1960 - Political Events

Political Events

France explodes her first atomic bomb February 13 over the Sahara Desert in southwestern Algeria, joining the "atomic club" of the United States, the USSR, and Britain (see Geneva Conference, 1958). Pacifist Sorbonne nuclear physicist Francis Perrin, 57, heads the atomic energy commission that has built the device and is developing nuclear power plants. France begins a series of atmospheric nuclear tests that will continue for some years in Africa and the Pacific.

The 447-foot-long U.S. Navy submarine U.S.S. Triton puts to sea for her shakedown cruise February 16 with a crew of 176 plus six scientists and arrives back at Groton, Conn., May 10, after completing the first submerged circumnavigation of the Earth. Commanded by Annapolis graduate Capt. Edward L. Beach, now 42 (see 1943), the world's largest submarine broke the surface only briefly March 5 to transfer a sick sailor to the heavy cruiser Macon off Montevideo, went around Cape Horn as Magellan did in 1519, traveled 30,708 miles, and beginning in August assumes her duties as a radar picket vessel.

A Soviet ground-to-air missile at Sverdlovsk downs an advanced-model U.S. supersonic U-2 spy plane flying at 60,000 feet May 1 (see U-2, 1956). The Russians capture Kentucky-born CIA agent pilot Francis Gary Powers, 30, with his electronic sensing equipment; Washington admits to having sent aerial reconnaissance flights over Soviet territory, and Premier Khrushchev cancels a Paris summit meeting with President Eisenhower.

Turkey has a military coup d'état May 27, leaders of the Democrat Party, including President Celâl Bayar, are arrested, but Bayar has twice been reelected by the parliament and although he will be convicted on questionable charges of crimes against the state and sentenced to death in September of next year, the sentence will be commuted to life imprisonment. He will be released for reasons of health in 1964 (he is now 77 or 78) and pardoned in 1966.

British Labour Party leader Aneurin Bevan dies of cancer at Chesham July 6 at age 62.

Former German Air Force field marshal Albert Kesselring dies of a heart ailment at Bad Nauheim July 16 at age 74; East German president Wilhelm Pieck of a heart attack at East Berlin September 7 at age 84. His position in the German Democratic Republic is abolished; former German naval commander Erich Raeder dies at Kiel November 6 at age 84. Sentenced to life imprisonment in 1946 for his role in planning a war of aggression, he was released in September 1955.

Cyprus gains independence August 16 after 88 years of British colonial rule. The new Cypriot republic elects Archbishop Makarios (Mikhail Khristodolou Mouskos, 47) president (he was deported in March 1956 after leading opposition to the British), but Greek and Turkish interests will vie for control of the Mediterranean island (see 1964).

Soviet first deputy premier Anastas I. Mikoyan, 64, arrives at Havana February 6 and signs an agreement with Fidel Castro February 13 providing $100 million in Soviet credit to Cuba and the Soviet purchase of 5 million tons of Cuban sugar over the course of 5 years, Castro threatens June 23 to seize all American-owned property and business interests to counter U.S. "economic aggression," President Eisenhower cuts Cuba's sugar quota by 95 percent July 6 and declares that the United States will never permit a regime "dominated by international communism" to exist in the Western Hemisphere. Khrushchev threatens July 9 at Moscow to use Soviet rockets to protect Cuba from U.S. military intervention. The Monroe Doctrine of 1823 has died a "natural death," says Premier Khrushchev at a news conference July 12. Washington reaffirms the doctrine July 14 and accuses Khrushchev of trying to set up a "Bolshevik doctrine" for worldwide communist expansion. Havana nationalizes all banks and large commercial and industrial enterprises October 14. Washington imposes an embargo October 19 on all exports to Cuba except medical supplies and most foodstuffs, and Washington sends a note to the Organization of American States October 28 charging that Cuba has received substantial arms shipments from the Soviet bloc (see 1961).

El Salvador's President Lemus uses repressive measures to counter unrest among workers and is deposed in October by a military coup (see 1956; 1961).

French and Belgian colonies in Africa gain independence: French Cameroun January 1, Togo April 27 (see 1963), the Malagasy Republic (Madagascar) June 26, Independent Congo Republic June 30, Somalia (French and Italian Somaliland) July 1, Ghana July 1, Dahomey August 1, Upper Volta in August, Ivory Coast August 7, Chad August 11, Central African Republic August 13 (see 1977), Gabon August 17, Mali August 20, Niger September 3, Senegal September 5, Nigeria October 11, the Islamic Republic of Mauritania November 28.

The new Independent Congo Republic quickly dissolves into chaos: President Joseph Kasavubu and Premier Patrice (Hemery) Lumumba, 35, face a challenge from separatist Moise Kapenda Tshombe, 40, who proclaims an independent Katanga, separatist Albert Kalonji proclaims an independent Kasai, Congolese troops mutiny, Premier Lumumba appeals to the UN for aid, the UN demands withdrawal of Belgian forces, the Security Council votes to send in UN troops, Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld leads UN forces into Katanga, President Kasavubu and Premier Lumumba dismiss each other, and the Congo army commander Col. Joseph Désiré Mobutu, 30, takes over (see 1961).

Former Afghan king Amanullah dies at Zürich April 25 at age 67, having lived in exile since his abdication in 1929.

Sinhalese parliamentarian Sirimavo Bandaranaike (née Sirimavo Ratwatte Dias), 44, takes office as prime minister of Ceylon July 21, becoming the world's first elected female head of state. Widow of the late prime minister S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike, she will serve until 1965 and then again from 1970 to 1977 (Ceylon will revert to her traditional name Sri Lanka—resplendent island—in 1972).

Pakistan's president Mohammad Ayub Khan introduces a system of "basic democracies" that include primary government units set up to administer local affairs, with members of each unit elected by constituencies of between 800 and 1,000 adults (see 1958). A national referendum confirms Ayub Khan as president (see 1965).

Arabist Harry St. John Philby dies of a heart attack at Beirut October 1 at age 75, saying to his son Kim, "God, I'm bored." A longtime friend and adviser of Saudi Arabia's late king ibn Saud, the elder Philby was ordered out of the kingdom 5 years ago for his outspoken criticism but was allowed to return the following year.

South Korea's president Synghman Rhee wins election to a fourth term March 15 (he ran unopposed), police fire on demonstrators at Seoul protesting the "rigged" elections April 19, 127 are reported killed, Rhee resigns April 27, and new elections are held July 29 (see 1961).

Japan's prime minister Nobosuke Kishi asks President Eisenhower June 16 to cancel a scheduled visit following 3 weeks of anti-American protest demonstrations by leftist groups. U.S. and Japanese diplomats have signed a treaty of mutual security and cooperation January 19 at Washington, the Japanese Diet approves the treaty June 19, and it takes effect June 23. Prime Minister Kishi resigns in July and is succeeded by former finance minister Hayato Ikeda, now 60, who sets a goal of doubling the national income in 10 years and launches a program based on increased spending in the public sector while keeping inflation at bay and interest rates low.

Japanese Socialist Party leader Inajiro Asanuma, 61, is assassinated on a public stage at Tokyo October 12 by a 17-year-old right-wing extremist with a foot-long sword. Asanuma has supported the U.S.-Japanese mutual-defense treaty.

Former Canadian prime minister Arthur Meighen dies at Toronto August 5 at age 86.

The U.S. Navy receives delivery of its first F-4 Phantom II fighter jet. Built by McDonell Aircraft and powered by two General Electric turbojet engines, the two-seat plane is 58 feet three inches long, has a wingspan of 38 feet five inches, can accelerate to more than twice the speed of sound, has an operating ceiling of more than 50,000 feet, will be used by the Air Force beginning in 1963, and will remain in production until 1979, by which time more than 5,000 will have been built. The Air Corps receives delivery of the delta-winged Convair B-58 Hustler, the first operational supersonic bomber (it has a huge, jettisonable pod beneath its fuselage in which to carry its nuclear weapon and most of its fuel).

Former Louisiana governor Earl K. Long wins election to Congress but dies at Alexandria September 5 at age 65, having been declared a paranoiac schizophrenic and placed in a mental hospital in May of last year at the request of his long-suffering wife, Blanche, held there forcibly with police assistance, but gained release by dismissing the hospital's superintendent and appointed politically favorable medical officers. "When I die—if I die—I want to be buried in Louisiana so I can stay active in politics," he has said; Boston lawyer Joseph N. Welch dies of heart disease at Hyannis, Mass., October 6 at age 69 less than 6 years after the U.S. Senate passed a resolution condemning the late Sen. Joseph McCarthy of misconduct.

Sen. John F. Kennedy (D. Mass.) gains the Democratic Party's presidential nomination at the convention in Chicago, beating out Adlai E. Stevenson, now 60, and Senate Majority Leader Lyndon B. Johnson, now 51, whom Kennedy selects as his running mate. Kennedy's father, Joseph P., is one of America's 12 richest men, he has spent liberally to win every primary election, and he uses his money to help the young senator beat Vice President Nixon in key election districts. Now 43, Kennedy wins election, but the first Roman Catholic president-elect squeaks in with a margin of only 113,057 popular votes out of more than 69 million cast; 502,773 votes go to minority party candidates, including Sen. Harry F. Byrd Jr., 45 (D. Va.), who captures 15 electoral votes. Nixon receives 219 electoral votes to Kennedy's 303, and although there are suggestions of fraud in the Chicago vote, Illinois has only 27 electoral votes and adding them to the Republican column would make no difference in the final result. Nixon announces that he will forego demanding a recount "for the good of the country"; President Eisenhower has refused to support any challenge, and Attorney General William P. Rogers has told Nixon that there was no realistic ground for a challenge since there were also irregularities in downstate Illinois voting precincts that went Republican.

South Vietnam's president Ngo Dinh Diem regains power November 12 following a coup by a paratroop brigade at Saigon (see 1955). Dissident groups meet secretly December 20 as Diem assumes dictatorial powers to combat a communist insurgency; collectively called the Vietcong (Vietnamese Communists), they organize the National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam (see 1962).