Week of December 25, 1956

Merry Christmas - Christmas was a family day at the White House with President

and Mrs. Eisenhower’s grandchildren the stars. Maj. John Eisenhower, the

President’s son, his wife Barbara, and their four youngsters drove to the

executive Mansion from Ft. Belvoir.

Pope Pius Xii gives his Christmas Day blessing at noon to 20,000 cheering

worshipers gathered in the huge square in front of St. Peters Church.

Birmingham - A blast police say was caused by a dynamite

mob shatters the home of a Negro pro-integration leader.

The blast virtually destroyed the home of the Rev. F.L.

Shuttlesworth. Shuttlesworth, his wife and two children and

a visitor were treaded for injures. Shuttleworth is chairman

of the Alabama Christian Movement for Christian Rights.

Soviet Communist Boss Nikita Khrushchev issues a thinly

veiled warning in that any attempt to aid anti-Communists behind the iron Curtain

“will meet with a proper rebuff.” The Communist block he said is “not strong

enough to curb the aggressors.”

The Suez Canal trouble looks to be the biggest 1956 story. That is followed by:

The Presidential election.

Hungary’s revolt against Russian rule.

Racial integration.

Sinking of the Andrea Doria.

Airliners collide over the Grand Canyon

De-Stalinization.

President Eisenhower’s Ileitis operation

Polish riots

The Parris Island death march and the court-martial of Marine Sgt. Matthew

McKeon.

Vice President Nixon , who returns from Austria with

the report that Hungarian revolt has dealt a mortal blow

to international Communism, will lead to a nationwide

radio-television appeal this week for aid to the victims of

Soviet terrorism.

Week of December 25, 1956

President Eisenhower welcomes some 7000 Hungarian refugees to the United

States and says this nation is proud they came here in their time of need.

President Eisenhower is readying a disarmament proposal to soviet Russia

under which a buffer zone 100 miles wide would be marked off in Europe by

withdrawing troops 50 miles from each side of the Iron Curtain.

President Eisenhower flies to Augusta from Washington for a weekend of golf

under sunny skies before plunging into his busiest season of work.

Brush fires in Southern California destroy dozens of homes in the Malibu area.

Gov Knight declared the fire-damaged regions disaster areas

Gallup - Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt is again the first

choice of Americans as the woman they admire most

in the world today. She is followed by:

Mrs. Clare Boothe Luce

Mrs. Mamie Eisenhower

Miss Helen Keller

Queen Elizabeth

Miss Helen Hayes

Mme. Chiang Kai-Shek

Mss Kate Smith

Miss Marian Anderson

Princess Grace of Monoco.

President Eisenhower is again the overwhelming choice of Americans as the

most admired man in the world. He’s followed by:

Sir Winston Churchill

Bishop Fulton J. Sheen

Dr. Albert Schweitzer

Adlai E. Stevenson

Gen. Douglas MacArthur

Pope Pius XII

Dag Hammarskjold

Billy Graham

Dr. Jonas Salk

A visitor hurls a stone at Leonardo da Vinci’s masterpiece Mona Lisa in the

Louvre. The glass protecting the painting was shattered and some paint was

hipped from the figure’s elbow. The stone was thrown by a transient.

Week of December 25, 1956

Television news -

Dr. Frances R. Horwich announces she is parting ways with NBC as “Ding Dong

School goes off the network. Dr. Horwich, who had been offered to stay with the

network as an advisor on children’s programming, has been released from her

contract and relinquished all rights to the show, which has been on the air since

1952.

Bob Barker is chosen as host of “Truth or Consequences”

when it returns to the air in its new 11:30am spot on

Monday.

Week of December 25, 1956

RCA lost $6.9 million in pioneering color-TV but says it will be profitable in 1957.

The company sold 102,000 color sets in 1956 and it looks like sales in 1957

might go as high as 250,000 sets.

Thursday night television -

CBS - Douglas Edwards news, Sergeant Preston, Bob Cummings, Climax,

Playhouse 90

NBC - Dinah Shore Huntley-Brinkley news, Groucho Marx, Dragnet, People’s

Choice, Tennessee Ernie Ford, Lux Video Theatre, Tonight