A 23 year old pianist from Kilgore gave sagging morale back home a much needed boost by winning first prize at the International Tschaikowsky competition on Apr. 12, 1958.Van Cliburn was just what the doctor ordered for a country still down in the dumps over the Soviets’ Sputnik space spectacular six months earlier. With American morale lower than at anytime since Pearl Harbor, the cur...
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