Sunday, November 20, 1966: Women's right to vote in Switzerland

     Switzerland, the last civilized country to withhold the vote from its women, will continue to do so, its male voters decided Sunday. A total of 201,145 male voters in Zurich County (Canton) voted in a referendum considered crucial for the cause of women's rights in Switzerland.

     They rejected a constitutional amendment giving the county's women equal voting rights, 93,372 in favor and 107,773 opposed. The farm vote turned the tide since the Zurich results showed 46,374 yes votes to 37,602 nos.

     Supporters of female suffrage throughout Switzerland had hoped the Canton of Zurich, the Alpine Republic's most populous and economically important, would approve the amendment and pave the way for a similar vote eventually on the federal level.

     Most political groups with the exception of the Farmer's Party had appealed for a "yes" vote, but the conservatism of rural areas and industrial regions turned the tide against female suffrage.

-- Story by United Press International
-- Photo by Swiss Broadcasting Service: @. Caption: "In 1966 women in Basel gave Helvetia, the embodiment of Switzerland, a placard saying "I cannot vote"
-- Note: Women would not get the right to vote until February 7, 1971: @

* "Women's Place at Polls? Swiss Men Answer 'No' " (New York Times): @

* "Switzerland's Long Way to Women's Right To Vote" (History of Switzerland): @

* "Swiss Suffragettes were still fighting for the right to vote in 1971" (The Independent, 2015): @

* "Women and the Vote: A World History" (Jad Adams, 2014): @ 

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Sunday, June 20, 1965: The Beatles in Paris

Taken during one of their two performances at the Palais Des Sports. Photo by Patrice Habans.

* Summary from The Beatles Bible: @

* Summary from "The Unreleased Beatles: Music & Film" (Richie Unterberger, 2006): @

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Friday, August 28, 1964: Spaghetti Westerns

Directed by Sergio Leone and starring Clint Eastwood as The Man With No Name, "Per un pugno di dollari" ("A Fistful of Dollars") opens in Florence, Italy. The movie, shot in Spain, was influential in the genre that came to be known as the "Spaghetti Western." From the Spaghetti Western Database:

The spaghetti western was born in the first half of the sixties and lasted until the second half of the seventies. It got its name from the fact that most of them were directed and produced by Italians, often in collaboration with other European countries, especially Spain and Germany. The name "spaghetti western" originally was a depreciative term, given by foreign critics to these films because they thought they were inferior to American westerns. Most of the films were made with low budgets, but several still managed to be innovative and artistic, although at the time they didn't get much recognition, even in Europe. In the eighties the reputation of the genre grew and today the term is no longer used disparingly, although some Italians still prefer to call the films western all'italiana (westerns Italian style). In Japan they are called macaroni westerns, in Germany Italowestern.

Notes:

* The movie's early success led to its opening in Rome on September 12, but it was not released in the United States until 1967.

* The Sergio Leone biography linked below quotes him as saying the film opened on August 27. However, he goes on to talk about the film's poor attendance on Friday (August 28) and Saturday; also, most Italian websites list the date as August 28.

* "A Fistful of Dollars" entry from Turner Classic Movies: @

* "Westerns ... All'Italiana!" (blog): @

* "Spaghetti Westerns: The Good, the Bad and the Violent" (Thomas Weisser, 1992): @

* "Once Upon A Time in the Italian West: The Filmgoers' Guide to Spaghetti Westerns" (Howard Hughes, 2004): @
* "Sergio Leone: Something to Do with Death" (Christopher Frayling, 2000): @

* "The Films of Sergio Leone" (Robert C. Cumbow, 2008): @
* www.fistful-of-leone.com: @ 

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August-September 1963: Audio cassette

The compact cassette, made by the Dutch electronics company Philips, was introduced at the Berlin Radio Show (also known as the German Radio Exhibition or Internationale Funkausstellung), which ran from August 30 through September 8. Its initial function was as a recording device; only later did prerecorded music become available.
* History (from Vintage Cassettes): @

* Entry from "Encyclopedia of Recorded Sound, Volume 1" (1993): @
* "Cassette Tapes Are Almost Cool Again" (Motherboard, August 2013): @
* "A History of Magnetic Audio Tape" (website of Diana Cook): @

* "Music and Technology in the Twentieth Century" (Johns Hopkins Press, 2000): @ 

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Tuesday, January 22, 1963: Elysee Treaty

From United Press International (link to full story below; de Gaulle is at right in picture):

   PARIS -- President Charles de Gaulle and West German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer signed yesterday a historic treaty of cooperation they hoped would end the centuries of Franco-German strife that drenched Europe with blood.
   At the end of the four-minute ceremony de Gaulle, 72, suddenly and impetuously opened his arms and embraced the 87-year-old chancellor. Then the two old men, choking back tears, kissed on both cheeks. It was a gesture that appeared spontaneous and unrehearsed.
   ... De Gaulle and Adenauer, each battling against time to achieve their dream of a close Franco-German alliance as the cornerstone for future Western European unity, signed the treaty in the tapestried Murat room of de Gaulle's Elysee Palace.
   By making it a formal treaty they ensured that their successors would be bound by it.
   It called for France and West Germany to work closely together as friends in the fields of politics, defense, foreign aid, culture, science, education and youth as they already do in economics through the Common Market.

(From a secondary story) But the treaty by implication excluded Britain from a role in the political future of Europe ... Britain was silent on the new alignment, which unites two nations which have been both rivals and allies of Britain in the past. But Britain continued negotiations at Brussels for her entry into the European Common Market despite the opposition of de Gaulle.

* Text (from German History in Documents and Images): @
* Overview (from Germany.info): @
* Overview (from Consulate General of France in Chicago): @
* Treaty website (in English): @
* "50 years of friendship" (from Europe Online): @

* "Friendship Pact Signed by de Gaulle, Adenauer" (January 23, 1963): @

* "Autonomy or Power? The Franco-German Relationship and Europe's Strategic Choices, 1955-1995" (Stephen A. Kocs, 1995): @ 

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Saturday, November 10, 1962: Thalidomide acquittal

Vandeput

From The Associated Press (November 11):

   LIEGE, Belgium -- Three women and two men tried for the killing of a malformed thalidomide baby girl were acquitted yesterday by a 12-man jury.

   The accused were: Suzanne Vandeput, 24, accused of the homicide of her daughter, Corinne, by administering barbiturate drugs in the baby's food; her husband, Jean Vandeput, 35; her sister, Monique de la Marck, 26, the child's grandmother, Fernande Yerna, 50, and the family doctor, Jacques Casters, 33, all accused of complicity,

   The trial lasted five days. The prosecution had demanded convictions for the death of the 8-day-old baby.

   Applause and shouts from the huge crowd packed into every inch of the court greeted the verdict. Women fainted and were held up by the pressure of the crowd.

   Mrs. Vandeput was given thalidomide during her pregnancy by Dr. Casters. In May, she gave birth to a girl without arms, without shoulders, with completely deformed feet, and other gruesome deformities.

   A family council with her husband, who is a municipal clerk, her mother, and her sister, decided that the deformed baby should be humanely killed.

   Dr. Casters, who felt himself responsible for the tragedy, prescribed the barbiturate which Suzanne mixed into the baby's milk -- with the full knowledge and support of her husband, her mother and her sister. Corinne died painlessly in her sleep at the age of 7 days.

* Newsreel: @

* Life magazine (August 10): @

* "All 5 Freed In Death of Thal Baby" (Miami News, November 11): @

* "Cheers, Tears Support Thal Trial Acquittal Verdict" (Miami News, November 15): @

* thalidomide50.blogspot.com: @

Previous posts:

* 1962 (Thalidomide in the U.S.): @

* 1961 (Letter in The Lancet): @

* 1960 (Drug application): @ 

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October 1962: American Folk Blues Festival

The musical revue tours Europe, bringing such performers as John Lee Hooker, T-Bone Walker and Willie Dixon to appreciative audiences. Later festivals would include Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf, among others. (Poster from October 18 show in Hamburg, Germany.)
* Listen to performances (from archive.org): @ 
* Discography: @ 
* From "Encyclopedia of the Blues" (1997): @ 
* From "Black, White and Blue: Racial Politics of Blues Music in the 196os" (Ulrich Adelt, 2007): @ 
* From "Blues Music in the Sixties: A Story in Black and White" (Adelt, 2010): @ 
* From "Changing the World, Changing Oneself: Political Protest and Collective Identities in West Germany and the U.S. in the 1960s and 1970s" (2010): @ 
* From "I Am the Blues: The Willie Dixon Story" (Willie Dixon, Don Snowden, 1990): @ 

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July 1962: Algerian independence

July 1: Residents of Algeria vote on this question: "Do you want Algeria to become an independent state, cooperating with France, according to the conditions defined by the declaration of March 19?" Nearly 6 million people vote; more than 99% of them vote "oui." (A similar April 8 referendum in France had been approved by nearly 91% of the nearly 20 million voters.)

July 3: French President Charles de Gaulle signs an agreement recognizing Algeria as an independent country.

July 5: Algeria's provisional government proclaims the country's independence, 132 years to the day of France's invasion of Algeria. (July 5 is still celebrated as the country's national holiday.)

Photo shows women in line to vote. (From Magnum Photos)

* "Independent Algeria" (from exhibition at musée de l’Armée, Paris): @

* "Algeria - What Now" (newsreel): @

* Official Algerian announcement of results (PDF): @

* "America Salutes Algerian Independence" (short documentary): @

* "Algeria: France's Undeclared War" (book by Martin Evans, 2011): @

* algerie.com: @
* Country Studies: Algeria (from The Library of Congress): @

* Earlier post on Paris massacre (October 17, 1961): @

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Undated: 'The Wall'

A short film made for the U.S. Information Agency, "The Wall" is narrated from the point of view of a West Berliner in the months after the construction of the Berlin Wall. Featuring actual newsreel footage, it was shown overseas but not in the United States -- U.S. laws at the time prevented its distribution in America. (The film includes footage from the first anniversary of the wall, on August 13, so was obviously released after that date.)

* More about the film (from National Film Preservation Foundation): @

* Watch the film (from Internet Archive): @

* "In The Shadow of the Wall," a similarly themed British propaganda film that includes more postwar context, also from 1962: @

* "Inventing Public Diplomacy: The Story of the U.S. Information Agency" (book by Wilson P. Dizard Jr.): @

-- Earlier posts

* Escape from East Berlin (December 5, 1961): @

* Standoff in Berlin (October 27-28, 1961): @

* Berlin Wall (photo timeline; August 1961): @

* Berlin Wall resources: @

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Tuesday, December 5, 1961: Escape from East Berlin

From the book "Berlin Wall: Monument of the Cold War" by Hans-Hermann Hertle:

Train driver Harry Deterling and his wife Ingrid do not want to live in the GDR as prisoners with their four children. In early December 1961, word gets around among railway employees that a still-open rail connection to Berlin is soon to be blocked off. Harry Deterling resolves to escape immediately to West Berlin on this line by steam train. On December 5 1961, he tells his relatives and friends the departure time: "The last train to freedom departs today at 7.33 p.m."

At around 8.50 p.m., the train driven by Harry Deterling passes the East German terminus, Albrechtstof, crosses the border and stops on West German territory. As a safety precaution, train driver Deterling and his stoker Hartmut Lichy have climbed into the coal tender while crossing the border; the passengers who know about the escape have thrown themselves onto the floor -- but not a shot is fired.

Twenty-five passengers remain in the West; seven return to East Berlin of their own accord. The train is pulled back to the West by a GDR locomotive.

The railway line is closed off the very next day. Tracks are torn up and barriers put in place; the border is made impassable. No train ever succeeds in breaking through the barriers again.

* Associated Press article (December 6; headline at left): @

* "The Berlin Wall: Monument of the Cold War" (book): @

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Tuesday, October 17, 1961: Massacre in Paris

A protest by some 30,000 Algerians living in Paris turns violent, as local police are ordered to use force to stop the demonstration. The number of protesters killed is estimated at up to 300; many bodies were found dumped in the Seine. The demonstration, organized by the FLN movement (National Liberation Front), was part of an years-long campaign, often violent, by Algerians to gain independence from France.

The caption on the top photo (from Corbis Images) reads: "Police shoot Algerian demonstrators dead in Paris." The bottom photo, showing words painted on a bridge, translates as "Algerians are drowned here."

* The day's events (from rfi.fr): @

* Photo gallery (from Le Monde newspaper): @

* "The Paris Massacre of 1961 and Memory" (from the book "Crisis and Renewal in France, 1918-1962"): @

* "Paris 1961: Algerians, State Terror and Memory" (book by Jim House and Neil McMaster, who also wrote the article cited above): @

* "A 1961 Massacre of Algerians in Paris: When the Media Failed the Test" (from Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, 1997): @

* Short summary of Algerian War of Independence (from encyclopedia.com): @

* Medium-length summary (from Armed Conflicts Events Data): @

* Long summary (from statemaster.com): @

* Chronology of war (from Atlantic magazine, 2006): @

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August 1961: Berlin Wall (a photo timeline)

* Saturday, August 12, 1961: East German leader Walter Ulbricht signs the order authorizing the closing of the border with West Germany. On that day, a wife passes her son to her husband, who is standing in West Berlin. (Original caption and photo sequence: @)

* August 13: At 2 a.m. local time, the wall begins as a barbed-wire fence. (BBC story: @; account in The Guardian newspaper: @)

* August 14: Brandenburg Gate is closed. In this photo from late August, West Berlin police look across the East-West border. (Short history of Brandenburg Gate: @)

* August 15: East German soldier Conrad Schumann defects to the West by hopping over the barbed wire (More on Schumann: @ ; footage of defection: @)

* August 17: The United States, Britain and France issue their first formal protest to the Soviet Union. At left, the front page of the Bild Zeitung newspaper from August 16. The headline reads, "The West does NOTHING!" (August 17 protest by U.S. and Soviet reply the following day: @)

* August 18: The barbed-wire barrier is augmented by concrete blocks. (Facts and figures, including layout of fortications: @)

* August 20: From Stars and Stripes: "West Berliners cheer as a 1,500-man U.S. Army convoy from the 1st Battle Group rolls past the ruins of the Kaiser Wilhelm Church. The troops were sent to join the 11,000-man garrison already in the beleaguered city by President John F. Kennedy in a show of solidarity." (The convoy went 110 miles through East German territory, starting near Mannheim and traveling along the autobahn.)

* August 22: The first death, as Ida Seikmann dies from injuries suffered when she jumped from her third-floor apartment window. The photo is of a monument put up in her honor. (More on Seikmann: @ and @)

* August 24: Günter Liftin is shot dead while trying to escape East Berlin by swimming across the Spree Canal. (More on Liftin: @)

* August 26: All crossing points closed for West Berlin citizens. From The New York Times: "The East Germans began issuing permits for West Berliners to visit East Berlin at two West Berlin stations of the Communist-operated elevated railway. The permits were handed out at the ticket offices until West Berlin police told the Communists to close them. ... The Allied commandants supported the action of the West Berlin city authorities. It was understood that the action would create hardships for some West Berliners, but the authorities decided to accept this rather than permit the East Germans to get in a thin wedge of sovereignty on West Berlin territory."

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Berlin Wall resources

-- Websites

* Berlin Wall Memorial: @

* www.berlin.de: @

* www.chronik-der-mauer.de: @

* www.berlin-life.com: @

* www.dailysoft.com: @

* German Historical Museum, Berlin: @

* Cold War International History Project: @

* "A Concrete Curtain: The Life and Death of the Berlin Wall": @

* "Berlin Wall: Past & Present": @

* NATO: @

* Britain's National Archives: @

* Cold War Museum timeline: @

-- Books

* "The Berlin Wall: A World Divided, 1961-1989": @

* "Kennedy and the Berlin Wall": @

* "Berlin 1961": @ (author's website)

-- Life magazine

* August 25: @

* September 1: @

* September 8: @

-- Photos

* Before and after, from Spiegel Online: @

* From The Guardian newspaper: @

* From The Independent newspaper: @

* From boston.com: @

* From pmgtg.com: @

-- Videos

From archive.org:

* August 31 newsreel: @

* Comparison of life newsreel: @

* 1962 film from U.S. Information Agency: @

* U.S. Army footage, September (silent): @

* U.S. Air Force footage, August and December (silent): @

From Critical Past:

* Events after World War II: @

* Background: @

* "Berlin 1961": @

* "Halt Refugees: Reds Tighten Border Control": @

* "Border Crisis: Allies Protest Pact Violation": @

* "Berlin Drama: East Germans Jump to Freedom": @

From British Pathe:

* "Berlin Crisis": @

* "Berlin Tension": @

* "Berlin Wall of Shame": @

* "Ever Ready in Berlin": @

* "Berlin Wall": @

From The Guardian:

* First of five short films, with links to others: @

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July 1961: Renault 4L

The French automaker Renault introduces the Renault 4L. The front-wheel-drive hatchback became popular the world over, its versatility and relative spaciousness among the main selling points.

* Summary (from www.renault.com): @

* "A golden anniversary for one of the world's most popular cars" (from blog.hemmings.com): @

* "French put the small car's engine in front" (New Scientist, August 31): @

* Summary (translated from www.franceculture.com): @

* "History of 4L" (translated from French): @

* www.r4-4l.com (translated from French): @

* 4L International club (translated from French): @

* Commercials: @

* More footage: @ and @

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