1958
The United States launched its first space satellite, Explorer, into orbit around the earth. Elvis
Presley was drafted into the army. Eleanor Roosevelt was declared the most admired woman in
the country. Sugar Ray Robinson captured the middleweight title for the fifth time. Van Cliburn
won the International Tchaikovsky piano competition in Moscow. Unknown soldiers from
World War II and the Korean war were enshrined at Arlington Cemetery. Prince Charles
became the Prince of Wales. Governor Orval Faubus closed the Little Rock, Arkansas, schools
in defiance of a federal order of desegregation. Boris Pasternak was ordered by his Russian
government to refuse the Nobel Prize for Literature. Pope John XXIII replaced Pope Pius XII.
Jeweller Harry Winston donated the "jinxed” Hope diamond to the Smithsonian Museum. Best
sellers included Pasternak's
Doctor Zhivago
, Leon Uris'
Exodus
, and John K. Galbraith's
The
Affluent Society.
Popular also were
The Purple People Eater
and
The Chipmunk Song
, and the
motion picture,
The Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,
starring Elizabeth Taylor. A US jet made a record
trip from New York to London in five hours and 56 minutes.
• ID Graduates • Administrative Changes
• New Buildings • Alpha Phi Omega
• Bertrand Snell • Ugly Man Contest
• Clarkson Family History • Alpha Kappa Psi
• Statistics • Fraternity Houses
• New Hockey Coach • Sports Stars
• Faculty Promotions • Hockey Champs
• "Fysics Forum" • Sigma Tau Iota
ID Graduates.
Clarkson's 65th Commencement included the first 33 graduates of the new
Industrial Distribution program.
New Buildings.
The last two wings of the new dormitories completed the four-dorm quad on
the hill. In a contest conducted by the sophomore class to name these two new wings, Bill
Armstrong '61 submitted the winning entry, "Pinecrest" (now Ross) for the north wing, and
Alan Havranek submitted "Sunset Hall" (now Brooks) for the south wing. The Administration
chose not to accept these suggestions, but instead chose names of two former Clarkson
presidents, a choice strongly approved by the Trustees.
State Teachers College vacated Snell Hall, ownership was transferred to Clarkson, and
remodeling was begun. Originally built in 1919 for State Normal School, which became
Potsdam State Teachers College, and later the State University College at Potsdam, Snell Hall
was acquired by Clarkson through the efforts of Clarkson Trustee Bertrand Snell (See below).
Terms of the transfer from the State to Clarkson were worked out in 1953, but the actual
transfer was not completed until 1958. Mr. Snell also donated the money to purchase the
building.
Bertrand Snell.
On February 2, 1958, Bertrand Snell died at the Potsdam Hospital. Former
Republican leader of the House of Representatives, champion of the St. Lawrence Seaway, and
