Manchester Scrapbook

Paul Flory ‘31 won the Nobel Prize in Polymer Chemistry in 1974 for his work with macro-molecules in polymers. Flory spoke at the Chemistry Symposium in 1975. 

Andrew Cordier, MC Class of 1922, played a major role in the founding of the United Nations. Cordier helped draft the United Nations Charter at the Dumbarton Oaks Conference and served as the executive assistant to the U.N. Secretary-General. Before serving at the U.N., Cordier was chair of the history and political science department at Manchester, served on the Manchester Board of Trustees, and at one time, served as president of Columbia University. 

After years of work from President Helman, rescheduling because of bad weather, and increasing security because of threats from the community, Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his final campus address at Manchester on February 1, 1968, almost two months before his assassination. The college brought Republican Presidential candidate Barry Goldwater to campus the week after to appease community members.

The civil rights leader presented “The Future of Integration” in a full gymnasium.

President Helman, members of the faculty, members of the student body of this great institution of learning, ladies and gentlemen, I need not pause to say how very delighted I am to be on the campus of Manchester College and to have the privilege of sharing  with you in this convocation setting. I should say that I’m happy for several reasons. One reason is that Reverend Young and I flew out of Chicago this morning, and as soon as we got on the flight, we were reminded of the fact that the weather was pretty bad on the way in, and after we got up, we experienced the fact in actual terms because it was quite turbulent and we landed first in South Bend and then in Fort Wayne. And whenever I find myself on a very turbulent, trepid flight I’m always very happy to get on the ground. Now I don’t want you to get the impression that I don’t have faith in God; but it’s just that I’ve had more experience with Him on the ground ...

I want to use as a subject from which this speech this morning is taken “The Future of Integration.” There is a desperate, poignant question on the lips of millions of  people all over our nation and all over the world. They constantly ask whether we have made any real progress in the area of race relations.   There are those who feel we have made very little progress and there are  those who are quite optimistic in their analysis and their outlook and they  feel we have made tremendous strides. When I think of the problem, I try to emerge with what I consider the realistic form of view. That realistic point of view leads me to say on the one hand that we have made some meaningful  strides in the struggle for racial justice, but leads me on the other hand to say that we still have a long, long way to go. It is this realistic position that I would like to use as the basis for our thinking together today. We have come a long, long way; but we still have a long, long way to go before racial justice is reality in our nation. Let us begin with the fact we’ve come a long, long way...

Dizzy Gillespie, famed American jazz trumpeter, bandleader and composer, travelled to Manchester to perform in 1987. Gillespie performed for the 25th Season Spectacular Artist-Lecture Series.

In February 1982, Dr. Maya Angelou, famed American writer and poet, made her way to Manchester to present a speech about issues with race, leadership, and education.

During the presentation, Angelou, a notable singer and dancer, sang an early version of one of her poems, "Take Time Out."

When you see them on a freeway hitching rides wearing beads with packs by their sides you ought to ask what’s all the warring and the jarring and the killing and the thrilling all about.

Take Time Out.

When you see him with a band around his head and an army surplus bunk that makes his bed you’d better ask what’s all the beating and the cheating and the bleeding and the needing all about.

Take Time Out.

When you see her walking barefoot in the rain and you know she’s tripping on a one-way train you need to ask what’s all the lying and the dying and the running and the gunning all about.

Take Time Out.

Use a minute feel some sorrow for the folks who thinks tomorrow is a place that they can call up on the phone. take a month and show some kindness for the folks who thought that blindness was an illness that affected eyes alone.

If you know that youth is dying on the run and my daughter trades dope stories with your son we’d better see what all our fearing and our jeering and our crying and our lying brought about.

Take Time Out.

Rev. Jesse Jackson visited the Manchester campus in the spring of 1969 for "Forum 69," a three-day event. Jackson presented "An Experience in Soul," a speech about civil rights, justice, and diversity.

Actor Paul Newman, know for his roles in movies such as "Somebody There Likes Me," "Road to Perdition," "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid," and the Pixar animated film "Cars," visited the Manchester campus in 1968 as part of his campaign for Senator Eugene McCarthy, who was seeking the Democratic presidential nomination. It was estimated the 350 Manchester students, mostly female, greeted Newman in front of the College Union.

Former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt visited the Manchester campus in 1957 to give her speech, "Is America Facing World Leadership?" on economic aid, peace, and the United Nations. A 1957 Oak Leaves article states that Professor Paul Keller '35 negotiated the visit for $1,000, and Roosevelt touched on topics such as the "Eisenhower Doctrine" (which she was unimpressed by) and the chances for peace through UN leadership. Roosevelt said, "Nobody wants war and when nobody wants war, it is a good thing." Following the speech, Roosevelt returned to the home of new President A. Blair Helman, where she had to stay because of construction at the hotel in town.

Andrew may be Manchester’s most famous Cordier, but the diplomat’s daughter, Louise, now retired in Florida, has had a fascinating life of her own as a model, actress, banker and real estate broker.

Louise lived her first 12 years in North Manchester and describes it as a safe place where she was free to wander and talk with anyone she wished. “Manchester gave me a security that led me happily in all my travels,” she reflects. Her family roots run deep. In 1836, Louise’s great-grandmother, Phoebe Ann (Harter) Butterbaugh, was the first white child born in North Manchester. In 1924, Phoebe’s granddaughter, Dorothy Butterbaugh, married Andrew Cordier and the couple accepted teaching positions at Manchester College, their alma mater.

Louise never attended the College as a student, but if campus theatrical productions “needed a little shrimp,” she says, “they would borrow me.”  She took the performances seriously. Once, still a small child, Louise made her own dental appointment so she could display clean teeth on stage.

In 1944, Louise’s father took a job at the State Department in Washington, D.C., and the family, which included Louise and her older brother, Lowell, left North Manchester. The Cordiers moved to Long Island, N.Y., a few years later when Andrew became executive assistant to the secretary general of the United Nations.

Louise longed to attend acting school in New York City, but encountered reluctant parents.  “Dad used to make bargains with me,”   says Louise. “He said he would let me go to acting school in New York on Saturdays, if I would help out in Sunday school class.” Another time, “Dad said I could go if I didn’t join the sorority.”  He “didn’t want me to be tied down to a little clique of people.”

Finally, Andrew said that Louise needed to find an occupation through which she could make a living. Following a friend’s lead, Louise became a model in New York City.  Technically, her father could not complain because Louise was making more money modeling than Andrew was making at the UN.  

Louise’s acting career was an overnight success.  Soon she was on Broadway alongside Tom Ewell in The Seven Year Itch, starring in the role Marilyn Monroe played in the movie version.

Besides acting, Louise loved fast cars. She fell in love with Peter Collins, an English Grand Prix driver, married him after a seven-day courtship, and moved to Italy.  A year and a half later in 1958, Collins crashed his Ferrari in the German Grand Prix and died on the way to the hospital.  Heartbroken but resilient, Louise returned to acting, touring with Peter Ustinov in Romanoff and Juliet.  She launched a television career in England and appeared on the panel of the British version of What’s My Line?

Cast as “Girl of the Week” on the Today show, a spot for models, she ended up staying for six months. When Barbara Walters was still a writer for the program, Louise co-hosted Today in 1962 with Frank Blair and John Chancellor.

- Louise Cordier in The Seven Year Itch at Fulton Theatre

- Andrew and Louise Cordier on Manchester campus

- Andrew, Lowell and Louise Cordier

- Lowell and Louise Cordier

- Louise with Tom Ewell and Marilyn Monroe

- Louise and Peter Collins