1960s Timeline

Feb. 21, 1962 - A special board of inquiry headed by E. Barrett Prettyman, a former Federal judge, is seeking to determine whether Francis Gary Powers (pictured center) fulfilled his contract with the C.I.A. and is entitled to more than $50,000 in back pay. President Kennedy said today that so far there was “no evidence” that the U-2 pilot had failed to comply with the secret contact. The special board will complete its inquiry by the middle of next week, and Mr. Powers then

Feb. 20, 1962 - Here is an evening news capsule from ABC-TV. #news #history #1960s #historyinpictures #historylover #historybuff #HistoryInTheMaking #historychannel #HistoryLesson #historymemes #podcast #historylovers #HistoryMakers #politics #historybooks #historybook #HistoryMaker #historyphoto #historyclass #coldwar

Feb. 20, 1962 - The role of “father” played by the childless George Washington before he assumed the larger role of Father of his Country is depicted in two letters that recently changed hands. Washington’s warnings and advice concerned two teenagers, one of whom was 17-year-old John Park Custis, son of Martha Washington by a previous marriage. That letter is now at Columbia University. Washington’s other letter as a stand-in father was sent to a nephew on the eve of the firs

Feb. 16, 1962 - Richard M. Nixon warned the Kennedys today to keep their hands off the California Gubernatorial election. Mr. Nixon, one of three Republican candidates running against the incumbent Democratic Governor, Edmund G. Brown, said he had heard that “Bobby and Teddy are coming out, and Hubert Humphrey is coming out, and all the rest are coming out. But we don’t care who they send out. We can lick them.” The former Vice President told a crowd of 700 cheering partisans

Feb. 15, 1962 - Former President Dwight D. Eisenhower (pictured right in November 1944) last night gave a TV audience thumbnail appraisals of several world figures he had dealt with as President or as General of the Army. He made his observations during the last of three hour-long programs, “Eisenhower on the Presidency,” carried on CBS. The appraisals were given in answers to questions by Walter Cronkite. General Eisenhower applied the label “great” to General George C. Mars

Feb. 14, 1962 - General Hu Tsung-Nan (pictured in 1936), who wanted to throw his 250,000 troops against the Chinese Communists during World War II, died today of a heart ailment. He was 62 years old. President Chiang Kai-shek refused to let General Hu attack the Communists for fear civil war during the conflict with Japan would have provoked the U.S. to halt aid to the Nationalists. The Communists at that time were surrounded in the North China province of Shensi by General H

Feb. 14, 1962 - Richard M. Nixon carried his campaign for the Governorship of California to Mariposa today. The former Vice President attacked “the disturbing trend in Sacramento and Washington to take the easy way,” defining “the easy way” as letting the Government handle all problems. “We want a state that is first in quality,” he declared. “California should not lead the nation in the rate of major crimes. We should not lead the nation in highway fatalities. And we should

Feb. 14, 1962 - New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller said today that the question of whether his pending divorce would be a political liability was something that the voters would decide in the voting booths. At a news conference, the Governor restated his position that questions dealing with the divorce were not properly “in the public domain.” The Governor has previously indicated that he did not think the divorce would affect his political career. The was raised anew today

Feb. 14, 1962 - General Henry Irving Hodes (pictured center in Korea in 1951), a combat commander in World War II and the Korean conflict, died today in San Antonio’s Brooke General Hospital at the age of 62. General Hodes earned a reputation for toughness during negotiations with the Chinese Communists during the truce arrangements marking the end of the Korean conflict. This was in keeping with his hard-hitting approach as a combat officer. In 1944, he was named a field com

Feb. 11, 1962 - The various shades of conservative opinion will be reviewed by CBS on Thursday, Feb. 22, at 10 p.m. The hour-long show, “Thunder on the Right,” an installment of “CBS Reports,” will present personalities and movements ranging from the extremist Minute Men faction to Senator Barry Goldwater, Republican of Arizona. Jack Beck, producer of the program, said it will present scenes of rallies and of anti-Communist seminars as well as interviews with leaders of the v

Feb. 11, 1962 - A memorial to the late General of the Army George C. Marshall (pictured in 1945) as author of the plan that made possible Europe’s postwar economic recovery will be erected in Frankfurt, Germany, later this year, it was announced today. A campaign to build the memorial was launched last year by the Frankfurt Chamber of Commerce and Industry. General Marshall rose through the U.S. Army to become Chief of Staff under Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry S.

Feb. 11, 1962 - The C.I.A. has formed a board of inquiry to investigate the circumstances of the capture of Francis Gary Powers by the Soviet Union and the crash of his U-2 reconnaissance plane in the Ural Mountains. Disclosure of the pending inquiry coincided with Mr. Powers’ reunion with his wife and parents today following his return to the U.S. under a cloak of extreme secrecy. The 32-year-old U-2 pilot was released by the Soviet Union yesterday morning in exchange for Co

Feb. 10, 1962 - George Romney announced today that he would seek the Republican nomination for Governor of Michigan. The 54-year-old president of the American Motors Corporation announced at a news conference overflowing with supporters and well-wishers that he finally decided yesterday to become a candidate. As a candidate for Governor, he said, he would have no interest in any other position in the state or nation. However, when he was asked whether he would remove himself

Feb. 9, 1962 - Francis Gary Powers has been released by the Soviet Union in exchange for the release of Col. Rudolf Abel, the convicted Soviet spy, the White House announced at 3:20 a.m. Frederic L. Pryor, an American student held by East German authorities since August 1961, also has been released. He was turned over to American authorities in Berlin. Mr. Powers, the White House said, is in Berlin en route to the U.S. Colonel Abel was deported and has been released in Berlin

Feb. 8, 1962 - George Romney (pictured with his wife Lenore) began a 24-hour fast today as he sought to decide whether to become a candidate for the Republican nomination for Governor of Michigan. “My final step in making such an important decision is to seek Divine guidance,” he said. “I consider this a personal matter, but it is true that I’ve begun a fast.” The president of the American Motors Corporation is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Morm

Feb. 6, 1962 - A special hour-long television show for young people dealing with the subject of communism is being planned by NBC. The program will be shown next season in prime time. Announcement of the telecast was made in Washington by Robert E. Kintner, NBC’s president. Mr. Kintner observed that 18-year-olds now entering the armed forces were only 6 years old when the Communists invaded South Korea (pictured). “We believe it is important that they have a real understandin

Feb. 6, 1962 - Francis Gary Powers (pictured right at his Moscow trial), the U-2 pilot imprisoned in the Soviet Union, has written his wife that he has no hope of reducing his 10-year sentence for espionage. Mr. Powers wrote that Soviet officials had told him there was no hope of clemency or parole because of the “seriousness and gravity of his crime,” Mrs. Powers said today. The pilot was sentenced to three years in prison and seven in a work camp. Mrs. Powers said that she

Feb. 4, 1962 - George Lincoln Rockwell (pictured), head of the American Nazi party, told a jeering crowd today that he had the right to make a speech anywhere and any time. He arrived in Lewisburg, Pa., with nine associates and dared local and state policemen to arrest him. Before a crowd of several thousand, mostly Bucknell University students, he began a speech that was interrupted by boos and cries of “Go home!” As the boos mounted, he suddenly declared, “There’s no use tr

Feb. 4, 1962 - George Romney told a national TV audience today that “the Republican image needs improvement.” In the past, he said, it had been “too much identified as a business party” when it should have served as the political organ interested in “people as a whole.” Mr. Romney, president of American Motors Corporation, appeared on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” He made it all but certain that he would announce this week as Republican candidate for Governor of Michigan. At times,

Feb. 4, 1962 - Cuba now has 50 to 100 MIG jet fighters and may be receiving some Soviet bombers and short-range rockets in new arms shipments from the Communist bloc, according to Washington sources. Experts estimated the total worth of Communist military assistance to Premier Fidel Castro at $100 million so far, counting both hardware and technical help. They believe a fresh flow of weapons is starting. The Communist bloc is said to have supplied 150 to 200 tanks, 50 to 100