GRC - During the Eisenhower Administration, 1953-1961, Continued (Lesson)

During the Eisenhower Administration, 1953-1961, Continued

February 21, 1958—International

• In 1958, a British artist drew up a symbol for the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament's (CND) march to push for British nuclear disarmament. The symbol incorporated the letters "n" and "d" from the semaphore alphabet to stand for "nuclear disarmament." (Flag semaphore is the telegraphy system conveying information at a distance by means of visual signals with hand-held flags, rods, disks, paddles, or occasionally bare or gloved hands.) As the artist did not copyright his work, the CND symbol later became an internationally recognized symbol of peace. (And just in time, because what would the movements of the 1960s have used?) See the illustrations below to understand how the symbol came about...

The Letter "N" in the Flag Semaphore Alphabet.	The Letter "D" in the Flag Semaphore Alphabet	The Letters "N" and "D" together	The CND symbol that is now recognized around the world as a symbol of "peace"

October 23, 1958—Cold War

• To give you an idea of just how much the Cold War permeated global culture—here's a story for you. In 1957, Boris Pasternak (a Russian poet and novelist) published his novel, Doctor Zhivago, about the Russian Revolution of 1905 and following civil war. Due to its content, the novel was banned in the Soviet Union and had to be published in Italy first. Recognizing that the content of the book and the fame of Pasternak would embarrass the communist government of the Soviet Union, the United States CIA took up the cause of getting Pasternak nominated and chosen for the Nobel Prize in Literature. In this, they were successful and the Nobel committee announced in October 1958 that Pasternak was to be the recipient of the award that year. Pasternak refused to accept the award after being told that to do so would result in his banishment from the Soviet Union.

January 1959—Cuba

• From the time of the Spanish-American War, the United States supported the local government in Cuba—located 70 miles south of Florida—which, as of the 1950s, was controlled by Fulgencio Batista's dictatorship. Under Batista, the wealthy in Cuba grew wealthier while the poor grew destitute—Cuba was in need of reforms that Batista did not create. Thus, opening the door for the Cuban Revolution. Led by the 26^th of July Movement (the revolutionary organization headed by Fidel Castro and supported by Che Guevara,) the Cuban Revolutionaries successfully overthrew Batista's government after less than three years of fighting. Immediately (and despite his own calls for democracy,) Fidel Castro took over the Cuban government and established his own dictatorship—but this time with a communist twist. As Castro nationalized Cuban industries, he reached out to form an alliance with a very eager Soviet Union following the placement of an American embargo upon his nation.

December 1, 1959—International

• On this date, representatives of 12 nations (including the United States and the Soviet Union) agreed to designate Antarctica as a scientific preserve, free of military activity. Of the nations that signed the treaty, seven were nations that had previously made claims on parts of Antarctica (Argentina, Australia, Great Britain, Chile, France, Norway and New Zealand) that were causing tensions between the nations. Since then, other nations by the dozens have signed onto agreements with this policy and the continent has become the location of international research on the world's climate.

1960—International

• 1960 is known as the "Year of Africa" because so many African nations received their independence during that year. In that twelve-month period, more than a dozen African nations received their independence from their European colonial governments. Kwame Nkrumah addressed the United Nations in 1960, his nation of Ghana had been unusually independent of colonial rule for three years. In his speech, Nkrumah said " One cardinal fact of our time is the momentous impact of Africa's awakening upon the modern world. The flowing tide of African nationalism sweeps everything before it and constitutes a challenge to the colonial powers to make a just restitution (the giving back of what has been taken or lost) for the years of injustice and crime committed against our continent. But Africa does not seek vengeance. It is against her very nature to harbor malice (the wish to hurt or make suffer). Over two million of our people cry out with one voice of tremendous power. And what do they say? We do not ask for death for our oppressors; we do not pronounce wishes of ill-fate for our slave-masters; we make an assertion of a just and positive demand; our voice booms across the oceans and mountains, over the hills and valleys, in the desert places and through the vast expanse of mankind's inhabitations, and it calls out for the freedom of Africa. Africa wants her freedom. Africa must be free. It is a simple call, but it's also a signal lighting a red warning to those who would tend to ignore it."

• Nations that received their independence in 1960—From France: Cameroon, Togo, Mali, Senegal, Madagascar, Dahomey (Benin,) Niger, Upper Volta (Burkina Faso,) Ivory Coast, Chad, Central African Republic, Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Mauritania—From Great Britain: Somalia and Nigeria—From Belgium: Democratic Republic of the Congo

January 23, 1960—Science & Technology

• On this day, Jacques Piccard (Swiss) and Lt. Don Walsh (American) descended to the bottom of the ocean in the Mariana Trench (about 35,000 feet—which is almost seven miles deep) in a vessel created by Piccard—the bathyscaphe. They were the first men to travel to that depth (and the last for the next five decades.)

 

February 13, 1960—Science & Technology

• In the middle of the Algerian Sahara Desert, France test detonated its first atomic bomb. Although France was currently fighting the Algerian War—the test was not directly involved in the fighting. Eight years later, France developed its first hydrogen bomb.

March 21, 1960—South Africa

• A protest in the Sharpeville Township over the requirement for black South Africans to carry domestic passports within the nation resulted in the killing of 67 protesters by the police. Following this event, known as the Sharpeville Massacre, the African National Congress was outlawed (even though it was not officially involved in the protests) and its members fled the nation to live abroad in exile. However, while in exile, they were very busy recruiting new members and raising international awareness of the human rights violations occurring in South Africa under Apartheid, along with developing their own military wing.

March 22, 1960—Science & Technology

• The first U.S. patent for a laser was given out on this date—but it led to a 28-year lawsuit over whom the original patent should have gone to—so historians are still unsure whom to credit with the invention of the Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation (LASER.) Later, in that same year though, Theodore Maiman operated the first functioning laser followed by physicists using the first gas lasers.

May 1, 1960—Cold War

• While on an aerial reconnaissance mission (spying via taking pictures from a plane,) Francis Gary Powers and his U-2 spy plane were shot down over the Soviet Union in May 1960. Both the pilot and the plane survived the crash and were used by the Soviet Union to prove to the world that the United States was sneaky and untrustworthy (this was due to the fact that the United States originally denied the purpose of the plane and mission—but the evidence found on the plane was pretty irrefutable.) A couple of years later, the Soviets exchanged Powers for a Soviet spy that the United States held—that story was covered in Steven Spielberg's 2015 Bridge of Spies.

July 5, 1960—Democratic Republic of the Congo

• In July 1960, the Congo Crisis began—it started as a civil war between factions within the newly independent (from Belgium) nation of the Democratic Republic of the Congo but turned into one of those hotspots of the Cold War with the Soviet Union supporting Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba while Belgium and the United States supported Lumumba's opposition. Prime Minister Lumumba requested help from the United Nations—but it chose to not get involved. When Lumumba's government fell, rebel leaders arrested and executed the fallen prime minister in January 1961. (This means that the Democratic Republic of the Congo gained its independence, started a civil war, and executed its prime minister within the first seven months of its history.) The civil war continued to rage for another five years until the military commander staged a second coup and rose to power—his name was Joseph Mobutu.

September 10, 1960—International

• In order to protect their economies, five oil producing nations (not located in Europe or North America) got together in 1960 to form an organization that would help each of them answer oil production and distribution questions. The organization was called the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries—or OPEC—and started with Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela. Together, they practiced "price fixing" whereby they set agreements for how much to sell their oil to the world. This agreement not only helped guide their decisions regarding oil commerce, but also protected OPEC members from competition with each other. Currently, OPEC has twelve member nations—half of which are located in the Middle East.

November 13, 1960—Guatemala

• Six years earlier, the United States overthrew the elected Guatemalan president to prop up a government that was more in sync with American business goals. This led to a succession of conservative military dictators that upset Guatemalans so much that civil war broke out in 1960. For the next 36 years, a series of Guatemalan dictators engaged in this civil war against rebel guerrilla movements (the largest being the Guerrilla Army for the Poor— "EGP") with assistance from the United States, Argentina, Israel and South Africa. During the almost-four decades of bloodshed, the Guatemalan government waged a campaign of brutality against the Guatemalan people that ranged from "disappearances" of political opponents to the genocide of approximately 200,000 people.

December 14, 1960—International

• In 1948, Europe formed an intergovernmental organization to run the U.S.-financed Marshall Plan to rebuild the continent following World War II. The success of that organization—the Organization for European Economic Cooperation (OEEC)—was such that in 1960 non-European nations wanted to join. Therefore, in December 1960, the former OEEC nations signed an agreement with the United States and Canada creating the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD.) More nations from around the world—starting with Japan—soon joined the organization. As of now, the 35 member and observing nations in the OECD make up about 80% of the world's trade and work, according to its mission statement, "to promote policies that will improve the economic and social well-being of people around the world."

 

 

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