1960s Timeline

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Mar 2

Video: Excerpt from President's TV Address

Mar. 2, 1962 - Here is a brief video excerpt from President Kennedy’s televised address this evening on nuclear tests. #JFK #jfkfiles #1960s #jfkennedy #jfkmemorial #jfklibrary #jfkpresident #jfkwashere #jfkquote #history #historylover #historybuff #historychannel #HistoryLesson #podcast #HistoryMuseum #historylovers #politics #coldwar

Mar 2

🚨Kennedy Orders Atmospheric Nuclear Tests Resumed

Mar. 2, 1962 - President Kennedy said tonight he had ordered a resumption of nuclear tests in the atmosphere in late April unless the Soviet Union agreed in the interim to an iron-clad treaty banning all tests. Speaking on a nationwide television broadcast from the White House, the President held out to Premier Khrushchev the promise of a summit conference at which such a treaty could be signed. To head off a new series of tests by the U.S., Mr. Kennedy said, the Soviet Union

Mar 1

Kennedy to Speak to Nation Tomorrow on Nukes

Mar. 1, 1962 - President Kennedy will address the nation tomorrow night on “nuclear testing and disarmament,” the White House announced today. Pierre Salinger, White House press secretary, said the President’s address, lasting about half an hour, would be at 7 p.m., EST, from Mr. Kennedy’s office. It will carried on television and radio by NBC, ABC and CBS, and on radio by the Mutual Broadcasting System. Mr. Salinger would not say whether the President had decided to resume n

Mar 1

Kennedy: America Carries the Worldwide Struggle from Freedom

Mar. 1, 1962 - President Kennedy warned Americans today that they must bear the heavy burden of protecting freedom throughout the world for years to come. Receiving the American Legion’s Distinguished Service Medal in the White House rose garden, Mr. Kennedy told several hundred Legionnaires: “We are only 6% of the world’s population, yet we carry this struggle in all parts of the globe.” Recalling the words of Thomas Paine, the Revolutionary War essayist, the President said,

Mar 1

President Kennedy Attends Prayer Breakfast

Mar. 1, 1962 - Some of the nation’s leaders gathered for a prayer breakfast in Washington today. They heard President Kennedy say that religion was not a “cold war” instrument but was the basis of the difference that separates East from West. Mr. Kennedy quoted Abraham Lincoln as saying: “I believe there is a God. I see the storm coming and I believe He has a hand in it. If He has a part and place for me, I believe that I am ready.” The President went on: “We see the storm co

Feb 28

President Kennedy Calls on Americans to Contribute to Red Cross

Feb. 28, 1962 - President Kennedy called on all Americans today to contribute generously to the Red Cross “in these difficult times.” In a message filmed and recorded for use on television and radio, Mr. Kennedy said “voluntary giving has been part of our American tradition since our earliest days.” “We have much to be thankful for,” he said, “and one of the ways we can indicate our support for this country, our support for this work, is to respond generously and with a full

Feb 28

Robert and Ethel Kennedy Return from World Tour

Feb. 28, 1962 - Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy (pictured at Idlewild Airport) returned from his month’s tour around the world today and said he was “encouraged” by the prospects for freedom. Mr. Kennedy, who was accompanied on the trip by his wife, Ethel, said he found much misunderstanding of what was happening in the United States. He said that too many people do not understand the social reforms that have occurred here — Social Security, for example. They have a Commun

Feb 27

Robert F. Kennedy Meets with DeGaulle in Paris

Feb. 27, 1962 - Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy spent 40 minutes with President de Gaulle in Paris today. Mr. Kennedy said later it was “a good talk.” Neither Mr. Kennedy nor President de Gaulle disclosed the subjects they discussed, but it was more than probable that among them were the approaching cease-fire in the Algerian war and the French premier’s belief that the time is not ripe for fruitful East-West negotiations. The Attorney General, at the end of a worldwide to

Feb 26

President Kennedy Speaks to Employees of Voice of America

Feb. 26, 1962 - President Kennedy told employees of the Voice of America today that their job was to tell the truth about the United States, even when it put the nation in a bad light. Mr. Kennedy, speaking on the 20th anniversary of the Voice, conceded that the broadcast agency’s task was to “bring our story around the world in a way which serves to represent democracy and the United States in its most favorable light.” Nevertheless, the President said, “as part of the cause

Feb 25

Moscow Denounces Kennedy World Tour

Feb. 25, 1962 - The travels of the Kennedy brothers resulted in a violent denunciation from Moscow today. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy and Edward M. Kennedy, youngest brother of the President, were assailed by Pravda, the Communist party newspaper, for what were described as “cold war” activities in Berlin. The Pravda attack on the Kennedy brothers reflected Soviet uneasiness over the warm and emotional welcome given to the Attorney General Wednesday and Thursday by Wes

Feb 25

Edward M. Kennedy Visits Irish Kinfolk

Feb. 25, 1962 - Edward M. Kennedy, the youngest brother of President Kennedy, arrived in Dublin from London today on what he described as “a private and purely sentimental visit.” The 30-year-old American visitor was greeted at Dublin Airport by the U.S. Ambassador, Edward G. Stockdale, and Robert Briscoe, Lord Mayor of Dublin. Mr. Kennedy was cheered by sightseers on the airport balcony and interviewed for an Irish television broadcast. From Dublin, Mr. Kennedy drove with Am

Feb 24

Robert F. Kennedy: Democracy is "Wave of the Future"

Feb. 24, 1962 - Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy (pictured with Mayor Willy Brandt of West Berlin) predicted today that Eastern Europe would be liberated from communism because “the wave of the future is with us.” “We are the new revolution,” Mr. Kennedy told members of the German Foreign Policy Society in Bonn. “We have the truth on our side. If we have the courage, we are going to win.” Later, the Attorney General and his younger brother, Edward M. Kennedy visited an East

Feb 24

Robert F. Kennedy Visits Bonn

Feb. 24, 1962 - Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy told a group of university students in Bonn today that the U.S. would not go to war to reunify Germany. However, in replying to students’ questions, he said an attack on West Germany would be “the same” as an attack on the U.S. He made clear, as he had done in West Berlin, that Washington had no “magic” solution for the Germans’ problems. Earlier, the Attorney General and Edward M. Kennedy, the President’s youngest brother, t

Feb 23

President's Youngest Brother Tours East Berlin

Feb. 23, 1962 - President Kennedy’s youngest brother, Edward (pictured with interpreter), toured East Berlin today, and the Communist authorities promptly claimed a political triumph in his visit. The East German press agency, A.D.N., said that Mr. Kennedy, in entering and leaving East Berlin, “respected in every way the sovereignty of the German Democratic Republic [East Germany].” Refusal to recognize the East German Government is a basic feature of U.S. policy. U.S. offici

Feb 23

Robert F. Kennedy's Last Day in Berlin is Emotional

Feb. 23, 1962 - Attorney General Robert Kennedy, on the last day of his official visit to West Berlin, continued to draw large and admiring crowds. This morning, the Attorney General saw Bernauerstrasse, where houses backing up to the western border have had their windows bricked up by the Communists. The Attorney General laid a wreath at the spot where an elderly woman was killed trying to leap to freedom last summer. The West Berliners have erected a memorial there of barbe

Feb 22

First Lady Will Be Focus of NBC-TV Documentary

Feb. 22, 1962 - Mrs. Jacqueline Kennedy will be the subject of a documentary to be televised by NBC on Sunday, March 25, from 9 to 10 p.m. It will be produced with the approval of the White House. The major portion of the program, entitled “The World of Jacqueline Kennedy,” will depict her days as the First Lady. Executive producer Donald B. Hyatt said earlier events to be covered would include her childhood and young womanhood in New York and East Hampton, L.I., her marriage

Feb 22

Robert F. Kennedy Draws Huge Crowds in West Berlin

Feb. 22, 1962 - Huge and emotional crowds greeted Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy today as he began a two-day visit to West Berlin. He responded later by telling the West Berliners that their freedom would be supported by the “full strength of American power.” An estimated 150,000 people stood in a freezing wind in front of the city hall to see and cheer him. In addition, about 100,000 people were lined up along the streets as he drove from Tempelhof Airport amid snow flur

Feb 21

Berlin Excited for Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy's Arrival

Feb. 21, 1962 - Even before his arrival tomorrow, Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy has both halves of the divided, troubled city of Berlin excited. The Kennedy visit and the space flight of Lieut. Col. John Glenn Jr. are giving West Berliners the kind of boost they have long been wanting. The talk in West Berlin was all about the President’s brother, described in newspapers there today as “America’s No. 2,” and about the United States resurgence in the space race. Besides W

Feb 21

Transcript of President Kennedy's Reply to Premier Khrushchev's Congratulatory Letter

Feb. 21, 1962 - Following is the text of President Kennedy’s reply to Soviet Premier Khrushchev’s letter of congratulation on Colonel Glenn’s space flight: “Dear Mr. Chairman, I thank you warmly for your message of congratulation on Colonel Glenn’s successful space flight, and I welcome your statement that our countries should cooperate in the exploration of space. I have long held this same belief and indeed put it forward strongly in my first State of the Union message. We

Feb 21

Transcript of Premier Khrushchev's Letter of Congratulation

Feb. 21, 1962 - Following is the text of Premier Khrushchev’s congratulatory letter to President Kennedy: “Esteemed Mr. President: On behalf of the Soviet Union and myself personally, I congratulate you and the American people on the successful launching of a spaceship with a man on board. Another step has been made in the exploration of space, and the family of the cosmonauts has this time been joined by a citizen of the United States of America, Lieut. Col. John Glenn. Succ