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Aug 8, 2021

Israeli Prosecutor Calls Eichmann Unrepentant "Henchman of Hitler"

Aug. 8, 1961 - Israel's Attorney General, Gideon Hausner, began today a wrathful summation of Israel's case against Adolf Eichmann (pictured). He portrayed the former Gestapo officer as an unrepentant henchman of Hitler. Attacking the defense plea that Eichmann was a minor desk-bound bureaucrat in the Nazi plot to kill the Jews, Mr. Hausner placed Eichmann "in the center of the slaughterhouse." The prosecutor said that Eichmann had expressed "not one syllable of remorse" desp

Aug 7, 2021

Summations in Eichmann Trial Tomorrow, Former Nazi Likely to Face Death Penalty

Aug. 7, 1961 - Summations in the trial of Adolf Eichmann will begin tomorrow in Jerusalem. Attorney General Gideon Hausner will demand conviction on all 15 counts of the indictment against the former Nazi officer, who is accused of a major role in the wartime murder of millions of Jews and others. Nine of the counts carry the death penalty. According to a defense source, Eichmann is under no illusions about his chances for escaping the gallows. Eichmann admitted that he knew

Aug 6, 2021

Atom Bomb Dropped on Hiroshima 16 Years Ago Today

Aug. 6, 1961 - Just before dawn today, the priests and the people of Hiroshima (pictured in August, 1945) gathered to pray before the green mound where the unknown victims of the first atomic bomb are buried. This is the 16th time that this city has observed the memory that never really leaves its consciousness - the memory of 8:15 a.m. on Aug. 6, 1945, when the "light of a thousand suns" flashed over the city and reduced it to poisonous ash. Hiroshima has been rebuilt almost

Aug 4, 2021

Britain's Queen Mother Elizabeth Has 61st Birthday

Aug. 4, 1961 - Britain's Queen Mother Elizabeth celebrated her 61st birthday today. The King's Troop of the Royal Horse Artillery fired a 41-gun salute at noon in Hyde Park to mark the event. Naval ships and shore batteries fired a 21-gun salute. The Queen Mother spent her birthday quietly at the Castle of Mey, her Scottish home. In 1936, the Queen Mother's husband, George VI, unexpectedly became king when his older brother, Edward VIII, abdicated in order to marry the Americ

Jul 24, 2021

Eichmann Completes Testimony, Verdict Likely in November

July 24, 1961 - Adolf Eichmann completed his testimony today before an Israeli tribunal trying him on charges of having directed the annihilation of millions of Jews and others during World War II. The tall, gaunt former Nazi officer was icily self-possessed when he was finally excused this morning after 25 days on the witness stand. Eichmann will not be heard from again until after the court reaches its judgment in October or November. When the verdict is announced and if he

Jul 23, 2021

Asks Khrushchev to Release WWII POW's

July 23, 1961 - West German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer (pictured) appealed to Premier Khrushchev today to release Germans still held by the Soviet Union. Addressing a meeting of 20,000 former prisoners of World War II in Munich, Mr. Adenauer said: "I ask Mr. Khrushchev to go beyond Soviet bureaucracy and to decide with his heart." Approximately three million German prisoners of war were captured by the Soviet Union during World War II, most of them during the great advances o

Jul 22, 2021

McQueen to Star in World War II Picture "Hell Is for Heroes"

July 22, 1961 - Steve McQueen (pictured right with Nick Adams), who once served a stint in the U.S. Marine Corps, is currently filming "Hell is for Heroes," a World War II picture directed by Don Siegel. McQueen has declared flatly that he is determined to make his character, Private John Reese, the rankest heel ever let loose on screen or tube. "Only one thing matters to 'Reese,' the fellow I play," says McQueen. "That's staying alive. Reese knows four or five ways to stay a

Jul 22, 2021

Film: "The War Lover" with Steve McQueen

July 22, 1961 - Shirley Ann Field, who appeared in the British film "Saturday Night and Sunday Morning," will co-star with Steve McQueen in Columbia's "The War Lover," taken from the John Hersey World War II novel. The war itself is not the most important element of the film. Instead it focuses on the character of Captain Buzz Rickson (McQueen) and his determination to serve himself and get what he wants – antagonizing everyone else in the process. #movienight #movietime #mov

Jul 20, 2021

President Kennedy Meets with General MacArthur at the White House

July 20, 1961 - General of the Army Douglas MacArthur returned to the White House for the first time in seven years. He said it was good "to feel a part of the current scene." The 81-year-old general, who commanded U.S. forces in the Pacific in World War II and later in Korea, had lunch with President Kennedy, Vice President Johnson, Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy and members of Congress and the Administration. Afterward General MacArthur emerged from the White House wear

Jul 20, 2021

First Castings for World War II Epic "The Longest Day"

July 20, 1961 - First castings have been announced for Darryl F. Zanuck's production of "The Longest Day," the Cornelius Ryan book on the D-Day landings, which Twentieth Century-Fox will release. Pre-production work has begun, with Mr. Zanuck using Paris as a base of operations. Signed for the French segment of the film were Jean Louis Barrault (as a priest), Christian Marquand (as head of the French Commandos) and Daniel Gelin (as a paratrooper sergeant). The production will

Jul 18, 2021

Shocking Details on Himmler's Jewish Skull Collection Emerge at Eichmann Trial

July 18, 1961 - Adolf Eichmann admitted at his trial today that the supplying of 150 skeletons of Jews for the skull collection of Heinrich Himmler (pictured) had been a matter referred to him. But it was a "very strange" request, "completely outside my sphere," Eichmann contended. "I was no dealer in skulls," Eichmann protested to his Israeli judges as he told of the request by Himmler, chief of the Nazi S.S. On trial for his role in the murder of millions of Jews in World W

Jul 10, 2021

Nazi Collaborator 'Axis Sally' Released from Federal Prison

July 10, 1961 - Mildred Gillars (pictured in 1949) was released from the Federal Reformatory for Women in Alderson, W. Va., today. The 60-year-old Nazi propagandist was paroled after serving 12 years of a 30-year term for treason. She became known as "Axis Sally" for her World War II broadcasts from Germany aimed at Allied troops. She played nostalgic songs to the G.I.'s while wondering aloud about the faithfulness of wives and sweethearts back home. She also aired the names

Jul 10, 2021

Israeli Prosecutor Ridicules Adolf Eichmann

July 10, 1961 - At the trial of Adolf Eichmann today, prosecutor Gideon Hausner employed heavy sarcasm, addressing the former Nazi officer in the glass-enclosed cage as "Herr Obersturmbannfuehrer" - Mr. Lieutenant Colonel - referring to Eichmann's rank in the S.S. forces. Mr. Hausner got him to admit that when he compiled his memoirs in Argentina five years ago he said Jews must be "exterminated." "But I did not mean physical extermination," Eichmann protested. At this the pr

Jul 7, 2021

Eichmann Cross-Examined in Jerusalem

July 7, 1961 - Adolf Eichmann, wilting under the first blast of cross-examination, admitted moral guilt today as an accomplice in the wartime annihilation of millions of Jews by the Nazis. But he insisted that legally he was innocent. He protested that he had been a soldier under orders and that the legal guilt lay with those who had given the orders. Deathly pale, swaying slightly in his bullet-proof glass cage, Eichmann replied, "Menschlich gesehen, ja" (From a human

Jul 7, 2021

General MacArthur Revisits Leyte Island

July 7, 1961 - General Douglas MacArthur (pictured in 1944) arrived today in triumph on Leyte Island where 16 years ago he waded ashore to fulfill his historic World War II pledge, "I shall return." General MacArthur's reappearance was the biggest thing that has happened to this sleepy port town in the central Philippines since the American assault forces swarmed onto the beaches in October of 1944. Every able-bodied man, woman and child turned out to cheer the 81-year-

Jul 5, 2021

General MacArthur Criticizes Former President Truman on Korea

July 5, 1961 - General Douglas MacArthur told the Philippine Congress today that the United States' failure to see the Korean war through to victory was "a major disaster for the free world." General MacArthur asserted that the consequences of this Korean war policy were now being felt in Communist China's rise to a military colossus. The former commander of U.N. forces in Korea said that the U.S. could have destroyed China's capability of waging war "for generations to

Jul 5, 2021

General MacArthur Returns to the Philippines

July 3, 1961 - General Douglas MacArthur returned today to the Philippines, a land he has long known and a people he loves. Nearly 2 million Filipinos turned out to greet their World War II liberator, who is on a 10-day sentimental journey to scenes of some of his famous battles. "I have returned," he told a huge crowd that welcomed him at Manila International Airport today, paraphrasing his famous pledge, "I shall return." General MacArthur received the Medal of Honor