Yesterday in La Crosse
Being a university regent was becoming a career, 61 years ago
In 1956, Northern Engraving president Charles Gelatt was appointed to a new nine-year term on the UW Board of Regents. Gelatt was just 38, and he had been the youngest president of the regents ever. He was 29 when he first joined the board in 1947.
The 1956 presidential election that fall was a rerun of the ’52 race. Incumbent Republican Dwight Eisenhower was seeking a second term with the same running mate, Richard Nixon, and the same Democratic opponent, Adlai Stevenson. But this time, Stevenson had a different vice-presidential nominee, Tennessee Sen. Estes Kefauver, who had won the Democratic vote in the Wisconsin and Minnesota primaries that year.
Less than a month before the election, Eisenhower filled a Supreme Court vacancy by naming William Brennan through a recess appointment. Brennan succeeded Sherman Minton, who retired from the court because of poor health. A high court change 61 years ago, yesterday in La Crosse.
