1960s Timeline

May 3, 1962 - United States Army and Marine helicopters carried South Vietnamese troops today to the edge of Plaine des Jones, a marshy jungle of six-foot reeds in the Mekong River delta. Despite a torrential downpour that left the marshlands waist-deep in water, the Vietnamese forces captured 78 suspected Communist guerrillas and killed 10 others in one of the most successful joint operations involving U.S. helicopter support. The operation was observed by Col. Frank Butner

May 3, 1962 - Astronauts of the U.S. and the Soviet Union shared a platform in Washington today to tell an international gathering of scientists about their experiences orbiting in space. The day also included a joint news conference by the space pioneers of the two nations — Col. John H. Glenn Jr. and Maj. Gherman S. Titov — and the introduction of the Soviet astronaut to President Kennedy at the White House. Colonel Glenn and his wife, Anna, escorted Major Titov and his wif

May 2, 1962 - Two American sergeants denied today they ever begged for clemency during 22 days of captivity among the Viet Cong. The sergeants were set free unconditionally, they said. They flatly disputed a broadcast by the Hanoi radio of Communist North Vietnam which said their May Day release came after they had signed a petition for leniency. The sergeants, Francis Quinn and George E. Groom, were held in a hut on a mountain for three weeks behind Danang. They were release

May 1, 1962 - Two U.S. Army sergeants captured by the Viet Cong more than three weeks ago were freed today by their captors. The Communists turned them loose five miles from the spot where they were seized April 8. The sergeants said they had suffered no brutal treatment at the hands of the Viet Cong, although their wrists had been kept bound. They did not know why they had been set free. They were simply told they could go. For 22 days, Sgts. Francis Quinn of Niagara Falls,

May 1, 1962 - Former President Eisenhower said today that American concepts of beauty, morality, and decency were declining. Speaking at the dedication of the $3 million Eisenhower Library in Abilene, Kan., he singled out modern art and the twist dance craze for special scorn. General Eisenhower contrasted the twist with the beauty of the minuet. More sternly, he denounced the use of “vulgarity, sensuality, indeed, downright filth,” as a sales promotion tactic in motion pictu

Apr. 30, 1962 - George W. Ball (pictured), Under Secretary of State, warned today that the war against the Communist Viet Cong in South Vietnam would be a “long, slow, arduous” struggle of a type that is not “congenial to the American temperament.” But he said it could “definitely” be won with the help the U.S. was providing to the South Vietnamese Government. Discussing the nature of the American assistance, he insisted that no U.S. combat units were in Vietnam, that “we are

Apr. 30, 1962 - Much of the cream of scientific America gathered at the White House last night for a dinner honoring Nobel Prize winners. The gathering culminated in the first public reading, by actor Frederic March, of an unpublished work by the late Ernest Hemingway, winner of the Nobel Prize for literature in 1954. The manuscript was made available by Mrs. Mary Hemingway (second from left), a guest at the dinner. President and Mrs. Kennedy brought together 49 Nobel laureat

Apr. 28, 1962 - The U.S. Special Forces are arming, training, and organizing the Rhade tribesmen of South Vietnam into a surprisingly effective anti-guerrilla army. About 2,000 tribesmen have been trained to defend their villages against the Viet Cong. There had been misgivings about arming the Rhade tribesmen, based on doubt as to which side they would help, but the Army’s gamble is paying off. The Rhade tribesmen appear to be moving enthusiastically into the anti-Communist

Apr. 27, 1962 - Roger Maris, as national co-chairman of the Multiple Sclerosis Society, was greeted today by President Kennedy at the White House. The President accepted an autographed baseball from the player. They also exchanged their own autographed books, “Profiles in Courage” and “Roger Maris at Bat.” #JFK #1960s #history #OTD #anniversary #historychannel #podcast #politics #coldwar #mlb #baseball #yankees

Apr. 27, 1962 - The Chinese Communists are said to be stepping up their military advisory program in North Vietnam to counter the continuing build-up of U.S. forces in South Vietnam. One intelligence estimate speaks of as many as 3,500 Chinese soldiers now attached for training and support to the Communist North Vietnam Army. Of the estimated total of 16,000 North Vietnamese troops now believed to be among the Communist guerrillas in South Vietnam, large numbers are said to h

Apr. 27, 1962 - The U.S. set off two nuclear explosions today — one in the atmosphere in the Pacific, the other underground in Nevada. The explosion in the atmosphere, the second in the test series in the central Pacific, took place shortly after dawn in the vicinity of Christmas Island. As in the first atmospheric explosion on Wednesday, the nuclear device was dropped from an airplane and produced an explosion in the “intermediate yield range.” This would mean that the devic

Apr. 27, 1962 - Communist China, condemning U.S. resumption of nuclear testing, warned today that the Chinese people together with the rest of the world “will eventually settle accounts with the United States.” In language as unrestrained as any previously used by Beijing, editorials in two major newspapers charged that Washington was preparing for nuclear war. They also attacked President Kennedy as “more vicious, more cunning, and more adventurist than his predecessor,” Pre

Apr. 25, 1962 - Four-year-old Caroline Kennedy has been signed for a college preparatory school. Mrs. Jacqueline Kennedy applied for admission for her daughter to Miss Porter’s School, Farmington, Conn., when Caroline was two. The First Lady attended Miss Porter’s also. President Kennedy’s daughter, now attending a White House nursery school, will have to qualify academically for Miss Porter’s. The school has 220 girls enrolled from all over the world. They range in age from

Apr. 25, 1962 - The U.S. nuclear test series in the Pacific has been given the name of Operation Dominic, a name with Latin ancestry but no particular significance. The name, according to the Atomic Energy Commission officials, was picked from a list of available code names for projects maintained by the Defense Department. The choice was by happenstance and has no deliberate connotation or significance. The word dominic, used as a masculine proper name, is derived from the L

Apr. 25, 1962 - Vietnamese Rangers and the Civil Guard, with help from U.S. Marines, dealt a major blow today to Communist insurgents in the heart of the Mekong Delta country. Routed in heavy fighting, a Communist battalion lost 87 killed and 3 captured. Government forces suffered six dead and six wounded. Marine helicopters shuttled four Ranger companies and one company of the Civil Guard to battlefield positions that nearly checkmated the bewildered guerrillas. Whenever Gov

Apr. 25, 1962 - The U.S. resumed nuclear testing in the atmosphere today by setting off an intermediate-size explosion near Christmas Island in the Pacific. The explosion took place at about 10:45 a.m. EST. Rising through the overcast skies, the mushroom-shaped cloud symbolized a new competitive phase in the atomic arms race and the frustration of more than three years of effort to reach an international agreement to prohibit atomic testing. It was the first atmospheric explo

Apr. 24, 1962 - South Vietnamese troops, backed by American air support, killed 69 Communist guerrillas today in a running battle 34 miles southwest of Saigon, U.S. military sources said. Four companies of special Vietnamese rangers and infantry troops took part in the action. A normal infantry company in Vietnam varies from 100 to 130 men. No Government casualties were reported. #vietnam #vietnamese #vietnamwar #VietnamVet #VietnamVeteran #history #OTD #ColdWar #JFK #communi

Apr. 24, 1962 - U.S. soldiers wounded in the fighting in Vietnam will receive the Purple Heart. President Kennedy will issue within the next 48 hours an Executive order modifying regulations that now prevent award of the medal to men who have been wounded in fighting that is not officially recognized as a war. The Executive order would authorize the award of the decoration under conditions as those that exist in Vietnam. A sizable force of American military men is in South Vi

Apr. 24, 1962 - President Kennedy gave the long-awaited order today for the U.S. to resume nuclear testing in the atmosphere. The test series in the Pacific is expected to begin in a few days, possibly tomorrow. The testing is expected to last 2 or 3 months and to consist of 25 to 30 explosions. The first test is expected to be held at Christmas Island, a British-held Pacific atoll 1,200 miles south of Hawaii, near the Equator. #JFK #1960s #history #OTD #anniversary #historyc

Apr. 23, 1962 - An American sergeant wounded in the leg by Communist fire has been denied the Purple Heart. Although the incident was two months ago and although the sergeant was the first casualty among U.S. Army helicopter personnel, the episode was hushed up by the military command in Vietnam. The only explanation advanced by military sources in Saigon is that Purple Hearts and combat medals cannot be awarded in Vietnam because Washington does not recognize this as a comba