[United Movietone News 1963]

South Vietnam focal point of the West's fight against communism in Southeast Asia for nearly a decade Premier Nan dim ruled his small nation of 15 million without open opposition but in mid 1963 protests began mounting against his regime his powerful brother no de newu who headed the feared secret police influenced DM in decisions that alienated both the Vietnamese and the West the United States poured $1 million a day and 16,500 troops into the war against the Viet Kong guerillas as the year wore on the US concluded DM put the war effort second to his drive for personal power the effort to drive out the Communists seemed in Jeopardy students in Buddhist Rose against oppressive measures by the Roman Catholic DM family to 2/3 of the Vietnamese are Buddhists new sent troops against them killed some arrested hundreds but the uprising mushroom Buddhists marched they starved themselves burned themselves to death outspoken Madam newu went to the United States to defend her government's actions and to attack the US policy at home newu increased his oppressive tactics he went too far the Vietnam military took advantage of the climate of hatred against against the m and newu and of American despair of the situation in a swift coup they swept through the streets of Saigon overwhelmed loyalist forces and seized key buildings the m and U refused an offer of safe conduct out of the country and fled both men were killed officials at the Shell poock Palace surrendered 18 hours after the Revolt began at news of the DM ouer tens of thousands of citizens poured into the street in a wild celebration exuberant crowds tore down statues associated with the DM [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] family the new leaders General dong van me and Premier gy G want immediate support from the people and recognition from the West they proclaimed religious Freedom released hundreds of Buddhist prisoners they promised free elections and stepped up the fight against [Applause] [Music] communism a milestone in ' 63 East and West banned the testing of nuclear weapons in the atmosphere the leading nuclear Powers met in Moscow in July after 2 weeks of cordial talks they signed the first treaty to result from 18 years of negotiations on arms Premier kusov signed the agreement despite protests from communist China with whom he had feuded all year long at the formal signing Lord Hume British foreign secretary Andre giko Soviet foreign minister and Secretary of State Dean Rusk for the United States Nations on both sides of the Iron Curtain except France and red China signed the p considered by the West an important first step toward a thaw in the Cold [Applause] War President Kennedy went to the United Nations in September following a conciliatory speech by Gro he eloquently lauded the improved relationships created by the treaty proposed a joint us Soviet trip to the [Music] moon but the cold war issue remained Russia employed typical Cold War tactics on two occasions in Germany the Soviets held up an American Military Convoy for 41 hours at a checkpoint on the Berlin autoban they gave no explanation for the harassment nor for suddenly releasing the Convoy the incident came at a time when Russia and the US were working out a trade agreement for the sale of us wheat to Russia the second occasion the Soviets arrested y Professor Dr Frederick barghorn on spy charges released him only they said because of President Kennedy's personal concern a year of New Hope in the Cold War but the hard issues remained [Music] unsolved the United States set astronaut Gordon Cooper on a 600,000 Mi Journey around the world in 1963 all systems were go during the thrilling to orbit 34-hour flight it ended dramatically when an equipment failure occurred just before re-entry but Cooper guided his capsule by hand to a perfect Landing cheering Sailors aboard the carrier karge greeted the happy astronaut at his capsule Faith 7 the recovery off Midway in the Pacific went like clockwork braavos came from around the world for the United States most successful space venture today so successful the US ended its oneman Space Program planned a two-man orbit next [Applause] [Music] [Applause] time a woman blasted into space for the first time in' 63 Russia sent Valentina terish kova on a 48 orbit ride TV audiences watched and Premier kof talked to her during the flight even more spectacular Russia had launched Valerie bosski 2 days earlier and the two orbited simultaneously for 3 days Valentina later married coot andrean nikf in her most eventful year dalala 87-year-old Conrad Adenauer retired after 18 years as West German leader a crowning achievement adenau and French president ofall brought together in Friendship the ancient enemies France and Germany Dr ludig Erhard hailed as the father of Germany's miraculous economic post-war recovery succeeded adenau in Britain another government leader retired prime minister Harold McMillan 70 years old resigned after 6 years for reasons of help the constant attack against his leadership did not help his help Queen Elizabeth called on foreign secretary Lord Hume to take over he promptly renounced his titles campaigned for and won a seat in the House of [Applause] Commons in Canada the government of prime minister John debaker fell in a contra y over Canadian use of US nuclear warheads de Baker led a nationwide election campaign for his conservative party but liberal leader Lester Pearson a Nobel Peace Prize winner and former United Nations assembly president won and took over as prime [Music] minister two women made names for themselves by defying the odds Mrs quo de Prieto and her common law husband in marabo Venezuela became the proud parents of five five [Music] boys a week later in Aberdine South Dakota Mr and Mrs Andrew fiser became the happy if somewhat stunned parents of four girls and a boy exactly doubling the size of their family five at a time the odds say it will happen only once in a decade it happened twice in a week in 1963 [Music] in London the scandal of the year a sorted story that began unfolding when cabinet minister John profumo denied to the House of Commons reports of his affair with a party girl later he admitted he lied the girl 21-year-old Christine keler fled the country when the Scandal broke but returned under pressure from a hideout in Spain reports that she entertained the Soviet Naval attache while carrying on with perfumo the Secretary of State for war shook the government the cabinet met twice in emergency session but Parliament gave prime minister McMillan a vote of confidence when he reported no security issue was involved a sensational trial resulted when Christine revealed so Society osteopath Dr Steven Ward a friend of royalty introduced her to men a parade of young beautiful girls testified against Ward agreed they gave him money from their earnings as prostitutes Ward denied the charges but called himself a thoroughly immoral man his trial came to an abrupt end when he took an overdose of drugs died with without knowing he was found guilty in a final report on the affair Lord Denning a judge blamed the government for not dealing with the situation properly at Year's End Christine Keeler went to jail for 9 months on a perjury [Music] conviction 100 years after the Emancipation Proclamation American Negroes [Applause] revolted they marched they demonstrated they picketed in a drive for equality they planned nonviolent action but violence erupted often in the north the East the west and the south in Savannah in New York in Chicago Seattle Cambridge Danville Los Angeles Jackson and in Birmingham often they faced fire hoses they faced police dogs clubs and electric cattle pters thousands were jailed they chained themselves together to emphasize their [Music] bondage Negroes won a fight against School segregation at the University of Alabama in ' 63 President Kennedy federalized the National Guard to enforce it negro students James hood and Vivian Malone enrolled for the summer term despite a pledge by Governor George Wallace to stand in the schoolhouse door to prevent integration in Alabama he stood in the University door but he stepped aside when Federal Marshals confronted him with a court order Alabama thus became the last state of the union to end total segregation all year long negro leaders urg their people to fight for their rights the Reverend Martin Luther King told them don't even be afraid to die oh yes I submit to you tonight that no man is free if he fears death but the minute you conquer the fear of death death at that moment you're free and you must say somehow I don't have much money I don't have much education I may not be able to read and right but I have the capacity to die and they died in Jackson Mississippi NAACP official Medgar Evers was shot and killed by a sniper Evers a 37-year-old father of three and a veteran was buried in Arlington National Cemetery amen his daughter cried and they died in Birmingham at the 16th Street Baptist Church rallying point of the Negro Drive in the nation's most segregated big city Dynamite exploded on a Sunday morning killed four little girls in Sunday school injured 20 other Negroes but the Negro remained essentially nonviolent resisted all calls for retaliation and we'll keep marching and marching and marching until one day you look around and we'll all be marching [Applause] [Music] together we are [Music] we shall overcome battlecry of the Negro Revolt in 1963 200,000 Negroes and whites marched on Washington demanding passage of President Kennedy's Civil Rights bill most far reaching of its kind in 100 years and this during the 100th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation of Abraham Lincoln American Negroes demanded freedom and now [Music] Pope John 23rd died in 1963 at the age of 81 after a 4 and a half year reign of tremendous impact here his last blessing in St Peter Square in [Music] June the world hailed his moves to modernize the Catholic church and to unify all Christendom the College of cardinals deliberated 41 hours before electing a successor Cardinal Montini a liberal certain to continue the profound reforms of John Pope Paul 6 promptly ordered a second session of The ecumenical council told its concluding meeting in December he would make an unprecedented visit to the Holy Land in January a series of coups in Restless Latin America in 1963 Guatemala Ecuador the Dominican Republic and Honduras here in the Dominican Republic as in all the coups the military took over claiming the governments they toppled ignored a growing communist threat the Dominican Army installed a three-man civilian hun to rule for 2 years promised elections after that but the Dominican people feared the new government demonstrated against it again and again the United States withdrew economic and military aid halting Alliance for Progress operations there and in [Music] [Applause] Honduras trouble boiled up in Haiti too after president frad dualer refused to step down at the end of his term he organized rallies to simulate support withstood pressures from the United States and the OAS told them I'm still here after reports he had fled in Exile his PR militia brutally seized dissidents in the regular army broke into foreign embassies to arrest opponents who took Refuge there neighboring Dominican Republic sent its Army to the Border threatened to invade Haiti the UN even intervened but Papa do maintained his dictatorship another aspect of Latin American turmoil the drive by Fidel Castro to spread his influence he also bid for more power for Cuba by playing Russia against communist China in their fight for Supremacy in the Communist World Castro forces throughout the year tried to undermine Latin American governments in Venezuela Castro white terrorists spread chaos in karacus and other cities in an effort to prevent the presidential election but the effort failed Dr rul Leon succeeded President bonor in the first Democratic succession of power in Venezuela history [Applause] tragedy at Sea on an April morning the nuclear submarine thresher one of the fastest and deepest diving Subs in the US Fleet went into a test dive in the Atlantic golf Cape Cod it never surfaced 129 men were aboard a week's long search proved feudal the Navy concluded that the saltwater system system probably failed but admitted no one would know what really happened sculier Yugoslavia a crushing earthquake struck at dawn in July it killed more than 1,000 persons left half of the 170,000 residents homeless only 15% of the houses left standing were habitable in the Caribbean one of the most destructive hurricanes in memory battered Haiti and Cuba in October hurricane Flora smashed into the islands killing 5,000 in Haiti and 1,000 in Cuba she shattered houses flooded roads laid waste half the crops catastrophe struck Italy the same week a massive Avalanche poured millions of tons of Earth and rock into the viant dam third highest in the world sending a tidal wave of water into the valley below more than 3,000 died as whole Villages disappeared as if they had never [Music] existed one event overshadowed all the rest in late November President John Fitzgerald Kennedy and his wife Jacquelin went to Texas on a political trip everywhere they appeared Texans welcomed them with cheers Ovations then during a noon time motorcade through downtown Dallas on November 22nd came the stunning moment an Assassin's bullet struck the president once twice the first lady cradled her mortally wounded [Music] husband an amateurs camera caught the tragic scene a third bullet hit Texas governor John Connelly in the same car Connelly recovered the president died within minutes the Assassin fired from this building this window his Vantage Point [Music] ideal within hours police captured Lee Harvey Oswald said evidence proved Beyond doubt he was the [Music] killer two days later Jack Ruby a Dallas Nightclub owner shot and killed Oswald before the eyes of Nationwide television [Music] President Kennedy's body was flown to Washington immediately after his death his wife refused to leave the casket Lyndon B Johnson sworn into office on the plane spoke his first words as president to the American people at the airport this is a sad time for all people we have suffered a loss that cannot be waved for me it is a deep personal tragedy I know that the world shares the sorrow that M Kennedy and her family bear I will do my best that is all I can do I ask for your help and gods the next day the new president went immediately to work to reassure a shocked world he met with Secretary of State [Music] Rusk with Secretary of Defense McNamara former President Eisenhower the young widow's great dignity and grief gave heart to all the world's mourners a Cas on drawn by six horses took the president's casket to the capital building to lie in state [Music] Mrs Kennedy took her two little children Caroline and John Jr to say a last farewell to their father [Music] [Music] then throughout the day and all through the night hushed mourners by the thousands filed past the casket to pay their last respects to the 46-year-old president martyred in his third year in office the world's leaders kings queens and heads of state came to Washington to pay tribute to John Fitzgerald Kennedy jacquel and Kennedy and the president's Brothers Robert and Edward LED A procession behind the quesan to St Matthew's Roman Catholic Cathedral for the funeral service it was the greatest assemblage of its kind ever to gather for such an occasion Richard Cardinal Cushing of Boston who married John and jacalan Kennedy said the reum [Music] mass at the end of the service the Kennedy children returned to the White House Then began the final solemn military Cor to Arlington National Cemetery burial site for the nation's military Heroes the final Journey for John Fitzgerald Kennedy as his family his country and the world grieved his loss [Music] the final lament of TAPS rang out across the rolling [Music] graveyard his widow lit an eternal flame [Music] on