
- Movies: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Gigi, Hiroshima Mon Amour, Ben Hur, Psycho, West Side Story, Spartacus. The Academy Awards in 1962 went to Gregory Peck (To Kill a Mockingbird),Anne Bancroft (The Miracle Worker), and Lawrence of Arabia for Best Film.
- Sports: Sugar Ray Robinson lost and then regained and then lost middleweight boxing championship, Arnold Palmer won his first Masters tournament and then the US Open, the 1960 Olympic Games were held in Rome, Wilt Chamberlain scored a record 100 points in a game.
- Other: Credit cards were introduced, Frank Lloyd Wright died, Barbie was born, the microchip was invented, the laser was perfected.
Researched by the University of Chicago, Development and Alumni Relations, 2006. The Chicago Maroon was the primary source for the “On Campus” section.