1962 - Political Events
Political Events
The Organization of American States (OAS) ousts Cuba from membership January 22 following pressure from Washington; Premier Castro issues a Second Declaration of Havana February 2, calling on all Latin American people to rise up against imperialism.
Soviet authorities release U.S. espionage pilot Gary Powers February 10 in exchange for Soviet espionage agent Col. Rudolf Abel, who has been in U.S. hands since 1957 (see Powers, 1960).
President Kennedy's wife, Jacqueline, arrives at New Delhi March 12 on a 2-week goodwill tour, accompanied by her sister Lee (Princess Stanislaus) Radziwill. Mrs. Kennedy has come from Rome, where she was received in a private audience by Pope John XXIII and conversed with him in fluent French. FBI director J. Edgar Hoover has lunch in private with President Kennedy March 22 and advises him that the Bureau has 70 recordings of wiretapped telephone calls to JFK from 28-year-old New York-born Los Angeles divorcée Judith Campbell (née Inmoor), who was introduced to JFK by Frank Sinatra at Las Vegas in 1960 and has been phoning JFK to arrange trysts. She is also sleeping with Chicago mob boss Sam Giancana, now 63, and Giancana's Las Vegas associate Johnny Roselli, says Hoover, and they have been involved in the CIA's efforts to assassinate Cuba's Fidel Castro. Kennedy breaks off the relationship with a phone call that afternoon, and it will remain a secret until 1975.
South Vietnamese forces launch "Operation Sunrise" March 22 to eliminate Vietcong guerrillas. U.S. military personnel in the country have grown by January to number 2,646 and help the South Vietnamese with arms and money (see 1961). The international control commission on Indochina reports June 2 that North Vietnam is supplying the Vietcong rebels in violation of the 1954 Geneva agreement on Vietnam, but although the commission has Canadian, Indian, and Polish representatives the Poles do not sign the report; escalation of U.S. involvement draws criticism from the U.S. press, but by year's end the U.S. military presence has grown to 11,300 (see 1963).
The Cuban missile crisis in October produces a tense nuclear confrontation between Washington and Moscow that comes perilously close to an exchange of nuclear weapons and marks a turning point in the Cold War (see 1961). The National Security Agency has since late 1960 been intercepting messages concerning Soviet ships bound for Havana with cargo manifests suspiciously left blank, it has been clear since mid-1961 that such ships were delivering tanks, IL-28 light bombers, MiG-15, -17, and -19 fighter planes, and Czech-built weaponry. U.S. aerial surveillance has discovered Soviet offensive missile and bomber bases in Cuba, CIA analysts in August have observed construction of sites for SA-2 surface-to-air missiles that can shoot down U-2 photographic reconnaissance planes, the NSA in September has reported the first operation of an SA-2-related radar system. It reports October 10 that Cuba's air-defense system appears complete, a CIA U-2 plane makes a reconnaissance flight October 14 and returns undamaged, an analysis of its photographs October 15 reveals that Soviet engineers are preparing sites for SS-4 medium-range ballistic missiles. President Kennedy convenes secret meetings of his senior military, diplomatic, and political advisers, he announces the U-2 findings on television October 22 and proclaims an air and sea "quarantine" of Cuba to prevent shipment of arms to Fidel Castro, but he resists pressures from Pentagon officials and CIA director John A. McCone to invade the island, "take out" the missiles, and replace the Castro regime. President Kennedy takes State Department official George Ball's advice and establishes a naval blockade of Cuba. The CIA expresses doubts that the missiles are armed with nuclear warheads (it will be learned only 30 years hence that there are 162 such warheads and that Castro and Che Guevara have urged their use against U.S. targets). Some 43,000 Russians are in northern Cuba, Soviet field commanders have authority to use the missiles if U.S. forces invade Cuba, but former Stalinist Anastas I. Mikoyan, now 67, advises restraint. Ambassador Adlai Stevenson at the United Nations in New York says October 25 that the United States has proof that Moscow has set up missile installations in Cuba and is prepared to present it in the council chamber. He says the weapons must be removed from Cuba and asks the Soviet Union's chief UN delegate Valerian A. Zorin to admit that the missiles are in Cuba. Says Zorin, "I am not in an American courtroom, sir, and therefore I do not wish to answer a question that is put to me in the fashion in which a prosecutor does. In due course, you will have your reply." To which Stevenson snaps, "Yes or no, don't wait for the translation, yes or no?" Zorin refuses to be hectored and says the answer will be forthcoming; Stevenson says he is prepared to wait for an answer "until hell freezes over if that is your decision, and I am also prepared to present the evidence in this room."
Fidel Castro cables Nikita Khrushchev October 26 demanding a Soviet strike against the United States, Attorney General Kennedy meets with Ambassador Anataoly F. (Fedorovich) Dobrynin, 41, at his embassy and learns that Moscow will withdraw the missiles from Cuba if U.S. nuclear missiles are withdrawn from Turkey, President Kennedy rejects the deal when Premier Khrushchev offers it publicly October 28, U.S. general Lauris J. Norstad opposes quick removal of the 15 obsolescent Jupiter rockets from Turkey, Norstad is unexpectedly retired from his post as NATO commander, Khrushchev agrees to dismantle the Cuban missile sites and remove them, the Cuban blockade ends, and the U.S. missiles in Turkey will be quietly removed early next year. Diplomatic finesse has resolved the crisis, many will misinterpret the outcome as proof that "hanging tough" can make the Russians back down, and it will be decades before the world knows just how close it came to a nuclear exchange that would have obliterated Cuba and killed some 80 million Americans.
Massachusetts voters elect President Kennedy's 30-year-old brother Edward M. (Moore) Kennedy to the Senate seat vacated by JFK when he took office as president early last year. Young Ted has had little political experience but his father, Joseph P. Kennedy, has outspent all rivals to give the youngest Kennedy son "his turn" (see 1969).
A military coup in Burma March 2 ousts Prime Minister U Nu, who has served since the country gained independence in 1948. Gen. U Ne Win, now 51, takes over with support from former freedom fighter San Yu, 45, and will effectively rule the country until 1990, stifling democratic opposition, jailing hundreds of political leaders without trials, and turning the prosperous country into one of the world's poorest nations; U Nu goes into exile in India and will not return until July 1980 (see 1981).
India's prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru issues orders October 12 that the army is to free all Indian territory of "Chinese intruders." A border dispute between the two countries has involved some military skirmishing since 1959, but Chinese forces invade northern India October 19, defeating the Indian Army and penetrating well beyond the border region before withdrawing from most of the invaded area and establishing a demilitarized buffer zone. Pakistan's president Mohammad Ayub Khan establishes close relations to Beijing (Peking) and receives substantial military aid.
Civil war threatens in the Independent Congo Republic following President Joseph Kasavubu's repudiation of the Fundamental Law of May 1960 (see 1961). Fighting breaks out at Stanleyville January 13, UN Secretary-General U Thant orders UN troops in Congo to stop the fighting, the Katanga Assembly agrees February 15 to reunite Katanga with Congo, but new fighting breaks out in October between Katanga troops and the forces of the central government (see 1965).
An organization of African states is established in early February by leaders of 20 nations meeting at Lagos, Nigeria. Ghana, Guinea, Mali, Morocco, and the United Arab Republic boycott the Lagos meeting; their ministers meet at Casablanca in April and agree to set up an African common market.
Ghana's Kwame N. Nkrumah declares a general amnesty for refugees May 5 and orders the release of many political prisoners.
Burundi in Central Africa gains full independence from Belgium July 1 with a monarchy dominated by the Tutsi (Batusi and Watusi) minority. Attempts to overthrow the government by Hutu tribesmen will fail, and Tutsi from Burundi will attack Rwanda until 1967.
Algeria's rebel provisional government receives no invitation to Lagos and violence continues there (see 1961); the head of the illegal Secret Army Organization (OAS) has issued a manifesto calling for mobilization of Algerians against a cease-fire with France. Paris proclaims Algerian independence July 3 after a national referendum in which the Algerians have voted for independence by nearly 6 million to 16,534. Leaders of the provisional government have a falling out that leads to civil war, but in late September the national assembly asks Mohammed Ahmed Ben Bella, 46, to form a cabinet, and he will be Algeria's president until 1965.
Eritrea becomes an integral part of Ethiopia after 10 years of union on a federal basis (see 1952), but hostilities will persist between Muslim Eritreans and Christian Ethiopians (see 1993).
Uganda becomes an independent state within the British Commonwealth October 9. The country includes five kingdoms, the largest of them being Buganda, and adopts a federal form of government to overcome the reluctance of Buganda's king Sir Edward Mutesa II to abandon the privileged position of his tribe and his country, but conflict will continue between President Mutesa and Milton Obote, 38 (see 1966).
Tanganyika becomes a republic December 9 with Julius K. Nyerere as president (see 1961; 1964).
Western Samoa gains independence January 1 after more than 47 years of New Zealand colonial rule.
Indonesian police arrest former prime minister Sutan Sjahrir January 17 on charges of conspiracy to overthrow the government. Now 52, he will be held without trial until 1965, when he will be allowed to travel to Switzerland for treatment after suffering a stroke.
Jamaica, B.W.I., gains full independence August 6; veteran political leader Alexander Bustamante, 79, will serve as prime minister until 1967.
Trinidad and Tobago gains independence August 31 (see 1889). Historian-politician Eric Eustace Williams, 51, will serve as prime minister until his death in 1981.
The Tupamaro guerrilla group founded by Uruguayan leftist Raul Sendic, 37, begins a Latin American insurgency movement whose activities will include assassinations, bombings, kidnappings, and robbery on behalf of the poor.
Two-time German Weimar Republic chancellor Hans Luther dies at Düsseldorf March 10 at age 83; former first lady and U.S. envoy to the United Nations Eleanor Roosevelt dies of anemia and a lung infection at New York November 7 at age 78; former French president René Coty at Le Havre November 22 at age 80; former Dutch queen Wilhelmina at Het Loo November 28 at age 82.
Join eNotes
Over 3,500 study guides, question and answer forums, literature criticism, reference content, and much more!
Navigate
