NBC to Telecast Harold Macmillan's Commencement Speech Coast-to-Coast

May 16, 1958

May 16, 1958, Greencastle, Ind. - The Sunday, June 8, DePauw University speech by British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan will be televised across America by the National Broadcasting Company. "According to William McAndrew, vice president of news and special events for NBC, who made the announcement today, the network will telecast an address by Macmillan between 5:30 and p.m. CDT," reports Greencastle's Daily Banner.

"The prime minister will be the principal speaker at DePauw's 119th annual commencement exercises in Blackstock Stadium, beginning at 3:45 p.m., and also will receive the honorary Doctor of Laws degree from the University," the newspaper adds. "Expected to reach an audience of more than 25,000,000 viewers from coast-to-coast, the telecast will open with the introduction of Macmillan by DePauw President Russell J. Humbert. Tickets for the commencement will be available from the University without charge, and a capacity crowd is expected to witness Macmillan's first visit to Indiana as prime minister."

Greencastle is only 26 miles from Spencer, the childhood home of Prime Minister Macmillan's mother, the former Helen Artie Belles, who is known to her friends as "Nellie". The former Miss Belles, who married a British book publisher, was the daughter of a Spencer physician, Dr. Joshua Tarleton Belles, who graduated from Indiana Asbury Medical College, an institution which later became DePauw.

Read the original story announcing Harold Macmillan's visit by clicking here.

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