January 1966: Indira Gandhi

Wednesday, January 19

     Mrs. Indira Gandhi, daughter of the late Jawaharlal Nehru, was elected today to be India's next prime minister, the first woman in modern times to head the government of a major nation. India's ruling Congress party automatically elevated Mrs. Gandhi to prime minister by electing her leader of its majority faction in parliament. Thus to the shoulders of this 48-year-old widow fell India's immense problems -- problems which her father wresteled with for 17 years until his death in 1964 and which his successor, Lal Bahadur Shastri, attacked vigorously until a heart attack killed him Jan. 11. Although she gave no hint of what policies she will follow, Mrs. Gandhi is expected to continue the previous government's pragmatic socialism at home and nonalignment in foreign affairs.

     -- Associated Press: @

Monday, January 24

     Indira Gandhi became India's third prime minister, taking office with a cabinet made up largely of holdovers from the regimes of her father, Jawaharlal Nehru, and his successor, Lal Bahadur Shastri. Taking the oath with Mrs. Gandhi were the cabinet ministers whose appointments she announced earlier. The key positions were left in the hands of men appointed by Nehru or Shastri. 

     -- Associated Press: @

-- Photo from Bettman/Corbis, February 1966

* "The Lady Who Now Leads India" (Life magazine, January 28, 1966): @

* "The Lady Who Leads 480 Million" (Life, March 25): @

* Summary from Prime Minister's Office of India: @

* Summary from "Heads of States and Governments" (Harris M. Lentz III, 2013): @

* "A Political and Economic Dictionary of South Asia" (2006): @
* "The Oxford Handbook of Indian Foreign Policy" (2015): @
* "The Making of India: A Political History" (Ranbir Vohra, 2015): @
* "Women of Power: Half a Century of Female Presidents and Prime Ministers Worldwide" (Torild Skard, 2015): @

* "A History of Modern South Asia" (Ian Talbot, 2016): @ 

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Wednesday, January 12, 1966: 'Batman'

-- From Susan Sontag's "Notes on 'Camp'," September 1964: @

-- Dialogue from a first "Batman" episode, from Know It All Joe: @

January 12: Batman, "Hi Diddle Riddle." (Premiere) This show, which is part adventure for the kiddies and part satire-pop humor for the adults, will be shown on Wednesdays and Thursdays in two segment. Adam West stars as Batman and Burt Ward as Robin. In this episode, the Riddler (Frank Gorshin) lures our hero into a discotheque were he succumbs to Molly (Jill St. John). Robin is kidnapped and all ends in glorious chaos. -- McClure Newspaper Syndicate: @

January 13: Batman, "Smack in the Middle." More gimmicks, more wild puns and way-out humor in the second installment of the premiere of this new crazy show. The consensus seems to be that you either love the series with a dedicated fervor or it misses you completely. Tonight the Riddler (Frank Gorshin), who is holding Robin (Burt Ward) captive, decides to use him as bait for a horrible trap for Batman (Adam West). -- McClure Newspaper Syndicate: @

Programming note: "Batman" displaced "The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet" (which moved from Wednesdays to Saturdays). "Shindig!", which had been running on Thursdays and Saturdays, was canceled.

* Guide to Season 1 episodes (Comics Alliance): @

* Summary from Museum of Broadcast Communcations: @

* Interviews from Archive of American Television: @

* The Batcave Archives: @

* Bat-Mania: 1966 Batman Online: @

* The 1966 Batman Message Board: @

* To the Batpoles! (blog): @
* "Now, Batman Hits The Tube! Zowie!" (Joan Crosby, Newspaper Enterprise Association, January 16, 1966): @

* "Here Comes the Batman" (Daytona Beach Sunday News-Journal, January 16, 1966): @
* Life magazine, March 11, 1966: @ 
* Entry from "The Encyclopedia of Superheroes on Film and Television" (John Kenneth Muir, 2004): @
* "Batman Unmasked: Analyzing a Cultural Icon" (Will Brooker, 2013): @
* "Batman" (Matt Yockey, 2014): @

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Monday, January 10, 1966: The death of Vernon Dahmer

     HATTIESBURG, Miss. -- A Negro civil rights leader died in a hospital Monday of burns suffered in a predawn firebomb attack that destroyed his home and tiny store.

     Vernon Dahmer, 58, was burned, along with his wife and 10-year-old daughter, while fleeing the fire that destroyed their four-bedroom frame home near here early Monday.

     The attack came one day after Dahmer was identified in a radio broadcast as the leader of a voter registration drive in this area. He had long been active in the civil rights movement. 

     Dahmer was a past president of the Hattiesburg chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

     His daughter, Betty, 10, was listed in fair condition at the hospital. Mrs. Dahmer was treated and released. The couple's two sons, Harold, 26, and Dennis, 12, escaped injury.

     Deputy Sheriff T.A. Woodward said the fire was started by some type of firebomb thrown into the house. Tests may establish the type of bomb, officers said.

     Dahmer, who had talked to a newsman from his hospital bed after the attack, said he was awakened by gunshots around 2:30 a.m. He said he grabbed a shotgun and fired several blasts at a rapidly disappearing car before fleeing with his family from the house. 

     -- Associated Press

Photo from Winfred Moncrief Photograph Collection, Mississippi Department of Archives and History: @

Timeline

July 4, 1964: Freedom Summer
     "The events of Freedom Summer were kicked off by a massive Independence Day party at Vernon Dahmer's farm in the Kelly Settlement, featuring a fish fry, band and opportunity for activists and hosts to get to know one another." -- from "Hattiesburg, Mississippi: A History of the Hub City" (Benjamin Morris, 2014): @
* Photos by Herbert Randall: @ (University of Southern Mississippi) and @ (Civil Rights Digital Library)
* Freedom Summer Collection, Wisconsin Historical Society: @
* Earlier blog post on Freedom Summer: @

January 10, 1966: Dahmer's death
* "Nightriders Kill Mississippi Negro" (United Press International, via New York Times): @

* "Rights Leader's Death Triggers Probe" (Associated Press): @

* "Negro Firebomb Victim Respected by Whites" (AP): @

February 1, 1966: Sam Bowers
     Ku Klux Klan leader Samuel Holloway Bowers Jr. of Laurel, Mississippi, testifies in Washington before the House Committee on Un-American Activities.
* "Klan Chief Pleads 5th on Mississippi Killing" (UPI): @

* "Ku Klux Klan Probe Completed" (CQ Alamanac, 1966): @
* "Activities of Ku Klux Klan Organizations in the United States" (HUAC, February 1-4 and 7-11, 1966): @

March 28, 1966: Arrests
* "13 Klansmen Arrested in Hattiesburg, Miss. and Charged With Civil Rights Violations" (AP): @
* "Klan Chief Sought, Is Termed Dangerous" (AP): @

March 31, 1966: Bowers 
* "Klan Leader Surrenders to Authorities" (AP): @

February 27, 1967: Federal indictments in Goodman-Chaney-Schwerner deaths

* "18 Arrested in Mississippi Rights Killings" (AP): @

February 27, 1967: Federal indictments in Dahmer's death

* "Alleged Klan Chief Charged in Slaying" (UPI): @

October 20, 1967: Convictions in Goodman-Chaney-Schwerner deaths
* "7 Convicted in Mississippi" (AP): @
* "Mississippi Jury Convicts 7 of 18 in Rights Killings" (New York Times): @

* "The Mississippi Burning Trial" (Douglas O. Linder, University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law): @

* Earlier blog post on deaths: @

Booking photos of Sam Bowers (January 24, 1968) from Winfred Moncrief Photograph Collection, Mississippi Department of Archives and History: @

January 24, 1968: State indictments in Dahmer's death
* "10 Jailed in Firebomb Slaying" (AP): @

May 17, 1968: Bowers mistrial on arson charges
* "Mistrial Is Declared" (AP): @
* "Convicted Klan Chieftain Still Loose" (Los Angeles Times, August 1968): @
* "Klan Support Dwindling in Mississippi" (Los Angeles Times, August 1968): @

January 25, 1969: Bowers mistrial on murder charges
* "Bowers Awaits Jury's Verdict" (New Orleans Times-Picayune): @
* "Mistrial Ruled in Bowers Case" (Times-Picayune): @
* "Klan Chief's Case Ends Up In Mistrial" (Los Angeles Times): @

May 10, 1969: Mistrial for Bowers and others on conspiracy charges
* "Federal Jury Acquits Three of Conspiracy" (AP): @

July 25, 1969: Bowers mistrial on murder charges
* "Mistrial Ruled in Bowers Case" (AP): @
* "Bowers Gets His Fourth Mistrial" (AP): @

April 2, 1970: Bowers goes to prison for Goodman-Chaney-Schwerner deaths
* "Klansmen Begin Conspiracy Terms" (UPI): @

March 22, 1976: Bowers released from prison
* "Former Klan boss released" (AP): @

Photo of Civil Rights Memorial from Rainbow Studio: @

November 5, 1989: Civil Rights Memorial dedication in Montgomery, Alabama
* Memorial website: @

1991: Dahmer case reopened
* "3 cases: Justice delayed, justice pursued" (AP, 1991): @
* "Mississippi May Reopen Klan Killing" (New York Times, 1995): @

1992: Ellie Dahmer, widow of Vernon Dahmer, wins race for election commissioner in Forrest County 

March 17, 1998: Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission files made public
* "First look at secret files: Obsession with 'agitators' " (AP): @

May 28, 1998: Bowers charged with murder and arson
* "Murder charges revive the ghosts of a racist past" (New York Times): @

August 21, 1998: Bowers convicted
* "Jurors Convict Former Wizard in Klan Murder" (New York Times): @
* "Former Klan leader found guilty of ordering fatal firebombing in 1966" (AP): @
* "Ex-Klan Wizard Gets Life for 1966 Murder of Local Miss. NAACP Official" (Jet magazine): @

November 5, 2006: Bowers dies
* "Klan leader Bowers dies in prison" (AP): @
* "Samuel Bowers, 82, Klan Leader Convicted in Fatal Bombing, Dies" (New York Times): @

Vernon Dahmer gravesite, Shady Grove Baptist Church cemetery; words at bottom read "If you don't vote you don't count" (from Find a Grave: @)


Resources

Summaries

* Southern Poverty Law Center: @

* One Person, One Vote Project: @ (Vernon Dahmer) and @ (Kelly Settlement)

* Veterans of the Civil Rights Movement: @

* FBI: @

* "The Jim Crow Encylopedia" (2008): @

* "Historical Dictionary of the Civil Rights Movement" (2014): @

Archives / collections
* Vernon F. Dahmer Collection (University of Southern Mississippi): @

* Civil Rights Digital Library: @
* The Weisberg Archive: @

Books
* "Witness in Philadelphia" (Florence Mars, Lynn Eden, 1989): @
* "The Klan" (Patsy Sims, 1996): @
* "God's Long Summer: Stories of Faith and Civil Rights" (Charles Marsh, 1999): @
* "Dixie: A Personal Odyssey Through Events That Shaped the Modern South" (Curtis Wilkie, 2002): @
* "Divine Agitators: The Delta Ministry and Civil Rights in Mississippi" (Mark Newman, 2004): @
* "Backfire: How the Ku Klux Klan Helped the Civil Rights Movement" (David Mark Chalmers, 2005): @
* "The Legacy of a Freedom School" (Sandra Adickes, 2005): @ 
* "At Canaan's Edge: American in the King Years, 1965-68" (Taylor Branch, 2007): @
* "The Ku Klux Klan in Mississippi: A History" (Michael Newton, 2010): @
* "Count Them One by One: Black Mississippians Fighting for the Right to Vote" (Gordon A. Martin, 2011): @
* "After the Dream: Black and White Southerners Since 1965" (Timothy J. Minchin, John A. Salmond, 2011): @
* "Racial Reckoning: Prosecuting America's Civil Rights Murders" (Renee C. Romano, 2014): @
* "Right to Revolt: The Crusade for Racial Justice in Mississippi's Central Piney Woods" (Patricia Michelle Boyett, 2015): @

Newspapers / magazines

* "Death in Mississippi" (The Crisis, February 1966): @
* "Confronting a Dark Past" (ABA Journal, June 1998): @
* "From the Fires of Hate, an Ember of Hope" (Washington Post, July 1998): @
* "Another Ghost of Mississippi Laid to Rest" (The Crisis, November 1998): @
* "Journey to Justice" (Jerry Mitchell, Jackson Clarion-Ledger): @

Oral histories
* Ellie Dahmer (1974): @
* Sam Bowers (1983-1984): @
* Hollis Watkins (1996): @
* Sandra Adickes (1999): @

Other
* "The Family Origins of Vernon Dahmer, Civil Rights Activist" (Wilmer Watts Backstrom and Yvonne Bivins, 2009: @
* Historical marker: @
* Film clips (selection from eFootage): @
* Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission: @

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Tuesday, January 4, 1966: Ronald Reagan runs for governor

Ronald Reagan's decision to run for the Republican nomination for governor provided California with a new style of politics today and touched off more bitterness in a heated Republican primary campaign.

     A half-hour film,  shown on 16 television stations, introduced Reagan to the voters Tuesday night -- a sharp contrast to the rallies, dinners and news conferences candidates have traditionally used to tell the people they will run.

     The viewers saw him standing in a relaxed manner in a comfortably furnished den -- it was a studio set -- talking calmly of state affairs. Gone were the placards and bands of years past.

     He conceded he was a political novice, aspiring to be chief executive of the nation's most populous state.

     "I am not a politician in the traditional sense of ever having held a public office, but I think I can lay claim to being a citizen politician," he said.

     -- Story from Associated Press: @

     -- Photo of Reagan filing nomination papers (March 9, 1966; Los Angeles Times photo from UCLA Library Digital Collections): @

     

* "Ronald Reagan and a Need for Action!" (announcement film): @

* Reagan's appearance on NBC's "Meet the Press" (January 9, 1966): @

* "The Real Ronald Reagan Stands Up" (Life magazine, January 21, 1966): @ 
* Earlier post on Republicans' "11th Commandment" (September 25, 1965): @

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Saturday, January 30, 1965: Billboard R&B charts

Billboard magazine resumes its listing of the nation's top rhythm-and-blues songs and also introduces a chart of the top R&B albums.

From the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: "The Billboard R&B chart was eliminated for 14 months between November 30, 1963 and January 23, 1965 owing to the regular crossover of titles between the R&B and pop singles charts. Billboard deemed the lists too similar to print both."

From the book "Yeah Yeah Yeah: The Story of Modern Pop" (Bob Stanley, 2013): "From November 30th 1963 to January 23 1965 there was no Billboard R&B singles chart. No reason was given, but the prevailing wisdom was that the chart methodology was in question, as Caucasian acts were scoring big hits. However, Cashbox, Billboard's main rival, continued to print R&B charts during 1964, and each of their number ones was by a black act.

From the book "Between Montmartre and the Mudd Club: Popular Music and the Avant-Garde" (Bernard Gendron, 2002): "Before the British Invasion, the pop and R&B charts had come to overlap so much that Billboard in December 1963 stopped publishing the R&B charts. White musicians were crossing over into the R&B charts apparently as frequently as black musicians into the pop charts. ... After the British Invasion -- the Beatles interestingly never crossed over -- the R&B charts were reconstituted by Billboard (January 1965), as black music went on separate trajectories from white rock music.

-- Image from January 30, 1965, issue of Billboard. Link (R&B charts on page 14): @ 

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Wednesday, January 27, 1965: Vietnam memo

National security adviser McGeorge Bundy and defense secretary Robert McNamara send to President Johnson a memo titled "Basic Policy in Vietnam." They state:

What we want to say to you is that both of us are now pretty well convinced that our current policy can lead only to disastrous defeat. What we are doing now, essentially, is to wait and hope for a stable government. ... We see two alternatives. The first is to use our military power in the Far East and to force a change of Communist policy. The second is to deploy all our resources along a track of negotiation, aimed at salvaging what little can be preserved with no major addition to our military risks. Bob and I tend to favor the first course, but we believe that both should be carefully studied and that alternative programs should be argued out before you. ... the time has come for harder choices.

This came to be known as the "fork in the road" or "fork in the Y" memo, though neither phrase was used.

     -- Photo (cropped) from July 23, 1965; from left, Johnson, McNamara and Bundy. Original White House image: @

* Full text of memo (from "Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964-1968): @

* Original document (from LBJ Library): @

* "Observations Re South Vietnam After Khanh's 'Re-Coup' " (January 27, by assistant secretary of defense J.T. McNaughton; from Pentagon Papers): @

* January 27 telegram from Johnson to Gen. Maxwell Taylor, U.S. ambassador to Vietnam (from FRUS): @

* "The War Council: McGeorge Bundy, the NSC, and Vietnam" (Andrew Preston, 2006): @

* "Argument Without End: In Search of Answers to the Vietnam Tragedy" (McNamara et al., 1999): @

* "American Tragedy: Kennedy, Johnson and the Origins of the Vietnam War" (David Kaiser, 2000): @

* "Choosing War: The Lost Chance for Peace and the Escalation of War in Vietnam" (Fredrik Logevall, 1999): @
* "The U.S. Government and the Vietnam War: Executive and Legislative Roles and Relationships, Part III" (William Conrad Gibbons, 1989): @

* "The Case for the Vietnam War" (W.W. Rostow, Times Literary Supplement, June 1995): @ 

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Wednesday, January 27, 1965: Shelby GT350 Mustang

Car designer Carroll Shelby introduces his version of the Ford Mustang -- the high-performance GT350 -- at California's Riverside Raceway. Base prices: $4,547 (street) and $5,995 (racing).

     -- Photo from 1965gt350mustang.com

* May 1965 review from Car and Driver: @

* "The Ford Mustang GT350: Carroll Shelby & the American Pony War" (from selvedgeyard.com): @

* "1965 Shelby GT350 Mustang: The Car That Defined Mustang Performance" (from mustangs.about.com): @

* "Mustang: A Short Story of Two Special Shelby Mustangs" (from LeMay -- America's Car Museum): @

* Road test (from justmustangs.com.au): @

* "The difference between the Shelby G.T. 350 and the Mustang ... plenty!" (from Old Car Manuals Project): @

* CarrollShelby.com: @

* ShelbyAmerican.com: @ 

* Earlier post on Ford Mustang (April 17, 1964): @ 

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January 1965: Planned Parenthood

An $8,500 federal grant for birth control -- including the distribution of oral contraceptive pills -- has been approved for the South Texas Planned Parenthood Clinic of Corpus Christi. It is believed the funds, given as a part of the Johnson administration's war on poverty, are the first authorized for such a clinic not under the direction of a state welfare agency. The $8,500 is part of a $295,200 package for the Corpus Christi area from the Office of Economic Opportunity. The bulk of the money will go for other health, education and welfare measures.
     -- "Federal Birth Control Plan Approved for Corpus Unit" (Associated Press, January 28, 1965)
     -- Image from Planned Parenthood brochure, 1965

* "Population Explosion Is Under Study" (AP, January 7): @

* "Texas Clinic Using Poverty War Aid For Birth Control" (AP, January 25): @

* "Texas City Gets Federal Funds" (Milwaukee Sentinel, January 28): @

* "Parenthood Center Needs Even Greater" (Corpus Christi Times, February 19; subscription only): @
* "Let us act on the fact that less than 5 dollars invested in population control is worth a hundred dollars invested in economic growth." (speech by President Johnson, June 25; Miller Center): @

* "Birth Control Effective in Texas" (Milwaukee Sentinel, July 14): @
* "Mothers Ask For Help and Families Continue to Grow" (AP, September 28): @

* "Pills, Publicity Lift Birth Control Secrecy" (Gannett News Service, August 17, 1967): @

* "Birth Control Movement in Texas" (Texas State Historical Association): @

* "Family Planning and the Demographic Imperative" (from "The Oxford Encyclopedia of Women in World History," 2008): @

* "Fifty Years of Family Planning: New Evidence on the Long-Run Effects of Increasing Access to Contraception" (Martha J. Bailey, Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, 2013): @

* Planned Parenthood Federation of America: @ 

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Saturday, January 16, 1965: AFL All-Star game

The American Football League's All-Star game is played in Houston. The game was moved from the original site, New Orleans, after black players voted against playing because of their treatment by businesses in that city.

-- UPI photo from talesfromtheamericanfootballleague.com

* "50 Years Ago: How New Orleans Lost the 1965 AFL All-Star Game" (New Orleans Advocate, 2015): @
* "Players Boycott AFL All-Star Game" (Pro Football Hall of Fame): @

* "Protest of Race-Related Slights Brought '65 Game Here" (Houston Chronicle, 2005): @

* "New Orleans, New Football League, and New Attitudes: The American Football League All-Star Game Boycott, January 1965" (Maureen Smith, in "Sports and the Racial Divide," 2008): @
* "AFL All-Star Game Is Moved to Houston" (Associated Press, January 12, 1965): @

* "Tackle Mix Backed Idea, Not Method" (Associated Press, January 14, 1965): @
* "Was This Their Freedom Ride?" (Sports Illustrated, January 18, 1965): @
* "AFL's Switch Dramatizes Negro Importance to Game" (Shirley Povich, Washington Post, January 17, 1965): @
* "The Black Athlete: A Shameful Story" (Five-part series in Sports Illustrated, July 1968): @ (first installment; click on "covers / full issues for rest of series)
* Photos of All-Star squads (www.remembertheAFL.com): @ and @ 

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Thursday, January 14, 1965: Hill's Criteria for Causation

     Sir Austin Bradford Hill presents the paper "The Environment and Disease: Association or Causation" at the Royal Society of Medicine in London. 

     "... Hill suggests nine factors to be considered in determining whether a statistical association in a population between exposure to some substance and incidence of some disease or disorder is indicative of causation ..."

     -- Quoted material from "Evidence Matters: Science, Proof and Truth in the Law" (Susan Haack, 2014): @

     -- Chart from "Textbook of Cancer Epidemiology" (2008): @

* PDF of paper: @

* Summary (from Dr. William S. Abruzzi): @

* Summary (from Science-Based Medicine): @ 

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Monday, January 4, 1965: State of the Union speech

     

     President Johnson launched a long-heralded multibillion-dollar drive tonight to create the great society "where freedom from the wants of the body can help fulfill the needs of the spirit."

     At the same time, Johnson extended an invitation to Russia's leaders to come over and learn something about us.

     Laying down his blueprint for his great society in his State of the Union message to a joint session of Congress and to the nation, the President:

     * Called for an excise tax cut which may total $2 billion.

     * Proposed a new, additional $1.5 billion aid-to-education program carrying help from the primary grades to graduate schools.

     * Plugged again for medical care for aged under social security and for a stepped-up war on poverty.

     * Demanded federal action to eliminate all voting restrictions aimed at Negroes.

     * Recommended standby legislative procedures to allow instant income tax cuts in the event of a recession.

     * Pledged to support repeal of section 14B of the Taft-Hartley Act authorizing state right -to-work laws.

     The unusual evening time chosen for delivery of the message assured President Johnson of the widest possible television and radio audience, coming as it did during "prime time."

-- Story from New York Daily News: @

-- UPI photo from U.S. House of Representatives: @

* Text of speech (LBJ Library): @

* Video: (LBJ Library): @

* Summary (www.history.com): @

* Summary (www.realclearpolitics.com): @

* New York Times story: @

* "Johnson Asks Excise Tax Cut" (Associated Press): @

* "LBJ, Congress Head Down Road to 'Great Society' " (Associated Press): @

* "The Week That Was" (Associated Press, January 10 and January 17): @ and @

* "Will Congress Nail Down the Great Society? ... Maybe" (Life magazine, January 15): @

* Earlier post on first "Great Society" speeches (May 1964): @ 

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