History Book: In 1962, the Supreme Court rules on prayer in public schools

NICK EICHER, HOST: 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. Up next, the WORLD History Book. Today, NBC broadcasts a series that is for the first time ever a Western. Also, a Supreme Court decision on the practice of prayer.

EICHER: But first, South Africa doubles down on segregation. Here’s WORLD Radio Reporter Emma Perley:

EMMA PERLEY: On June 24th, 1950, the South African government draws lines in the sand with new legislation. Literally.

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 interview by SABC News with a woman remembering how it uprooted her family.

AUDIO: I was probably about 7 or 8 years old when we got 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 be moved into a flat …

Decades earlier, the government enacted policies targeting nonwhite South Africans. The 1923 Natives Urban Areas Act forced black South Africans out of cities unless working for a white employer. And after the 1948 elections, apartheid—an Afrikaans word meaning “apartness”—became the official position of the minority white regime. Audio from a 1957 interview with South African Foreign Affairs Minister Eric Louw, courtesy of Getty Images:

INTERVIEWER: Will you intensify your present policy of racial segregation? 

ERIC LOUW: We’ve carried out our policies, a number of measures have been put on the statute book … whether any further measures are to come, it’s impossible for me to say at the moment.

The forceful relocation of millions of black South Africans causes armed resistance. And the government quashes many insurrections for more than 40 years, until finally apartheid finally ends in 1994 as the regime caves to intense international pressure.

Next, a group of parents sues school board president William Vitale in a lawsuit … against prayer.

SOUND: [CHILDREN RECITING THE PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE]

For decades, children often started their school day by reciting the pledge of allegiance and praying for God’s blessings. In most cases, children could opt out of saying the prayer if they weren’t religious. But New York parent Steven Engel took issue with the practice itself. Audio here from the Supreme Court documentary For the People in an interview with Daniel Roth, whose father Lawrence joined the lawsuit.

ROTH: I do remember being terribly self-conscious about not saying it. I felt terribly awkward.

The controversial lawsuit, Engel v. Vitale, eventually reaches the Supreme Court. On April 3rd, 1962, the Court hears oral argument, and releases their 6-1 decision on June 25th. They rule that prayer in public schools violates the First Amendment. Lawrence Roth remembers the day clearly.

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

The ruling causes a public outcry as many Americans view the decision as an attack on the freedom of religious exercise. Several states continue to mandate public school prayer and Bible reading after the decision. And President John F. Kennedy addresses the national frustration.

KENNEDY: It is important for us, if we’re going to maintain our Constitutional principle, that we support Supreme Court decisions even if we may not agree with them. In addition, we have in this case a very easy remedy, and that is to pray ourselves.

The ruling becomes one of the most unpopular in the history of the Supreme Court, but demonstrates America’s shift toward secular values after World War II.

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

Lastly, 75 years ago on June 24th, NBC premieres the Hopalong Cassidy television series. Film actor William Boyd stars as the suave Bill Cassidy, a cowboy gunslinger who captures troublemakers and rescues damsels in distress on his horse Topper. Though he shares the name of the literary rough-and-tumble character written by Clarence E. Mulford, Boyd’s depiction on screen is much more refined. Audio here from PeacockTV.

MAN 1: So you’re Bill Cassidy.

CASSIDY: Yep. 

MAN 1: Came just in the nick of time didn’t you, Cassidy? Cassidy, Cassidy! That’s all I’ve been hearing ever since I joined the Bar 20. 

CASSIDY: It's alright son, no thanks needed.

But Boyd didn’t set out to make a TV show. He first filmed 66 movies as Bill Cassidy during 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—even mortgaging his own house. And although Hopalong Cassidy was eventually canceled owing to declining revenue, Boyd thought the cowboy hero still had a future. He approached NBC with an idea to broadcast the films in a television series. So NBC edited them down to one-hour episodes and re-released them in 1949.

CASSIDY: Oh forget it kid, forget it. I can hop along with the best of  ‘em.

Hopalong Cassidy was a hit, reining in endorsement deals and merchandising agreements. Together with NBC Boyd produced new episodes tailor-made for TV.

AUDIO PeacockTV: [Cowboys singing]

The show ran from 1949 to 1952 and its success spurred the production of other Westerns such as the Lone Ranger and The Roy Rogers Show.

AUDIO PeacockTV: [Cassidy theme outro]

That’s this week’s WORLD History Book. I’m Emma Perley.

WORLD Radio transcripts are created on a rush deadline. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of WORLD Radio programming is the audio record.