1960s Timeline

Latest Podcasts

Politics | Culture | Entertainment | Sports

Sep 16, 2021

Refugee from East Berlin Her Gets Dog Back

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

Sep 16, 2021

Cuban Communists Round Up Priests

Sept. 16, 1961 - A large-scale round-up of Roman Catholic priests has taken place in Havana in the last two days. There are no precise figures, but roughly 100 priests have been arrested. The Government will deport some, if not all, of these. In another development, the execution of six persons in various parts of Cuba for participation in armed seditious activity was announced. Ninety-one received prison terms ranging from one to thirty years. The new executions bring to 16

Sep 16, 2021

U.S. and Soviets Each Detonate Nuclear Devices

Sept. 16, 1961 - The United States and the Soviet Union detonated nuclear devices today. Both were announced in Washington by the Atomic Energy Commission. The U.S. test, the second in two days, was again fired underground in Nevada. It was described as being of "low yield." The Soviet test was fired in the atmosphere at Novaya Zemlya, a Siberian test center, and was the 11th since Moscow broke the 3-year-old unofficial moratorium on nuclear tests. Like the others, it was fir

Sep 14, 2021

President Kennedy Seeks New Tactics to Fight Communists

Sept. 14, 1961 - President Kennedy has set up a Cabinet-level group to draft a program for waging psychological and political tactics in the Cold War. The Communists' apparent ability to repress world reaction unfavorable to them and to dominate the news with demonstrations that seem spontaneous led to the creation of the group. When the Russians resumed nuclear testing and many nations accepted the news apathetically, Administration officials were appalled. If the U.S. had u

Sep 12, 2021

Castro Goes after Church, Vatican Concerned

Sept. 12, 1961 - The Cuban Government launched a fresh attack against the Roman Catholic Church today. It accused priests and nuns of plotting to overthrow the regime of Fidel Castro and charged that the clergy was acting as an agent for U.S. intelligence. The attack was made in a communiqué by the Interior Ministry. The move was foreshadowed by denunciations of the clergy by newspapers, radio stations, and groups of Castro supporters in the wake of Sunday's anti-Communist de

Sep 12, 2021

Soviets Conduct Yet Another Atomic Test

Sept. 12, 1961 - The Soviet Union conducted the seventh atomic test in its current series by detonating a multi-megaton device in the atmosphere early today at its Arctic proving ground. The Atomic Energy Commission said the detonation, presumably of a hydrogen bomb, took place in the vicinity of the island of Novaya Zemlya (pictured). The island, which lies between the Barents and Kara Seas, has been used by the Soviets in recent years to test large thermonuclear weapons. On

Sep 9, 2021

U.S. to Send 40,000 Additional Army Troops to Europe

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

Sep 9, 2021

Pentagon Disciplines Two Army Officers Over TV Show in West Berlin

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

Sep 9, 2021

Khrushchev Blames West for Soviet Nuclear Tests

Sept. 9, 1961 - Premier Khrushchev declared today that nuclear testing could be ended only by Western acceptance of Soviet proposals for a German peace treaty and complete disarmament. The Soviet rejected President Kennedy's proposal for outlawing nuclear testing in the atmosphere. Premier Khrushchev insisted that the Soviet Union had resumed nuclear testing only because the Western powers were threatening war in response to the Soviet proposal for a German peace treaty. "Wei

Sep 8, 2021

Five More Rebel Prisoners Executed in Cuba

Sept. 8, 1961 - Five rebel prisoners taken after the unsuccessful landings at the Bay of Pigs in Cuba last April were sentenced to death today and executed by firing squad. Nine others were given thirty-year jail terms. The fourteen men, some of whom were formerly members of the Batista police, were charged with crimes committed in Cuba before the invasion attempt, rather than for their participation in the landing. The day's trials still leave in doubt the fate of the other

Sep 8, 2021

Senators Decry Use of Military for Paar Show in West Berlin

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

Sep 7, 2021

Khrushchev Interviewed by New York Times

Sept. 7, 1961 - Following are some of the main points made by Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev (pictured with President Kennedy at their conference in June) in an interview today with C.L. Sulzberger, foreign affairs columnist of The New York Times: 1. Summit Meeting - Premier Khrushchev favors a second meeting with President Kennedy. 2. Germany - The Soviet Premier insists on separate peace treaties with the two Germanys and a free city status for West Berlin, with the East

Sep 7, 2021

Jack Paar in West Berlin to Film TV Show

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

Sep 7, 2021

Nehru after Khrushchev Meeting: "Foul Winds of War Are Blowing"

Sept. 7, 1961 - Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru of India talked for two hours today with Premier Khrushchev at the Kremlin and came out gloomy. "Once again the foul winds of war are blowing," Mr. Nehru said. "There are atomic tests and the world grows fearful. Once the door of war is opened, life on earth will be completely extinguished. It is strange that when man has the power to improve the lot of humanity and to open the doors of progress, the ghost of war should fall on

Sep 6, 2021

Russians Explode Nuclear Device East of Stalingrad

Sept. 6, 1961 - The Atomic Energy Commission announced today that the Soviet Union had detonated a fourth nuclear device in the atmosphere. A brief announcement said the explosion took place this morning east of Stalingrad. Stalingrad, in southeast European Russia, is an industrial and agricultural area, but several hundred miles to the east there are areas of sparsely populated desert. Traces of radioactive fallout from the earlier Asian blasts have been detected in Alaska,

Sep 5, 2021

De Gaulle: West Must Resist Soviet "Totalitarian Empire"

Sept. 5, 1961 - President de Gaulle of France urged today that the West firmly resist, by force if necessary, the menace of the Soviet "totalitarian empire." He said that any use of Soviet force in Berlin should be met by force to maintain Allied positions and communications. The French President said that war would come only if Premier Khrushchev started it. If he did, President de Gaulle said, any sign of Western weakness or division would only increase the Soviet appetite

Sep 5, 2021

🚨Kennedy Orders Resumption of Nuclear Weapons Tests

Sept. 5, 1961 - President Kennedy ordered today the resumption of nuclear weapons tests by the United States. He specified that the tests should take place "in the laboratory and underground, with no fallout." The decision was taken after the Atomic Energy Commission announced that the Soviet Union had exploded a third nuclear device in five days. The President said in a statement that the U.S. had "no other choice." The President's statement signaled the end of a voluntary u

Sep 4, 2021

Soviet Premier Khrushchev Plays Art Critic for a Day

Sept. 4, 1961 - Premier Khrushchev went on record today as favoring art that depicted a cow as a cow. Lifting a champagne glass at the end of a three-hour tour of the French exhibition in Moscow, the Soviet Premier told his French hosts: "Here is a toast to French art -- the real French art, not the kind we saw here. I mean the kind of art where you do not have to ask whether it is a cow or a horse." Except for the art show, which is predominantly abstract, Mr. Khrushchev had

Sep 4, 2021

Americans Coast to Coast Fear Nuclear War

Sept. 4, 1961 - From New York to Los Angeles, civil defense authorities report a rise in the American citizen's fear of nuclear war. Thousands of persons within bomb-blast distance of potential nuclear targets are seeking guidance on ways to survive an attack. Spurred by President Kennedy's words and Soviet achievements, they have sought advice from the Government and commercial builders of bomb shelters. Examples of apathy and fatalism were found everywhere. One resident of

Sep 4, 2021

🚨Soviets Explode Second Nuclear Bomb in Three Days

Sept. 4, 1961 - A new Soviet nuclear test took place early today over Central Asia, the Atomic Energy Commission announced. It was the second Soviet nuclear explosion in three days. It appears that the device today was considerably smaller than the one detonated Friday. The estimate of Friday's detonation placed that device in the power range of between 100 and 500 kilotons. Although Premier Khrushchev has said the Soviet Union can develop a bomb in the 100 megaton range - eq