1967 | Political Events
Political Events
The Twenty-Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution ratified February 10 provides for presidential succession in the event that the president dies, resigns, or is unable to discharge the power and duties of his office (see Presidential Succession Act, 1947). President Kennedy's death in 1963 and the accession of a vice president who had had a heart attack has raised concern that the Constitution makes no provision for a president being incapacitated. The new amendment allows a disabled president to turn over power on his own volition to the vice president; it also lets a vice president obtain approval from a majority of the cabinet's leading members to make himself acting president on a temporary basis. Approved by Congress July 6, 1965, the amendment says, "Whenever there is a vacancy in the office of the Vice President, the President shall nominate a Vice President who shall take office upon confirmation by a majority vote of both Houses of Congress." If the president is incapacitated and there is no vice president the speaker of the House is to serve as acting chief executive until the president can resume office or Congress can resolve the issue.
U.S. popular sentiment turns increasingly against the war in Vietnam as more troops are shipped overseas and casualties mount (see 1966). Martin Luther King Jr. speaks out against the war in February; 5,000 scientists petition for a bombing halt; University of Wisconsin students push Dow Chemical recruiters off the campus to protest Dow's production of napalm; a Women's Strike for Peace demonstrates outside the Pentagon February 15, demanding to see "the generals who send our sons to die" and about 2,500 women storm the Pentagon. Sen. Robert F. Kennedy proposes that bombing of North Vietnam be halted so that troop withdrawal may be negotiated.
The lightweight M16 assault rifle adopted by the U.S. Army February 28 was designed in the 1950s by Armalite Corp. engineer Eugene Stoner, now 44, to replace the M14 adopted in 1957 and give an infantryman fire superiority by enabling him to get off 650 to 700 5.56-millimeter rounds per minute, although having to change magazines every 19 rounds will keep the rate much lower (men in a squad take turns loading and firing). Colt Manufacturing Co. has purchased rights from Armalite to make the weapon, but Stoner has specified that new, cleaner-burning powder be used in its small but powerful .223 cartridge. The army has opted instead to use older "ball" powders. Colt has warned that the rifle does not pass some key evaluations, the army has not followed usual testing procedures, and although hot gases from the barrel will get into its bolt area and cause it to jam, the M16 will remain in use with some variations into the next century, longer than any other rifle in U.S. history.
President Ho Chi Minh responds March 15 to President Johnson's proposal for direct U.S.-North Vietnam peace talks by demanding that bombing be ceased and U.S. troops withdrawn from South Vietnam before the start of any talks. U.S. officials announce March 22 that Bangkok has given permission to use Thai bases for B-52 bombers formerly based on Guam.
The U.S. Government is "the greatest purveyor of violence in the world," says Martin Luther King Jr. April 4 in a talk at New York's Riverside Church. He attacks U.S. sales of weapons to foreign countries, encourages draft evasion, and proposes a merger between the antiwar and civil-rights movements. Antiwar demonstrations April 15 at New York and San Francisco bring out upwards of 100,000 at New York, 50,000 at San Francisco.
U.S. bombers pound targets around Hanoi, trying to break the Ho Chi Minh supply route that maintains North Vietnam's guerrillas south of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). North Vietnamese forces are outnumbered by more than 1 million South Vietnamese, U.S., and allied troops, but they are well supplied with arms from the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China, their long-range artillery is superior to anything in the U.S. arsenal, and some 50,000 Chinese advisers and engineers work to repair damage done by the U.S. air attacks.
CIA director Richard Helms initiates Operation Chaos August 15, setting up a Special Operations Group headed by former OSS counter-intelligence operative Richard Ober, 45, to infiltrate domestic antiwar and civil rights organizations in violation of the agency's 1947 statutory authority. Former president Eisenhower began the practice in 1959 when he ordered that refugees from Cuba be debriefed to obtain information. Helms has responded to a presidential request that the CIA unearth any ties between antiwar groups and foreign interests; by the time Operation Chaos ends in 1974, the CIA and National Security Agency will have indexed 300,000 names, tapped the telephones of antiwar activists such as Jane Fonda and Benjamin Spock, and intercepted large numbers of letters and cables to spy on the domestic activities of more than 13,000 subjects, including more than 7,000 U.S. citizens, with no public outcry and no objection from Congress (see 1974).
South Vietnam holds national elections September 3 under terms of a new constitution promulgated by the puppet government, Nguyen Van Thieu is elected president, Washington crows that 83 percent of the country's registered voters have participated, President Johnson says the South Vietnamese have expressed their democratic will "and deserve our support."
Protests against the Vietnam war and the draft continue in the United States. Minnesota-born Roman Catholic priest Philip F. (Francis) Berrigan, 44, and three friends walk into the Baltimore Customs House October 17, distract the draft-board clerks, and methodically spatter Selective Service records with a red liquid made partly of their own blood (see 1968). Antiwar demonstrators march on the Pentagon October 21; police arrest 647 of the 50,000 to 150,000 involved, and similar demonstrations occur at Chicago, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, and Oakland (where police arrest 125, including folk singer Joan Baez at the Oakland Draft Induction Center). Baez serves 45 days in jail for disturbing the peace. College students arrested in antiwar demonstrations will lose their draft deferments, Selective Service director Lewis B. Hershey announces November 7. Among the 260 demonstrators arrested at New York December 5 are physician Benjamin Spock, who was arrested earlier at Washington, D.C., and poet Allen Ginsberg (see 1968).
The Saigon government threatens December 26 to pursue communist troops into Cambodia if that country is used as a base for infiltration into South Vietnam (see Cambodia, 1954). Beijing (Peking) replies 3 days later by promising support to Cambodia if U.S. operations are extended there. Cambodian communists known as the Khmer Rouge take up arms to support a peasant uprising in the northwestern Battambang Province against a government rice tax; their Paris-educated leader is Pol Pot (originally Saloth Sar), 42, but the army will suppress their revolt next year.
Former Hungarian premier Miklós Kállay dies in self-imposed exile at New York January 14 at age 79; Chancellor Adenauer of West Germany of bronchitis and influenza at his home in Rhöndorf April 19 at age 91.
Greece has a bloodless right-wing coup April 21 as colonels led by George Papadopoulos, 48, and Brig. Gen. Styliano Patakos begin a 7-year military dictatorship. They arrest leftist leaders, including George Papandreou, 79, and his son Andreas, 48, releasing the elder Papandreou October 7. Constantine II fails to overthrow the junta and restore Greece's democratic institutions, the king and his family flee to Rome December 14. A Christmas amnesty frees Andreas Papandreou, who calls on the world's democracies to help overthrow Premier Papadopoulos (see 1974).
Former French Army leader Marshal Alphonse-Pierre Juin dies of a heart attack at Paris January 27 at age 78; British air marshal Sir Arthur W. Tedder, 1st Baron Tedder of Glenguin, at Banstead, Surrey, June 3 at age 76; British peace advocate and 1939 Nobel Peace Prize winner Sir Norman Angell in Surrey October 7 at age 94; former prime minister Clement Attlee of pneumonia at London October 8 at age 84.
Gen. Holland McT. "Howlin' Mad" Smith, U.S. Marine Corps (ret.), dies at San Diego January 12 at age 84; lawyer and peace advocate Grenville Clark at his Dublin, N.H., home January 13 at age 84, having espoused plans to limit national sovereignty; former U.S. ambassador William C. Bullitt dies of leukemia at Neuilly, outside Paris, February 15 at age 76; former Sixth Army commander Gen. Walter Krueger (ret.) at Valley Forge, Pa., August 20 at age 86; former U.S. Navy Pacific fleet commander-in-chief Admiral Claude C. Bloch (ret.) at Washington, D.C., October 6 at age 89; former U.S. vice president John Nance "Texas Jack" Garner at Uvalde November 7 just 2 weeks shy of his 99th birthday.
Former Iranian premier Mohammed Mossadegh dies of intestinal bleeding at his native Teheran March 5 at age 86.
A Six-Day Arab-Israeli War begins June 5 following months of conflict that have seen Israeli tanks cross into Syria and Israeli Mirage fighters shoot down six Soviet-built Syrian MiG-21 fighters (Arab equipment has been supplied largely by Moscow). Tel Aviv-born RAF veteran Ezer Weizman, 42, has built up Israel's air force and as chief of military operations launches a preemptive strike; Israel's jets and armor abort an Arab invasion, Egyptian and Syrian air forces are wiped out, and the Israelis take Arab Jerusalem June 7. Their UN delegate Abba Eban, now 52, speaks to the General Assembly at New York June 19, saying, "The threat to Israel was a menace to the very foundations of the international order. The state thus threatened bore a name which stirred the deepest memories of civilized mankind, and the people of the threatened state were the surviving remnants of millions, who in living memory had been wiped out by a dictatorship more powerful, though scarcely more malicious, than Nasser's Egypt."
Israel incorporates Arab Jerusalem with the rest of the city June 27 but guarantees freedom of access to the Holy Places for people of all faiths. The UN asks July 4 that the action be rescinded, Moscow severs diplomatic relations with Tel Aviv June 10, and Tel Aviv rejects the UN request July 14, retaining the strategic Golan Heights in Syria and the West Bank of the Jordan River, territory that along with Arab Jerusalem contains half the population of Jordan and half her economic resources. Israeli general Ariel Sharon, 39, recaptures the Mitla Pass that he took on the Sinai Peninsula in 1956; President Nasser is persuaded not to resign, he begins a purge of the Egyptian army and air force, and he receives Soviet president Podgorny, who promises military and economic assistance to help rebuild Egyptian power, but Egypt's Suez Canal is closed.
The defeat of Egyptian and Syrian forces by Israel fuels rage among Islamic fundamentalists against secular governments throughout the Arab world; they demand a return to strict observance of Muslim principles as a means of ridding the Middle East of what they consider colonial occupation, and some of them will soon adopt violent means to achieve their ends (see Arafat, 1968).
Resolution 242 wins unanimous approval from the UN Security Council November 22; it calls for "withdrawal of Israeli armed forces from territories occupied," an end to belligerency, and recognition that every state in the area has a "right to live in peace within secure and recognized boundaries" (but see 1970).
British forces leave South Yemen November 30 after 128 years of occupation. The port of Aden becomes an Arab facility.
Puerto Ricans vote in a plebiscite July 23 to keep the commonwealth status enjoyed since 1952. About 60 percent support the Estado Libre Asociado ("free associated state"), 39 percent favor statehood, only .06 percent vote for independence.
"Vive le Quebec libre," says President de Gaulle July 25 on a state visit to Canada, whose people are celebrating the nation's centennial as a dominion with a great world exposition (Expo 67) at Montreal. De Gaulle openly promises French support for an independent Quebec, Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson rebukes him, De Gaulle cancels a projected visit to Ottawa and returns home, but his remarks encourage Québecois separatist leader René Levesque, who has the outspoken support of Journal de Montréal publisher Pierre Péladeau, now 42. Former Canadian governor general Vincent Massey dies at London December 40 at age 80.
Former Peruvian president Manuel Prado Ugarteche dies at Paris August 15 at age 78.
Rwanda and Burundi effect a reconciliation March 20; disarmed Tutsi refugees return to Rwanda after nearly 4 years of attacks on the nation from Burundi. The council of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) meeting from February 27 to March 4 has urged use of force to end South Africa's mandate over South-West Africa (Namibia) and topple Rhodesia's oppressive Ian Smith regime. OAU ministers meet in September at Kinshasa and demand the departure of white mercenaries from the Congo.
Former Congo premier Moise Tshombe is sentenced to death March 13 by a military court that has convicted him in absentia of inciting to rebellion, Tshombe's plane is hijacked June 30 over the Mediterranean, he is flown to Algeria and held captive, pro-Tshombe European mercenaries revolt in July at Kisangani, and the rebels are driven across the Rwanda border in early November with support from U.S. transport planes.
The Republic of Biafra is proclaimed May 30 by Nigerian general Odumegwu Ojukwu, who leads the Ibo tribespeople out of the 13-year-old Nigerian Federation. The territory of the new republic comprises much of the Niger River Delta oil-producing region, the Lagos government calls the secession a rebellion, Lagos is supported by all other African states and buys arms from Britain, the Ibos buy arms and supplies from France, Nigerian troops take the Biafran capital Enugu October 4, but hostilities will continue until 1970 between the Ibos and the Muslim Hansa-Fulani conservatives to the north and the Yorubas to the west.
Gabon's president Léon Mba dies of a tropical disease at Paris November 28 at age 65.
The Treaty of Tlatelolco opened for signature at Mexico City February 14 commits 22 Latin American nations to bar nuclear weapons from their territories. Mexican diplomat Alfonso García Robles, 55, has worked since the 1962 Cuban missile crisis to obtain agreement on the measure. Belize, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Uruguay, and Venezuela sign February 14, Nicaragua February 15, Paraguay April 26, Trinidad and Tobago June 27, Brazil May 9, Dominican Republic July 28, Argentina September 27, Jamaica October 26; others will sign in years to come.
The Caribbean islands of Saint Kitts, Nevis, and Anguilla gain self-government February 27 in association with the United Kingdom (London retains responsibility for their defense and foreign affairs). The islands have been united since 1882, but Anguillans complain that they are being dominated by administrators from Saint Kitts, expel the Saint Kitts police in May, set up their own council, and proclaim their independence in July (see 1971).
Brazil's president Umberto Castelo Branco leaves office March 15 and is killed at age 66 July 18 along with his poet brother and an army officer when his Piper plane crashes into a Hercules jet training plane near Forteleza.
Bolivian troops wound communist theoretician and guerrilla warfare tactician Che Guevara, capture him October 8, and execute him October 9 at age 39. He resigned his Cuban cabinet post 2 years ago and last year traveled incognito to Bolivia, where he has led guerrilla revolutionists in the Santa Cruz region. A Bolivian military tribunal finds French-born intellectual and Castro confidante (Jules) Regis Debray, 27, guilty of murder and sentences him November 17 to 30 years in prison.
Uruguay's president Gen. Oscar Daniel Gestido dies of a heart attack at Montevideo December 6; Vice President Jorge Pachiko Arrigo, 47, is sworn in as president.
The People's Republic of China explodes her first hydrogen bomb June 17, increasing Soviet fears of a nuclear confrontation with Beijing (Peking). Former Hiroshima mayor Shinzo Hamai has died of a heart attack at Hiroshima February 26 at age 62 (he pressed for reconstruction of the city after the 1945 U.S. nuclear attack); China's final Manchu (Qin dynasty) emperor (and Manchuria's first emperor) Pu Yi dies of cancer at Beijing (Peking) October 17 at age 61; former Japanese prime minister Shigero Yoshida of a heart attack at Osai October 20 at age 89.
Indonesia's Gen. Suharto assumes executive power after 3 weeks of unrest, orders the mass arrest and internment of alleged communists, and begins a dictatorial rule that will continue until 1998 (see 1965). Sukarno, now 65, becomes president in name only, Suharto will make himself president next year, and by 1970 he will have succeeded in stabilizing the nation's currency and increasing its oil output and agricultural yield.
The Nizam of Hyderabad Osman Ali dies at Hyderabad, India, February 24 at age 80 (he has been enormously rich, but investigators find his strong rooms filled with bank notes that have been eaten through by rats); Pakistan's founding mother Fatima Jinnah dies of a heart attack at Karachi July 8 at age 74.
Australia's prime minister Harold Holt drowns December 17 at age 59 while swimming off Cheviot Beach in Bass Strait near Portsea, Victoria. Reelected in December of last year by an increased majority, he has supported U.S. policy in Vietnam and sponsored the visit of President Johnson to Australia. Liberal Party leader John (Grey) Gorton, 56, will succeed Holt as prime minister beginning next year and hold office in a coalition government until 1971, maintaining Australian troop strength in Vietnam (if less resolutely than his predecessor) while sponsoring legislation that expands the role of the federal government in science, taxation, and education, extending employment opportunities and education for aborigines.
Lurleen Wallace, 40, is sworn in as governor of Alabama January 16 (state law has prevented the reelection of her husband, George) and announces that she will continue his fight against racial integration and "Federal bureaucracy" while he seeks the presidency. A float sponsored by the Daughters of the Confederacy bears the legend, "Lest We Forget," and Mrs. Wallace takes the oath of office symbolically on the same spot where Jefferson Davis was sworn in as president of the Confederate States of America in 1861. Mother of four, Gov. Wallace is the third woman to become a state governor.
Former child film star Shirley Temple (Mrs. Charles A. Black), now 40, loses a bid for election November 13 to California's 11th Congressional District. Some of her 10 male rivals for the seat have labeled her a "hawk" on Vietnam; another Republican, Korean war veteran Paul N. McCloskey, wins the special election, having campaigned as a "dove" on Vietnam.