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July 1959 and July 1969
MICHAEL BURKE
Thursday, July 23, 2009
July 28 will be 50 years since the general elections of 1959 which the People's National Party, led by Norman Manley, won by a landslide. While Jamaica would not be politically independent until another three years down the road (1962), Jamaica received full internal self-government three weeks before the 1959 general election. The chief minister was now the premier. And 40 years ago in 1969 this past Monday (July 20), the Americans had their first moon landing. It was the beginning of a new era of information technology.
MICHAEL BURKE
When Norman Manley became premier of Jamaica, his best friend Noel Nethersole never lived to see the day as he had died suddenly on March 17, 1959. Vernon Arnett replaced Nethersole as minister of finance, but Arnett first had to win a seat in the House. Arnett won the by-election in Central St Andrew, the vacancy of which was caused by the death of its previous representative, Noel Nethersole.
For Norman Manley to call an election five months ahead of schedule must have been the work of insight. The PNP had lost the federal elections the previous year (1958), but it could have been that the death of the popular "Crab" Nethersole had turned the tide in its favour. As in elections all over the world, many promises were made on the 1959 PNP campaign trail that are yet to be fulfilled.
On June 30, 1959, Gunboat Beach on the Palisadoes strip was opened. The Member of the House of Representatives for the area was Minister of Education Florizel Glasspole (later Governor General Sir Florizel Glasspole, now deceased). He said that there would soon be the construction of a road between Papine and Bull Bay. He also announced that a tourist resort by the name of Lord Nelson Hotel was to be built in Port Royal.
Florizel Glasspole proclaimed the coming of overhead cable cars to take tourists from Wareika Hills straight across to Port Royal. And he told his audience that there would be gondolas (like those in Venice) between Gunboat Beach and Bournemouth Baths. The road from Papine is still to be built. Regarding the Lord Nelson Hotel, the only thing that went up was a sign of the intended building. And there was no start to the overhead cable-car project from Wareika Hills to Port Royal.
Also, very little was heard about the cross-the-harbour "gondolas" after the announcement at the opening of Gunboat Beach. But elections were in the air and making promises is something politicians do. But the cable cars from Wareika Hills to Port Royal would not be feasible today. Wareika Hills were quite different in 1959 than now.
At the time of the moon landing in July 1969, Richard Nixon was president of the USA, Harold Wilson was prime minister of Britain, Hugh Shearer was prime minister of Jamaica and Michael Manley had been Opposition leader for five months.
National hero Norman Washington Manley, as it turned out, had less than two months to live. What might be of local interest, especially to the younger generation, was the reaction of the Jamaican populace to the fact that man had landed on the moon.
In 1969, the widened education system where the children of the masses could get free places in high schools was a mere 10 and a half years old. In 1957, the first candidates for the Common Entrance sat for the test. As the academic year began in January then and would be so until 1963, the first recipients of the CEE would not enter the high schools until January 1958. This meant that by 1969, the majority of the Jamaican populace did not have a formal education.
Many Jamaicans felt that the moon landing was a hoax - it did not happen. Many thought the world was coming to an end because "man had fooled with God's business". The Roman Catholic newspaper Catholic Opinion, which was published weekly then, asked its church youth to answer a question about the moon trip which was published on Friday, December 25, Christmas Day that year. The question was, "Have trips to the moon lessened man's belief in God?"
Among the teenagers from the Catholic Youth Organisation at Holy Rosary Church who answered the question was Carmen Albarus (who several decades later would be the counsellor for Lee Boyd Malvo). Noel Shirley, who today is a commissioned land surveyor and a well-known man in the Catholic Charismatic Renewal, also answered the question.
So did Glen Gill, a computer analyst today, whose sister, as it turned out, would be Miss Jamaica two years later in 1971.
Yet another teenager answering the question was a 16-year-old by the name of Michael Burke.
Look how far we have come today! A general lack of education was the cause of mistrust, and only the younger people and the educated elders believed that the landing on the moon actually took place.
July 26 will be my 21st anniversary as a regular newspaper columnist, 11 of which have been with the Jamaica Observer.
ekrubm765@yahoo.com
MICHAEL BURKE
Thursday, July 23, 2009
July 28 will be 50 years since the general elections of 1959 which the People's National Party, led by Norman Manley, won by a landslide. While Jamaica would not be politically independent until another three years down the road (1962), Jamaica received full internal self-government three weeks before the 1959 general election. The chief minister was now the premier. And 40 years ago in 1969 this past Monday (July 20), the Americans had their first moon landing. It was the beginning of a new era of information technology.
MICHAEL BURKE
When Norman Manley became premier of Jamaica, his best friend Noel Nethersole never lived to see the day as he had died suddenly on March 17, 1959. Vernon Arnett replaced Nethersole as minister of finance, but Arnett first had to win a seat in the House. Arnett won the by-election in Central St Andrew, the vacancy of which was caused by the death of its previous representative, Noel Nethersole.
For Norman Manley to call an election five months ahead of schedule must have been the work of insight. The PNP had lost the federal elections the previous year (1958), but it could have been that the death of the popular "Crab" Nethersole had turned the tide in its favour. As in elections all over the world, many promises were made on the 1959 PNP campaign trail that are yet to be fulfilled.
On June 30, 1959, Gunboat Beach on the Palisadoes strip was opened. The Member of the House of Representatives for the area was Minister of Education Florizel Glasspole (later Governor General Sir Florizel Glasspole, now deceased). He said that there would soon be the construction of a road between Papine and Bull Bay. He also announced that a tourist resort by the name of Lord Nelson Hotel was to be built in Port Royal.
Florizel Glasspole proclaimed the coming of overhead cable cars to take tourists from Wareika Hills straight across to Port Royal. And he told his audience that there would be gondolas (like those in Venice) between Gunboat Beach and Bournemouth Baths. The road from Papine is still to be built. Regarding the Lord Nelson Hotel, the only thing that went up was a sign of the intended building. And there was no start to the overhead cable-car project from Wareika Hills to Port Royal.
Also, very little was heard about the cross-the-harbour "gondolas" after the announcement at the opening of Gunboat Beach. But elections were in the air and making promises is something politicians do. But the cable cars from Wareika Hills to Port Royal would not be feasible today. Wareika Hills were quite different in 1959 than now.
At the time of the moon landing in July 1969, Richard Nixon was president of the USA, Harold Wilson was prime minister of Britain, Hugh Shearer was prime minister of Jamaica and Michael Manley had been Opposition leader for five months.
National hero Norman Washington Manley, as it turned out, had less than two months to live. What might be of local interest, especially to the younger generation, was the reaction of the Jamaican populace to the fact that man had landed on the moon.
In 1969, the widened education system where the children of the masses could get free places in high schools was a mere 10 and a half years old. In 1957, the first candidates for the Common Entrance sat for the test. As the academic year began in January then and would be so until 1963, the first recipients of the CEE would not enter the high schools until January 1958. This meant that by 1969, the majority of the Jamaican populace did not have a formal education.
Many Jamaicans felt that the moon landing was a hoax - it did not happen. Many thought the world was coming to an end because "man had fooled with God's business". The Roman Catholic newspaper Catholic Opinion, which was published weekly then, asked its church youth to answer a question about the moon trip which was published on Friday, December 25, Christmas Day that year. The question was, "Have trips to the moon lessened man's belief in God?"
Among the teenagers from the Catholic Youth Organisation at Holy Rosary Church who answered the question was Carmen Albarus (who several decades later would be the counsellor for Lee Boyd Malvo). Noel Shirley, who today is a commissioned land surveyor and a well-known man in the Catholic Charismatic Renewal, also answered the question.
So did Glen Gill, a computer analyst today, whose sister, as it turned out, would be Miss Jamaica two years later in 1971.
Yet another teenager answering the question was a 16-year-old by the name of Michael Burke.
Look how far we have come today! A general lack of education was the cause of mistrust, and only the younger people and the educated elders believed that the landing on the moon actually took place.
July 26 will be my 21st anniversary as a regular newspaper columnist, 11 of which have been with the Jamaica Observer.
ekrubm765@yahoo.com
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