1960s Timeline

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Dec 13, 2021

TV: President Kennedy to Deliver Christmas Message Wednesday

Dec. 13, 1961 - President Kennedy will deliver a traditional Christmas message to the nation from Washington next Wednesday, the White House announced today. The speech will be the highlight of ceremonies along with the lighting of the national community Christmas tree behind the White House. The ceremonies will be televised nationally, beginning at 5 p.m. Mrs. Kennedy is not expected to be in Washington for the ceremony. She will stop off in Palm Beach next Monday when the P

Dec 12, 2021

First Lady to Lead Televised White House Tour on CBS

Dec. 12, 1961 - Mrs. Jacqueline Kennedy will appear early next year on a network television program originating from the White House. The First Lady’s appearance will be taped in advance and shown later on CBS-TV. The program will be concerned primarily with the White House itself and Mrs. Kennedy’s activities in redecorating it and refurbishing the furniture and other objects of historical and artistic interest. The television showing will not be sponsored, and its date and

Dec 12, 2021

Mrs. Kennedy Visits DC Children's Hospital

Dec. 12, 1961 - Mrs. Kennedy visited the District of Columbia Children’s Hospital with two baskets full of gifts today. The First Lady spent a half hour visiting with some of the 200 patients in the hospital and saw that each got one of the presents — a transparent Christmas tree ornament with the figure of a musician inside. A 5-year-old boy in one of the wards bounded up and greeted her: “Hello, Mrs. Santa Claus — I mean, Mrs. Kennedy.” Several of the children, especially t

Dec 11, 2021

Video: President Kennedy's Christmas Message to Berlin

Dec. 11, 1961 - Here is video of President Kennedy’s Christmas message to Berlin. #JFK #jfkfiles #jfkassassination #jfkjr #jfkennedy #jfkmemorial #jfklibrary #jfkpresident #jfkwashere #jfkquote #history #HistoryNerd #historyinpictures #historylover #historybuff #HistoryInTheMaking #historychannel #HistoryLesson #historygeek #historymemes #podcast #HistoryMuseum #historylovers #politics #coldwar #christmas

Dec 11, 2021

U.S. Army Helicopters Arrive in South Vietnam

Dec. 11, 1961 - Two U.S. Army helicopter companies arrived in Saigon today. The helicopters, to be flown and serviced by U.S. troops, are the first direct military support by the U.S. for South Vietnam’s war against Communist guerrilla forces. At least 33 H-21C twin-rotor helicopters and their pilots and ground crews, an estimated total of 400 men, arrived aboard the Military Sea Transportation Service aircraft ferry Core. In the anti-guerrilla operations in the mountains, he

Dec 11, 2021

Connally Resigns Post, Will Run for Texas Governor

Dec. 11, 1961 - Secretary of the Navy John B. Connally Jr. announced his resignation today. President Kennedy appointed another Texan, Fred Korth, to succeed him. Mr. Connally announced at a news conference in Fort Worth, Tex., that he would seek the governorship of Texas next year. Mr. Connally has been a political associate of Vice President Johnson for many years, but his political philosophy tends to be more conservative than Mr. Johnson’s. As a successful Texas oilman, h

Dec 10, 2021

Democrat Senator Thurmond Praises Goldwater

Dec. 10, 1961 - Senator Strom Thurmond, Democrat of South Carolina, proclaimed Senator Barry Goldwater’s popularity in the South. “The Southern people believe in what Senator Goldwater is advocating,” he declared. He declined to say whether he would support a Presidential bid by the Arizona Republican, but asserted that his views were closer to Senator Goldwater’s than to President Kennedy’s. He also said that he would like to see a realignment of national parties that would

Dec 8, 2021

President Relaxes in Palm Beach

Dec. 8, 1961 - President Kennedy relaxed at his father’s beach house in Palm Beach, Fla., today after three days of speech-making in New York and Florida. He swam in the pool at the house, rested, and read documents brought with him from Washington. The President went out once to attend a 10 a.m. mass at St. Edward’s Roman Catholic Church for the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. He was accompanied by David F. Powers (right), a White House aide. #JFK #jfkfiles #jfkassassina

Dec 8, 2021

Weekly Seminars Held at Attorney General's Home

Dec. 8, 1961 - Selected members of the Kennedy Administration, including several Cabinet officers, have been attending weekly lectures on various subjects. The gatherings are held at the home in McLean, Va., of Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy. The Attorney General and his wife developed their enthusiasm for seminars on a skiing vacation at Aspen, Colo. They were said to have seen the device in operation at the Institute for Humanistic Studies. The opening lecture on Nov. 2

Dec 8, 2021

U.S. Urges Non-Communist Nations to Back South Vietnam

Dec. 8, 1961 - The U.S. called on non-Communist nations today to rally to the defense of South Vietnam. Warning that the Southeast Asian nation was in “clear and present danger of Communist conquest,” the Administration solicited political backing for its decision to step up aid to the Government of President Ngo Dinh Diem. The appeal for wider support was voiced by Secretary of State Dean Rusk (left) and supported with the publication of a special State Department booklet. T

Dec 7, 2021

President Address Convention of Young Democratic Clubs

Dec. 7, 1961 - President Kennedy (pictured speaking to a young supporter) told the national convention of Young Democratic Clubs today to give its attention to the nation’s real problems and not to outmoded political slogans. Mr. Kennedy delivered a rousing speech in Miami Beach that awakened echoes of his campaign last year and brought repeated cheers from an audience of 3,000 persons. Mr. Kennedy gave the Young Democrats a broad hint that he would be campaigning in 1964, th

Dec 7, 2021

Director Hoover Speaks on Crime and Communism

Dec. 7, 1961 - J. Edgar Hoover, director of the F.B.I., received today a gold medal and $10,000 awarded by an insurance company for contributions to the national health or safety. Mr. Hoover was cited by Mutual of Omaha for “outstanding contribution to the personal security and safety of the American public.” The award was presented at a dinner in Washington’s Mayflower Hotel by Dr. Charles W. Mayo of the Mayo Clinic, chairman of the award judges. In accepting the prize, Mr.

Dec 7, 2021

Death Threat Draws More Security for President Kennedy

Dec. 7, 1961 - Additional security measures were taken to protect President Kennedy on his two-day visit to New York this week because of a reported threat by a pro-Castro Cuban to shoot the President. According to NYPD sources, a man who spoke English with a Spanish accent telephoned a Federal agency and reported that he had overheard a supporter of Premier Fidel Castro say he intended to shoot President Kennedy. The caller, it was reported, gave the name of the man, which w

Dec 7, 2021

Communist China Supporting North Vietnam

Dec. 7, 1961 - Communist China announced in a broadcast today that it would send a military delegation to Communist North Vietnam “in the near future.” The move followed a Beijing statement that termed the situation in Vietnam “extremely serious” and warned against the United States-backed build-up of South Vietnamese defense forces. #vietnam #vietnamese #vietnamflashback #vietnamwar #vietnamflashbacks #VietnamVet #VietnamVeteran #history #HistoryNerd #historyinpictures #hist

Dec 7, 2021

Unemployment Rate Drops

Dec. 7, 1961 - The unemployment rate dropped sharply last month in the first significant decline in a year, the Kennedy Administration reported today. A spokesman said the improvement was expected to continue. Reflecting both good weather and the economic recovery from last winter’s recession, the seasonally adjusted rate fell from 6.8 percent to 6.1 between October and November. The rate had hovered around 7 percent for 11 months. The decline was the sharpest in three years.

Dec 7, 2021

Kennedy Speaks at AFL-CIO Convention

Dec. 7, 1961 - President Kennedy asked organized labor today to back his proposals to liberalize foreign trade. He said that his program would mean a “viable economy and full employment.” Four thousand persons, who jammed into the auditorium of the Americana Hotel in Bal Harbour, Fla., for the opening of the convention of the AFL-CIO, greeted his appeal with warm applause. Their response was even heartier when the President told them that he planned to seek from the next sess

Dec 6, 2021

Khrushchev Says Kennedy Won't Go Communist for a "Very Long Time"

Dec. 6, 1961 - Premier Khrushchev observed today that it would be a very long time before President Kennedy turned Communist. The Soviet Premier was attending a reception at the Finnish Embassy in Moscow. He was asked for his impressions of the interview given recently by President Kennedy to Aleksei I. Adzhubei, editor of Izvestia, the Soviet Government newspaper, and son-in-law of the Premier. Mr. Khrushchev said he was pleased that the interview had been published in the S

Dec 6, 2021

President Kennedy Wants to Increase International Trade

Dec. 6, 1961 - President Kennedy appealed to industry today to support “new and bold” powers for him to bargain on tariff reductions with Western Europe in broad categories, instead of item by item. He depicted his program as a means of providing prosperity for all Americans by increased international trade and a way of strengthening the non-Communist world against “the long-range Communist aim of dividing and encircling us all.” Twenty-three hundred industrialists heard the

Dec 6, 2021

President Kennedy Says Nation Is Under-Exercised

Dec. 6, 1961 - President Kennedy called last night for broader American participation in sports and other forms of physical activity. “We are under-exercised as a nation,” he said. “We look instead of play, ride instead of walk.” “The remedy, in my judgment, lies in one direction,” he added. “That is in developing programs for broad participation in exercise by all of our young men and women, all of our boys and girls.” The President’s remarks were made after he had accepted

Dec 5, 2021

U.S. Sends Dogs of War to Vietnam

Dec. 5, 1961 - War dogs from the U.S. Army are being brought to South Vietnam to hunt Communist guerrillas in underground jungle hideaways. The canine auxiliary to the South Vietnamese ground forces demonstrated its value in a trial operation last week. South Vietnamese Government officials who witnessed the demonstration said the dogs, a pair of German shepherds, had flushed eight guerrillas from underground sanctuaries near Hoc Mon, about 30 miles southwest of Saigon. All w