1960s Timeline

Jan. 12, 1962 - Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara (right) will fly to Hawaii Sunday for a day-long conference Monday on the...

Jan. 11, 1962 - A plan by U.S. officials to “defoliate” trees and bushes in South Vietnam with a chemical sprayed from planes as a means...

Jan. 10, 1962 - The election-year session of the 87th Congress opened today. The chief event was the election of John W. McCormack...

Jan. 9, 1962 - Former Vice President Nixon said today that both Democrats and Republicans needed “responsible leadership which will avoid...

Jan. 9, 1962 - The Kennedy Administration believes there is a fairly good chance of saving South Vietnam from communism, but it foresees...

Jan. 8, 1962 - Gov. Edmund G. Brown (pictured in 1958) of California charged former Vice President Nixon today with courting political...

Jan. 6, 1962 - An American construction foreman on the $4 million Saigon airport improvement project was fatally wounded in an ambush...

Jan. 5, 1962 - Three Brooklyn hoodlums learned today that they were their own worst enemies. They were arrested for consorting with known...

Jan. 4, 1962 - The United States and South Vietnam announced today a “broad economic and social program” to raise living standards in...

Jan. 3, 1962 - The United States has told the Inter-American Peace Committee that Cuba “represents a bridgehead of Sino-Soviet...

Dec. 31, 1961 - Aided by a build-up in U.S. military support, South Vietnam is preparing a strong counter-offensive against Communist...

Dec. 31, 1961 - President Kennedy and Premier Khrushchev, in an exchange of New Year’s greetings made public today, assured each other of...

Dec. 30, 1961 - A United States Army specialist kidnapped by Communist guerrillas on Christmas Day is alive, reliable sources said today....

Dec. 29, 1961 - American military personnel in South Vietnam were instructed today to stay within the Saigon (pictured) city limits....

Dec. 29, 1961 - Mrs. Edith Wilson (pictured in 1915), the former First Lady, died last night at the stately Washington townhouse that...

Dec. 28, 1961 - A United States Army sergeant is believed to have been kidnapped by the Viet Cong (pictured), as the Communist guerrillas...

Dec. 27, 1961 - The end of a long-standing legislative impasse between New York and New Jersey appeared imminent today. Governor-elect...

Dec. 27, 1961 - President Kennedy passed his physical examination today with high marks, but did not quite make straight A’s. The...

Dec. 26, 1961 - General Dwight D. Eisenhower and his family visited Disneyland today, and the former President seemed almost as delighted...

Dec. 25, 1961 - Communist border guards arrested three East Berliners today who waved at relatives in the West across the wall dividing...