1960s Timeline

May 8, 1962 - Hundreds of West Berliners cheered and waved to Gen. Lucius D. Clay (pictured with Mayor Willy Brandt), President Kennedy’s special envoy, as he left the city today to return to the U.S. The Berliners showered flowers on the general’s car as he drove past the gates of Tempelhof Airport. Many women had tears in their eyes. General Clay, who was visibly moved, said before boarding the plane: “I will be back on the first plane if I get word that I am needed here.”

Apr. 18, 1962 - An East German, mortally wounded by Communist gunfire, drove a three-ton dump truck through the Berlin wall today at a speed of 60 miles an hour. He died before crashing to a halt inside the Western sector. His two companions survived the daring escape. The truck driver who died was 24-year-old Klaus Brueske. One of Mr. Brueske’s companions, sitting with him in the cab of the truck, was wounded in the shoulder. Mr. Brueske was hit in the back by two of five bu

Dec. 25, 1961 - Communist border guards arrested three East Berliners today who waved at relatives in the West across the wall dividing the city, the West Berlin police said. The three, two men and a woman, approached the wall from the eastern side across from the French sector. Witnesses told police the three were arrested immediately and taken away in a truck. It was the only border incident reported on what the West Berlin police described as an unusually quiet day along t

Oct. 10, 1961 - Fifty thousand Soviet combat troops and ten thousand Polish troops have arrived in Communist East Germany to take part in Warsaw Pact maneuvers near the West German border. An undisclosed number of Czechoslovakian troops have also arrived in the southern part of East Germany. The Polish and Soviet units include paratroopers and other airborne troops. The Poles brought tanks, artillery, at least 650 trucks, and enough field kitchens to provide meals for three d

Sept. 27, 1961 - Here is a documentary on the Berlin Wall, the construction of which began August 13. #communism #communist #coldwar #soviet #sovietunion #USSR #politics #history #berlin

Sept. 24, 1961 - Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy said today that there "is no question" that his brother, President Kennedy, would order use of nuclear weapons if they were essential to save West Berlin's freedom. The Attorney General, on NBC's "Meet the Press," said: "If we retreat, we will never be able to stand up again. The President has said again and again that if we don't stand up in Berlin, when can we stand up?" He predicted that Premier Khrushchev would continue

Sept. 21, 1961 - Connie Francis (pictured), Louis Armstrong, Sid Caesar, and the comedy team of Rowan and Martin are among the performers Ed Sullivan has lined up for his trip to Berlin. The TV producer and host said today he expected to leave here Sept. 30 to put on shows for military personnel in Germany. Two shows in West Berlin will be taped for telecast by CBS. Mr. Sullivan said he had not altered his plans in any way because of the recent controversy resulting from TV s

Sept. 16, 1961 - It is not only humans who are bothered by the Communist wall across Berlin - dogs are affected as well. A fox terrier named Mausi finally got back to his mistress in the West today. An East German policeman at Friedrichstrasse led the dog on a leash to the border and then turned him loose. Mausi dashed across the border and leaped into the arms of his owner, a hospital nurse, and licked her face. She had been waiting three days at the crossing point to see if

Sept. 13, 1961 - Dick Gregory, who won quick fame last spring as the first Negro comic to succeed in metropolitan cabarets, is back at New York's Blue Angel. Mr. Gregory has expanded his target range. In a new string of jokes tried out for the first time this week, he refers to the German, truck-borne escapees as the "East Berlin Freedom Riders." "They are people who push the gas pedal down to the floor and don't look right or left," he says. "In New York, we call them cab dr

Sept. 9, 1961 - The United States will send about 40,000 Army troops to Europe "in the immediate future" to strengthen combat and support forces there, the Pentagon announced today. The announcement was expected. It was the latest in a series of moves, including the call-up of military reserves and plans for a broad expansion of the armed forces, that President Kennedy has undertaken to cope with the crisis in Berlin and other trouble spots. #germany #berlin #communism #commu

Sept. 9, 1961 - The Pentagon took action against two Army officers in Berlin today for having permitted the use of U.S. forces in the filming of a Jack Paar television show. Col. John R. Deane Jr. (pictured), commanding officer of the Second Battle Group, Sixth Infantry, in Germany, was admonished for "exercising poor judgment." The Defense Department also announced that Lieut. Col. Dallas Hoadley, public information officer of the Berlin Command, had been relieved of his dut

Sept. 8, 1961 - "Shocking," "disgraceful," and "highly dangerous" were descriptions applied by Senators today to describe the use of U.S. Army forces in the filming of a Jack Paar television show in West Berlin yesterday. The Defense Department, with White House approval, ordered an investigation. Majority Leader Mike Mansfield told the Senate that the situation in Berlin was a world tragedy, not a television spectacular "to be made into some kind of game for the personal pro

Sept. 7, 1961 - Fifty armed U.S. soldiers moved rapidly down the street, then took possession of buildings overlooking the East-West Berlin border. A jeep mounting an anti-tank gun and several others mounting machine guns moved into position along either curb. Two colonels arrived. It was the biggest turnout the U.S. Army had yet made along the wall that divides the city - and it was all for Jack Paar, TV star. Mr. Paar filmed one of his shows along the "concrete curtain," so

Aug. 30, 1961 - President Kennedy said today that Gen. Lucius D. Clay would return to West Berlin next month as his personal representative. The President described the situation in Berlin as "fraught with danger” and promised to use all means to find a peaceful settlement, but he said he had no indication from Moscow that made him optimistic about the prospects. Gen. Clay, retired, who was military governor of Germany when an Allied airlift broke the Communist blockade of Be

Aug. 26, 1961 - Eight British soldiers in a jeep and a small armored scout car escort 12-year-old Erwin Schabe (pictured right) to school these days past the Communist police. Erwin lives in an enclave on the northwest edge of Berlin that called "Eiskeller" (Ice Cellar), which is surrounded by Communist barbed wire and observation posts. Eiskeller juts into East Germany. A corridor only eight feet wide connects Eiskeller with the British sector of West Berlin. East German pol

Aug. 26, 1961 - British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan (right) said today that the situation in Berlin was "very worrying, but nothing more." "Nobody is going to fight about it," he declared. "I think there would be much more danger of war if weapons were not so destructive. Fifty years ago, we could have had a war. Now it is not much fun for anybody. But we have to be very careful that nobody does anything foolish." #greatbritain #british #britishpm #communism #communist #c

Aug. 24, 1961 - The East German Communists are cracking down on their foes in what was described by West Berlin authorities today as a "widespread campaign of intimidation and oppression." Accounts of arrests, trials, public indictments and other repressive measures filled the pages of many of the East German newspapers that still reach West Berlin. In at least 20 cases, East German men and women were arrested and sentenced to prison for publicly criticizing Walter Ulbricht,

Aug. 24, 1961 - The White House gave the Soviet Government a "solemn warning" today that any Communist interference with Allied access to West Berlin would be "an aggressive act" for which the Soviet Government would bear full responsibility. In a stern statement approved by President Kennedy, the U.S. dismissed as false, cynical, irresponsible, and slanderous an accusation by Moscow that the Western Allies were violating their air access rights to West Berlin by flying spies

Aug. 23, 1961 - The Western powers deployed 1,000 troops of their West Berlin garrison, backed by 10 40-ton U.S. tanks, along the border with East Berlin today. This was the swift Allied answer to the attempt by East German Communists to establish remote control over a 110-yard zone all along the West Berlin side of the 25-mile border. The Communists have warned all persons to stay at least 110 yards away from both sides of the intracity border. Two of the American tanks were

Aug. 21, 1961 - Here is video of President Kennedy's remarks at the White House upon the return of Vice President Johnson from Berlin: #JFK #americanhistory #politics #communism #communist #coldwar #soviet #sovietunion #germany #berlin