1960s Timeline

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Jan 9

Documentary: "The Truth About Communism," Narrated by Ronald Reagan

Jan. 9, 1962 - Here is a documentary called “The Truth About Communism.” The narrator is actor Ronald Reagan. #Podcast #podcasts #podcasting #podcaster #podcasters #podcastlife #podcastshow #podcastlove #podcastaddict #podcasthost #history #historylover #historybuff #historychannel #HistoryLesson #ColdWar #ColdWarHistory #coldwarbook #coldwarbooks #coldwarera #coldwarrior #JFK #communism #1960s

Jan 4

General Shoup: Marines Need to Toughen Up

Jan. 4, 1962 - General David M. Shoup, the U.S. Marine Corps commandant, said that today’s Marines need to toughen up. He said the corps had “scored some bulls-eyes” in 1961, but that “Maggie’s drawers also flew.” “Maggie’s drawers” is a military term for a red flag that is waved by firing range personnel when a rifleman misses the target. As an example of failure, General Shoup recalled watching a platoon attending a lecture on guerrilla warfare tactics. He said they “looke

Jan 3

Allies Seek "Live and Let Live" Arrangement in Berlin

Jan. 3, 1962 - The West was said today to be hoping for a live-and-let-live arrangement with the Soviet Union on Berlin and Germany. It would leave the situation essentially unchanged and enforced primarily by a desire on both sides to avoid armed conflict. This arrangement would give the Russians the apparently desired chance to stabilize the East German Communist regime behind the wall erected through Berlin while allowing the Allies and West Germans unabridged rights of ac

Dec 25, 2021

East German Border Guards Arrest Three for Waving at Relatives

Dec. 25, 1961 - Communist border guards arrested three East Berliners today who waved at relatives in the West across the wall dividing the city, the West Berlin police said. The three, two men and a woman, approached the wall from the eastern side across from the French sector. Witnesses told police the three were arrested immediately and taken away in a truck. It was the only border incident reported on what the West Berlin police described as an unusually quiet day along t

Dec 15, 2021

U.N. Rejects Proposal to Seat Communist China

Dec. 15, 1961 - The General Assembly rejected today a proposal to seat Communist China in the United Nations. The vote was 48 against the proposal and 37 for it. Nineteen nations abstained. The margin against admitting the Beijing Government, contrary to general expectations, was slightly larger than it was last year. It amounted to a somewhat firmer U.S. victory — at least for now — than the American delegation had expected. #Podcast #podcasts #podcasting #podcaster #podcast

Dec 7, 2021

Director Hoover Speaks on Crime and Communism

Dec. 7, 1961 - J. Edgar Hoover, director of the F.B.I., received today a gold medal and $10,000 awarded by an insurance company for contributions to the national health or safety. Mr. Hoover was cited by Mutual of Omaha for “outstanding contribution to the personal security and safety of the American public.” The award was presented at a dinner in Washington’s Mayflower Hotel by Dr. Charles W. Mayo of the Mayo Clinic, chairman of the award judges. In accepting the prize, Mr.

Dec 6, 2021

Khrushchev Says Kennedy Won't Go Communist for a "Very Long Time"

Dec. 6, 1961 - Premier Khrushchev observed today that it would be a very long time before President Kennedy turned Communist. The Soviet Premier was attending a reception at the Finnish Embassy in Moscow. He was asked for his impressions of the interview given recently by President Kennedy to Aleksei I. Adzhubei, editor of Izvestia, the Soviet Government newspaper, and son-in-law of the Premier. Mr. Khrushchev said he was pleased that the interview had been published in the S

Dec 1, 2021

Castro Embraces Communism

Dec. 1, 1961 - Premier Fidel Castro sang the praises of Lenin today and proclaimed, “I absolutely believe in Marxism.” The Cuban leader’s assertion in a television broadcast was the frankest he has made in his swing toward communism. Castro, who strongly advocated democracy in leading the revolution that overthrew the dictatorship of Gen. Fulgencio Batista on Jan. 1, 1959, said his political thinking toward Marxism had developed since he came to power. “Marxism or scientific

Dec 1, 2021

U.N. Ambassador Stevenson Denounces Communist China

Dec. 1, 1961 - Adlai E. Stevenson denounced Communist China today and said that its admission to the United Nations would give the organization’s “seal of approval” to an attack on Taiwan by the Beijing Government. Mr. Stevenson spoke as the General Assembly, for the first time since the Communists gained control of the Chinese mainland in 1949, embarked upon a full-scale debate on who should represent China in the U.N. Mr. Stevenson attacked Communist China for having invade

Nov 5, 2021

Nine Escape East Berlin, Family Left Behind

Nov. 5, 1961 - Thirty East Germans attempted to break through the barbed wire to reach West Berlin today. The fire of an East German border guard disrupted the mass flight and only nine managed to reach the West. The successful group was composed of five men and four children. The relatives of the nine, including the mothers of the children, were not able to get across the border barrier. The flight took place about 4 p.m. as darkness fell. The escape was said to have been pl

Oct 31, 2021

Former President and Mrs. Truman Arrive in Capital

Oct. 31, 1961 - Former President and Mrs. Harry S. Truman arrived in Washington today for a 3-day round of events that will include dinner and an overnight stay at their old address, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Mr. Truman, 77, said President Kennedy was doing a “grand” job, and added: “It’s nice to have a fellow in the White House who can make up his mind.” The Trumans will be guests of the President and Mrs. Kennedy at a dinner tomorrow night at which 40 persons will be presen

Oct 31, 2021

Rayburn Goes Home to End His Days Among Friends and Neighbors

Oct. 31, 1961 - House Speaker Sam Rayburn (pictured last May) went home to Bonham, Texas by ambulance today. The Democratic leader had spent 30 days at Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas. Exploratory surgery on Oct. 5 disclosed an incurable form of cancer. Today was gray and dreary as Mr. Rayburn left the hospital covered with a blanket. His face was thin and drawn and yellow-gray, a startling contrast to his once ruddy, healthy appearance. It was the first time in ne

Oct 31, 2021

What if a 50-Megaton Bomb Exploded Over Manhattan?

Oct. 31, 1961 - If exploded in the air over downtown Manhattan, a 50-megaton bomb would destroy homes as far away as Passaic, N.J. and ignite fires as far away as West Point, N.Y. Beneath its massive fireball, the bomb, with its hurricane-like blast wave and intense burst of radiation, would cause total destruction to buildings and life within about a five-mile circle encompassing lower Manhattan, Brooklyn, Hoboken, and Jersey City. The intense heat of the explosion would cau

Oct 30, 2021

Khrushchev Warns Britain on Nuclear War

Oct. 30, 1961 - Premier Nikita S. Khrushchev warned Britain today that that nation “may be among the first to experience the destructive power of nuclear blows” in the event of war. The warning was necessary, he said in a letter to members of Parliament, because of the presence in Britain of an American Polaris submarine base and American bombers equipped with nuclear weapons. Mr. Khrushchev’s letter arrived hours after British scientists at Kew Gardens Observatory had confir

Oct 30, 2021

White House: U.S. Nuclear Arsenal Superior to Any Nation

Oct. 30, 1961 - A White House statement on the Soviet Union’s explosion of a large nuclear device today cast doubt on the military significance of such a weapon. The statement read, in part: “There is no mystery about producing a 50-megaton bomb, nor is there any technical need for testing such a weapon at full-scale detonation in order to confirm the basic design. The U.S. Government considered this matter carefully several years ago and concluded that such weapons would not

Oct 30, 2021

Vatican Condemns Soviet Explosion as “True Face” of Communism

Oct. 30, 1961 - Dismay and outrage spread through much of the world today as the Soviet Union carried out its huge nuclear explosion. Many of the declarations said that “terror weapons” would not work as blackmail. It was the Vatican radio that probably reflected the feelings of most of mankind outside the Communist bloc. The Vatican radio termed the blast an “insane decision, morally, politically, and socially” that “shows the true face of communism — a face without the ligh

Oct 30, 2021

Nixon Won’t Run for President in ’64, Will Support “Strongest Candidate”

Oct. 30, 1961 - Richard M. Nixon advised Governor Rockefeller today to prove himself the Republican party’s strongest Presidential candidate in 1964 by actively competing in state primaries. Mr. Nixon said that he would not endorse any individual Republican for his party’s Presidential nomination until all the potential nominees “have been tested in the primaries.” Mr. Nixon said he would not enter any state primaries in 1964. He told a news conference in Syracuse, N.Y., that

Oct 30, 2021

🚨Soviets Detonate Most Powerful Explosion in History

Oct. 30, 1961 - The Soviet Union detonated the most powerful man-made explosion in history today by setting off a hydrogen bomb with a force of up to 50 megatons. The White House denounced the test as a “political” act designed to incite “fright and panic in the cold war.” The explosion, which Premier Khrushchev had said would be the climax of an intensive series of Soviet atomic tests, took place at 3:30 a.m. EST in the vicinity of Novaya Zemlya Island, the Soviet proving gr

Oct 29, 2021

Johnson: We Mustn't Let Communists Destroy Us from Within

Oct. 29, 1961 - Vice President Johnson said in New York today that the United States was prepared to “stand on our rights to preserve our integrity, decency, and way of life.” The Vice President made this declaration at a meeting of the Italian Board of Guardians in the Astor Hotel, where Rep. Victor L. Anfuso of Brooklyn, an old colleague of Mr. Johnson’s in Congress, was honored. “The enemies of freedom-loving people know they can never destroy America militarily so they ar

Oct 29, 2021

President Kennedy Attends Road-Opening Ceremony in Oklahoma

Oct. 29, 1961 - President Kennedy told the people of Oklahoma today of his determination to keep the nation free while continuing its progress. He dramatized that progress by attending a ceremony opening the Ouachita National Forest Road in Oklahoma. It gives access to a previously untapped scenic and recreational area in southeastern Oklahoma. To 25,000 Oklahomans gathered at the ceremony, Mr. Kennedy declared: “In the Sixties, as the United States carries the standard of fr