Hildy Ellis Controversy occurs.

It begins when Marjorie McCoy, an unmarried Irish-Catholic nurse from Boston, gives up her baby for adoption. After the baby is placed with Mr. and Mrs. Melvin Ellis, a Jewish couple in Brookline, McCoy, demands that the baby be placed be taken from the Ellis family and placed in a Catholic home. Court action follows, as well as extensive newspaper coverage, including articles in The Pilot that describe the child as being “held captive by the Jewish couple.” The Ellis family subsequently flees to Florida with the child to Florida. The couple is arrested, but the governor of Florida refuses to extradite them to Massachusetts. Cardinal Richard Cushing ultimately defends the Ellis family, which returns to Massachusetts and is allowed to keep the child.