1960s Timeline

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Oct 12, 2021

President Kennedy Speaks at University of North Carolina

Oct. 12, 1961 - President Kennedy said today it was a “dangerous illusion” to believe that “we shall soon meet total victory or total defeat” in the global struggle with communism. Instead, he told a University of North Carolina convocation, “we are destined, all of us here today, to live out most if not all of our lives in uncertainty and challenge and peril.” Nevertheless, he continued, “if we can do our duty, undeterred by fanatics or frenzy at home or abroad, then surely

Oct 12, 2021

Moscow Radio Criticizes U.S. “Aggressive Plans” in Vietnam

Oct. 12, 1961 - The Moscow radio asserted today that Washington had “openly aggressive” plans to send troops to South Vietnam. It declared that such a step could “seriously complicate the situation in that part of the world.” The broadcast, making no threat to send in Soviet troops, declared that any U.S. action in dispatching troops would “trample on the Geneva agreement about Indochina.” The agreement prohibits sending foreign troops to South Vietnam. The broadcast, by Andr

Oct 12, 2021

Eisenhower on Debates: "I Can't Think of Anything Worse"

Oct. 12, 1961 - Former President Eisenhower told a national television audience last night that, if he were in office, he would not debate a political rival on television. General Eisenhower’s views were voiced in an hour-long interview with Walter Cronkite. The former President implied without saying so that Richard M. Nixon’s debates with then-Senator Kennedy had contributed to his defeat. Asked for his views on TV debates, the former President remarked: “I can’t think of a

Oct 11, 2021

Racketeer Joseph “Crazy Joey” Gallo Claims Confiscated Rifles Were for Hunting Deer

Oct. 11, 1961 - Joseph Gallo (pictured), one of the 13 gangsters rounded up by Brooklyn detectives on Tuesday, denied today that the gang had declared war on a rival faction in the Brooklyn underworld. The 32-year-old ex-convict, known as “Crazy Joey,” accused the police of “harassing us” in their investigation of the attempted strangling of his 33-year-old brother Lawrence and the unsolved murder of Joseph Magnasco, a member of the Gallo gang. Gallo was taken into custody af

Oct 11, 2021

U.S. Bolsters Forces in Europe

Oct. 11, 1961 - The Defense Department announced today further reinforcement of U.S. forces in Europe. Units going overseas include an armored cavalry regiment and 11 squadrons of fighter planes. The increase will total about 10,000 men, evenly divided between ground and air units. They are in addition to the 40,000 that were previously ordered overseas as part of the military buildup in the Berlin crisis. Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara (pictured) said that the reinf

Oct 11, 2021

President Kennedy Sending General Taylor to South Vietnam

Oct. 11, 1961 - General Maxwell D. Taylor (pictured left) will go to South Vietnam this week on President Kennedy’s behalf to study means of helping that country against attacks by Communist guerrillas. The President announced the mission today as he opened his news conference with a new expression of concern over the Communist threat to South Vietnam’s independence. The President said that on the basis of General Taylor’s report, a decision would be made on whether U.S. comb

Oct 10, 2021

Brooklyn Police Arrest 13 Members of Gallo Gang

Oct. 10, 1961 - The Brooklyn police rounded up 13 members of the Gallo gang today in an attempt to end the warfare between underworld factions fighting for control of rackets in the borough. Most of the gang members, including their leader, Lawrence Gallo, were found asleep in a second-floor apartment over the Direct Vending Machine Company at 51 President Street, Brooklyn. Next door, at 49 President Street, several others were seized. Joseph Gallo (pictured), also known as “

Oct 9, 2021

President Kennedy Visits Rayburn in Hospital

Oct. 9, 1961 - President Kennedy made a flying trip to Texas today and paid a call on an old comrade of the legislative wars, Speaker of the House Sam Rayburn. "He was in good spirits and showed courage enough for everybody," the President said after a 15-minute visit with Mr. Rayburn at the Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas. The two political leaders talked mostly about their favorite subject, politics. The Speaker reminisced about the 1934 Congressional elections.

Oct 8, 2021

Kennedys Cruise on “Honey Fitz”

Oct. 8, 1961 - Cruising on a 92-foot yacht can be frustrating for a 3-year-old girl. The rails are high and it is hard to see over them. Caroline Kennedy did something about it this afternoon. She climbed to the top of the White House yacht, the Honey Fitz, as she cruised in Narragansett Bay. Her father, President Kennedy, climbed part of the way with her. While the yacht headed out to sea, some of the adults were in the main cabin watching the World Series on television. The

Oct 7, 2021

Kennedy Talks Tough on Southeast Asia

Oct. 7, 1961 - The United States is considering sending troops to Southeast Asia to cope with the worsening situation in Vietnam and a possible new flare-up in Laos. President Kennedy bluntly told Andrei A. Gromyko, the Soviet Foreign Minister, yesterday that the U.S. would not permit Laos to be used as a Communist military base against South Vietnam. The Viet Cong (Vietnamese Communists), with some units organized in strength up to 1,000 men, has been infiltrating into South

Oct 6, 2021

President Kennedy Meets with Gromyko, No Progress on Germany

Oct. 6, 1961 - President Kennedy and Andrei A. Gromyko, Soviet Foreign Minister, exchanged some blunt views on Germany this evening, but made virtually no progress on the issue. Mr. Gromyko spent two hours with the President at the White House, but offered the Administration no encouragement that meaningful East-West negotiations on Berlin could be held in the near future. Mr Kennedy restated the West's position with great care, stressing his determination to defend the freed

Oct 6, 2021

West Berlin Mayor Brandt: Wall "Must Come Down"

Oct. 6, 1961 - Mayor Willy Brandt (right) of West Berlin said today that the wall that divides Berlin is a brazen challenge to the West that must not be allowed to stand. "That wall must come down," he declared in accepting the Freedom House Award of 1961 during a luncheon at New York's Commodore Hotel. The award was presented by Edward R. Murrow (left), director of the U.S. Information Agency. Mr. Murrow also saw the wall as a symbol and predicted its ultimate fall. If it do

Oct 6, 2021

President Kennedy Meets Greek Patriarch, Archbishop

Oct. 6, 1961 - President Kennedy was presented with the Grand Cross and Insignia of the Order of the Holy Sephulcre today. He also received an invitation to visit the holy places of Jerusalem. Patriarch Benedictos I (pictured), the highest prelate of the Greek Orthodox Church ever to visit the U.S., presented the decoration. Archbishop Iakovos of North and South America, who accompanied the Patriarch, expressed "gratitude for the faith of the President and his regular attenda

Oct 5, 2021

Two Men Indicted for Attack on Brooklyn Racketeer Lawrence Gallo

Oct. 5, 1961 - Two men linked to Brooklyn's underworld were indicted today on charges of attempting to kill Lawrence Gallo, a 33-year-old Brooklyn racketeer, in a Flatbush tavern on Aug. 20. The two defendants are Carmine J. Persico (pictured center), 28, and John Scimone, 49. District Attorney Edward S. Silver said today that the attempted strangling of Gallo and the killing of Gallo lieutenant Joseph Magnasco on Wednesday were linked to a rivalry between the Gallo and Persi

Oct 4, 2021

President Kennedy Establishes Woodrow Wilson Memorial Commission

Oct. 4, 1961 - President Kennedy signed a bill today establishing a Woodrow Wilson Memorial Commission. He gave the first pen he used to Mrs. Wilson (pictured lower right). "I didn't dare ask you for it," Mrs. Wilson told him. The bill the President signed established a commission to make plans for the design, site, and construction of a permanent memorial to Woodrow Wilson to be situated in Washington or nearby. Mr. Kennedy said he hoped the commission would "plan a memorial

Oct 2, 2021

U.S. to Help South Vietnam Defend Fight Reds

Oct. 2, 1961 - The United States announced today that it was taking urgent measures to help South Vietnam combat an increase in Communist guerrilla activity. "We are pressing ahead with urgent measures to increase the ability of the Vietnamese soldier to defend his country," Joseph Reap, a State Department spokesman, said. Mr. Reap declined to say just what form the increased U.S. aid would take. But he said that assistance had increased since Vice President Johnson visited S

Oct 1, 2021

South Vietnam President Diem: We're at War

Oct. 1, 1961 - South Vietnam's struggle against armed Communist insurgents has grown from guerrilla action to "real war" in the last year, President Ngo Dinh Diem (pictured right) said today. "It is no longer a guerrilla war we have to face but a real war waged by an enemy who attacks us with regular units fully and heavily equipped and who seeks a strategic decision in Southeast Asia in conformity with the orders of the Communist International," President Diem declared. Rece

Sep 30, 2021

TV: "Gunsmoke" Season Premiere, 10 p.m. on CBS

Sept. 30, 1961 - The seventh season of "Gunsmoke" premieres tonight in its new hour-long format. Ex-con Perce McCall (Ed Nelson) helps save Matt's life in a shootout, and then falls for a beautiful but greedy saloon girl (Norma Crane), who puts him under great pressure to return to a life of crime. 10 p.m. on CBS. #tv #classictv #classictelevision #western #westernmovie #westerns #entertainment #podcast

Sep 30, 2021

The First Lady Plays Golf in Newport

Sept. 30, 1961 - Mrs. Jacqueline Kennedy played five holes of golf today in Newport, R.I. President and Mrs. Kennedy are vacationing at the home of Mrs. Kennedy's stepfather and mother, Mr. and Mrs. Hugh D. Auchincloss. Normally, the First Lady has been teamed with Henry Lindner, the professional golfer at the Newport Country Club, but today she was accompanied only by Mr. William Walton of Washington, an artist. They teed off at 11:15 a.m. Mr. Kennedy has not yet appeared at

Sep 30, 2021

Hoover Says American Reds Moving Underground

Sept. 30, 1961 - The American Communist party is moving farther underground in order to resist the Supreme Court's ruling that the party must register as an arm of the Soviet Union, J. Edgar Hoover said today. He said that Gus Hall, general secretary of the party, had been touring the country, urging members to destroy documents that might be used in prosecutions against them. The Supreme Court ruled last June 5 that the party must register with the Justice Department as a fo