1960s Timeline

June 6, 1962 - Richard M. Nixon became the Republican nominee for Governor of California today. He cleared the first hurdle on the political comeback trail by outpolling Assemblyman Joseph C. Shell, a conservative backed by the John Birch Society and other Right-wingers, in yesterday’s California primary election. The ballot tabulation at 12:30 a.m. PST gave him a lead of more than 2 to 1. Mr. Nixon in November will face Gov. Edmund G. Brown, a Democrat, who had only token op

June 1, 1962 - A new political biography of Senator Barry Goldwater, Arizona Republican, pictures him today as believing he would have a good chance of winning the Republican Presidential nomination in 1964, and it suggests he might make the attempt if the party’s prospects look bright. In any event, Senator Goldwater is said to believe the party’s conservative wing, for which he is the chief spokesman, will hold the balance of power at the next national convention. “I am rea

May 31, 1962 - Bob Friend (picturing signing an autograph in March), with ninth-inning relief from Elroy Face and Diomedes Olivo, beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 5-4, tonight as the Pittsburgh Pirates completed a four-game sweep. The Cards played the game under protest from the third inning. Bill White was on third when Ken Boyer lofted a high fly. Don Hoak, the Pirates’ third baseman, dropped the ball after bumping into White. Umpire Tony Venzon called Boyer out. Manager Johnn

May 31, 1962 - “That was the most exciting game I ever pitched in my life,” said Sandy Koufax today. This was a rather astonishing statement because he was talking about the victory he scored yesterday for the Dodgers in the opener of the Memorial Day doubleheader against the Mets at the Polo Grounds before a howling mob of 55,704. After all, Koufax pitched before a gathering of 92,706 in a world series game that the Dodgers lost to the White Sox, 1-0. He also once fanned 18

May 31, 1962 - President Kennedy will seek more privacy during his summer vacation this year by using the summer home of Morton Downey, the singer, on Squaw Island at Hyannis Port, Mass., sources said today. The sources said the President would turn over his summer house in the Kennedy compound at Hyannis Port to his sister and brother-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. Sargent Shriver. The President’s family will occupy the two-and-a-half-story Downey cottage for about a month beginning J

May 31, 1962 - Communist guerrillas raided a leprosarium in the central highlands in South Vietnam last night and kidnapped three American missionaries. The Communists ordered 250 lepers to leave the hospital and return to their home villages. Bound and taken away by the guerrillas were Dr. Eleanor Ardel Vietti (center) of Houston, Tex.; the Rev. Archie Mitchell (right) of Bly, Ore.; and Daniel Gerber (left), a young conscientious objector who was serving at the leprosarium t

May 31, 1962 - President Kennedy announced today a $12.6 million mass social experiment on the Lower East Side of New York. It is part of a program designed to strike eventually at the roots of the national juvenile delinquency problem. The three-year project, called Mobilization for Youth, will be financed jointly by Federal, city, and private funds. The program’s announcement was made in the White House garden just outside the President’s office. Attending the ceremony were

May 30, 1962 - The creaking old Polo Grounds rocked today with the cheers of the largest baseball crowd it has housed in 20 years. Demonstrating New York’s unquenched thirst for the National League baseball it used to know, 55,704 fans paid their way into the historic Harlem horseshoe to watch the Mets play a doubleheader against the Dodgers. Welcomed noisily in their first local appearance since they abandoned Brooklyn for Los Angeles five years ago, the Dodgers made a trium

May 30, 1962 - The Yankees battled the Twins in a round-the-clock, morning-and-night marathon before a total of 75,355 fans today in Minnesota, but the best they could get was an even break. Ralph Houk’s Bombers, behind the slick pitching of Bill Stafford, took the morning game, 10-1. A three-run homer by John Blanchard (pictured right with Roger Maris and Luis Arroyo) put the skids under the Twins as early as the third inning. But in the night game, despite homers by Roger M

May 30, 1962 - Memorial Day was a day off in Congress, but not for Representative John V. Lindsay (pictured with his wife Mary), Republican of Manhattan. He spent today meeting constituents on the upper East Side. The tall, almost boyish-looking Congressman, who represents the “Silk Stocking” 17th District, toured the Yorkville area, now part of his district. He went from tavern to delicatessen, bakery to grocery, flower shop to social club, chatting with proprietors and cust

May 30, 1962 - Boulder gave Lieut. Comdr. Scott Carpenter one of the greatest parades in Colorado history today to wind up his triumphal visit to his native state. A crowd estimated by the police at 300,000 persons turned out to salute the 37-year-old astronaut with cheers. The astronaut and his wife rode in an open white convertible in the parade, each with an arm around the other, and waved to the crowd. Commander Carpenter, his wife, Rene, and their four children left imme

May 30, 1962 - John (Buck) O’Neil (pictured) was signed as a Chicago Cub coach yesterday, becoming the first Negro to hold such a position in the major leagues. O’Neil, 50, had been a scout in the Cubs’ organization since 1956 and was instrumental in signing most of the Negro players on the club. As a former player and manager for the Kansas City Monarchs of the Negro American League, he helped both Ernie Banks and George Altman of the Cubs get their start toward the majors.

May 29, 1962 - President Kennedy (pictured at his celebration 10 days ago at Madison Square Garden) celebrated his actual 45th birthday tonight at a quiet family dinner party after a busy day considering the problems of the stock market, defense, and campaign spending. The President was surrounded by his wife, their two young children, and other members of the Kennedy family at his Glen Ora estate in the Virginia hunt country. He planned to spend Memorial Day at Glen Ora and

May 29, 1962 - Jim Brown, a fullback who has set several NFL records with his powerful runs, put another in the books today. He signed a contract for his sixth season with the Cleveland Browns at a salary reported to make him the highest paid player in pro football. The former Syracuse all-American, who considered retiring to enter business last winter, said he was “looking forward to having a fine year and plan to give 100%, as I always do.” Arthur B. Modell, president of th

May 29, 1962 - Almost complete returns from today’s runoff primary gave George C. Wallace the Democratic nomination for Governor of Alabama. The former state court judge, who favors defiance of the Federal courts as the way to preserve segregation, defeated State Senator Ryan DeGraffenried. With 3,027 of 3,450 districts counted, Mr. Wallace had 281,216 votes to his rival’s 228,286. Winning the Democratic nomination is traditionally equivalent to winning the election in the st

May 29, 1962 - The chief of the South Vietnamese General Staff said today that the Vietnamese Air Force had bombed the headquarters of Nguyen Don, “general” of the Communist guerrilla forces in the central highlands. The officer, Brig. Gen. Nguyen Khanh (pictured), said the raid was carried out Sunday and was the largest ever staged by the Vietnamese Air Force. All available planes, 50, were thrown into the attack, he said, and 100 tons of firebombs and explosives were droppe

May 28, 1962 - Early Wynn (pictured in Sarasota during spring training in March), Chicago’s 42-year-old pitching marvel, hurled a three-hit shutout tonight for his 295th career victory as the White Sox beat the Indians, 2-0. Wynn retired 17 batters in a row at one stretch, didn’t walk a man and pitched to only 29 men. He also knocked in a run. This was Wynn’s 47th shutout in a career that started in 1941. #MLB #baseball #OTD #anniversary #1960s #podcast #whitesox

May 28, 1962 - John F. Kennedy Jr., who began walking about two weeks ago, demonstrated his new skills for his father last Friday. It was the 18-month-old’s first visit to the President’s office in the White House, and pictures of the event were made by Chief Robert Knudsen of the Navy. Mrs. Kennedy will include them in a birthday album for the President, who turns 45 tomorrow. #JFK #1960s #history #OTD #podcast #politics

May 28, 1962 - The nation will observe Memorial Day today with a request by President Kennedy that Americans reserve an hour of their time to pray for a world of peace. “Memorial Day each year provides a fitting occasion upon which Americans may not only pay tribute to our honored dead but also unite in prayer for success in our search for a just and lasting peace,” the President said. The President’s older brother, Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. (pictured right in 1942), was killed i

May 27, 1962 - Casey Stengel’s Mets lost both ends of a doubleheader to the Giants today in San Francisco. In the opener, marked by a seventh-inning brawl, the Mets bowed to the team they have replaced in New York, 7-1. Then, just as it looked as though the Mets would gain some revenge in the second engagement, Stengel’s cast collapsed under a four-run eighth that gave the Giants the game, 6-5. As for the brawl, the principal characters were Mets Roger Craig and Elio Chacon a