1960s Timeline

Jan. 25, 1962 - Secretary of State Dean Rusk urged the conference of American foreign ministers in Uruguay today to adopt a plan “to guard our own continent” against the dangers of aggression from the Soviet bloc through a Cuban bridgehead. Mr. Rusk said that the plan would put Premier Fidel Castro, “a petty tyrant,” in his place. Most delegations voiced enthusiastic praise for Mr. Rusk’s proposals. The Cuban delegation, however, laughed loudly at the conclusion of Mr. Rusk’s

Jan. 24, 1962 - The Army assigned its youngest general today to responsibility for directing the ground force’s expanding efforts in guerrilla warfare. The assignment went to Brig. Gen. William B. Rosson, 43, a paratrooper and combat veteran who has seen most of the world’s trouble spots over the last 20 years. Army Secretary Elvis J. Stahr Jr. designated General Rosson as special assistant to Gen. George H. Decker, Army Chief of Staff, in charge of “special warfare.” Under o

Jan. 24, 1962 - President Kennedy urged the American public again today to put its faith in the American cow and keep on drinking milk. His press secretary, Pierre Salinger (pictured), made the same point to the reporters who cover the White House, offering them milk at the President’s news conference. The net result of the day’s dairying on the New Frontier was to defend milk against charges of contamination by radioactive fallout and to defend the dairy farmer against the i

Jan. 24, 1962 - Mrs. Jacqueline Kennedy’s press secretary pointed out today that the First Lady wore American-made clothes practically all the time. The comment by the press secretary, Pamela Turnure, was in reply to Mrs. Clare Boothe Luce’s recent criticism of Mrs. Kennedy for buying French clothes. Mrs. Luce served as a Republican in Congress in the 1940s and was U.S. Ambassador to Italy during the Eisenhower Administration. She is the wife of Henry Luce, publisher of Time,

Jan. 24, 1962 - Soviet Defense Minister Rodion Y. Malinovsky declared in an interview published today in Pravda, newspaper of the Soviet Communist party, that “shelters against atomic and hydrogen bombs are nothing but coffins and tombs prepared in advance.” He also asserted that the Soviet Union was able “to wipe off the face of the earth” all industrial and administrative centers of the U.S. “with a single nuclear-rocket attack.” Charging that the fall-out shelter drive in

Jan. 24, 1962 - President Kennedy vigorously defended two State Department employees today against a newspaper woman’s statement that they were security risks. He delivered an icy rebuke to the reporter, Mrs. Sarah McClendon (pictured right), when she made the accusation at his news conference. He vouched personally for the two men and said he hoped they could continue to serve “without detriment to their character by your question.” Mr. Kennedy had never been so quick and se

Jan. 24, 1962 - Twenty-eight East Germans, including a 71-year-old paralyzed woman and an 8-year-old girl, fled to West Berlin early today. The group was the largest to escape from East Berlin since the Communist regime closed the border last August. The paralyzed woman was carried across the border by other members of the party. The woman had had two strokes. Five persons among the ten men and eighteen women were over 60, according to the West Berlin police. The refugees esc

Jan. 23, 1962 - President Kennedy told the public today that its milk supply “offers no hazards” either from radioactive fallout or cholesterol content. Mr. Kennedy told the National Conference on Milk and Nutrition that milk was so delicious and nutritious that he had ordered it served at all White House meals. The President concluded his 15-minute address in the Departmental Auditorium in Washington with a toast — in milk. He spoke against a background of serious concern in

Jan. 23, 1962 - Former President Dwight D. Eisenhower suggested today that leading military men assume a major role in warning the public of the dangers from international communism. General Eisenhower called upon the Special Senate Armed Services Subcommittee, which opened hearings today on charges of civilian censorship of military statements, to disapprove of any effort to thrust the military behind an “American iron curtain.” In a written statement to the Senate panel, he

Jan. 23, 1962 - The United States fought for votes today on a new formula for the Cuban problem that would suspend Premier Fidel Castro’s regime from membership in the Organization of American States. The new formula represents a shift from an earlier proposal that the conference of American foreign ministers invoke diplomatic sanctions against Cuba. However, the U.S. is still insisting on collective economic sanctions, including an embargo on arms shipments to Cuba by the In

Jan. 22, 1962 - Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy rejected today an informal invitation to visit the Soviet Union. The President’s brother said the plans for his coming world tour had been “completed for some time and I will not be able to alter them at this time.” The Attorney General and his wife will leave Feb. 2 on a trip that will take them to Japan, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Iran, Italy, West Germany, and the Netherlands. In his statement today, Mr. Kennedy said he would “

Jan. 21, 1962 - The assistant Senate majority leader, Hubert Humphrey (left), said today that Red China could explode a nuclear device “any time within this year.” Senator Humphrey said he based this view on “some knowledge of the development of nuclear physics and the nuclear science” by the Chinese Communists. “It has been known for a good deal of time that prior to World War II some of the most advanced nuclear scientists and nuclear physicists were Chinese, and they are s

Jan. 21, 1962 - President Kennedy said last night that the Democratic party would win the 1962 elections if it ran “as a party of progress as it always has.” The President told more than 5,000 cheering Democrats at a party dinner on the first anniversary of his inauguration that the time to begin the Congressional election campaign was now. The President flew to Washington from New York yesterday to speak at last night’s $100-a-plate dinner. The proceeds will go to assist Dem

Jan. 20, 1962 - The Soviet leaders have asked Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy to visit Moscow on his world tour next month. President Kennedy and the State Department are trying to decide whether to accept the invitation, which is viewed in Washington as a feeler for an attempt to moderate the cold war. Secretary of State Dean Rusk had a long conversation yesterday with the Attorney General about the trip. They held up acceptance of the Soviet invitation. They are getting

Jan. 19, 1962 - Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara said today that the United States was resolved to oppose Communist aggression “in all its forms.” It will do so, he told a Senate committee, until the Soviet and Chinese leaders are convinced that their policies “endanger their security as well as ours.” He added: “There is no question that our strategic retaliatory forces are capable of destroying the Soviet target system, even after absorbing an initial attack.” It wa

Jan. 19, 1962 - President Kennedy entertained composer Igor Stravinsky (right) at a small White House dinner last night. Mr. Stravinsky, Russian-born, is now a citizen of the United States. He is in Washington this week to conduct the Washington Opera Society in three performances of his opera “Oedipus Rex.” The guests, in addition to Mr. and Mrs. Stravinsky, included Leonard Bernstein, conductor of the New York Philharmonic, and Mrs. Bernstein; Princess Stanislas Radziwill,

Jan. 18, 1962 - Republican leaders viewed the Administration’s legislative and budgetary proposals today as power-building projects. “President Kennedy is heading us toward the leviathan state,” said Senator Everett Dirksen of Illinois (pictured), the minority leader in the Senate. The New Frontier, he said, “has turned out to be nothing more than a bright ribbon wrapped around the oldest and most discredited political package on earth — the centralization of power.” “Nothing

Jan. 18, 1962 - United States planes have sprayed jungle growth along the Saigon-Saint Jacques road in South Vietnam to remove foliage hiding Communist guerrillas. The results are not known yet. The chemical mixture is supposed to kill all trees and brush, but the withering and dropping of leaves may take five days to three weeks. The spraying operation along the highway was accompanied by the dropping of pamphlets assuring farmers that the chemicals were harmless to humans a

Jan. 18, 1962 - The Soviet Army has withdrawn a dozen tanks from the heart of East Berlin, where they were encamped about half a mile from the wall at the intracity border that cuts off the Communist sector. The withdrawal took place last night about 48 hours after the U.S. Army began pulling back its tank task force from a camp on the Friedrichstrasse 500 yards from the border barricade. A spokesman at Soviet headquarters said today that the Soviet tanks had left Berlin. The

Jan. 18, 1962 - President Kennedy presented his first complete budget to Congress today. It was balanced, as he had pledged, and it provided for further enlargement of the New Frontier. He estimated that for the fiscal year 1963, which begins next July 1, the Government’ books would show these totals: Spending — $92,537,000,000. Revenues — $93,000,000,000. The spending would be the highest of any peacetime year and the revenues the highest ever. “In my judgment,” the Presiden