John
F. Kennedy becomes the nation's first Roman Catholic president.
Lyndon Johnson is vice president and an active partner, attending Cabinet,
National Security Council, and special White House meetings. He chairs
other councils and committee and represents JFK on goodwill missions throughout
the world, explaining the administration's foreign-aid policy.
On
July 4th, the President replies to a congratulatory note sent to him on
July 3 from Soviet Premier Leonid Brezhnev on the 185th anniversary of
the Fourth of July, stating the U.S. is still dedicated to the "revolutionary
principles of individual liberty and national freedom."
Excerpts
from Eisenhower's Farewell Speech -
[...
]We face a hostile ideology global in scope, atheistic in character,
ruthless in purpose, and insidious in method. Unhappily the danger it
poses promises to be of indefinite duration. To meet it successfully,
there is called for, not so much the emotional and transitory sacrifices
of crisis, but rather those which enable us to carry forward steadily,
surely, and without complaint the burdens of a prolonged and complex
struggle - with liberty the stake. [...] [T]hreats, new in kind or degree,
constantly arise. Of these, I mention two only. [...] A vital element
in keeping the peace is our military establishment. Our arms must be mighty, ready for instant action, so that no potential
aggressor may be tempted to risk his own destruction. Our military organization
today bears little relation to that known by any of my predecessors
in peacetime, or indeed by the fighting men of World War II or Korea.
Until
the latest of our world conflicts, the United States had no armaments
industry. American makers of plowshares could, with time
and as required, make swords as well. But now we can no longer risk
emergency improvisation of national defense; we have been compelled
to create a permanent armaments industry of
vast proportions. Added to this, three
and a half million men and women are directly engaged in the defense
establishment. We annually spend on military security more
than the net income of all United States corporations. [...]
This conjunction
of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. The total influence -
economic, political, even spiritual - is felt in every city, every Statehouse,
every office of the Federal government. We recognize the imperative
need for this development. Yet we must not fail to comprehend its grave
implications. Our toil, resources and livelihood are all involved; so
is the very structure of our society.
In
the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of
unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial
complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists
and will persist.
We must
never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic
processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable
citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military
machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security
and liberty may prosper together.
Akin to,
and largely responsible for the sweeping changes in our industrial-military
posture, has been the technological revolution during recent decades.
In this
revolution, research has become central, it also becomes more formalized,
complex, and costly. A steadily increasing share is conducted for, by,
or at the direction of, the Federal government.
Today,
the solitary inventor, tinkering in his shop, has been overshadowed
by task forces of scientists in laboratories and testing fields. In
the same fashion, the free university, historically the fountainhead
of free ideas and scientific discovery, has experienced a revolution
in the conduct of research. Partly because of the huge costs involved,
a government contract becomes virtually a substitute for intellectual
curiosity. For every old blackboard there are now hundreds of new electronic
computers.
The
prospect of domination of the nation's scholars by Federal employment,
project allocations, and the power of money is ever present - and is
gravely to be regarded.
Yet, in
holding scientific research and discovery in respect, as we should,
we must also be alert to the equal and opposite danger that public policy
could itself become the captive of a scientific-technological elite.
[...]
Disarmament,
with mutual honor and confidence, is a continuing imperative. Together
we must learn how to compose differences, not with arms, but with intellect
and decent purpose. Because this need is so sharp and apparent I confess
that I lay down my official responsibilities in this field with a definite
sense of disappointment. As one who has witnessed the horror and the
lingering sadness of war - as one who knows that another war could utterly
destroy this civilization which has been so slowly and painfully built
over thousands of years - I wish I could say tonight that a lasting
peace is in sight. [End Eisenhower's farewell address]
Kennedy
speaks to Congress- President Kennedy, faced with the prospect
of America losing its technology edge over the Soviets, addresses a special
joint-session of Congress. In his speech, he asks that the U.S. "commit
itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a
man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth."
Khrushchev
meets with U.S. President John F. Kennedy in Vienna. He is
not satisfied in regard to the Berlin situation and agrees with Ulbricht
to close the border to Berlin.
After Dr.
Martin Luther King, Jr. is arrested for trying to integrate
restaurants in Florida, President Kennedy states that segregation is morally
wrong & that it is "time to act."
20 May 1961 - The
Bay of Pigs - The CIA sends 1,500 Cuban exiles to invade Castro's
Cuba. But "Operation Mongoose" fails, due to poor planning, security and
backing. The planners had imagined that the invasion would spark a popular
uprising against Castro - which never happens. A promised American air
strike also never occurs. This is the CIA's first public setback, causing
President Kennedy to fire CIA Director Allen
Dulles.
Dominican
Republic - The CIA assassinates Rafael
Trujillo, a murderous dictator Washington has supported since
1930. Trujillo's business interests have grown so large (about 60 percent
of the economy) that they have begun competing with American business
interests.
Ecuador - The CIA-backed military forces the democratically
elected President Jose Velasco to resign. Vice President Carlos
Arosemana replaces him; the CIA fills the now vacant vice presidency with
its own man.
Congo
(Zaire) - The CIA assassinates the democratically elected
Patrice Lumumba. However, public support for Lumumba's politics
runs so high that the CIA cannot clearly install his opponents in power.
Four years of political turmoil follow.
United
States. Betty and Barney Hill. Driving to their home in New Hampshire, Betty and Barney Hill notice a
bright light in the sky. Radar reports at the nearby Pease Air Force Base
also record something in the air at that time. The Hills examined the
light through binoculars, and saw a structured object with flashing lights.
Barney walks across a field for a closer look, and sees beings looking
back at him. Frightened, he and Betty drive home, arriving two hours later
then expected. They cannot account for the missing time (a common phenomenon
among abductees) until they undergo regression hypnosis. The couple described
being stopped by the UFO and taken aboard the saucer for medical examination.
Due to the impressive documentation and the confirming radar trace from
Pease Air Force Base, the Hill case is one of the most famous on record.
Roscoe
Hillenkoetter
"Acting with the majority of the NICAP
Board of Governors, I urge immediate Congressional action to reduce the
dangers from secrecy about Unidentified Flying Objects."
-Roscoe Hillenkoetter, NICAP Board Member and former CIA Director,
in a open letter to Congress, August 1961.
"The Air Force cannot do any more under
the circumstances. It has been a difficult assignment for them, and I
believe we should not continue to criticize their investigations. I am
resigning as a member of the NICAP Board of Governors."
-Roscoe Hillenkoetter, in a letter to Donald Keyhole, February, 1962.