CHRONOLOGY FOR 1962

Relative calm settled over Laos and South Vietnam during the latter half of 1961 and early 1962. This lull was shattered when the Communist overran the pro-American defenders of Nam Tha, Laos on 6 May 1962, renewing fears for the survival of non-Communist governments in Laos and South Vietnam. On 15 April 1962, a Marine company arrived in Saigon. It was the first USMC advisory unit to arrive in the Republic of Vietnam, and its arrival denoted a qualitative change in Navy/Marine Corps operation in South Vietnam. Determined to preserve the status quo and at the same time reassure American allies, President Kennedy ordered the Seventh Fleet into the South China Sea. The Hancock (CVA-19) carrier group and the Bennington submarine hunter killer group steamed to a position off Danang, and the fleet's Amphibious Ready Group arried the Marine Special Landing Force in to the Gulf of Siam. In mid-May U.S. ground, air, and naval forces deployed to Thailand. The amphibious Ready Group landed a Marine ground-air unit to the Thai-Laotian border.

During the first half of 1962, units of Minesweeping Division 71 conducted search and seizing operations of suspicious vesseles suspected of infiltration from the Gulf of Tonkin. The high-speed transport Cook (APD-130) conducted beach surveys along the South Vietnamese coast. The following year, the Weiss (APD_135) made similar transit along the Vietnamese coast. On sevral occasions, the Vviet Cong fired on shore parties from the ships. On April 15th, the Princeton (LPH-5) steamed with Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron (HMM) 362 to a point south of the Mekong Delta. Under cover of Hancock's air group, the squadron flew of the Princeton to the unit's subsequent base at Soc Trang. A 14 October overflight provided evidence that Societ MRBMs were deployed in Cuba. On October 22nd, President Kennedy announced a quarantine of the island nation. Approximately 180 U.S. Navy ships, including 8 carriers and a 60-ship amphibious force, were involved in the response. The blockade was lifted on November 20th.

January

4th The United States resumes diplomatic relations with the Dominican Republic as the OAS unanimously lifts its sanctions.

10th A mountainside avalanche in Peru completely buries one village of 500 and kills 4,000.

14th EEC members agree to a common farm policy and to proceed to the community's "second" stage in tariff reduction.

18th Kennedy presents his first complete budget, with $92.5 billion expenditure; $93 billion revenue.

19th The United States recognizes Dominican President Bonnelly and offers a loan of $20 million.

23rd Hassan II of Morocco announces plans for a "United Arab Maghrebha political union to join Libya, Tunisia, Morocco, and Algeria.

24th A group of 28 refugees escape from East Berlin at dawn.

28th Ranger III misses the moon by 23,000 mi. and falls into permanent orbit around the sun.

30th The UN General Assembly censures Portugal's "repressive measures against the people of Angola", by a vote of 99 to 20.

31st The OAS conference at Punta del Este resolves to exclude Cuba from inter-American affairs.

February

3rd Except for food and drugs, "on humanitarian grounds," Kennedy bans all trade with Cuba.

8th A new U.S. military command in South Vietnam is to train Vietnamese and support them in operation.

16th British troops arrive in British Guiana after thousands riot against Jagan.

18th France and Algerian Moslems negotiate a truce to end the eight-year-old Algerian war.

2Oth John Glenn orbits the earth three times in the Friendship 7.

March

1st General Ne Win arrests U Nu and takes over the Burmese government in a coup.

9th After admitting farm failures, Khrushchev says high military budgets will cqntinue instead of higher agricultural investment.

15th Five research groups simultaneously report the discovery of an anti-matter particle.

23rd Finland, Sweden, Denmark, and Norway sign the Scandinavian cooperation pact in Helsinki.

25th As 1,000 settlers are arrested for terrorism in Algiers, France rebukes the Soviet Union for recognizing the Algerian provisional government.

26th The Supreme Court rules that state legislature apportionment is subject to federal court review and correction.

28th The Syrian army announces it has ousted the government in favor of a military junta.

3Oth Guido formally takes over the presidency of Argentina after the military deposes Frondizi .

April

8th In France, over 90 percent of the votes approve de Gaulle's Algerian peace settlement.

Convicted of treason, 1,179 captured by Cuba in the 1961 invasion are given 30-year sentences unless ransom is paid.

13th After three days of attack by the Kennedy administration for inflationary price increases, U.S. Steel abandons the rise.

2Oth OAS terrorist commander Raoul Salan is captured and flown to Paris for trial. A Negro family of "reverse freedom riders" is sent to New York City by New Orleans whites.

21st The Seattle World's Fair opens.

25th The United States resumes atmospheric testing, exploding an intermediate nuclear device near Christmas Island in the Pacific.

26th The U.S. Ranger IV spacecraft crashes on the far side of the moon and a supra-national British-American satellite goes into orbit.

May

6th The Italian assembly chooses pro-Western Antonio Segni as president of Italy.

11th U.S. aid to ineffective Laos rightists ends as leftists push 100 mi. past cease-fire lines.

13th U.S. food is rushed to northeast Brazil to fight price speculation and famine.

14th Yugoslav author Milovan Djilas is sentenced for nine years after inopportune revelations in Conversations With Stalin, his latest book.

16th Indonesia lands 100 paratroopers in Dutch New Guinea and says landings will continue.

21st Hong Kong estimates 32,000 have fled China since May 1.

24h Scott Carpenter's Aurora VII completes three orbits.

27th Franco blames communists, liberals, and Catholics for Spain's six-week mine strikes.

28th A $20.8 billion U.S. stock market drop occurs; 9.3 million shares are traded in a day.

31St All final appeals denied, Adolph Eichmann dies on the gallows at Ramle Prison, Israel.

June

2nd Khrushchev attributes the rise in Soviet food prices to economic miscalculation. Macmillan and de Gaulle begin talks in France on EEC membership for Britain.

4th The Supreme Court sets aside Louisiana convictions of six freedom riders.

11th A coalition government for Laos is formed by rightists, pro-communists, and neutralists.

15th South Africa passes a sabotage bill that sets a death penalty for many acts.

17th European terrorists in Algeria end a two-week "scorched earth" campaign.

19th India accuses China of establishing five military bases in Ladakh since 1960. The Canadian Conservative party loses its majority.

25th The Supreme Court rules against official prayers in New York state public schools.

3Oth Ruanda and Burundi, administered by Belgium as Ruanda-Urundi, become independent.

July

1St In Algeria, 99.6 percent of the vote favors independence in cooperation with France.

2nd Premier Ikeda's party keeps control of Japan's upper house in national elections.

11th Telstar orbits, allowing the first transoceanic live television images.

13th Macmillan, after by-elections losses, announces a major cabinet shake-up.

17th The Senate rejects medicare for the aged.

UN troops are attacked by 10,000 Katangese women in Elizabethville.

18th After a month of crisis following close elections, armed forces overthrow civilian government in Peru and a military junta takes over.

2Oth The International Court of Justice decides that UN members are obliged to pay for Congo and Middle East peace-keeping operations.

21st Clashes between India and Chinese troops in Ladakh are reported.

23rd The 14-nation guarantee of Laotian neutrality is signed in Geneva.

28th Mass demonstrations, police brutality, terrorism, and violence reach a peak as efforts to desegregate Albany, Ga., are continued.

31st The Federation of Malaysia is established by an agreement signed in London.

August

3rd Ben Bella arrives in Algiers as acknowledged leader of Algeria.

5th The Soviet Union resumes atmospheric nuclear testing in the Arctic.

EEC negotiations on Britain's membership are recessed until autumn after a 14-hour session.

6th Jamaica becomes independent and assumes full membership in the Commonwealth of

Nations.

11th Vostok III, Soviet spaceship carrying Andriyan Nikolayev, is launched into orbit.

12th Vostok VI, Soviet spaceship carrying Pavel Popovich, is launched into orbit.

14th French and Italian workers break through to each other in the Mont Blanc vehicular

tunnel.

15th The Soviet "space twins" land safely; Nikolayev after 63 orbits and Popovich after 47.

17th Indonesia and the Netherlands sign an agreement on Netherlands New Guinea.

19th The United States recognizes Peru's ruling military junta and resumes economic aid.

27th The Hungarian Communists reveal that 20 Stalinist leaders have been purged.

29th The United States launches Mariner II to go past Venus and send back planetary data.

31st Saudi Arabia and Jordan say they will merge armies and coordinate economic policy.

Crying "We are fed up," and "Work, not blood," tens of thousands march through Algiers.

September

1St An earthquake in western Iran leaves 10,000 dead and destroys 200 towns and villages.

2nd UN studies indicate the population of the earth has climbed to more than 3 billion.

4th The Soviet Union announces a new program to give Cuba arms and military:advisers.

10th Kennedy says there is no evidence of "significant offensive capability" in Cuba.

18th The 15 Commonwealth countries convene a Prime Ministers' meeting in London.

The 17th UN General Assembly convenes, admitting Rwanda, Burundi, Jamaica,andTrinidad.

South Vietnamese troops win a major battle against the Vietcong in the Plain of Reeds.

19th The Imam of Yemen dies and is succeeded by his son, Mohammed al-Badr.

20th In Algeria's first election, 80 percent of the voters approve unopposed candidates.

Mississippi's governor refuses to admit James Meredith, a Negro, to the state university.

25th Sonny Liston becomes world heavyweight champion, defeating Floyd Patterson.

The U.S. yacht Weatherly retains the Americas Cup, defeating Gretel of Australia.

27th Yemeni broadcasts claim a military coup; the Imam, reported killed, has actually fled.

28th Algerian Premier Ben Bella announces that his government will be socialist and neutralist.

President Kennedy federalizes Mississippi's National Guard and calls on Mississippi to admit James Meredith to the state university.

October

1st Two die in Mississippi riots after James Meredith is admitted to the state university. UN officials assume interim administration of Netherlands New Guinea until 1963.

3rd Walter Schirra orbits the earth six times.

5th The French national assembly votes to overthrow de Gaulle's Pompidou cabinet.

8th The General Assembly admits Algeria as the 109th member of the United Nations.

11th The 21st Ecumenical Council of the Roman Catholic Church opens at the Vatican.

13th The U.S. Congress adjourns after the longest single session since 1951.

15th Algerian Premier Ben Bella is received on the White House lawn with a 21-gun salute.

16th The New York Yankees win the 1962 World Series, beating the Giants in the seventh

game.

20th China opens a massive two-front attack on India's frontier in the Himalayas.

22nd A U.S. blockade is imposed on Cuba because of a buildup of "offensive" Soviet missiles.

24th U Thant asks Khrushchev and Kennedy to susperid all action on Cuba for two or three weeks.

25th The U.S. Navy intercepts but does not board the first Soviet-bloc ship in the blockade area.

The UN admits Uganda as its 110th member as it gains independence.

26th India declares a state of emergency tantamount to war with China.

27th Kennedy reveals that he has received two messages from Khrushchev, the first concilatory, the second an offer to exchange U.S. bases in Turkey for Soviet bases in Cuba.

28th Khrushchev pledges to remove Soviet missiles from Cuba under UN verification.

Kennedy replies that when missiles have been removed, he will lift the blockade and pledge there will be no U.S. invasion of Cuba.

29th Voters approve de Gaulle's proposal that the French president be popularly elected.

Nehru asks for arms from the United States. A U.S. airlift is immediately set up

31st Nehru dismisses V. K. Krishna Menon from his post of Defense Minister.

November

1st Castro rejects any international inspection of the Soviet missile withdrawal.

2nd A one-ton Soviet space probe is launched toward Mars on a seven-month journey.

3rd Kennedy says that before the "no-invasion" pledge can be given or the blockade lifted, ground inspection of Cuban missile sites must be made.

6th In Congressional elections, Democrats increase Senate seats and retain control in the House of Representatives.

lOth Nasser and U.A.R. officials ratify a military defense pact with Yemen.

18th Five Free Democratic Party ministers quit Adenauer's cabinet over the Spiegel affair.

20th Kennedy announces the lifting of the Cuban blockade after Khrushchev pledges the removal of all Soviet jet bombers within 30 days.

A U.S. executive order bars racial and religious discrimination in federally aided housing.

21st A unilateral Chinese cease fire goes into effect in the Indian-Chinese border warfare.

26th De Gaulle's followers win an absolute majority in France's Chamber of Deputies.

3Oth The UN General Assembly unanimously elects U Thant Secretary General for four years.

December

3rd Khrushchev welcomes President Tito to Moscow for a 12-day visit.

6th The United States decides to abandon the Skybolt ballistic missile program.

9th Tanganyika becomes an independent republic within the Commonwealth of Nations.

10th The Soviet Union proposes a nuclear test ban with automatic seismic recorders, "black

boxes," in each country for periodic inspection.

12th Khrushchev defends the Cuban missile withdrawal and identifies China as a major critic.

14th Northern Rhodesia announces formation of its first African-dominated government.

15th Apartheid supporters win the first elections under Southern Rhodesia's new constitution.

The United Nations condemns Portugal's rule in Angola, Mozambique, and Portuguese Guinea, its African colonies.

16th De Gaulle and Macmillan, meeting near Paris, do not agree on EEC membership for Britain.

19th Britain accepts Nyasaland's right to secede from the Federation of Rhodesia and

Nyasaland.

2Oth Juan Bosch of the Dominican Revolutionary Party is elected President.

21st Kennedy and Macmillan outline a "Nassau pact" for a unified nuclear force after three days of discussion in the Bahamas.

23rd Cuban prisoners from the Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961 start returning to the United States.

3Oth President Tshombe flees as UN troops end Katanga's secession from the Congo by force.