A Memoir by 1957

I was given an advance to tell my story since I knew both 1956 and 1958.  I was just a link in a chain, but I had my moments, some of them worth writing about.

Here's how it went down.  Nine black students integrated a high school in Arkansas, and President Eisenhower called in the troops.  Every year has some turbulence, right?  The Russians launched Sputnik, mankind's first satellite.  That led to the space race and modern computers.  I'm proud of that, although the verdict isn't in yet on whether computers will save man or kill him.

Jack Kerouac wrote On the Road.  I think it's overrated, but it happened on my watch, so I'll take responsibility for it.  West Side Story debuted on Broadway, although it took people time to realize it was really about Romeo and Juliet.  I was playing things close to the vest.  Witness for the Prosecution hit the movie theaters with a lot of plot twists.  Like I said, I was playing things close to the vest.

Lew Hoad won Wimbledon, and the Milwaukee Braves beat the New York Yankees in the World Series, four games to three.  Not all calendar years produce a seven-game series, if I say so myself.

I guess the biggest thing I did was to ensure that John Lennon met Paul McCartney at a church fair in England.  The rest, as they say, is history.  The End.

~William Hammett

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