1960s Timeline

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3 hours ago

Nov. 26, 1962 - JFK at Homestead Air Force Base

Nov. 26, 1962 - Here are President Kennedy's remarks today at Homestead Air Force Base in Florida upon awarding decorations for outstanding reconnaissance work concerning Soviet missile bases in Cuba. #JFK #history #airforce

16 hours ago

JFK Honors Reconnaissance Fliers

Nov. 26, 1962 - President Kennedy awarded decorations today to military units that took the aerial photographs last month that disclosed the build-up of Soviet offensive weapons in Cuba. The awards were the high point of a day-long inspection tour by the President. The tour took in Army, Air Force, and Navy installations in Georgia and Florida that played leading roles during the Cuban crisis. These installations are still on an alert basis — a fact underlined by the Presiden

3 days ago

Birthday Time for President’s Children

Nov. 24, 1962 - It’s birthday time for the President’s children. John Jr. turns 2 years old tomorrow, and Caroline will be 5 on Tuesday. This weekend, the White House released two photographs of the children. One (pictured) shows President Kennedy leaning forward in his chair clapping in time while Caroline and John Jr. whirl on their toes on the green rug in the oval office. The other photograph was taken at the Kennedys’ leased country home, Glen Ora, at Middleburg, Va. It

4 days ago

Film on First Lady’s Asian Trip Planned

Nov. 23, 1962 - Negotiations are under way for the national release in commercial theaters of a half-hour color documentary recording the goodwill trip to India and Pakistan made earlier this year by Mrs. Jacqueline Kennedy. The footage was photographed under the supervision of Director Leo Seltzer for the U.S. Information Agency, which is showing the film in foreign countries as part of its information service. “The First Lady,” Mr. Seltzer said today, “was an ideal subject

5 days ago

JFK Spreads Thanksgiving Cheer

Nov. 22, 1962 - President Kennedy gave a good many Americans reason to be thankful today. Before sitting down with his family this evening to a 32-pound turkey, the President instructed the Veterans Administration to pay out in January $327,600,000 in dividends on National Service Life Insurance and U.S. Government Life Insurance policies that otherwise would have been spread out during the entire year. The President said that this windfall, coming on the heels of the Christm

5 days ago

Nov. 21, 1962 - JFK: Landing on Moon before Soviets "Our Top Priority"

Nov. 21, 1962 - Here is a recording of a meeting today between President Kennedy, NASA Administrator James Webb, and Jerome Wiesner, Special Assistant to the President. The President states clearly that his Administration’s priority is for the U.S. to land on the Moon before the Soviet Union. #JFK #NASA

6 days ago

Mississippi Senate Expresses “Utter Contempt” for Kennedy Administration

Nov. 21, 1962 - The Mississippi Senate approved a resolution today expressing defiance and “utter contempt for the Kennedy Administration.” In the resolution, the Administration was accused of appointing “little men to the judiciary, who sully the name of justice, constitutional Government, and Americanism.” It blamed the “ruthless and corrupted Administration in Washington headed by the Kennedy clan” for the rioting at the University of Mississippi. The resolution asked “sis

6 days ago

President Kennedy Lifts Naval Blockade of Cuba

Nov. 20, 1962 - President Kennedy announced tonight that he had ordered the lifting of the naval blockade of Cuba. He did this, he explained, because he had been informed during the day by Premier Khrushchev that all the Soviet jet bombers in Cuba would be withdrawn within 30 days. The Soviet move went “a long way toward reducing the dangers which faced this hemisphere four weeks ago,” the President said at a news conference. Within minutes of the conference, the Pentagon sai

6 days ago

Nov. 20, 1962 - JFK Announces Executive Order on Discrimination in Federal Housing

Nov. 20, 1962 - President Kennedy today announced an executive order prohibiting racial and religious discrimination in housing built or purchased with Federal aid. #JFK #civilrights

6 days ago

Nov. 20, 1962 - JFK Remarks on Khrushchev and Christmas Plans

Nov. 20, 1962 - President Kennedy comments on capitalism vs. communism and his plans for the Christmas holiday. #JFK #christmas

6 days ago

Nov. 20, 1962 - JFK Comments on "News Suppression" during Cuban Crisis

Nov. 20, 1962 - President Kennedy responds to accusations of news suppression by his Administration during the Cuban crisis. #media #JFK #history #OTD

6 days ago

Nov. 20, 1962 - JFK Statement on Lifting the Naval Quarantine of Cuba

Nov. 20, 1962 - Here is President Kennedy's statement today on lifting the naval blockade of Cuba. #JFK #cuba #history #OTD

7 days ago

JFK Signs Bill Prohibiting Racial Discrimination in Federal Housing

Nov. 20, 1962 - By a long-promised “stroke of the pen,” President Kennedy today prohibited racial and religious discrimination in housing built or purchased with Federal aid. In an executive order, he directed Federal agencies to take “all necessary and appropriate action” to that end. Administration officials said the order would apply principally to housing projects and apartments. When the regulations are drawn, they said, sales of private homes by individual owners will p

7 days ago

MLK on Federal Housing Bill: “Constitutionally Sound, Morally Right”

Nov. 20, 1962 - Negro and Northern spokesmen said today that President Kennedy’s order barring discrimination in Federally aided housing could lead to a “truly integrated society.” Dr. Martin Luther King (pictured left with Jackie Robinson) said: “It is not only constitutionally sound, but it is morally right.” “The order strikes at the very heart of the segregated system,” Dr. King said. “Where a family lives precludes the schools, parks, and churches its members will attend

Nov 19

Nov. 19, 1962 - JFK Remarks to Inter-American Symposium

Nov. 19, 1962 - Here are President Kennedy’s remarks today to members of the first Inter-American Symposium in the White House Rose Garden. #JFK #history #politics

Nov 19

Paul Winter Group Performs at White House

Nov. 19, 1962 - Today, for the first time in history, a jazz concert was held at the White House. The young Paul Winter Jazz Sextet went to the White House to play for Mrs. Jacqueline Kennedy’s fifth musical program for young people. The group played a number of songs in the bossa nova rhythm of Brazil. The bandleader described bossa nova as a “meeting of two cultures — like jazz, bossa nova melds together basic African rhythms with European harmonies and melodies.” “I liked

Nov 18

Vaughn Meader’s “First Family” Record a Smash Hit

Nov. 18, 1962 - New Yorkers stood before a Broadway record shop on Saturday night, listening to what seemed to be the voice of President Kennedy. He was telling a “Mr. de Goal” that the chicken-salad sandwich and coffee he had just eaten at a White House luncheon would cost him $1.40. What they were actually hearing was a 12-inch long-playing record entitled “The First Family.” It catches the Kennedys in 17 “scenes” of domestic and diplomatic disarray and seems likely to beco

Nov 17

Nov. 17, 1962 - JFK Dedicates Dulles Airport

Nov. 17, 1962 - President Kennedy dedicated the Dulles International Airport today in Chantilly, Va. #jfk #airport #history #politics

Nov 17

President Kennedy Dedicates Dulles International Airport

Nov. 17, 1962 - President Kennedy dedicated the Dulles International Airport today in Chantilly, Va. Former President Dwight D. Eisenhower also was a speaker in the ceremonies at the airport, the first in the nation to have been designed from the start for the age of jet travel. The field, twice the size of New York’s Idlewild Airport, is 27 miles from downtown Washington in the rolling Virginia countryside. President Kennedy, standing before the terminal, praised its designe

Nov 16

JFK and Khrushchev Exchange Letters

Nov. 16, 1962 - The continuing exchange of private letters between Premier Khrushchev and President Kennedy (pictured last year in Vienna) is regarded in Moscow by many Soviet and Western officials as one of the most useful developments stemming from the Cuban crisis. It is believed the correspondence will be extended to deal with other East-West issues if a satisfactory solution on Cuba is found. At the most dangerous stage of the confrontation in the Caribbean, direct corre