1960s Timeline

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

Sept. 29, 1961 - The last of Havana's gambling casinos closed quietly today, minutes after Premier Fidel Castro had announced that his government was cleaning up the city. In the days of Fulgencio Batista's dictatorship, Havana had about 25 gambling casinos. In other news, Castro's firing squads executed two more men today for their participation in the unsuccessful April invasion at the Bay of Pigs. Forty-six others were sentenced to long prison terms by a revolutionary trib

Sept. 26, 1961 - General Robert L. Eichelberger (pictured in New Guinea during World War II), retired American commander of the Eighth Army in the Pacific during World War II, died in Asheville, N.C. today. He was 75 years old. American troops under Eichelberger inflicted on the Japanese their first land defeat of the war at Buna, New Guinea. The general's stamina and perseverance against the Japanese in the sweltering, slime-coated jungles of New Guinea became legend. Few fi

\Sept. 23, 1961 - Five months have passed since Premier Fidel Castro described triumphantly on television the defeat of the anti-Castro invaders at the Bay of Pigs. However, while the control of his Government has remained strong since then, the popularity of his regime may have slipped. A peasant in Las Villas Province says, "I am going to get out. They give you no freedom. They tell you what to plant, when to kill your pigs, how much to sell for." An agricultural engineer s

Sept. 22, 1961 - For the second time this week, the Communist guerrillas known as Viet Cong launched a devastating attack in South Vietnam. An outpost in Daclac Province, guarded by a company of South Vietnam's Civil Guard, was besieged Wednesday night. The guardsmen were annihilated. Another company rushed to its aid. Since radio contact has been lost with the second company, it is believe that it, too, was annihilated. The province has been infiltrated by at least two batta

Sept. 18, 1961 - More than 1,000 Communist rebels in South Vietnam attacked and burned the capital of Phuoc Vinh Province, 60 miles north of Saigon, early today. It was the largest rebel assault so far in South Vietnam's civil war. The province chief, an army major, and a large number of Government civil guardsmen were killed. About 50 wounded were rushed to Saigon hospitals after the rebels withdrew under attack. The Viet Cong held the area for several hours in pre-dawn dark

Sept. 16, 1961 - A large-scale round-up of Roman Catholic priests has taken place in Havana in the last two days. There are no precise figures, but roughly 100 priests have been arrested. The Government will deport some, if not all, of these. In another development, the execution of six persons in various parts of Cuba for participation in armed seditious activity was announced. Ninety-one received prison terms ranging from one to thirty years. The new executions bring to 16

Sept. 16, 1961 - The United States and the Soviet Union detonated nuclear devices today. Both were announced in Washington by the Atomic Energy Commission. The U.S. test, the second in two days, was again fired underground in Nevada. It was described as being of "low yield." The Soviet test was fired in the atmosphere at Novaya Zemlya, a Siberian test center, and was the 11th since Moscow broke the 3-year-old unofficial moratorium on nuclear tests. Like the others, it was fir

Sept. 15, 1961 - On tonight's Season Three premiere of "The Twilight Zone," two survivors of an apocalyptic battle, a man (Charles Bronson) and a woman (Elizabeth Montgomery) from opposing sides, approach each other suspiciously. 10 p.m. on #CBS. #tv #classictv #classictelevision #scifi #sciencefiction #fantasy #war #nuclearwar

Sept. 15, 1961 - The United States resumed atomic testing today by setting off a small underground explosion in Nevada. It was the first atomic weapons test by the U.S. since Oct. 30, 1958, when testing was voluntarily suspended in a futile attempt to reach a test-ban agreement with the Soviet Union. In announcing the explosion, President Kennedy (pictured at the Vienna Summit with Premier Khrushchev in June) said the U.S. had been "forced reluctantly" to renew testing becaus

Sept. 15, 1961 - President Kennedy is spurring Americans to build home fallout shelters to cut the nation's losses in case of nuclear war. But of 14 high officials who sit with Mr. Kennedy on the National Security Council or in his Cabinet, none has built a shelter. The White House has an elaborate bomb shelter, built during the Truman Administration. Mr. Kennedy has several secret shelters available within a 2-hour drive or a 20-minute helicopter trip from Washington. Vice P

Sept. 12, 1961 - The Cuban Government launched a fresh attack against the Roman Catholic Church today. It accused priests and nuns of plotting to overthrow the regime of Fidel Castro and charged that the clergy was acting as an agent for U.S. intelligence. The attack was made in a communiqué by the Interior Ministry. The move was foreshadowed by denunciations of the clergy by newspapers, radio stations, and groups of Castro supporters in the wake of Sunday's anti-Communist de

Sept. 12, 1961 - The Soviet Union conducted the seventh atomic test in its current series by detonating a multi-megaton device in the atmosphere early today at its Arctic proving ground. The Atomic Energy Commission said the detonation, presumably of a hydrogen bomb, took place in the vicinity of the island of Novaya Zemlya (pictured). The island, which lies between the Barents and Kara Seas, has been used by the Soviets in recent years to test large thermonuclear weapons. On

Sept. 10, 1961 - Pope John XXIII called on the leaders of the East and West today to negotiate their differences and remove the threat of war that hangs over the world. The Pope urged the leaders to "face squarely the tremendous responsibilities they bear before the tribunal of history and, what is more, before the judgment of God." Pope John ended his appeal by asking all believers to pray for peace, saying, "Let us pray with one another and for one another and for all the s

Sept. 9, 1961 - Premier Khrushchev declared today that nuclear testing could be ended only by Western acceptance of Soviet proposals for a German peace treaty and complete disarmament. The Soviet rejected President Kennedy's proposal for outlawing nuclear testing in the atmosphere. Premier Khrushchev insisted that the Soviet Union had resumed nuclear testing only because the Western powers were threatening war in response to the Soviet proposal for a German peace treaty. "Wei

Sept. 8, 1961 - Five rebel prisoners taken after the unsuccessful landings at the Bay of Pigs in Cuba last April were sentenced to death today and executed by firing squad. Nine others were given thirty-year jail terms. The fourteen men, some of whom were formerly members of the Batista police, were charged with crimes committed in Cuba before the invasion attempt, rather than for their participation in the landing. The day's trials still leave in doubt the fate of the other

Sept. 7, 1961 - Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru of India talked for two hours today with Premier Khrushchev at the Kremlin and came out gloomy. "Once again the foul winds of war are blowing," Mr. Nehru said. "There are atomic tests and the world grows fearful. Once the door of war is opened, life on earth will be completely extinguished. It is strange that when man has the power to improve the lot of humanity and to open the doors of progress, the ghost of war should fall on

Sept. 6, 1961 - The Atomic Energy Commission announced today that the Soviet Union had detonated a fourth nuclear device in the atmosphere. A brief announcement said the explosion took place this morning east of Stalingrad. Stalingrad, in southeast European Russia, is an industrial and agricultural area, but several hundred miles to the east there are areas of sparsely populated desert. Traces of radioactive fallout from the earlier Asian blasts have been detected in Alaska,

Sept. 5, 1961 - President Kennedy ordered today the resumption of nuclear weapons tests by the United States. He specified that the tests should take place "in the laboratory and underground, with no fallout." The decision was taken after the Atomic Energy Commission announced that the Soviet Union had exploded a third nuclear device in five days. The President said in a statement that the U.S. had "no other choice." The President's statement signaled the end of a voluntary u

Sept. 4, 1961 - From New York to Los Angeles, civil defense authorities report a rise in the American citizen's fear of nuclear war. Thousands of persons within bomb-blast distance of potential nuclear targets are seeking guidance on ways to survive an attack. Spurred by President Kennedy's words and Soviet achievements, they have sought advice from the Government and commercial builders of bomb shelters. Examples of apathy and fatalism were found everywhere. One resident of