1960 US Campaign - The Stage is Set

Author David Pietrusza describes the 1960 campaign as "The Epic Campaign That Forged Three Presidencies", JFK, LBJ, and Nixon.   Considering the continuation of the Nixon presidency under Gerald Ford, the 1960 campaign would influence the next 16 years of presidential leadership.

This is indeed a pivotal time in American politics.  A new era of leadership is emerging and a new generation is stepping up.  Nixon and Kennedy are both younger and have recruited older, seasoned running mates to bolster the appearance of experience on their respective tickets.  The choices made by these three men, JFK, LBJ, and Nixon, in the course of their presidencies would determine the course of the nuclear arms build-up, the cold war, the Vietnam war, the civil rights movement, the space race, and a score of other issues which would define both the 60's and the 70's.

Rebuilding the Republican Right
This would also signal a time of rebuilding the "Republican Right",  as alluded to in Barry Goldwater's 1960 convention speech...    "...let's grow up conservative's.  Let's, if we want to take this party back someday, and I think we can, let's get to work!"  Goldwater would be back as the Republican Presidential nominee in 1964, but it would not be until the election of Ronald Reagan in 1980 that the Republican Right would finally find their muscle.  They have been flexing it ever since.

Lodge-Kennedy Dynamics
Another significant element of this campaign is the nomination of Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. as the Republican Vice Presidential nominee.  The Lodge's were long-time Kennedy rivals from Massachusetts, with Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. narrowly losing his senate seat to JFK in 1952.  Lodge's son George would lose a bid for the same seat, vacated by JFK when he was elected President, to Ted Kennedy in 1962.  (I still have a Kennedy '62 tie-clip to commemorate that Senate race!) Despite the historic rivalry, Kennedy would appoint Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. as his ambassador to Vietnam at a crucial moment in the history of US involvement there.  One wonders if the two weren't working at cross purposes then, but that is another story.

Remembering and Reflecting... Rob; in Vancouver

"Few presidential elections have been quite as close, 

as dramatic or as controversial as the 1960 election 

between Richard Nixon and John F. Kennedy turned out to be."

Isaac McPhee

1960 Republican Convention

The Republican Party met in Chicago from July 25 - 28, 1960 to nominate Richard Nixon and Henry Cabot Lodge as their President and Vice President candidates for the 1960 election.  The following videos highlight the convention with speeches from Nixon, Goldwater, Lodge, and a brief clip from Martin Luther King Jr.

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Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini

 1960 SUMMER FUN:  Brian Hyland

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JFK Acceptance Speech: July 15, 1960

The New Frontier

50 Years ago today John F. Kennedy accepted the Democratic Party nomination with this rousing speech on the New Frontier.  It is filled with a sense of optimism about the future that I remember as a child growing up in Michigan.  In spite of all the threats of the Cold War; the nuclear arms race, and the Vietnam War, there was an abounding optimism and faith that our new found technological prowess would help us to eradicate hunger, cure diseases, and usher in a golden age of peace and prosperity for all.  Alas!

Ella Fitzgerald: "Mack the Knife" 1960

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1960 Democratic National Convention

The 1960 Democratic National Convention was held in Los Angeles from July 11-15, 1960.  The central work of the convention was the nomination of a ticket for the 1960 Presidential Election.  John F. Kennedy was in the lead coming out of the primaries but was challenged by two significant rivals at the convention.  Senate Majority Leader Lyndon B. Johnson and former Democratic Presidential Candidate Adlai Stevenson entered the race in the week before the convention.

Kennedy went on to win the nomination on the first ballot.  In a move to unite the party and bring Southern Democrats aboard he chose LBJ to be his running mate.  Ballot results were as follows:

John F. Kennedy 806 (52.89%)
Lyndon Johnson 409 (26.84%)
Stuart Symington 86 (5.64%)
Adlai Stevenson 79.5 (5.25%)
Robert B. Meyner 43 (2.82%)
Hubert Humphrey 41 (2.76%)

The following post includes a couple of videos that highlight the convention.

Bye for now... Rob

"The world has been close to war before–but now man, who has survived all previous threats to his existence, has taken into his mortal hands the power to exterminate the entire species some seven times over."   JFK  July 15, 1960

1960 DNC: July 11-15, 1960

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July 11, 1960 - A Snapshot in TIME

TIME Magazine featured a picture of the Kennedy's on their July 11th cover as the 1960 Democratic National Convention got underway in Los Angeles. Much of the edition was focused on U.S. politics in the lead-up to the 1960 general election.



AFRICA:  The Independence Movement

World stories focused on Africa which was in the midst of a continent-wide independence movement.  The Congo,  Somalia, and Ghana were each featured in stories which both celebrated their independence and analyzed their challenges.  The Congo was already on the brink of a civil war with the mineral-rich Katanga Province threatening to secede.  

SOUTH VIET NAM: Problem of One Man

Vietnam is just beginning to emerge in the News.  This particular story looks at the challenges faced by the unpopular South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem. 

"...he is an aristocrat by birth, has no real contact with ordinary citizens or confidence in their judgments. Since an assassination attempt three years ago, Diem is constantly surrounded by police; he has neither the desire nor the ability to be a folksy man of the people. The peasants, who blame the government for a one-third fall in the price of rice this year, view Diem as a remote and austere figure, while they must contend with nightly raids by Red terrorists. To the city intellectuals, Diem's one-man rule is increasingly galling. They argue that his administration could be more liberal without impeding economic progress or exposing itself to Communist infiltration." Read more

CANADA: Acadian Winner

TIME had a small story on the Liberal win in the Provincial election in New Brunswick which saw Louis Robichaud elected as Premier.

"The decision surprised nearly everyone. In Ottawa, Liberal Chief Lester Pearson, who leads the Opposition to Diefenbaker's Tory government, confessed: "I didn't think we would win." Apprehensive shudders ran through the government benches in Ottawa's House of Commons; defeats for federal governments are customarily heralded by provincial defeats." TIME Magazine



More to follow this week on the historic 1960 Democratic Convention.

Remembering and reflecting... Rob; in Vancouver

"Elmer Gantry" - July 7, 1960

"Elmer Gantry", starring Burt Lancaster and Jean Simmons was released on July 7, 1960.   It went on to be one of the big hits for the year with Lancaster winning an Oscar for Best Actor.

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"House of the Rising Sun" - Joan Baez - 1960

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Republic of Congo - June 30, 1960

The Belgian Congo achieved independence on June 30, 1960 under the nationalist leadership of Patrice Lumumba of the the "Mouvement National Congolais" or MNC Party.  The new African nation initially took the name "Republic of Congo", changing it to "Democratic Republic of the Congo" in 1964 to distinguish it from the former French Congo which also took the name "Republic of Congo".

June 30, 1960 marked the end of a long colonial period that included the brutal "Congo Free State", a private holding of King Leopold II of Belgium, and the "Belgian Congo", a slightly more enlightened arrangement overseen by the Belgian parliament.

These words from newly elected Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba expressed the hope of the fledgling nation.

"The Republic of the Congo has been proclaimed, and our country is now in the hands of its own children.
Together, my brothers, my sisters, we are going to begin a new struggle, a sublime struggle, which will lead our country to peace, prosperity, and greatness.
Together, we are going to establish social justice and make sure everyone has just remuneration for his labor.
We are going to show the world what the black man can do when he works in freedom, and we are going to make of the Congo the center of the sun's radiance for all of Africa...
We are going to do away with all discrimination of every variety and assure for each and all the position to which human dignity, work, and dedication entitles him.
We are going to rule not by the peace of guns and bayonets but by a peace of the heart and the will ."   Patrice Lumumba  June 30, 1960

Unfortunately, the end of Belgian colonialism did not mean the end of troubles for the Congolese people.  Tribal infighting, cold-war politics, resource conflicts, dictatorships, and civil war have plagued the "Democratic Republic of the Congo" from day one to this very day. 

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Today we mark the 50 year anniversary of the formation of the "Democratic Republic of the Congo".  In so doing we remember the oppressive era of colonial Africa, the great African independence movement of the 1960's, and the ongoing struggle for peace, freedom and unity faced by so many African nations today.

Remembering and reflecting... Rob; in Vancouver

"The Congo's independence marks a decisive step 

towards the liberation of the entire African continent."

Patrice Lumumba

"Patrice Émery Lumumba" - Elijah Kalswe

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"Chain Gang" - Sam Cooke 1960

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1960 Cold War Realities

I was just a pup in 1960 and have no real appreciation of the Cold War realities that the world faced at the time.  Even a study of the history of that period fails to give a full sense of the risks and perils inherent in the nuclear arms race.

Doomsday Clock

1960 was actually a bit of a lull in the arms race.  So much so that the "Bulletin of Atomic Scientists" adjusted their "doomsday clock" from 2 minutes to midnight to 7 minutes to midnight in response to the "belief that a new cohesive force has entered the interplay of forces shaping the fate of mankind, and is making the fate of mankind a little less foreboding."  

Nuclear Tests

The United States and Soviet Union had even managed to observe a moratorium on nuclear testing for 1959 and 1960.  The moratorium would ultimately be broken in 1961 as relations between the superpowers deteriorated and a new and aggressive period of testing would begin.

"Plumbbob"

I find it personally interesting to note the extensive series of nuclear tests conducted under the code name "Plumbbob" at the Nevada Test Site in 1957.  Being born in Arkansas in October 1957, I find it noteworthy to consider what was going on back "in the day".

Operation Plumbbob was a series of nuclear tests conducted between May 28 and October 7, 1957, at the Nevada Test Site, following Operation Redwing, and preceding Operation Hardtack I. It was the biggest, longest, and most controversial test series in the continental United States.

• The operation was the sixth test series and consisted of 29 explosions…
• Almost 1,200 pigs were subjected to bio-medical experiments and blast-effects studies during Operation Plumbbob…
• Approximately 18,000 members of the U.S. Air Force, Army, Navy and Marines participated in exercises Desert Rock VII and VIII during Operation Plumbbob…
• Plumbbob released 58,300 kilocuries (2.16 EBq) of radioiodine (I-131) into the atmosphere. This produced total civilian radiation exposures amounting to 120 million person-rads of thyroid tissue exposure (about 32% of all exposure due to continental nuclear tests)…
• Statistically speaking, this level of exposure would be expected to eventually cause between 11,000 and 212,000 excess cases of thyroid cancer, leading to between 1,000 and 20,000 deaths.

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Our Morgan was not impressed that one of the nuclear shots during "Operation Plumbbob" was code-named "Morgan"!

What a wonderful world... we are so lucky to still have it!

Be well... Rob; in Vancouver

"The atomic bomb made the prospect of future war unendurable."
J. Robert Oppenheimer

"Operation Plumbbob"

50 Years Ago Today - Japan and Okinawa

June 19, 1960: Japan-U.S. Security Pact

"The controversial Japan-United States Security Treaty got the automatic approval of the Diet on June 19 despite demonstration by nearly 300,000 people in Tokyo to prevent the ratification of the Treaty. The Treaty was automatically approved when the ruling Liberal Democratic Party decided not to call a plenary session of the House of Councillors (Upper House of the Diet) on June 18 as had been planned. Under the Japanese Constitution a treaty passed by the Lower House gets the automatic approval of the Diet if the Upper House fails to act on it within 30 days of its passage by the Lower House."  The Hindu

Japanese Prime Minister Nobusuke Kishi was ultimately forced to resign over the treaty.  He is pictured below with Dwight Eisenhower.

June 19, 1960:  Protests Mar Ike's Okinawa Visit

President Eisenhower was met by angry protesters during a brief visit to Okinawa on his Far East tour.  A planned visit by the President to Japan had already been canceled at the the request of the Japanese in response to mounting protests over the Japan-U.S. Security Pact.  In Okinawa the residents had more local concerns, namely, the continued occupation and administration of Okinawa by the U.S. and the extensive U.S. military bases built on misappropriated land.

50 Years Later

The most recent protests against American bases in Okinawa were held this past April when 90,000 people gathered to oppose the continuation of U.S. military bases.   U.S. bases have been an ongoing sore spot in Japan - U.S. relations.  Okinawans complain of the noise, violence by U.S. military personnel, and the large amount of land tied up in the bases.

With continued tensions in Korea and unresolved issues between China and Taiwan it is unlikely that the U.S. will be drawing down it's military presence in Okinawa anytime soon.  Alas for the Okinawans!

Remembering and reflecting... Rob 

“The natives on Okinawa are growing in number and 

are very anxious to repossess the lands they once owned.”  

 President Dwight Eisenhower, 1958

Patsy Cline - "Lovesick Blues" - June 1960

Patsy Cline was at the height of her career in 1960. 

June 16, 1960 - "Psycho"

Alfred Hitchcock's classic thriller "Psycho" was released 50 years ago today.   Starring Janet Leigh and Anthony Perkins as Norman Bates, Psycho is remembered as one of Hitchcock's best films.

Based on the 1959 novel of the same name, "Psycho" is loosely based on the story of Wisconsin serial killer Ed Gein. Ed Gein was arrested in 1957 at which time he confessed to the killing of two women and digging up the remains of others.

Gein's grotesque practice of creating a "woman's suit" from the tanned skins of his exhumed victims also became the basis for the "Buffalo Bill" character in the 1991 film "The Silence of the Lambs".    Gein was also the model for the killer "Leatherface" in the 1974 film "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre".  Gein was convicted of murder and spent the rest of his life in a mental health hospital.

Defying Tradition...

"Psycho" was a ground-breaking film in terms of challenging the censor codes that governed American film making in its day.  From Wikipedia... "Psycho is a prime example of the type of film that appeared in the 1960s after the erosion of the Production Code. It was unprecedented in its depiction of sexuality and violence, right from the opening scene where Sam and Marion are shown as lovers sharing the same bed. In the Production Code standards of that time, unmarried couples shown in the same bed would be taboo. In addition, the censors were upset by the shot of a flushing toilet; at that time, the idea of seeing a toilet onscreen — let alone being flushed — was taboo in American films and television shows."  read more

A number of sequels, a prequel, and a remake couldn't quite hold a candle to the original "Psycho", directed by the master of suspense himself, Alfred Hitchcock.

Enjoy the clips below.

Retrospectively yours... Rob; in Vancouver

"A boy's best friend is his mother."

Norman Bates

Psycho - 1960

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Retro Field Trip - The Buddy Holly Story

Historical research requires the occasional field trip!  I did just that on Saturday with Pam and our friends Dee, Harry, Amanda, and Chris as we took in the local stage production of "Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story".   "Buddy" was an awesome musical show that told the story of Buddy Holly's short musical life starting with his first recording sessions and ending with his final concert on the 1959 "Winter Dance Party" tour in Iowa.

Buddy Holly was an amazing musician who influenced many of the rock and roll bands and singers that were emerging in the late 50's and early 60's.  He was a significant influence on the Beatles, who were playing as "The Quarrymen" while "Buddy Holly and The Crickets" were touring England in 1958.  The Beatles took their name as a tribute to Holly's "Crickets"

The Day the Music Died
Buddy Holly (22) died in a plane crash on February 3, 1959, along with early "rockers"  Ritchie Valens and JP Richardson, aka "The Big Bopper".  This day would go down in history as "the day the music died" thanks to Don McLeans 1971 classic hit "American Pie".

The post below includes some of the hits that would have been played at the "Winter Dance Party" in February 1959.  Enjoy. Link here

Retro Reporting from  Vancouver... Rob

"Death is very often referred to as a good career move."
Buddy Holly