1961 - Political Events
Political Events
President John F. Kennedy takes office January 20 with an inaugural address that includes the words, "Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and success of liberty . . . And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country. My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man."
President Kennedy authorizes the CIA January 28 to proceed with former president Dwight Eisenhower's plan to invade Cuba with an army of 1,200 exiles. Fidel Castro has demanded that the U.S. embassy staff at Havana be reduced to 11; Washington has severed diplomatic relations January 3 (see 1960). Castro merges his 26th of July Movement into the Organizaciones Revolucionarias Integredas, but Cubans emigrate in droves and two major Cuban opposition groups set up a revolutionary council at New York in late March with former premier José Miro Cardona as president. He urges all Cubans to revolt against Castro, and Foreign Minister Raul Roa charges at the UN April 15 that U.S. and Latin American forces are preparing to invade Cuba. Sen. Fulbright and others have advised President Kennedy against an invasion. The CIA's budget for what was intended to be a covert operation has mushroomed from $4.4 million to $46 million, but few of the agency's officers in charge of training speak Spanish or have Latin-American background knowledge; the invasion force has been poorly trained by the CIA in Florida, Louisiana, Nicaragua, and Guatemala; the agency has failed to advise the White House that success of the operation has become dubious.
CIA pilots flying B-26 bombers destroy some Cuban war planes on the ground April 15, but President Kennedy has refused to approve a full U.S. air strike against Cuba's air force. Some 1,500 Cuban exiles land at Playa Girón near the Bahia de los Cochinos April 17 in an inept and ill-supported effort to overthrow the Castro government, whose communist government just 90 miles from the Florida coast is considered a beachhead for Soviet influence in the Western Hemisphere. Fidel Castro has been alerted to the coming invasion by his newly-established secret intelligence agency (the Dirección de Inteligencia, or DGI), created with help from the Soviet KGB. Premier Khrushchev demands April 18 that the invasion of Cuba be halted, he promises to aid Cuba, President Kennedy replies that the United States will not permit outside military intervention, a U.S. M-41 tank destroys a Cuban ambulance with one round, the commandos take no prisoners, and Castro's forces repel the invaders, of whom 114 are killed and 1,189 captured (the others either have not landed or make their way back to safety with help from two U.S. rescue teams and Cuban frogmen). The Bay of Pigs invasion ends in disaster and embarrassment for the United States. "Victory has a hundred fathers," Kennedy says, "but defeat is an orphan." Premier Castro has had former colleagues rounded up for speaking out against him and many of them are executed at Havana April 19. President Kennedy asserts April 20 that the United States will take steps to halt communist expansion if U.S. security is threatened; Premier Castro calls Cuba a "socialist country" May 1; he announces May 17 that Cuba will exchange prisoners taken at the Bay of Pigs for 500 U.S. bulldozers, but negotiations break down June 30. President Kennedy gives approval November 3 to a covert CIA plan (Operation Mongoose) headed by his 35-year-old brother Robert as attorney general to rid Cuba of Castro, and Castro declares himself a Marxist-Leninist December 2; he announces formation of a united party to bring communism to Cuba (see 1962).
El Salvador has another military coup in January (see 1960). Lieut. Col. Julio Adalberto Rivera takes power, will be elected president next year, and will dismantle the Partido Revolucionario de Unificación Democrática organized by Oscar Osario, replacing it with the Partido de Conciliación Nacional (National Conciliation Party) that will control the government for the next 18 years.
Idealistic U.S. men and women with college degrees sign up for the Peace Corps of Young Americans for Overseas Service, created March 1 by President Kennedy. The president's Westminster, Md.-born brother-in-law (Robert) Sargent Shriver, 45, heads the Peace Corps, whose volunteers will work to improve education, agriculture, and living standards in Latin America, Asia, Africa, Oceania, and—eventually—Eastern Europe.
Dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo is killed on the outskirts of Ciudad Trujillo May 30 at age 70 by an eight-man assassination team that has caught the generalissimo unguarded on a deserted stretch of highway; he has controlled Dominican Republic directly or indirectly since 1930, using his position to suppress opposition, seize property, and amass a fortune estimated at about $500 million. Ciudad Trujillo is renamed Santo Domingo, but the coup attempt fails, Trujillo's son Ramfis takes over, and by late November most of the assassins are tortured and killed along with their families. Ramfi flees under U.S. military guard November 19, but his departure does not restore democracy (see 1965).
Haiti's president François "Papa Doc" Duvalier manipulates legislative elections to have his term extended to 1967 (see 1957). Stricken with a heart attack 2 years ago, he had his chief aid Clément Barbot imprisoned after his recovery, the corruption in his regime and its repressive measures precipitate a cutoff of U.S. aid, Barbot is released from prison and tries to lead an insurrection, and Duvalier has him murdered during the summer (see 1963).
British Guiana achieves full internal self government, and her minister of trade and industry Cheddi Jagan regains his office as prime minister following the election victory of his People's Progressive Party (PPP) by a narrow margin (see 1957). Half the country's population is of East Indian origin and votes as a bloc for Jagan, but his efforts to establish a socialist economy within a framework of parliamentary democracy will put him at odds with both London and Washington, a long general strike will disrupt the country's economy, and major riots will impel the British to station troops as they did in 1953 (see 1964).
President Kennedy and Premier Khrushchev confer at Vienna from June 3 to 4 and issue a joint communiqué reaffirming support for the neutrality of Laos and stating that they have discussed disarmament, a nuclear test ban, and the German question, but Kennedy is in poor health and Khrushchev concludes that he is weak. A Soviet memorandum issued June 4 urges the demilitarization of Berlin. Premier Khrushchev declares June 15 that Moscow will conclude a treaty by year's end and "rebuff" any Western move to enforce rights of access to West Berlin. London, Paris, and Washington reject Soviet proposals to make Berlin a free city. Kennedy delivers a national address July 25 proposing a 217,000-man increase in the armed forces and a $3.4 billion boost in defense spending to meet the "world-wide Soviet threat."
East German authorities close the border between East and West Berlin August 13, and the Berlin Wall erected in late August stops movement from East Berlin to West Berlin. The East German parliament has put up the high concrete wall in response to a communiqué from Warsaw Pact nations appealing for a halt in the mass exodus of East Berliners that has embarrassed communist regimes as 2,300 per day cross from east to west, with most of the emigrés young, educated people. Some 1,500 troops enter Berlin in mid-August to reinforce the Western garrison, East Berlin authorities block entry of U.S. civilians October 26, demanding that they show identity papers, U.S. and Soviet tanks move briefly to the Friedrichstrasse crossing point but are withdrawn October 28. Maltese-born British occupation force commander Gen. Rohan Delacombe, 54, will be credited with having prevented panic among the city's civilians and defused tensions between Allied and Soviet forces. Premier Khrushchev declares November 7 that he is willing to postpone settlement of the Berlin issue.
The Hudson Institute founded at Croton-on-Hudson, N.Y., is a right-wing "think tank" whose mission is to examine domestic social and economic issues and think about the future in unconventional ways. Bayonne, N.J.-born mathematician, physicist, and political scientist Herman Kahn, 39, worked as a mathematician for the Rand Corp. at Santa Monica, Calif., from 1948 until last year and has joined with New York-born lawyers Max Singer, 29, and Oscar M. (Melick) Ruebhausen, 49, to start the group that will move to Indianapolis after Kahn's death in 1983.
American Communist Party chairman Eugene Dennis dies at New York January 31 at age 55, but his party is virtually defunct; former Communist Party member Whittaker Chambers dies of a heart attack on his farm outside Westminster, Md., July 9 at age 60; labor organizer and U.S. Communist Party leader William Z. Foster at Moscow September 1 at age 80.
The Soviet Union resumes nuclear weapons testing September 2 after tripartite negotiations to ban such testing break down over the issue of verification with on-site inspections. The United States resumes underground testing September 15. A Joint Statement of Agreed Principles for Disarmament Negotiations signed September 20 by Soviet ambassador to the United Nations Valerian A. Zorin and U.S. ambassador John J. McCloy, now 67, outlines a program for general and complete disarmament, but Moscow resumes atmospheric testing October 30: a thermonuclear device tested in the Novaya Zemlya area off northern Russia creates a shock wave that circles the earth in 36 hours, 27 minutes. Experts estimate the power of the device at 58 megatons (57 million tons of trinitrotoluene—TNT) and two more shock waves follow the first.
Former Albanian king Zog I (Ahmed Zogou) dies at Suresnes, France, April 9 at age 65; former French premier Paul Ramadier at Rodez October 14 at age 83; former Italian president Luigi Einaudi at Rome October 30 at age 87.
CIA director Allen W. Dulles resigns November 29 and is succeeded by San Francisco-born construction magnate John A. McCone, 59, a hard-line Republican who has been chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission and will head the agency until 1965, working with Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy to control covert activities while upgrading the agency's status within the foreign policy and intelligence community.
Gen. Walter Bedell Smith (ret.) dies at Washington, D.C., August 9 at age 65. He served as Gen. Eisenhower's chief of staff from September 1942 until the end of World War II and headed the CIA from late 1950 to early 1953; federal judge Learned Hand dies at New York August 18 at age 89; former diplomat Sumner Welles at Bernardsville, N.J., September 24 at age 68; former House Speaker Samuel Taliaferro "Sam" Rayburn of cancer at Bonham, Texas, November 16 at age 79, having served as confidant to Presidents Roosevelt, Truman, Eisenhower, and Kennedy (a new Senate office building will be named in his honor); former first lady Edith Wilson dies at Washington, D.C., December 28 at age 89.
Iraq's Kurds revolt against the government of Abdul al-Karim Qasim, who promised when he took over the government in 1958 and proclaimed a republic that he would grant the Kurds a degree of autonomy (see 1963).
Syrian troops revolt September 28. The revolutionary command sets up a civilian government and proclaims independence from the United Arab Republic September 29.
Turkey establishes a second republic following a referendum and adopts a new constitution that establishes a bicameral legislature and a strong executive with promises of land reform as well as economic and social reforms: no party wins a majority in the October elections, the new General Assembly elects Gen. Cemal Gürsel president, and former premier Ismet Inönü is returned to office as head of a coalition government (but see 1963).
President Kennedy approves a counterinsurgency plan for Vietnam January 28 and in April sends a force of Green Berets that will grow to number 16,000; he sends 500 military advisers to South Vietnam in May to recommend a course of action for that country's battle against the Vietcong rebels who have infiltrated from communist North Vietnam. Des Moines-born State Department official George W. (Wildman) Ball, 51, warns the president not to become more involved in the Vietnam conflict, but Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson visits South Vietnam and recommends strong U.S. commitment to support the South Vietnamese effort. The State Department issues a report in June stating three objectives for U.S. policy: provide military support for peasants, convince South Vietnam's president Ngo Dinh Diem to implement social and economic reforms, and create a self-sustaining economy in South Vietnam. Kennedy increases the number of U.S. advisers in Vietnam from 1,000 to 16,000 November 14, he dispatches 18,000 advisers 4 days later, and a U.S. aircraft carrier soon arrives at Saigon with helicopters. There is a "clear and present danger" of communist aggression in Vietnam, the State Department reports in December, and Kennedy implements a Strategic Hamlet program of rural pacification, surrounding villages with barbed wire and guard towers to keep the Vietcong out of schools, community hospitals, and peasant homes (see 1962).
China's Premier Zhou Enlai walks out of a Soviet party congress at Moscow October 23, heralding a break in Sino-Soviet relations.
The African charter of Casablanca proclaimed January 7 announces that a NATO-like organization of African states will be established by the heads of state of Ghana, Guinea, Mali, Morocco, and the United Arab Republic, who have been meeting at Casablanca.
Former Congolese premier Patrice Lumumba is killed in Katanga Province January 17 at age 35, the Katanga government announces his death February 13, saying that hostile tribesmen murdered him, but Moscow charges UN Secretary-General Hammarskjöld with having been an "accomplice" in the murder. The UN Security Council demands an inquiry into Lumumba's death and urges use of force to prevent civil war in the Congo. Col. Mobutu returns power to President Kasavubu. The United States of the Congo is founded May 12 with her capital at Leopoldville as hostilities continue in the Congo.
UN Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld is killed September 18 at age 56 when his plane crashes in the Congo en route to a meeting with the governor of Katanga Moise Tshombe, whose army is fighting UN forces attempting to disarm Katanga troops. Burmese diplomat U Thant, 52, has served as acting secretary general and ordered UN commanders in the Congo to take all necessary action to restore the UN position at the Katanga capital of Elizabethville. He is unanimously elected to succeed Hammarskjöld November 3 and will hold the post until 1972. A cease-fire takes effect December 21.
Rwanda (Ruanda-Urundi in the former Belgian Congo) proclaims herself a republic January 28 and Gregoire Kayibanda is proclaimed president October 26 following new elections that have given power to the Hutu party (see 1960; Burundi, 1962).
Morocco's Muhammad V dies at Rabat February 26 at age 51 after minor surgery on his nose; having reigned as sultan since 1927 and king since 1957, he is succeeded by his 31-year-old son Moulay Hassan Muhammad ibn Yusuf, who rankled at the slow pace of government early last year, was made deputy prime minister in May, has actively run the country since then, and will reign until 1999 as Hassan II, suppressing dissent with brutal oppression.
Algiers is seized April 21 by insurgent French troops led by Gen. Maurice Challe, loyal French troops crush the insurrection and reoccupy the city April 26, the rebel leaders are tried and convicted July 11, and Gen. Salan and others are sentenced in absentia to death as Algerian independence talks proceed (see 1958). French police arrest Algerian nationalist Djamila Boupacha, 19, on charges of having bombed a café near the University of Algiers. She will be tortured in prison and sexually abused before her release through a general amnesty next year but will continue to fight for independence (see 1962).
Sierra Leone gains independence April 27 (the East African monarchy will become a republic in 1971). Diamonds were discovered in the country's Kono district in 1930, British colonial authorities tried at the time to seal off the region and restrict mining operations to government-sponsored private monopolies, but the diamonds are widely scattered in rivers and streams, not embedded deep underground, illegal mining has become rampant, and illegal diamonds may account for as much as 20 percent of world diamond production (see commerce, 1972; civil war, 1992).
Tanganyika gains full internal self-government May 1, with Julius Kambarage Nyerere, 39, as premier (see Tanzania, 1964).
Angola begins an insurrection against the Portuguese; hostilities will continue until Lisbon offers independence in 1974.
South Africa severs her ties with the British Commonwealth May 31 and becomes a republic with Charles R. Swart as president (see human rights [Sharpeville massacre], 1960). Ghana refuses to recognize the new Afrikaner-controlled republic, whose prime minister H. F. Verwoerd survived an attempt on his life last year (see 1958; human rights, 1963).
The Maharanee of Jaipur wins election to India's Parliament by one of the largest pluralities in the nation's history. Born in London 42 years ago, raised in the Himalayan foothills, and educated both in England, at a Swiss finishing school, and at Shantiniketan University in Bolpur, Tayatri Devi studied shorthand and typing before her marriage to the maharajah in 1940 and has started Jaipur's first public school for girls. She has fought against purdah—the traditional concealment of women.
A South Korean military junta overthrows the democratic government May 16. The "anticommunist" junta decrees absolute military dictatorship June 6, and Gen. Chung Hee Park, 44, takes over July 3, beginning a repressive regime that will continue even after his assassination in 1979.
Philippines president Carlos Garcia loses his bid for reelection to Liberal and Progressive coalition candidate Diosdado Macapagal, 51, who has campaigned against the political corruption that has been rampant in the islands and wins by a landslide. A lawyer who helped the resistance against Japanese occupation authorities, Macapagal will serve until 1965, pushing through the country's first land-reform legislation against opposition by the Nacionalistas who continue to dominate the legislature, placing the peso on the free currency-exchange market, and working (albeit ineffectually) to stimulate the economy, curb tax evasion, and root out graft. Pardido Nacionalista founder and former Philippines president Sergio Osmeña dies at Manila October 19 at age 83.
The Twenty-Third Amendment to the U.S. Constitution ratified March 29 allows Washington, D.C., residents to vote in presidential elections and provides for congressional representation of the district, whose population is now largely black.
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