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Alaskans, Hawaiians Favor Statehood

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JANUARY 1955

COMMUNISTS IN QUEENS
FIRST ATOMIC SUBMARINE

Get into a conversation with a long time Queens resident and you're likely to discover a subscriber of the Long Island Star- Journal, a daily paper that informed the community about local and world news until it folded in 1968. A banner across the Star Journal masthead reminded readers that the newspaper's name came from the merger of the Long Island Daily Star (1876) and the North Shore Daily Journal - The Flushing Journal (1841).

Welcome to January 1955!

Red China blasted Nationalist China’s Tachen Islands with a massive bombing attack. In retaliation, Nationalist Chinese fighter-bombers bombed and strafed the Red Chinese port of Swatow for six hours, sinking a British freighter anchored in the harbor. President Eisenhower sent Congress a message fixing a US defense line in the Far East and asking Congressional authority to use American air and sea forces if Red China stepped over it. The US 7^th Fleet provided support for the evacuation of the Tachens were a communist invasion appeared imminent.

The quest to root out Communists was in full swing. Senator Joseph McCarthy bowed out as chairman of the Senate’s Investigations Committee after a day-long hearing on Communist infiltration into defense plants He was to be replaced by Senator John McClellan of Arkansas. The Supreme Court denied a review of 12 of 13 cases of second-string Communist leaders, convicted in 1953. One of the convicted leaders was William W. Weinstone of Sunnyside.

The Board of Higher Education announced the suspension of a Queens College instructor who refused to answer questions about Communist party affiliations. The instructor was Dudley Davis Strauss of Sunnyside. He refused to answer questions about Red connections before 1953. Charges of "neglect of duty and conduct unbecoming a member of the college staff"-under the Education Law- were lodged against Strauss, and he was immediately suspended without pay.

The first atomic submarine, "Nautilus," moved under nuclear power to open waters for her first dive, after a 50 hour maiden voyage off Long Island. Three Queens seamen were on board: Albert A. Ferris of Astoria, Francis A. Picano of Richmond Hill and John P. McGovern of Ozone Park. The sub had been launched on September 30, 1954.

The Port of New York and Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority unveiled plans to build a $93 million six lane suspension bridge over the East River between the Bronx and Queens. The span would be known as the Throgs Neck Bridge. In Queens, it was to connect to a new $27 million dream highway named the Clearview expressway whose route through Bayside was to destroy over 500 homes and displace nearly 1,000 families A convent being built by Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament Church probably would also have to be torn down along with part of the parish’s new school.

Bayside was home to Sylvania Electric Products Inc. By 1955, the Atomic Energy Division had one of the broadest backgrounds in nuclear fuels and reactor components of any company in the world. During the year, the research staff contributed much advanced work to the development of the transistor that promised to greatly expand the field of electronics.

Banking officials were speeding plans to merge the Bank of Manhattan Company, which had 37 branches in Queens, with the Chase National Bank into the second largest bank in the country. Under the plan, the combined institution would be known as "The Chase Manhattan Bank."

Few in Flushing knew that Mary Helena McPhail Andrews was 99 years old. She was born in 1855 and remembered Abraham Lincoln’s funeral cortege, the blizzard of ’88, the construction of the Queensboro Bridge. Her husband, George Andrews, had built many of the factories and homes in Hunters Point. Her advice for longevity was: "Take things as they come. And keep busy. I’d die if I couldn’t work." Mrs. Andrews had witnessed the advent of the electric light, automobile, airplane, radio, movies, and television, but still preferred modern days to the "good old days." "Life was harder in the old days," according to Mrs. Andrews. "We were happy…we didn’t know anything different. But I’d rather live today."

Bronco Charlie, the last of the Pony Express riders

Carol Heiss of Ozone Park was in training for the world figure-skating championships in Vienna. In 1953, when she was only 13, she finished fourth in the world competition. She was runner-up for the senior women’s United States championship in March 1954.

Actress Sheree North brushed up on her script after being named to replace Marilyn Monroe in the film "How to Be Very, Very Popular." North was given the part when Monroe refused to show up for work.

The entertainment page also reported that Jackie Gleason was looking for scripts or usable ideas for his hilarious "Honeymooners" series. Writers could be paid $500 and up, depending on the quality of the material accepted.

Playing at the movies were: "On the Waterfront," starring Marlon Brando, "Sabrina," starring Audrey Hepburn and William Holden, "The High and Mighty," starring John Wayne and Larraine Day, "Samson and Delilah," starring Victor Mature and "Man With a Million," starring Gregory Peck.

That's the way it was in January 1955!