Tuesday, January 17, 1961: Eisenhower's farewell address

Three days before leaving office, President Dwight D. Eisenhower gives a nationally televised speech. Eisenhower uses the occasion to sound a warning about the "military-industrial complex" (a phrase first used here) becoming the driving force behind the United States' domestic and foreign policy. The tone and message are somewhat surprising, coming as they do from the former Army general. "Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together," Eisenhower says.

* Video: @
* Transcript and audio: @

* Short summary (from ourdocuments.gov): @

* "The 'Military-Industrial Complex' Speech" (written by Kevin C. Murphy for "The American Century: A History of the United States since the 1890s"): @

* "Military-Industrial Complex, Fifty Years On" (from Council on Foreign Relations): @

* Story about recent discovery of speech materials (New Yorker magazine, December 20, 2010): @

* Links to various materials (from eisenhower.archives.gov): @

* militaryindustrialcomplex.com: @

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Wednesday, October 19, 1960: Martin Luther King arrested

The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. is arrested in Atlanta after taking part in a sit-in protest at a department store. He remains in jail until October 26, when he is taken to a state prison; because he had been arrested, he was found to have violated probation from a May traffic ticket in Georgia. John F. Kennedy calls King's wife to express his concern. Robert F. Kennedy calls the judge in the case and secures King's release on October 27. The end result: the Democrats are cast as the party of civil rights, and blacks vote their appreciation for Kennedy's actions. Some historians (as well as President Eisenhower) believe it helped tip the balance in the presidential election.

* Account from "The Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr., Volume V": @

* Account from "The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr.": @

* Account from "John F. Kennedy: A Biography": @

* "The Case of Martin Luther King" (pamphlet distributed in black churches in the days before the election; scroll down to second and third pages): @

* Transcript of King interview (October 27): @

* Audio interview about events of October 19: @

* TV interviews:

-- King (October 19): @

-- Atlanta mayor William Hartsfield (October 24): @

-- King's attorney, Donald Hollowell (October 27): @

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September-October, 1960: Khrushchev and the U.N.

* Monday, September 19: Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev arrives in New York for what will be a contentious session of the United Nations General Assembly. Also in New York is Cuba's leader, Fidel Castro, who had arrived the day before.

-- Footage of Khrushchev and Castro arriving in New York: @

* Tuesday, September 20: The General Assembly opens. Khrushchev and Castro meet for the first time. Afterward, Khrushchev likens Castro to "a young horse that hasn't been broken. He needs some training, but he's very spirited, so we'll have to be careful."
-- Footage of Khrushchev-Castro meeting: @

* Thursday, September 22: U.S. President Eisenhower expresses strong support for the U.N.'s role, particularly its peacekeeping activities in Africa. He also asks: "Will outer space be preserved for peaceful use and developed for the benefit of all mankind? Or will it become another focus for the arms race -- and thus an area of dangerous and sterile competition?"

-- Speech: Summary @ and text @

* Friday, September 23: Speaking for nearly two and a half hours, Khrushchev accuses the West of continuing to seek colonial rule in Africa. He also says the secretary-general's post should be abolished in favor of a three-person committee representing Communist, West and neutralist blocs. After Khrushchev's speech, a New York antiques dealer presents him with an American Indian peace pipe, saying "may the leaders of our two great powers, the USSR and the USA, see in this pipe a new age ... may you and the heads of other states symbolically smoke it together." (Click here for larger view.)

-- Portion of speech: @

* Monday, September 26: Castro speaks for more than four hours. He begins his speech by saying, "Although it has been said of us that we speak at great length, you may rest assured that we shall endeavor to be brief ..."

-- Text of speech: @ and @ (printed version)

* Thursday, September 29: Khrushchev interrupts a speech by British Prime Minister Harold MacMillan, pounding on his desk with his fists and shouting, "You send your planes over our territory, you are guilty of aggression!"

-- BBC summary: @

-- Life magazine coverage: @

-- Footage: @

* Monday, October 3: Khrushchev repeats his call for the removal of Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjold, who replies that by doing so he would "throw the organization to the winds."

-- Footage: @

* Sunday, October 9: Khrushchev is interviewed on the "Open End" TV program, hosted by David Susskind. The interview turns contentious, with Khrushchev at one point threatening to walk off the set. The most memorable exchange:

Khrushchev: ... Our land is sacred and sovereign, and it's only the peoples of the Soviet Union themselves that have the right to govern their land, and administer their affairs. ... Why should you try to poke your nose into our garden? Have you not enough things to do in your own country?

Susskind: You're baying at the moon. ... We believe with all our might that there are many subjugated peoples in Eastern Europe. We ask that a plebiscite be held, not in your home country, not in the Soviet Union, but in many of the countries of Eastern Europe, who are now within the Soviet orbit.

Khrushchev: Is such an expression as "baying at the moon" regarded as normal polite conversation in your country? We regard it as rude. After all, I'm old enough to be your father, and young man, it is unworthy to speak to me like this. You look pleasant enough but you do not express yourself quite courteously. I do not permit an attitude like that towards myself. I did not come here to "bark" -- I am the chairman of the Council of Ministers of the world's greatest socialist state. You will therefore please show respect for me. If you do not want to, then do not invite me for an interview. There must be courtesy, but you are accustomed to prod and knock everyone about. Ours is the kind of state which will not allow itself to be ordered about.

-- More about the near-departure: @

-- Time magazine account: @

-- Photo from interview: @

* Wednesday, October 12: Shoe-banging incident. See separate post below.

* Thursday, October 13: After a final, failed attempt to have the U.N. condemn the United States for its U-2 spy flights, Khrushchev boards a plane and departs from New York. "We are leaving in a good mood," he says.

Other resources:

* "Khrushchev in New York" (Text of speeches, appearances): @

* "Memoirs of Nikita Khrushchev": @

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Thursday, August 25, 1960: Nixon and Jack Paar

Republican presidential nominee Richard M. Nixon appears on "The Jack Paar Tonight Show." (Democrat John F. Kennedy had appeared earlier; see entry of June 16.) Nixon's wife, Pat, joins him on stage later in the show. Paar's first question -- about Nixon's performance as vice president -- refers to a statement made the previous day by President Eisenhower at a news conference. Eisenhower was asked if he could provide an example of any "major idea" by Nixon that had been adopted by the administration. Eisenhower's memorable reply: "If you give me a week, I might think of one. I don't remember." (The remark would resurface as part of a Kennedy campaign ad, and also during the first Kennedy-Nixon debate on September 26.)

* Transcript of "Jack Paar Show": @

* Kennedy campaign ad: @

* Transcript of Eisenhower news conference: @

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Thursday-Friday, July 28-29, 1960: Project Apollo

In conjunction with the NASA-Industry Program Plans Conference in Washington, NASA announces Project Apollo, its goals for manned spaceflight. The new project, intended to build upon the ongoing Project Mercury, envisions putting men on the moon sometime after 1970 (click on chart to englarge). However, President Eisenhower is reluctant to sign off on the program, citing its multi-billion-dollar price tag.

* Chronology through July 1960: @

* The Project Apollo Archive: @

* Kennedy Space Center website: @

* Why the name Apollo was chosen: @

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Monday-Thursday, July 25-28, 1960: Republican National Convention

Vice President Richard Nixon is the all-but-certain nominee as the Republicans gather in Chicago, though Arizona Sen. Barry Goldwater and (presumably) New York Gov. Nelson Rockefeller remain in the running. Attention turns toward the platform, the direction of the party and a running mate. Meanwhile, the accomplishments and popularity of outgoing President Dwight D. Eisenhower are a running theme of the convention.

* Platform and direction of party: Largely the work of Rockefeller, the so-called "Compact of Fifth Avenue" was hammered out during a meeting between the Nixon and Rockefeller camps at the governor's Fifth Avenue apartment on July 22-23. Nixon signed off on the platform to ensure Rockefeller's support and to placate the more liberal factions of the party. His actions outraged the GOP's more conservative elements, particularly Goldwater, whose "Conscience of a Conservative" (published that March) had brought him to prominence, as it forcefully stated the direction in which he wanted to move the party. The Chicago Tribune thundered in an editorial, "Grant Surrenders to Lee."

-- Platform summary and significance: @ and @. Text: @

-- Text of "Conscience of a Conservative": @

* July 25: Convention gets under way at the International Amphitheatre. A civil rights rally, 5,000 strong and led in part by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., takes place outside the building. (As the Democrats had done two weeks prior, the GOP would address civil rights at length in its platform.)

-- Transcript of NBC interview with King: @

* July 26: Eisenhower addresses the convention. Rockefeller officially withdraws his candidacy, releasing his pledged delegates and urging their support of Nixon.

-- Text of Eisenhower speech: @

* July 27: Party platform is approved. Nixon's and Goldwater's names are placed in nomination. Goldwater withdraws his candidacy, saying in his speech, "Let's grow up, conservatives ... let's -- if we want to take this party back and I think we can someday -- let's get to work." Nixon claims the nomination, with 1,321 delegates to 10 for Goldwater. (The photo above is Nixon's reaction to his first-ballot victory.)

* July 28: Nixon selects Henry Cabot Lodge, the United States' ambassador to the United Nations, for the vice presidential slot. (Rockefeller had turned down Nixon's offer.) Nixon addresses the convention.

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* Convention summary from Chicago Historical Society: @
* Videos of convention highlights: @ and @
* Videos of speeches (includes Goldwater, Lodge and former President Herbert Hoover): @ (Audio and text of Nixon's acceptance speech: @)
* Telegram from NBC to Nixon and Kennedy (and their replies) regarding prime-time debates: @

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Wednesday-Friday, June 29-July 1, 1960: Cuba nationalizes oil companies

Cuba nationalizes (i.e., confiscates without compensation) the refineries of the U.S. oil companies Texaco and Esso as well as Shell's British facility after their refusal to refine Soviet oil. (Nationalization of all U.S. businesses and commercial properties would follow in the coming weeks.) It's the latest incident in steadily increasing tensions involving the United States, the Soviet Union and Cuba. Preceding events included:

* February: Soviets agree to buy 5 million tons of Cuban sugar over 5 years.

* March 17: President Eisenhower approves an anti-Castro plan.

* April 19: Soviet oil begins to arrive in Cuba.

* May 8: Cuba establishes diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union.

* May 17: Radio Swan, financed by the CIA and broadcasting anti-Castro propaganda, goes on the air.

* May 27: U.S. says it will cut off economic aid to Cuba within 180 days.

* June 7: U.S. oil companies refuse to refine Soviet oil.

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* Video of Esso takeover (click on clip 7): @

* More about Radio Swan: @ and @

* Fidel Castro meets writer Ernest Hemingway at a fishing tournment in Cuba on May 15, 1960. More about Hemingway's ties to Cuba: @ and @ and @

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Thursday, June 23, 1960: U.S.-Japan security treaty

The treaty, revised from the original 1951 agreement, states that the United States will help defend Japan if it is attacked, and also provides for the continued use of bases and ports by the U.S. military. It was signed on January 19 but went into effect only after Prime Minister Nobusuke Kishi forced it through the Japanese legislature. Because of widespread protests (photo) -- many Japanese resented the American presence, opposed an alliance with a nuclear-armed U.S. and feared Japan might be pulled into a war not of its own making -- President Eisenhower had canceled a planned trip; Kishi would resign following ratification.

* Chronology of U.S-Japan relations: @

* Text of 1960 treaty: @. (Details of Article VI: @)

* More about resistance to the treaty: @ and @ and @

* Text of 1951 U.S.-Japan treaty (which recognized both Japanese sovereignty and the country's limited capabilities for self-defense following World War II): @

* Text of concurrent 1951 treaty (the San Francisco peace treaty) that officially ended World War II: @

* More about Japan's postwar defense policy: @

* U.S. Forces in Japan (official website): @

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Monday, May 16, 1960: Paris summit falls apart

The mood of the meeting among the leaders of the United States, Soviet Union, USSR, Britain and France almost immediately turns hostile as Soviet leader Khrushchev, left, demands the U.S. apologize for the U-2 incident (see May 1, 5, 7, 11). Not only does U.S. President Eisenhower refuse to do so, he accuses Khrushchev of trying to sabotage the entire summit, which was to have taken up the issues of disarmament, East-West tensions and Berlin and the fate of Germany. Khrushchev withdraws his invitation for Eisenhower to visit the USSR.

* Short summary: @

* Newsreels: @ and @

* Khrushchev and Eisenhower statements, May 16: @

* Report from a CIA intelligence officer: @

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Wednesday, May 11, 1960: U-2 incident: Eisenhower defends U.S. actions

At the beginning of a news conference, President Eisenhower reads a prepared statement in which he says "we must have knowledge of military forces and preparations around the world, especially those capable of massive surprise attack," then goes on to call the U.S. spy missions "a distasteful but vital necessity." The next day, Eisenhower privately decides to suspend U-2 flights, but does not tell the Soviets nor the U.S. public; he hopes to announce it at the upcoming Paris summit, to be attended by the leaders of the United States, the Soviet Union, England and France.

* State Department statement, May 9: @

* Telegram from Soviet Union to U.S., May 10: @ and @

* Telegram from U.S. to Soviet Union, May 11: @

* Eisenhower's remarks, May 11: @ and @

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Saturday, May 7, 1960: U-2 incident: The evidence

Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev, left, announces to the Supreme Soviet and the world that downed U.S. pilot Francis Gary Powers is, in fact, alive, and says his country has Powers and the wreckage of his spy plane to prove it. "Comrades, I must tell you a secret," Khrushchev said. "When I was making my report, I deliberately did not say that the pilot was alive and in good health and that we have got part of the plane. We did so deliberately, because had we told everything at once, the Americans would have invented another version." The U.S. then admits the spy mission, while at the same time trying to shield President Eisenhower's involvement: "... Insofar as the authorities in Washington are concerned there was no authorization for any such flight as described by Mr. Khrushchev. Nevertheless it appears that in endeavoring to obtain information now concealed behind the Iron Curtain a flight over Soviet territory was probably undertaken by an unarmed civilian U-2 plane."

* State Department statement, May 7: @

* "Operation Overflight" (Gary Francis Powers memoir): @

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Thursday, May 5, 1960: U-2 incident: Accusal and denial

In a speech to the Supreme Soviet, Nikita Khrushchev announces that a U.S. spyplane had been shot down on May 1. Khrushchev makes no mention of the pilot's fate; the U.S. assumes he was killed. In response, the U.S. issues a longer version of its initial cover story. Also, a U-2 plane is repainted with NASA markings and displayed the next day.

* NASA press release on missing plane, May 5: @

* State Department press release, May 6: @

* Repainted U-2 plane, photo and description: @ and @

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Sunday, May 1, 1960: U-2 incident

Francis Gary Powers, piloting a U-2 spy plane for the CIA, is shot down over Soviet airspace while taking pictures of missile sites. Powers survives after bailing out and is captured. Tensions quickly escalate between the United States and the Soviet Union as details of the mission come to light.

* More about the U-2 program (from Federation of American Scientists): @

* "The CIA and the U-2 Program, 1954-1974" (from www.cia.gov): @

* "May-July 1960: The U-2 Airplane Incident" (from U.S. State Department): @

* "The U-2 Program: A Russian Officer Remembers": @

* Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev's son writes about the downing (from American Heritage): @

* Initial cover story devised by U.S., May 2 (from Eisenhower Presidential Library & Museum): @

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Thursday, March 17, 1960: U.S. vs. Castro

President Eisenhower authorizes the CIA to begin working with and training Cuban exiles as part of a covert effort to undermine and overthrow the government of Fidel Castro, whose guerrilla forces had seized power on New Year's Day, 1959. (The Soviet Union and Cuba had forged closer ties since Castro's takeover.) At left is Castro with Vice President Nixon during Castro's visit to Washington in April 1959.

* Text of "A Program of Covert Action Against the Castro Regime": @

* Map of the Cuban Revolution: @

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Saturday, January 9, 1960: Richard Nixon begins bid for White House

With Republican President Dwight D. Eisenhower leaving office, the two-term vice president officially becomes a candidate. It's Nixon's 47th birthday and concludes a week in which he was grand marshal of the Tournament of Roses parade, helped negotiate an end to the U.S. steel strike and flew aboard a plane that set a record for fastest commercial coast-to-coast flight (3 hours and 39 minutes).

* Front page of January 4 Los Angeles Times: @

* More on the steel strike of 1959: @

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