1955 - Political Events

Political Events

Moscow recognizes the independence of West Germany January 15 and Soviet Premier Georgi M. Malenkov resigns February 8. His successor Marshal Nikolai Aleksandrovich Bulganin, 59, reaffirms Sino-Soviet ties and appoints Marshal Georgi K. Zhukov, now 59, minister of defense. The presidium of the Supreme Soviet cancels treaties of friendship with Britain and France May 7, West Germany becomes a sovereign state and is admitted to NATO May 9, having regained the right to maintain armed forces. East Germany is among the eight European communist powers that sign the Warsaw Pact May 14 in opposition to NATO.

The U.S.S. Nautilus launched January 21 at Groton, Conn., is the world's first nuclear-powered submarine. Built at the insistence of Russian-born Rear Admiral Hyman G. (George) Rickover, 54, with enthusiastic support from Sen. Henry M. "Scoop" Jackson, 39 (D. Wash.), it has been preceded by the Soviet ice-breaker Lenin, a nuclear-powered surface vessel (see 1954).

The B-52 Stratofortress deployed by the U.S. Air Combat Command in February ratchets up the cold-war arms race. The long-range heavy bomber can fly at 650 miles per hour (Mach 0.86) at an altitude of up to 50,000 feet, travel 8,800 miles without refueling, and carry about 70,000 pounds of bombs, mines, and missiles. Dwarfing anything in the Soviet arsenal, the Boeing aircraft is large (185 feet wide, 40 feet high, with four engines under each wing) and can carry four nuclear bombs. It is the first large plane with swept-bank wings, it will go through eight changes that will transform it from a long-distance nuclear bomber to a carrier of non-nuclear laser and GPS-guided ordnance that can fly as low as 400 feet or as high as six miles, and although it will see little use in this decade or the next it will serve as the backbone of U.S. air power for at least half a century.

Former Italian general Rodolfo Graziani dies at Rome January 11 at age 72; former Hungarian president Count Mihály Károlyi at Vence, France, March 20 at age 80; former German minister of war Otto Gessler at Lindenberg March 24 at age 80 (he has been head of the Bavarian and German Red Cross organizations since 1945).

France's Mendès-France government falls February 5 over the question of North- African insurgency. Edgar Faure, 46, forms a new cabinet February 23.

Britain's prime minister Winston Churchill resigns April 5 at age 81 and is succeeded by former secretary of state for foreign affairs Sir Anthony Eden, 57.

Austria formally regains her sovereignty July 27 by the Treaty of Vienna after signing a pledge of neutrality; British and French occupation troops withdraw.

Turkey and Iran sign a defense agreement to prevent Soviet penetration of the Mideast (see 1953), but Egypt announces September 27 that she will accept an offer of Soviet arms. Representatives of Britain, Iran, Iraq, Turkey, and Pakistan attend the first meeting of Baghdad Pact nations November 22 and set up a Mideast Treaty Organization (see Iraq, 1948). Britain and the United States offer $70 million December 17 to start work on Egypt's Aswan Dam, designed by Scottish civil engineer Murdoch MacDonald, now 90 (but see 1956; energy, 1960).

French authorities in Morocco permit the sultan Muhammad V to return from exile in November (see 1953). Acts of terrorism have increased during his absence (see 1956).

Liberian troops hunt down former presidential crony S. David Coleman and his son John, who have allegedly plotted to overthrow President William V. S. Tubman and are killed June 27 (see 1944). Few people attend the Coleman funerals lest they be considered sympathizers, and the country amends its constitution to permit Tubman to remain in office well beyond the two-term limit. Tubman will win reelection repeatedly despite charges that he is too subservient to U.S. interests.

The first Pugwash Conference opens at the Nova Scotia hometown of U.S. industrialist Cyrus S. Eaton, now 71, who seeks to establish friendly relations with the Soviet Union and other communist nations.

Right-wing congressman Francis E. Walter (D. Pa.) becomes chairman of the House Un-American Affairs Committee (see McCarran-Walter Immigration Act, 1952). Now 61, he is less menacing than Sen. Joseph McCarthy in pursuit of the theory that Soviet agents have infiltrated the nation's educational, entertainment, government, and religious establishments. Walter insists that the "Reds" present a greater threat to America than the Nazis did in World War II, and witnesses who fail to answer his committee's questions receive contempt of Congress citations.

Former U.S. secretary of state Cordell Hull of 1930s "Good Neighbor Policy" fame dies at Bethesda, Md., July 23 at age 83.

South Vietnam has civil war beginning at Saigon April 28 (see 1954). Supporters of Premier Ngo Dinh Diem defeat supporters of former premier Bao Dai and force Binh Xuyen rebels out of the capital May 2 after 5 days of heavy fighting. Diem asks France to move her troops to the northern frontier for action against the communist Vietminh or to withdraw completely; Paris agrees May 20 to deploy troops against the Vietminh. Beijing (Peking) promises North Vietnam $338 million in economic aid July 7 in an agreement with President Ho Chi Minh. Bao Dai, now 40, asserts his claim to power by dismissing Premier Diem October 18, but Bao Dai has hunted tigers and collected mistresses rather than attend to his minimal duties. Diem refuses to resign and gains U.S. support, a referendum October 23 gives him an overwhelming vote over the "playboy emperor," he proclaims a South Vietnamese Republic October 26 with himself as president, and Bao Dai is deposed, ending the monarchy as he goes off to live in luxury on the French Riviera (see 1960).

Former Japanese war minister Jiro Minami dies at Tokyo December 6 at age 81; Gen. Frank D. Merrill of World War II Merrill's Marauders fame of a heart ailment at a Fernandina Beach, Fla., motel December 11 at age 52.

Perónist power in Argentina ends September 19 as a military junta stages a coup that overthrows dictator Juan Perón after 9 years in which Perón has created Latin America's first and only labor movement, a force of considerable economic and political power. Perón has nationalized Argentina's British-owned railroads and established a "Third World" bloc in international affairs but has lost popularity since his suppression of La Prensa in 1951 and the death of his wife, Eva, the following year. He goes into exile, first in Paraguay, then in Nicaragua (see 1973).

Former Mexican president Manuel Avila Camacho dies of a heart ailment on his ranch outside Mexico City October 13 at age 58, having remained a powerful political force since leaving office in 1946.

Cook County Democratic Party chairman Richard J. Daley, 53, wins the Chicago mayoralty race and begins a 21-year career as mayor of the second largest U.S. city. A machine politician in the old tradition, Daley will use patronage to control the Illinois state vote and obtain tax breaks and zoning-law favors for real estate interests and others that support him.