History book: In 1962, the Supreme Court made a ruling on prayer in …

NICK EICHER, MODERATOR: Today is Monday, June 24th. Good morning! This is The world and everything in it from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Nick Eicher.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: And I’m Mary Reichard. Next up: The Book of World History. Today NBC is airing a series that, for the first time ever, Western film. Also a Supreme Court decision on the practice of prayer.

EICHER: But first, South Africa is strengthening racial segregation. WORLD Radio reporter Emma Perley says:

EMMA PERLEY: On June 24, 1950, the South African government drew clear boundaries with new legislation. In the truest sense of the word.

The Group Areas Act forces native South Africans, Indians and other ethnic groups to relocate to poorer and smaller geographic regions. Audio from a 2021 SABC News interview with a woman who recalls how her family was uprooted as a result.

AUDIO: I was probably about 7 or 8 years old when we were forced to move out of Simonstown. And for me it was very hard because when we moved to Oceanview we had no freedom. You were forced to move into an apartment…

Decades earlier, the government had enacted measures against non-white South Africans. The Natives Urban Areas Act of 1923 forced black South Africans to leave the cities unless they worked for a white employer. And after the 1948 election, apartheid – an Afrikaans word meaning “separateness” – became the official stance of the white minority regime. Audio from a 1957 interview with South African Foreign Minister Eric Louw, courtesy of Getty Images:

INTERVIEWER: Will you tighten your current policy of racial segregation?

ERIC LOUW: We have implemented our policy, a number of measures have been included in the law book… whether further measures will follow, I cannot say at this point.

The forced relocation of millions of black South Africans sparked armed resistance, and the government crushed many uprisings over 40 years until apartheid finally ended in 1994 when the regime gave in to strong international pressure.

Next, a group of parents sued school board chairman William Vitale in a lawsuit… over the prayer.

SOUND: (CHILDREN RECITE THE VOW OF FAITHFULNESS)

For decades, children often began their school day by reciting the Pledge of Allegiance and praying for God’s blessing. In most cases, children who were not religious could skip the prayer. But New York City father Steven Engel was against the custom itself. Here is audio from the Supreme Court documentary For the people in an interview with Daniel Roth, whose father Lawrence has joined the lawsuit.

ROTH: I remember feeling terribly insecure about not saying it. I felt terribly uncomfortable.

The controversial lawsuit Engel v. Vitale, finally goes to the Supreme Court. Oral arguments are held on April 3, 1962, and the decision is announced on June 25 by a vote of 6-1. They decide that prayer in public schools violates the First Amendment. Lawrence Roth still remembers that day clearly.

ROTH: Well, the case was closed. But that was the beginning of, let’s say, widespread notoriety.

The ruling sparked a public outcry, as many Americans see the decision as an attack on religious freedom. Several states continue to require prayer and Bible reading in public schools even after the ruling. And President John F. Kennedy spoke of the national frustration.

KENNEDY: If we want to uphold our constitutional principles, it is important for us to support the decisions of the Supreme Court even if we do not agree with them. Moreover, in this case, we have a very simple remedy, and that is to pray ourselves.

The ruling is one of the most unpopular in Supreme Court history, but it also illustrates America’s turn to secular values ​​after World War II.

HOPALONG CASSIDY INTRO: “Here he comes, here he comes, there are the trumpets, there are the drums, here he comes. Hopalong Cassidy, here he comes! Oooh…

Finally, 75 years ago on June 24, NBC celebrated the premiere of Hopalong Cassidy TV series. Film actor William Boyd plays the dapper Bill Cassidy, a cowboy gunslinger who catches troublemakers and rescues damsels in distress on his horse Topper. Although he shares the same name as Clarence E. Mulford’s literary brawler character, Boyd’s on-screen portrayal is much more sophisticated. Audio here from PeacockTV.

MAN 1: So you’re Bill Cassidy.

CASSIDY: Yep.

MAN 1: You got here just in time, didn’t you, Cassidy? Cassidy, Cassidy! That’s all I’ve heard since I walked into Bar 20.

CASSIDY: It’s okay, son, no thanks needed.

But Boyd had no intention of making a television series. He first made 66 films as Bill Cassidy in the 1930s and early ’40s. He was so invested in the franchise that he sold many of his own assets to acquire the film rights – and even mortgaged his own house. And although Hopalong Cassidy was eventually canceled due to declining revenue, but Boyd believed the cowboy hero still had a future. He approached NBC with the idea of ​​broadcasting the films as a television series. So NBC shortened them to one-hour episodes and re-released them in 1949.

CASSIDY: Oh, forget it, boy, forget it. I can bounce with the best of them.

Hopalong Cassidy was a success and led to advertising and merchandising deals. Together with NBC, Boyd produced new, tailored episodes for television.

AUDIO PeacockTV: (Cowboys singing)

The series ran from 1949 to 1952 and its success spurred the production of other westerns, such as Lone Ranger And The Roy Rogers Show.

AUDIO PeacockTV: (Outro to the Cassidy theme)

This is this week’s WORLD history book. I’m Emma Perley.

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