November 15, 1960

That fall of 1960, gas ran $0.31 a gallon and Eisenhower was in the White House — the Kennedy-Nixon presidential race was entering its final weeks, with both candidates drawing enormous crowds as the country prepared for one of the closest elections in decades. On television, "The Jack Benny Show" was pulling in audiences while moviegoers were lining up for "The Dark at the Top of the Stairs," and The Drifters held the top spot on the radio with "Save The Last Dance For Me." The Pittsburgh Pirates defeated the New York Yankees in a dramatic World Series, and in Rome that September, the first international Summer Paralympics — held outside England for the very first time — brought together athletes from around the world under the title "9th International Stoke Mandeville Games."