The Cold War was a power struggle that had been initiated following the Second World War, and in 1955 President Eisenhower made an offer that would allow mutual territorial surveillance to Nitkita Khrushchev, the current Russian Premier, which was refused. As a result, the United States developed the U2 program in 1956 which would be controlled by the CIA. Francis Gary Powers’ mission was the 28th by the program.
Powers set out on his mission to photograph two Soviet Union missile test sites at Sverdlosk and Plesetsk. The U2 became the target for SA-2 missiles at a height of about 12.5 miles, and although the missiles could not reach the altitude at which Powers was flying, the aircraft was still broken by the resulting shock waves. The pilot was able to parachute to the ground only to be arrested immediately by Soviet forces.
Francis Gary Powers was convicted of espionage and held prisoner for 21 months by the USSR Military Division of the Supreme Court. An exchange arranged between the two powers for the Soviet spy Colonel Rudolph Ivanocvich Abel allowed for Powers' release despite his sentencing of 10 years in confinement.
Syngman Rhee
On April 26th, 1875, future president of South Korea, Syngman Rhee, was born in the city of Kaesong. Following an imprisonment by the Yi Dynasty for protesting the monarchy in 1897, Rhee received a PhD in International Law from Princeton University and took it with him to become the main right-wing politician of his native country.
In 1948, Rhee was elected president by the National Assembly with a vast majority of votes in his favor. The initial support for his regime did not last long, but the President quickly responded to resistance with belligerence and corruption to ensure his control. When a motion was introduced for a parliamentary government in August of 1952, Rhee declared martial law and rounded up the assembly members in order to coerce them into reelecting him. At the end of his second term, the President directed a deceitful amendment to the constitution which allowed him more than two terms.
As citizens became more politically conscious and informed by the press of the ineptitude of the current regime during the course of the Korean War and the years that followed, opposition grew until Rhee ultimately lost the election of 1958. However, the Liberal Party managed to regain Syngman Rhee’s presidency during the election in 1960 when the greatest opponent to his regime passed away right before. South Korean citizens were outraged by the fraudulent election of both Rhee and his vice president Yi Ki-bung, and civil protests erupted across the country.
On April 19th of 1960, about 142 people were killed in a Student Revolution by police forces, and the effects of the protests were too palpable to ignore. Seven days later President Syngman Rhee resigned from office and ended the reign of corrupt leadership and escaped to Hawaii for the remainder of his life. Despite the crooked behavior of the government during this time, Rhee left the South Korea with a plethora of urbanization, social changes and educational opportunities.
Payola
A term used to describe the illegal practice of paying a DJ or radio station to play a specific song, Payola gained its notoriety after the indictment of “the father of Rock n’ Roll”, DJ Alan Freed, in 1959. The term Payola is a portmanteau of the two words “pay” and “Victrola”, meaning to bribe to play on the radio. Known for pioneering racial integration amongst the youth of America through his broadcasting of African-American blues on national airwaves, Alan Freed became a leading icon in the phenomena of rock and roll music during the time of the Cold War. On May 9th, 1960, he was formally indicted for accepting $2,500 from an independent recording company, which he claimed was merely a token of gratitude that did not affect airplay.
Freed’s participation in the scandal significantly impeded the progression of his career, which ultimately provoked his untimely demise at the hand of alcohol abuse in 1965. Ironically, before the infamous scandal, payola was not illegal; commercial bribery, however, was. After the Supreme Court trial, the anti-payola statute was passed under which payola became a misdemeanor—the penalty being up to $10,000 in fines and one year in prison.
Kennedy
As the 35th president of the United States, John F. Kennedy served in office from 1961 until his assassination in 1963. A firm advocate for the policy of containment, Kennedy believed the U. S. needed to develop a very diverse military capability, everything from “The Flyswatter” to “The Sledge Hammer,” so that we Americans could successfully combat the threat of Communism--whether it be in the form of a low intensity conflict, or a nuclear war. Furthermore, Kennedy believed that the U. S. should be supportive of countries fighting Communist insurrection or aggression; for example, in the Vietnam War, Kennedy advocated that we should provide assistance to the Vietnamese; however, fighting the war was ultimately left to the Vietnamese people.
At the time of his assassination, Kennedy had already issued an executive order calling for the first withdrawals of American advisors from Vietnam. Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev believed the young president Kennedy lacked the will to resolutely resist Communist expansion supported by the Soviet Union. This underestimation by Khrushchev ultimately led to the Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962. Khrushchev felt Kennedy would be unwilling to risk war with the Soviet Union over the placement of ballistic missiles in the Soviet client state of Cuba. Kennedy, however, made it known that the United States would not tolerate the presence of nuclear missiles so dangerously close to the American mainland. Kennedy directed the United States Navy to stop and search all Soviet vessels bound for Cuba on the high seas, and demanded that Khrushchev remove all missiles from the island.
Khrushchev, finally realizing that he had underestimated Kennedy’s resolve, ordered a convoy of Soviet ships bound for Cuba to retreat to Soviet ports rather than encounter the American Naval blockade, and agreed to remove all missiles from Cuba in exchange for the removal of some obsolete American nuclear missiles in Turkey. Domestically, Kennedy was a champion of Civil Rights. He supported desegregation of public schools in the south, and through his brother Robert F. Kennedy, the U. S. Attorney General, used the F. B. I. to rigorously enforce the Civil Rights of blacks and prosecute the unlawful activities of discriminatory groups such as the Ku Klux Klan. The Kennedy Administration conceived the War on Poverty and pushed legislation creating entitlement programs designed to eradicate extreme poverty—particularly in urban America. Finally, the Kennedy Administration launched an aggressive campaign against organized crime in America, which had infiltrated organizations such as the Teamsters’ Union, truck drivers who were responsible for moving most of the commodities in the American Marketplace to retail outlets.
Both President Kennedy and his brother, Attorney General Robert Kennedy, feared the Teamsters’ Union under the influence of suspected criminal elements would someday call for a nationwide trucking strike, which would essentially hold the nation hostage to the demands of the Teamsters. Unfortunately, President Kennedy did not live to see the fulfillment of much of his domestic agenda. It was left to Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson to push much of Kennedy’s domestic legislative agenda through Congress. President Kennedy was perhaps the most charismatic president in the history of the United States. His wife, Jacqueline Kennedy, was also very charming. The Kennedy White House came to be referred to as “Camelot” owing to the widespread national optimism and idyllic happiness that was manifested during the 35th President’s time in office.
Chubby Checker
An American singer-songwriter of the mid-20th century, Chubby Checker is best known for popularizing “The Twist” with his 1960 hit cover of Hank Ballard’s R&B hit of the same name. As a dance movement, “The Twist” revolutionized popular culture by giving coupl
es the freedom to break apart on the dance floor. An appearance on Dick Clark’s American Bandstand launched Checker’s rendition of “The Twist” to the No. 1 spot on the Billboard charts in August of 1961, where it remained for an impressive 18 straight weeks.
In November of the same year, the phenomena reentered the charts again for a record-breaking 21 weeks. With this formidable achievement, “The Twist” became the first and only single to ever appear in the No. 1 spot in two separate years. Despite other No. 1 hits, such as “Pony Time” in 1961, Checker is labeled today as a “one hit wonder,” as the song and dance movement have come to overshadow the man behind it. However, the symbolism of Checker as a leading icon of music during the time serves as a suitable embodiment of the distraction popular culture played from the Cold War. The upbeat nature of music such as “The Twist” is a successful deception of reality, which constituted a collective fear of by the public of a resolve to nuclear war with the Soviet Union.
"Psycho"
Based on the novel counterpart by Robert Bloch, Psycho was a 1960 thriller directed by the famed Alfred Hitchcock that revolutionized the face of American horror films. Inspired by the crimes of Wisconsin serial killer Ed Gein, who also served as a mold for Hollywood’s infamous cannibal, Hannibal Lector, the film indisputably exceeded traditional cinematic precedents. The film portrays a young and desirable woman, Marion Crane (played by Janet Leigh), as she embezzles $40,000 across state borders to California in order to pay for her and her boyfriend’s wedding. After driving through the night, Crane decides to put up in the Bates Motel—an eerie setting that contributed significantly to the collective fear Hitchcock intended to construct. There, Crane and the audience are introduced to the Motel’s caretaker, Norman Bates (played by Anthony Perkins), and his overly controlling mother.
As time progresses, Mother Bates grows fearful that Crane poses a threat to her psychological influence over her son, and ultimately resolves to brutally stab her in cold blood in the pivotal “shower scene.” Myriad cinematic techniques contributed to this climactic scene, ranging from the intricacies of contrast between shadow and light, to numerous camera angles and superb dramatic performance, to the haunting violin score. However, perhaps the most crucial aspect of the shower scene was the irony of it; the movie is often cited as the first slasher movie in American horror films because of the scene, and yet not once does the audience ever see the knife actually pierce Crane’s skin. This suggestion of brutality left viewers far more petrified than any blunt portrayal of a disgusting act.
Psycho is considered 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, as from the opening scene Marion and her fiancé are shown as lovers sharing the same bed. The Production Code standards outlined that unmarried couples depicted in the same bed would be taboo. Consequently, the faltering of strict censorship in the film set an example during the time, as the film’s box office success helped propel Hollywood toward more graphic displays of previously-censored themes.
Belgians in the Congo
The Congo, formally known as the Belgian Congo, was a third world battleground between Capitalism and Communism. The territory was a colony of Belgium until 1960, when Belgium formally declared it’s withdrawal in five months time, despite the fact that the country was ill-equipped for independence in such a short period. Preceding the country’s liberation on June 30th of 1960, the Congolese army mutinied against the remaining white officers, which immediately revoked any semblance of authority regained by Congolese leaders. In response to the uproar, the Belgian government sent paratroopers to protect and aid the 100,000 Belgian civilians still living within Congolese borders —an act that proved to be detrimental to the crisis, as illegal Belgian presence in an independent state only further progressed increasing tensions between nations. Such chaos was only further promoted with the secession of the mineral-enriched region of Katanga in southern Congo, as the loss of such a profitable territory meant a significant harm to economics of the unstable country.
Desperate for aid, Prime Minister Lumumba appealed to the United Nations for an army to restore and maintain law and order, prevent the involvement of other nations in the crisis, assist in rebuilding the country’s economy, and restore political stability. Soon after the United Nations intervened in the crisis, further controversy emerged, as Lumumba requested that the army remove Tshombe, the leader of the Katanga secession. Such a request was not permitted in the UN army’s jurisdiction; however, Prime Minister Lumumba interpreted the refusal as a bias on the UN’s behalf towards the well-being of a profitable Congolese territory. Lumumba’s anger at the United Nations’ failure to act against Katanga lead to his decision to seek aid from the USSR.
Although the UN captured key points in the province, the troops did not seize Tshombe, as he had fled to Rhodesia. Katanga, at last, was reunited with the Congo. There is some speculation as to how successful the United Nations was in fulfilling its four objectives for the Congo; the country escaped the throws of civil war; Russia had been kept out of a sensitive area of the vulnerable, unstable nation; the Congo was maintained under a single cohesive government by the end of 1963, and political stability was ultimately achieved. Furthermore, the United Nations installed a humanitarian program crucial to impoverished Congolese civilians, who avoided famine and epidemic with the provision of nourishment and medical supplies. However, not every nation was pleased with the United Nations work in the Congo. Russia, France and Belgium refused to pay their part of the $400 million that was needed to compensate the cost of the operation, which consequently nearly pushed the United Nations to bankruptcy.
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