Focus 1958 (1982)

Events of the past and present shape tomorrow. Our vital concern is you, today's youth. For our future depends on you. Before attempting to figure out where we're all going, it is imperative for us to have a strong awareness of where we have been. To untangle today's problems, we need to understand yesterday. This film series hopefully will in part make you aware of people, places, and events which have helped shape our nation and our world. Manufacturers Handover is pleased to sponsor this ed manufacturers handover. It's banking the way you want it to be. 1958, a year that saw momentous changes. New leaders emerged to change the course of history. New technologies would send rockets into space, and submarines beneath the North Pole. America would gain a new state, and baseball would move from coast to coast. New heroes and villains would strut the world stage, and a new fad would capture the world's fancy. 1958 began with a bang. America was chasing the Soviet Union into the space age. The Russians had launched the world's first artificial satellite, the Sputnik, while we couldn't seem to get anything off the ground [Music] without the aid of a Hollywood special effects department. [Music] But at last, the army succeeded in lofting a grapefruit size satellite into orbit. And 1958 became the year America entered the space age. 1958 was to become a year of remarkable technological developments. The world's first commercial jetliner, the Boeing 707, went into service. While automobiles got bigger and bigger and looked as if they too might take off. [Music] Gasoline was not needed to propel America's first nuclear submarine, the USS Nautilus, beneath the frigid waters off the coast of Alaska. Hers is a secret mission to find a new northwest passage beneath the polar ice pack. Tension mounts as the crew navigates blindly beneath the frozen sea. The submarine's television cameras peer upward at the thick ice, gliding above like frozen clouds. And then the Nautilus' skipper, Captain Anderson, marks the historic position. 5 3 2 1 mark for the USA and the US Navy. Sunday, 3 August, 1958, 23:15, Eastern Daylight Saving Time, the North Pole. Finally, after 96 hours and 1831 mi under the polar ice pack, the Nautilus surfaces in the Greenland Sea, the first ship in history to circumn the top of the world underwater. Two weeks later, the Nautilus entered New York Harbor to a tumultuous welcome. But even the most sophisticated of 1958's technological achievements seemed to pale beside the most awesome device of all. The hula hoop. You are. Many people also left their marks on the year. The new Miss America was a young lady from Mississippi named Maryanne Mobley. From Texas, a young American named Van Klyburn went to Moscow to compete with 50 other young pianists from 19 countries. And when the competition had ended, Van Clyburn had won the gold medal at the prestigious Tchaikovsky Piano Festival. A host of new leaders came to power in 1958 with the death of Pope Pius. The College of Cardinals elected a new leader of the Catholic Church, Pope John the 23rd. And although he was to reign for only 5 years, he would chart a new course of liberalism that the church still follows today. France's World War II hero, General Charles de Gaulle, became its president. He pulled the French out of NATO and set France on a new course in foreign affairs, independent of American leadership. The Russians selected for their new leader Nikita Kruev, a roaring bear of a man, spouting peasant apherisms and flashing meaty smiles, the new Soviet boss continued the Cold War as he traveled behind the iron and bamboo curtains. With a skillful blend of saber rattling and promises of dant, he set the communist world on a course it would follow for almost the next 25 years. Another traveler was Richard Nixon. In 1958, the vice president of the United States. In Venezuela, he ran into a storm of violent anti-Americanism. [Applause] Nixon emerged unheard and his courage during the riots greatly enhanced his political future. While there were incidents, incidents in which a very small violent vocal minority were able to enlist the support of some innocent people who were misled as to what US motives really were. Unrest was a problem for other countries. In 1958, Americans lived the good life. But in the Middle East, the fragile coalition that was Lebanon was about to be sundered. In desperation, the government called on the United States for help. President Eisenhower answered the call by ordering the Marines into Lebanon. Striving for an ideal which is close to the heart of every American and for which in the past many Americans have laid down their lives. To serve these ideals is to serve the cause of peace, security, and well-being. In 1982, President Reagan repeats American actions in the tragically torn Middle East as a new generation of Marines are called upon to keep the peace in the Mediterranean. The government of Lebanon has requested and I have approved the deployment of United States forces to Beirut as part of a multinational force. But now the stakes seem even higher. The risk to world peace even greater. As the Marines take up their positions in Lebanon once again, the words of philosopher George Santiana have never seemed so true. Those who will not learn from the past are doomed to repeat it. There was one bit of the past that Americans did not mind reliving. The annual USO tour of Bob Hope. In 1958, he brought the late Jane Mansfield to the GIS stationed in far off Korea. That war had ended 5 years before, but the Cold War still went on. And so in 1958, America sent its most famous son into the fray as a cold warrior. Elvis Presley was drafted. [Music] While Elvis was going overseas to protect the nation, America was continuing to grow. In 1958, Congress voted statehood for Alaska. The frozen Northland, originally purchased from the Russians in 1867 for $7 million, became the 49th star in the American flag. [Music] Things were changing in the lower 48 as well. Brooklyn's beloved bums, the Dodgers, left Ebottzfield for Los Angeles, and the New York Giants deserted the polo grounds and went west to San Francisco. But some baseball traditions were maintained. In one of the most thrilling World Series in history, the New York Yankees lost the first two games to the then Milwaukee Braves and came back to win it all. In football, the Super Bowl had not yet been dreamed of, and the division champions of the old National Football League squared off for the league title. In a thrilling overtime battle, the Baltimore Colts beat the New York Giants for the championship. [Applause] [Music] Then, as now, Americans flocked to the movies. In 1958, the big box office smashes were Xi, Marjgery Morning Star, and Houseboat, starring Carrie Grant. For her performance in Three Faces of Eve, John Wayne declared the best actress to be Joanne Woodward. I can only say I I've been daydreaming about this since I was 9 years old and thank you very much. The fashion world was stunned by the sack, a style that seemingly owed more to packaging than owed couture. [Music] And as the year 1958 closed upon a world that had seemingly given itself over to bomb shelters and hula hoops, technology was joined to tradition. In a portent of the future, the United States celebrated the world's first space Christmas. In what was dubbed the mistletoe missile, an Atlas rocket carried the voice of the American President Dwight Eisenhower into space. be beamed to the entire world. This is the president of the United States speaking. Through the marvels of scientific advance, my voice is coming to you from a satellite circling in outer space. Through this unique means, I convey to you and to all mankind America's wish for peace on earth and good will toward men everywhere. It was a fitting end to the year for 1958 marked the dawn of the space age. It was a year when American technology would become the hallmark of modern civilization. A year when American institutions such as the national pastime would become truly national and a new state would join the union. 1958 marked the moment in history when a new generation of leaders would chart a course for the world it would follow for the next quarter century. 1958 was indeed a year of change, a year to be remembered. [Music] Manufacturers Handover has been pleased to sponsor this educational film. Manufacturers Handover. It's banking the way you want it to be.