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Nov 20, 2022

Communist China Orders Ceasefire Along Indian Border

Nov. 20, 1962 - Communist China announced today it was ordering a ceasefire along the entire Indian border at 11 a.m. tomorrow, Eastern standard time. A Government statement in Peking also said that starting Dec. 1, “Chinese frontier guards will withdraw to positions 20 kilometers behind the lines of actual control which existed between China and India” on Nov. 7, 1959. The statement said that China was making the move in an effort to end hostilities, to correct the border si

Oct 31, 2022

Indian Prime Minister Fires Defense Chief

Oct. 31, 1962 - Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru (right) dismissed V.K. Krishna Menon (left) today as Minister of Defense and took over the direction of India’s armed forces himself. For India’s 72-year-old Prime Minister, the decision to remove Mr. Menon from control while the armed forces are fighting the Chinese Communists was agonizing. Mr. Nehru acted only after 10 days of merciless pressure from Indian politicians, the public, and army leaders. These factions accused Mr.

Oct 29, 2022

Indian Prime Minister Requests Urgent Military Assistance from U.S.

Oct. 29, 1962 - Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru (pictured with President Kennedy last year) made an urgent request to the U.S. today for military assistance against the Chinese Communists. He received an immediate pledge that weapons would be rushed to India. U.S. air transports loaded with guns and ammunition are expected to arrive by the end of this week. They will open a vital supply line to India in a time of crisis and begin a historic new chapter in relations between th

Oct 26, 2022

State of Emergency in India as Chinese Troops Advance

Oct. 26, 1962 - A state of emergency was declared throughout India today. President Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan (pictured) issued a defense ordinance giving the Government special emergency authority. The action, prelude to a possible declaration of war, followed reports that 10,000 Chinese troops, armed with automatic weapons and supported by heavy mortars and medium machine guns, were moving down a 200-mile mountain road from Towang to Tezpur. Under India’s declaration of emer

Oct 22, 2022

Indian Prime Minister Addresses Nation as Chinese Press Attack

Oct. 22, 1962 - Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru told the people of India today that the Chinese Communist attack was a threat to their liberty. His grave warning followed word that the advancing Chinese had opened a third front in the Himalayas, near the Burmese border, and had used tanks for the first time. Five more Indian posts fell to the Chinese on the third day of savage fighting. In a national broadcast, Mr. Nehru denounced the Peking regime as “a powerful and unscrupu

Oct 21, 2022

Chinese Communists Advance Into India

Oct. 21, 1962 - The Chinese Communists advanced farther into Indian territory today on the second day of heavy fighting between Indian and Chinese troops. The Chinese struck at Indian outposts along the Tibetan border early yesterday. All forward posts in that area and two more unnamed posts in Ladakh, in the western section of the 2,500-mile-long Himalayan frontier, have been lost by the Indians. An Indian Defense Ministry statement said that the Chinese had “continued to pr

Oct 20, 2022

Fighting between India and Communist China Continues

Oct. 20, 1962 - State Department officials kept a close watch today on reports of heavy fighting between India and Communist China. But they said both sides probably had limited objectives that should keep the conflict from exploding into a major Asian war. The Kennedy Administration is evidently prepared to sell military equipment to India, but officials said the Indians have not made any such requests. Official thinking in Washington is that the scope of the conflict should

Jun 27, 2022

(VIDEO) Jacqueline Kennedy's Asian Journey

June 27, 1962 - Here is a documentary called “Jacqueline Kennedy’s Asian Journey.” It chronicles the First Lady’s trip to India and Pakistan in March. #JFK #1960s #history #OTD #politics #india

Jun 20, 2022

Berlin Film Festival to Screen Documentary on Mrs. Kennedy's Asian Trip

June 20, 1962 - A 30-minute documentary describing Mrs. Jacqueline Kennedy’s recent visit to India has been selected as one of the official American entries in the short-subject competition of the Berlin Film Festival, which opens tomorrow. The film, “Jacqueline Kennedy’s Asian Journey,” was financed and sponsored by the U.S. Information Agency for distribution overseas. It will be shown in Berlin for the first time. The color short was directed by Leo Seltzer, a television d

Mar 25, 2022

Mrs. Kennedy Rides a Camel in Pakistan

Mar. 25, 1962 - After riding an elephant last week near Jaipur, India, Mrs. Jacqueline Kennedy took a ride today on a camel led by Bashir Ahmed, the Pakistani who toured the U.S. last fall as the guest of Vice President Johnson. The five-year-old camel and his beaming driver were introduced to the First Lady in the garden of the residence of President Mohammad Ayub Khan in Karachi. This was one of the last events in Mrs. Kennedy’s two-week tour of India and Pakistan. She is s

Mar 24, 2022

First Lady and Princess Radziwill Order Karakul Hats

Mar. 24, 1962 - Princess Lee Radziwill said today that she and her sister, Mrs. Jacqueline Kennedy, had ordered karakul hats like the one (pictured) worn by Mrs. Kennedy today. Mrs. Kennedy was wearing a black karakul hat, called an astrakhan, given her by President Mohammed Ayub Khan. The Princess is accompanying her sister on the trip to India and Pakistan. Princess Radziwill called the hats “so fabulous and beautiful they may well become the fashion.” A merchant said Mrs.

Mar 19, 2022

Mrs. Kennedy Rides Elephant in India

Mar. 19, 1962 - Mrs. Jacqueline Kennedy rode an eight-foot-high elephant around a 17th-century palace courtyard today. After the elephant had stomped about for 10 minutes, Mrs. Kennedy said, “Good-by and thank you” to both the driver and the elephant. The elephant, a 35-year-old female named Bibia (baby) raised a front leg and its trunk in salute. Later, the wife of President Kennedy went to the sprawling white home of the Maharaja of Jaipur and his Maharani, Gayatri Devi, a

Mar 18, 2022

First Lady Welcomed to Jaipur, India

Mar. 18, 1962 - Mrs. Jacqueline Kennedy received today the traditional welcome that Rajasthani Indians accord a woman they respect and love: she was garlanded and got a dab of brown paint on her forehead. A coconut encased in silver — a symbol of a highly auspicious occasion — was also presented to her. President Kennedy’s wife arrived in Jaipur, the capital of Rajasthan, by air from Udaipur. Before leaving Udaipur, Mrs. Kennedy attended mass in the small chapel of St. Paul’s

Mar 16, 2022

Mrs. Kennedy Continues Tour of India

Mar. 16, 1962 - Mrs. Jacqueline Kennedy paid a visit today to the holy Hindu city of Benares. Later, Mrs. Kennedy received a cheering reception as she arrived in Udaipur, a one-time major capital of princely India. Tens of thousands of Indians surged about the open car that carried the First Lady from the airport to the palace of the Maharana of Bhagwasinghji. At Benares, Mrs. Kennedy rode in a launch up and down the murky green Ganges, the most sacred river in Hindu mytholog

Mar 15, 2022

Mrs. Kennedy Explores India, Sees Taj Mahal Twice

Mar. 15, 1962 - Mrs. Jacqueline Kennedy took a short course in Indian history today. It began with a tour of the sprawling abandoned city of Fatehpur Sikri, which dates to the 16th-century reign of the Mogul Emperor Akbar the Great. It ended with a visit by moonlight to India’s fabled white marble mausoleum, the Taj Mahal. The wife of the President went to the 300-year-old Taj Mahal twice. After her first visit, shortly before sunset, her car was mobbed by surging, cheering c

Sep 30, 2021

Ravi Shankar, Indian Sitar Virtuoso, to Tour U.S.

Sept. 30, 1961 - Ravi Shankar, an Indian virtuoso of the sitar, a gourd-and-teakwood stringed instrument that has evolved over many centuries, will open a coast-to-coast concert tour tomorrow at New York's Town Hall. Mr. Shankar has performed in this country before, but in limited areas. He also has toured Europe and the Far East. He explained today that almost no formal compositions existed for the sitar, and that much of his music is improvised. #music #india #sitar #indian

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