1957 - Political Events

Political Events

Britain's discredited prime minister (PM) Sir Anthony Eden resigns January 9. (Maurice) Harold Macmillan, 62, of the publishing family heads a new cabinet and will be PM until 1963. He and President Eisenhower meet in the Bermuda Conference from March 21 to 24, reestablishing the relationship strained by last year's Suez crisis. The United States agrees to make certain guided missiles available to Britain.

Soviet, East German, Czech, Bulgarian, and Romanian representatives confer at Budapest in January and issue a pronouncement that Hungary is a dictatorship of the proletariat, that she relies on Moscow and the Soviet bloc in her foreign policy, and that the Soviet garrison in Hungary is to protect Hungarians from imperialist aggression (see 1956).

Former Hungarian dictator Admiral Nikolaus Horthy de Nagybánya dies at Estoril, Portugal, February 9 at age 88; former British diplomat Robert G. Vansittart, Baron Vansittart, at Denham, Buckinghamshire, February 14 at age 75 (his warnings against the Germans before World War II went unheeded, and he has regarded his life as a failure, as his posthumous autobiography will reveal next year); former French premier Edouard Herriot dies at Lyons March 26 at age 84.

West German nuclear physicists announce April 12 that they will not cooperate in producing or testing nuclear weapons, Japan sends Moscow a note April 20 protesting Soviet nuclear tests, and the British explode their first thermonuclear bomb in the megaton range May 15 at Christmas Island in the Pacific (see Geneva Conference, 1958).

The National Committee for a Sane Nuclear Policy (SANE) is started by U.S. founders who include psychoanalyst Erich Fromm.

Sen. Joseph R. McCarthy (R. Wis.) dies of cirrhosis of the liver (or hepatitic failure) at Bethesda Naval Hospital May 2 at age 48. Senate Judiciary Committee chairman James O. (Oliver) Eastland, 52, (D. Miss.) becomes the most outspoken congressional critic of alleged communists.

Norway's Haakon VII dies of a respiratory illness at Oslo September 21 at age 85 after a 52-year reign in which he spent the years 1940 to 1945 in England. He is succeeded by his son Olav Alexander Edvard Kristian Frederik, 54, who has served as regent since 1955, when Haakon suffered an accident, and will reign until his death in 1991 as Olaf V. Norway's Labor Party is returned to power October 7.

Former German field marshal Friedrich Paulus dies of a stroke at Dresden February 1 at age 66. Captured by Soviet forces after the surrender of Stalingrad in 1943, he was released from detention in 1953 and became a lecturer on military affairs in East Germany; Bertha Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach of World War I "Big Bertha" cannon fame dies at her home in Essen September 21 at age 71; former Gestapo head Rudolph Diels accidentally shoots himself to death at Katzeneinbogen November 18 at age 56.

East German authorities appoint Berlin-born police inspector Erich Mielke, 49, head of the security agency known as the Stasi. Mielke was involved in the killing of two Berlin policemen in August 1931 during the violence attendant upon the end of the Weimar Republic, escaped to Moscow to avoid arrest, took the name Paul Bach, attended the International Lenin School for 2 years, served with the 14th International Brigade under the name Fritz Leissner during the Spanish Civil War, made his way to France after Franco's victory in 1939, was interned by the Germans in 1940, escaped, worked under false papers as a woodcutter, was caught once again by the Germans and placed in a forced-labor camp, got to the Soviet Zone in May 1945, and as head of the Stasi will use 90,000 agents and 250,000 informers to keep the East Germans in a state of terror until 1989 (see 1992).

Czechoslovakia's president Antonín Zápotocky dies at Prague November 13 at age 72 after 4 years in office.

Former British war minister Sir Leslie Hore-Belisha dies of a cerebral hemorrhage at Rheims, France, February 16 at age 63; former Royal Navy commander Lachlan D. Mackintosh, the Mackintosh of Mackintosh, at Nairn, Scotland, March 20 at age 60; World War I British naval hero and 1909 polar explorer Edward Ratcliffe, Baron Mountevans, at Golaa, Norway, August 20 at age 76.

Premier Bulganin of the USSR and Premier Zhou Enlai of the People's Republic announce January 18 that they will support Mideastern nations against Western aggression.

President Eisenhower begins a second term January 20 by extending the Truman Doctrine of 1947 to the Mideast. The president enunciates the Eisenhower Doctrine for protecting the region from communist aggression; he asks Congress to send economic aid to the Mideast and authorize him to send U.S. armed forces there if necessary. The House of Representatives votes 355 to 61 January 30 to approve the Eisenhower Doctrine.

The U.S. Army adopts the fully-automatic M-14 .30-caliber rifle to replace the heavier M-1 Garand rifle patented in 1934 and in use since 1936 (see M-16, 1967).

Saudi Arabia's king Saud arrives at Washington January 31 to discuss Mideast problems and receives a warm welcome from President Eisenhower. Israel rejects a February 2 UN resolution, introduced by the United States, calling upon her to complete her withdrawal from Egypt's Gaza Strip and other occupied Egyptian territory unless she receives more UN assurance that her own territory will be protected. Washington indicates that economic sanctions will be applied against Israel if the UN requires such action but assures Tel Aviv that it will support "free passage" through the Gulf of Aqaba. Israel announces withdrawal of her troops from the Gaza Strip and the Gulf of Aqaba area March 1 on the "assumption" that the UN Emergency Force will administer the Gaza Strip to prevent its being used for border raids and that navigation in the Gulf of Aqaba will continue.

Syria ousts three U.S. embassy officials August 13 on charges of plotting to overthrow President Shukri al-Kuwatly. Washington asks Syrian embassy officials to leave, President Eisenhower charges Moscow with trying to take over Syria, and he reaffirms the Eisenhower Doctrine September 21. The Syrian president meets at Cairo with President Nasser, he meets in Syria September 25 with the premier of Iraq and the king of Saudi Arabia, and the meetings bolster Arab solidarity.

Moscow complains to Istanbul September 11 of Turkish troop concentrations on the Syrian border; Nikita Khrushchev writes October 12 to British and European labor and socialist parties, urging them to try to stop U.S. and Turkish aggression in the Mideast; Syria declares a state of emergency October 16; and Secretary of State John F. Dulles warns Moscow against an attack on Turkey. Moscow relieves Marshal Zhukov of his duties October 26 and exiles Vyacheslav Molotov to Siberia for conspiring against Nikita Khrushchev.

A Great Leap Forward launched by Mao Zedong (Mao Tse-tung) in the People's Republic of China puts more than half a billion peasants into 24,000 "people's communes." The people are guaranteed food, clothing, shelter, and child care, but deprived of all private property.

Japanese diplomat Moru Shigemitsu dies of a heart ailment at Yugowara January 25 at age 69. Prime Minister Tanzan Ishibashi resigns in February after a brief ministry and is succeeded by his former rival Nobosuke Kishi.

Former Japanese Imperial Army colonel Kingoro Hashimoto dies of lung cancer at Tokyo June 29 at age 67. A U.S. military tribunal sentenced him to life imprisonment for atrocities committed in the 1937 rape of Nanking, but he gained release 2 years ago; former Japanese naval commander Adm. Soemu Toyoda dies at Tokyo September 22 at age 72. He was cleared of all war crimes in 1946; former Japanese militarist Shumei Okawa dies of a heart ailment near Tokyo December 24 at age 71. He was found insane in 1947 and war-crime charges against him were dismissed.

Philippines president Ramón Magsaysay is killed March 17 at age 49 along with 25 other persons in the explosion of his C-47 presidential transport plane, which then falls in flames on Mt. Bago, 22 miles north of Cebu City, where he has spoken at the commencement exercises of two universities. Magsaysay is succeeded by his vice president Carlos (Polestico) Garcia, 60, who was active in the resistance movement during World War II and is elected to a full term on the Nacionalista Party ticket later in the year. Former U.S. governor general of the Philippines (and 1914 Narcotics Act author) Francis Burton Harrison dies at Flemington, N.J., November 21 at age 83 and is buried at Manila.

Thailand's military ousts Premier Luang Phibunsongkhram, who has headed the government since 1948, permitted political parties, encouraged free speech, but countenanced widespread corruption and inefficiency (see 1958).

Malaya gains independence from Britain under the leadership of English-educated home minister Tunku (Prince) Abdul Rahman Putra Alhaj, 54, who will serve as prime minister until 1963. King (Tuanku) Abdul Rahman, now 62, has reigned as king of Negri Sembilan since the death of his father, Mohammed, in 1933 and is elected to serve as paramount ruler of the new nation for a 5-year term but will die in 1960 before completion of that term (see Malaysia, 1963).

Ghana becomes the first African state south of the Sahara to attain independence. The newly independent Gold Coast unites with the UN trust territory of British Togoland March 6, Ghana takes that name from the Sudanic empire that flourished between the 4th and 10th centuries, and Kwama N. Nkrumah, 47, begins a 15-year rule as prime minister of the Commonwealth State of Ghana.

Algerian FLN terrorists disrupt France, but President René Coty restates the government's refusal to grant independence (see 1954). The French Parlement votes Premier Bourges-Mannoury special powers July 18 to suppress the FLN (see de Gaulle, 1958).

Tunisia deposes the bey of Tunis July 25, proclaims herself a republic, and elects Habib Bourguiba president (see 1956). President Bourguiba asks for U.S. aid September 12 following border clashes with French and Algerian troops, Washington and London agree November 14 to supply small arms, and Tunisia announces November 18 that she has rejected a Soviet arms offer. Bourguiba will win election through universal suffrage in 1959, give the country a laical constitution, reduce the influence of religion on society, guarantee the rights of women, abolish polygamy and the veil, be appointed president for life in 1975, and hold office until November 1987.

Morocco's Sherifian Empire becomes the Kingdom of Morocco August 11, 5 months after signing a treaty of friendship and alliance with Tunisia (see 1956). The sultan Sidi Muhammad II becomes King Muhammad V and will reign until his death in 1961.

Canadian voters end 22 years of continuous Liberal Party rule and elect John G. (George) Diefenbaker, 61, to head a Progressive Conservative Party government that replaces the aging Louis Saint Laurent and will hold office as prime minister until 1963 (see 1958).

Guatemala's president Carlos Castillo Armas is assassinated at age 42 by a member of his guard July 26 as he and his wife prepare to enter the dining room of the presidential palace at Guatemala City (see 1954). The guard then turns the rifle on himself. Vice President Luis Arturo Gonzalez Lopez is sworn in to succeed Castillo Armas, he declares a state of siege throughout the country, basic constitutional rights are suspended, Gen. Miguel Ydigoras Fuentes is then elected president, and he continues policies favorable to the United Fruit Co., beginning a period of repression, terror, and violence that will continue for 3 decades.

British Guiana's People's Progressive Party (PPP) wins election and former prime minister Cheddi Jagan is returned to office (see 1953). The party's cofounder Forbes Burnham split along racial lines 2 years ago from the left-wing Jagan to form the more moderate People's National Congress, but although the office of prime minister will be eliminated for a few years, Jagan will head several successive governments until 1964 (see 1961).

Former Brazilian president Washington Luís dies at São Paulo August 4 at age 87, having returned from exile in Europe in 1946.

A Colombian military junta drives President Gustavo Rojas Pinilla out of office after 4 years in power and will replace him next year with former president Alberto Lleras Camargo, who served for 12 months from 1945 to 1946 and whose candidacy has been favored by a national-front coalition of Liberals and reactionaries who include the reactionary former president Laureano Eleuterio Gómez, who has returned once again from self-imposed exile in Spain.

Haitian voters elect opposition leader François "Papa Doc" Duvalier president in September (see 1956). Now 50, he reduces the size of Haiti's army and organizes a private force charged with terrorizing his alleged enemies; his chief aide Clément Barbot helps him set up the Tontons Macoutes ("Bogeymen") who will use assassination and torture to control the country (see 1961).