June 1962

<<June 1962>>
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The following events occurred in June 1962:

June 11, 1962: Three prisoners manage to escape from Alcatraz
June 19, 1962: Escape from East Berlin to be made more difficult

June 1, 1962 (Friday)

  • The Soviet Union raised the price of consumer goods by more than 25 percent in order to cover higher operating expenses for the USSR's collective farm program. Butter was up 25%, and pork and beef by 30%.[1] In protest, workers walked off of the job at the Novocherkassk Electric Locomotive Factory and the strike soon turned into an uprising.[2]
  • A list of the aerospace ground equipment required to handle and check out the Gemini spacecraft before flight was presented at the first spacecraft operations coordination meeting.[3]
  • Died:

June 2, 1962 (Saturday)

  • The day after price rises took effect in the Soviet Union, protests in the city of Novocherkassk were brutally suppressed in what is remembered as the Novocherkassk massacre. Strikers marched to the center of town, where they were joined by other protesters. After word spread that some of the strike leaders had been arrested, the local Communist party headquarters was invaded, after which the group marched into the police station[2] and at 1:10 p.m., after firing a warning volley of shots, one of the units of soldiers fired into the crowd.[6] It was revealed thirty years later that 23 people were killed, and 116 arrested. Of those arrested, seven were convicted of sedition and executed, while others received prison terms ranging from 10 to 15 years.[7] The news was kept out of the Soviet press. Months later, unofficial reports in the West referred to "hundreds" of deaths[8] and in 1976, Alexander Solzhenitsyn's book The Gulag Archipelago would report that there had been more than 70 deaths.[9][10] The Soviet government would finally confirm the killings on June 3, 1989, in an article in Komsomolskaya Pravda.[11]
  • El Porteñazo, a military rebellion, was launched in Venezuela.[12]
  • Born: Paula Newby-Fraser, Zimbabwean triathlete and eight time gold medalist in women's Ironman World Championship; in Salisbury, Southern Rhodesia (now Harare, Zimbabwe)[13]
  • Died: Vita Sackville-West, 70, English poet, novelist and landscape gardener; from cancer[14]

June 3, 1962 (Sunday)

June 4, 1962 (Monday)

June 5, 1962 (Tuesday)

June 6, 1962 (Wednesday)

June 7, 1962 (Thursday)

June 8, 1962 (Friday)

June 9, 1962 (Saturday)

Park
Franco
  • South Korea's military leader Park Chung Hee ordered a surprise currency reform, freezing all bank accounts and ordering that the South Korean hwan be exchanged by the end of Monday in favor of the new South Korean won, at the rate of 10 hwan for each new won.[52] On June 16, a decree was issued to take individual bank account money, above a set limit, for a required purchase of stock in the government-owned Korean Industrial Development Corporation, and Park would later be forced to rescind both emergency measures under pressure from the United States.[53]
  • Spain's dictator Francisco Franco announced a two-year suspension of the constitutional right of Spanish citizens to live elsewhere in the country. Franco limited the privilege to supporters of his government, in response to strikes that had halted activity in the nation.[54]
  • The best-selling live album Tony Bennett at Carnegie Hall was recorded. New York radio personality Jonathan Schwartz would later comment, "That was the night that Tony Bennett became Tony Bennett", as the singer performed 44 songs.[55]
  • As part of its immigration reform, Canada granted amnesty to Chinese persons who had entered the nation illegally prior to July 1, 1960.[56]
  • Died: Polly Adler, 62, Russian-born American bordello operator

June 10, 1962 (Sunday)

  • In the elections for President of Peru, Víctor Raúl Haya de la Torre obtained more votes (557,047) than the other two major candidates, Fernando Belaúnde Terry (544,180) and former president Manuel A. Odría (480,798), while another 108,593 votes were split among four minor candidates. However, the Constitution required that a candidate receive at least one-third of the popular vote to win, and Haya had 32.95% of the 1,690,618 ballots cast, falling 6,493 votes short.[57] Before the Congress of Peru could meet to decide the election, the government would be overthrown on July 18 and the results annulled. A new election would be held on June 6, 1963, with Belaúnde winning the presidency.[58]
  • Operation Anadyr, to place Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba, was approved unanimously by the Presidium of the Soviet Union on the recommendation of Defense Minister Rodion Malinovsky and Prime Minister Nikita Khrushchev. Under the plan, 24 medium-range nuclear missiles and 16 intermediate-range missiles would be placed in Cuba, and a total of 50,874 Soviet military personnel would be placed on the island to defend against an invasion. The decision would precipitate the Cuban Missile Crisis in October.[59]
  • The first popular vote in Cambodia took place, as citizens went to the polls to approve the Sangkum candidates for Parliament. Although there were no choices, an author notes that the election "did get people used to the mechanics of voting, which would be of significant value in 1966".[60]
  • Soviet athlete Igor Ter-Ovanesyan set a new world long jump record of 8.31 metres (27'3"), breaking the record set by Ralph Boston.[61]
  • Born: Gina Gershon, American film and TV actress, singer and author; in Los Angeles[62]
  • Died: Trygve Gulbranssen, 68, Norwegian novelist, businessman and journalist[63]

June 11, 1962 (Monday)

June 11, 1962: The bus shortly after the impact

June 12, 1962 (Tuesday)

  • The mother of 15-year-old William Jefferson Blythe filed a petition to change her son's name, at his request, to that of her recently divorced husband. Afterward, Blythe would be known as Bill Clinton and would become President of the United States under that name in 1993.[72]
  • Three days before his high school graduation, 18-year-old George Lucas survived a near-fatal car crash caused by a fellow student. Lucas would abandon a dream to become a race car driver, and went on to become a successful filmmaker.[73]
  • The European Convention on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters entered into effect, after having been opened for signing on April 20, 1959.[74]
  • Born:
  • Died: John Ireland, 82, English composer

June 13, 1962 (Wednesday)

June 14, 1962 (Thursday)

June 15, 1962 (Friday)

June 16, 1962 (Saturday)

June 17, 1962 (Sunday)

June 18, 1962 (Monday)

June 19, 1962 (Tuesday)

  • The Music Man, the film adaptation of Meredith Willson's 1957 Broadway musical of the same name, had its world premiere at the Palace Theater in Mason City, Iowa,[96] Willson's hometown and his inspiration for the film's setting, the fictitious town of River City, Iowa. In addition to Willson, director Morton DaCosta, emcee Arthur Godfrey, and stars Robert Preston and Shirley Jones were guests; the day also featured a national high school marching band contest with entries from 30 states.[97]
  • The second phase of building the Berlin Wall was commenced. Not only was the outer wall along the border with West Berlin increased, but buildings along the border were torn down in order to clear an area that extended at least 30 metres (98 ft) further from the border. The in-between area was then filled with land mines and other deterrents to escape.[98]
  • A second American attempt at a nuclear explosion in outer space ended in failure, two weeks after the first try. Before the Thor missile reached its altitude of 200 miles (320 km), the warhead was blown apart by ground control.[99]
  • Eric Gairy was dismissed as Chief Minister of Grenada, at that time a British colony, after a government inquiry found financial irregularities in the nation's budget.[100]
  • Born:
  • Died: Frank Borzage, 59, American film director; from cancer[103]

June 20, 1962 (Wednesday)

General DeWitt

June 21, 1962 (Thursday)

June 22, 1962 (Friday)

June 23, 1962 (Saturday)

  • The United States secretly sent word to the People's Republic of China that it would disassociate itself from any further plans by Nationalist China (on the island of Taiwan) to invade and retake the mainland from the Communists. Although the U.S. and Communist China did not have diplomatic relations at the time, both had ambassadors in Poland.[125] In Warsaw, U.S. Ambassador John Moors Cabot spoke with China's Wang Ping-nan to communicate the decision, made on June 20. At the same time, the U.S. reiterated that it would defend Taiwan in the event of a Communist invasion.[126]
  • Don Newcombe, former Brooklyn Dodgers all-star pitcher, became the first Major League Baseball player to appear in a Japanese professional baseball game. The 36-year-old African-American debuted as a first baseman for the Chunichi Dragons of Nagoya, in a 5–4 win at Hiroshima over the Hiroshima Carp.[127] Larry Doby, who had been the second African-American in Major League Baseball, would join Newcombe on the Dragons as the second American to play Japanese baseball.[128]
  • Born: Shriti Vadera, Baroness Vadera, British investment banker and politician; to Gujarati Indian parents in Uganda

June 24, 1962 (Sunday)

June 25, 1962 (Monday)

  • Engel v. Vitale: The United States Supreme Court ruled, 6–1, that mandatory prayers in public schools were unconstitutional.[131] The suit had been filed after the school board of New Hyde Park, New York had ordered each class to start the school day with the prayer, "Almighty God, we acknowledge our dependence upon Thee, and we beg Thy blessings upon us, our parents, our teachers, and our Country", under the recommendation of the state Board of Regents. The decision affected an estimated 39,000,000 public school students.[132]
  • FRELIMO, the Frente de Libertação de Moçambique, was founded in Tanganyika by a merger of the National Democratic Union of Mozambique, the National Union for the Independence of Mozambique, and the National African Union of Mozambique, with Eduardo Mondlane as its first president. Mozambique would gain independence from Portugal on June 25, 1975, under the leadership of FRELIMO leader Samora Machel, on the 13th anniversary of the organization's founding.[133]
  • Gemini Project Office completed a thorough study of the reentry tracking histories of the first four Mercury crewed space missions. The study indicated that a C-band radar tracking beacon should be integrated into the spacecraft reentry section in place of the planned S-band beacon to improve tracking of spacecraft reentry through the Earth's ionization zone.[3]
  • In the case of MANual Enterprises v. Day, the United States Supreme Court ruled that photographs of nude men were not obscene, decriminalizing nude male pornographic magazines, and applying the same standard, for erotic magazines aimed at heterosexual readers, to homosexual readers.[134]
  • Actress Sophia Loren and her husband, producer Carlo Ponti, were ordered to stand trial on bigamy charges.[135]
  • İsmet İnönü of CHP formed the new government of Turkey (27th government, coalition partners; YTP and CKMP).

June 26, 1962 (Tuesday)

  • U.S. Representative Roy A. Taylor of North Carolina became the first member of Congress to propose a constitutional amendment to overcome the Supreme Court's ruling banning prayer in public schools. Miller's suggested 24th Amendment stated "Notwithstanding the 1st or 14th Article of Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, prayers may be offered and the Bible may be read in connection with the program of any public school in the United States."[136] In all, 56 Representatives and Senators offered amendments, none of which were approved for submission for ratification.[137]
  • Project Reef, an airdrop program to evaluate the Mercury 63-foot (19 m) ringsail main parachute's capability to support the higher spacecraft weight for the extended range or 1-day mission, was completed. Tests indicated that the parachute qualified to support the mission.[76]
  • The Belgian trust territory of Ruanda-Urundi, scheduled to become independent in five days, was split into two nations, by a 93–0 vote of the United Nations General Assembly. On July 1, the Republic of Rwanda and the Kingdom of Burundi were created.[138]
  • A two-day steel strike began in Italy, in support of increased wages and a 5-day working week.

June 27, 1962 (Wednesday)

  • D. Brainerd Holmes, NASA Director of Manned Space Flight, announced that the Mercury 8 mission would be programmed for as many as six orbits. Wally Schirra was selected as the prime pilot, with Gordon Cooper serving as backup.[76] NASA announced that Dr. Eugene B. Konecci had been appointed as Director of Biotechnology and Human Research, to be responsible for directing development of future life support systems to protect humans in the space environment.[76]
  • After IBM rejected the idea of 32-year-old employee H. Ross Perot, to sell computer programs along with its equipment, Perot quit and invested $1,000 of his savings to create Electronic Data Systems (EDS). When Medicare was created in 1965, EDS contracted with two states to process the claims, turning the company into a multibillion-dollar corporation and making a billionaire of Perot.[139]
  • The Gemini Project Office and McDonnell decided that the most useful Gemini-related test by the Mercury project would be of the heatshield materials and afterbody-shingle characteristics. Samples of the Gemini heatshield would later be flown satisfactorily on the Mercury 8 mission.[3]
  • Born:
  • Died: Maria Dermoût, 74, Dutch East Indies-born Dutch novelist

June 28, 1962 (Thursday)

June 29, 1962 (Friday)

June 30, 1962 (Saturday)

References