Real Time 1960s

Here is a brief review of the San Francisco 49ers' 1963 season. The NFL club finished with a record of 2-12. Support this project at patreon.com/realtime1960s

Dec. 29, 1963 - The Chicago Bears won the championship of the National Football League today by defeating the New York Giants, 14-10, before 45,801 fans at Wrigley Field. Victory for the Bears came by way of a strong defensive effort that prevented the Giants from scoring in the second half and through the interception of five of Y.A. Tittle’s passes. Tittle twisted his left knee in the first half. He was taken out of action at 8:45 of the second quarter, but he played through the third and fourth quarters with yards of adhesive tape supporting his knee. During the halftime intermission, he had received an injection of Novocain and one of cortisone. However, Tittle completed only 8 of 21 passes during the last 30 minutes, and four were intercepted by George Halas’s Bears. When healthy in the opening quarter, Tittle threw one touchdown pass — an easy one to Frank Gifford. The Giants also got a 13-yard field goal by Don Chandler in the second period, but that was all. Both Chicago touchdowns were set up by interceptions of screen passes thrown by Tittle, and the game turned on these two plays. The first interception was by Larry Morris, the Bears’ right linebacker, who returned the ball 61 yards to the Giant 6. “I was so tired I knew I was going to get caught,” said Morris, who was named by Sport magazine as the outstanding player of the game. Bill Wade, Chicago’s quarterback, made the touchdown on a sneak over center from the 2. The second score in the third quarter was only a bit harder. Ed O’Bradovich, defensive end, intercepted another screen pass at the Giant 24 and returned it to the 14. Five plays later, Wade made the game’s biggest touchdown from the 1, again going over behind the blocking of his center, Mike Pyle. Bob Jencks kicked the conversion to make the score 14-10. During the remaining 17:12 of play, the Giants had their chances but could do nothing. They had 26 offensive plays, but never came closer to the Bear goal than Chicago’s 36. Twice, Bear defenders intercepted Tittle’s passes in the end zone. As Tittle limped off the field, the frustrated 37-year-old quarterback slammed down his blue helmet on the frozen field three times. It had not been Y.A.’s day. The loss was the Giants’ third in three years in the NFL championship game. The winning Bears will receive about $6,000 each and the losing Giants about $4,200 each. Support this project at patreon.com/realtime1960s

Dec. 29, 1963 - In the Chicago dressing room today after the Bears’ victory over the Giants in the NFL championship game, linebacker Larry Morris, named the game’s most valuable player, told how he swiped a pass from Y.A. Tittle and romped 61 yards to set up the Bears’ first touchdown. “It was second down and long yardage,” Morris recounted. “It figured to be a pass. I went in and took it. Why did I zigzag so much? Because I’m no gazelle halfback. I wanted to score — and I almost made it.” Morris’s larceny was one of five by the Bears off Tittle. “We knew that one of the Giants’ best weapons was the screen pass,” said coach George Halas. “We were watching for it constantly. When Ed O’Bradovich intercepted the Tittle screener in the third quarter, it was just what we were looking for. It worked perfectly. We had a blitz on, and the red dogger was Joe Fortunato. Joe went in. O’Bradovich came over and protected Fortunato’s position, and he came up with the pass. It was a big one.” O’Bradovich said the Bears smelled a screen on the play. “We knew they liked to throw it. We were waiting for it — and we came up lucky.” Bob Kilcullen, Chicago defensive end, said the Bears won by preventing the Giants from playing the game they wanted to. “They wanted to hold us up with the draw play, so we’d go for the fakes,” said Kilcullen. “So what did we do? We just played it smart. We didn’t go for the fakes.” Two of the happiest victors were Fred Williams and Bill George, both of whom suffered through the 47-7 defeat at the hands of the Giants in the championship game of 1956. “This was a long time coming,” said Williams. “I didn’t figure I’d ever play on a championship team.” Coach Halas compared today’s victory with his Bears’ 73-0 triumph over Washington in the 1940 championship game. “We’ve been lucky,” said defensive end Doug Atkins. “We were lucky all season, and we were lucky today. A defense isn’t supposed to beat a team, just hold them. But we beat them, and nobody can argue about it.” Support this project at patreon.com/realtime1960s

Dec. 22, 1963 - Lyndon B. Johnson turned tonight to the words and the shrine of one slain President to say goodbye to another. His short but ringing farewell to John Fitzgerald Kennedy, in a candlelight service that ended a month of national mourning, was threaded with phrases and paraphrases from Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address. About 14,000 persons, the flames of their candles shining in the gathering dusk, stood shivering in the cold at the Lincoln Memorial to share the farewell service with the 36th President. Seven Cabinet members and two Supreme Court Justices were there with Mrs. Johnson and her daughter Lucy Baines. The President, bareheaded and somber, declared: “We buried Abraham Lincoln and John Kennedy, but we did not bury their dreams or their visions. They are our dreams and our visions today, for President Lincoln and John Kennedy moved toward those nobler dreams and those larger visions where the needs of the people dwell.” President Johnson began his simple speech with these words: “Thirty days and a few hours ago, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, 35th President of the United States, died a martyr’s death. The world will not forget what he did here. He will live on in our hearts, which will be his shrine.” By the time the new President’s family had returned to the White House, the crepe that had darkened the portico of the Executive mansion was gone. Mr. Johnson lighted the national Christmas tree on the Ellipse, a tall spruce from West Virginia. And the nation’s mourning for John Kennedy — the official mourning at least — was over. Support this project at patreon.com/realtime1960s

Dec. 27, 1963 - President Johnson made it clear today that the two days of talks he is starting tomorrow with Chancellor Ludwig Erhard of West Germany will focus on means of improving East-West relations. “The most important thing of all is to live in the world at peace and that we learn to live together,” said the President. Mr. Johnson, holding an informal news conference at the barbecue grounds on the banks of the Pedernales River near his home in the Texas Hill Country, also announced that he would meet President Adolfo Lopez Mateos of Mexico on Feb. 21 and 22 at Los Angeles and Palm Springs. The President also said he intended to keep all the former Presidents fully informed and to seek their advice from time to time. He said he had first contacted former President Hoover through his son, then talked to Mr. Hoover by telephone and had again telephoned Christmas Day to extend greetings, as he did with both former Presidents Eisenhower and Truman. All the ex-Presidents, Mr. Johnson said, had been “very cooperative and I am very grateful.” At the news conference, where he was surrounded by Secretary of State Dean Rusk and other top-ranking officials, the President spoke into a microphone set up on a bale of hay. Smoke from the barbecue pits drifted through a grove of oak trees. Some reporters gnawed beef spareribs as Mr. Johnson made his announcements and answered questions on domestic and international affairs. The President rode away after the news conference astride a black Tennessee Walking Horse named Lady B. Later, Mr. Johnson gave reporters and T.V. men a grand tour of the Johnson ranch and adjacent areas, including a glimpse of the cemetery where his father and mother are buried. Support this project at patreon.com/realtime1960s

Dec. 28, 1963 - President Johnson and Chancellor Ludwig Erhard of West Germany, meeting today at Bergstrom Air Force Base near Austin, exchanged pledges to continue working for “self-determination for all Germans.” Dr. Erhard was met on the runway by the President, Mrs. Johnson, Governor and Mrs. John Connally of Texas, Secretary of State Dean Rusk, and other officials. Governor Connally, who was shot in Dallas while riding in the same car with President Kennedy on Nov. 22, had his right arm in a sling. He looked thin and pale but cheerful. He shook Dr. Erhard’s right hand with his own left. After a welcoming ceremony of great cordiality, the two leaders and their official parties flew “back to the hills” — in Mr. Johnson’s phrase — to begin their two-day working visit at the President’s LBJ Ranch. It was the first major international conference for each man as chief of government. Both came into office this autumn. Upon arrival at the ranch, Mr. Johnson and Dr. Erhard went immediately into private talks in the ranch house living room. Only interpreters were with them. White House Press Secretary Pierre Salinger later said the discussions were of wide range, including East-West relations, means of strengthening the Atlantic alliance, mutual defense problems, and economic questions. In another room, Secretary Rusk, Foreign Minister Gerhard Schröder of West Germany, and other officials settled down to a parallel discussion. Tomorrow the Chancellor and the President will attend church and go to a Texas barbecue together. Mr. Erhard will return to Germany Sunday night. Support this project at patreon.com/realtime1960s

Dec. 20, 1963 - President Johnson today signed the Chamizal Treaty with Mexico, ending the 99-year-old dispute over the Chamizal area. Mr. Johnson cited the treaty as an example of how international disagreements can be solved with "tolerance and trust." Under the treaty, Mexico is to get back 437 acres it lost to El Paso, Texas, late in the 19th century by a change in course of the Rio Grande. The river had been established earlier as the boundary. Both nations plan to make the Chamizal area into a park with broad roadways and two bridges linking the two countries. The signing ceremony took place in the Treaty Room, in the residential quarters of the White House. The President made it a homey, informal occasion, and ended it by taking a group of reporters on a brief tour of some of the White House living quarters. Support this project at patreon.com/realtime1960s

Dec. 22, 1963 - Tonight on the Ed Sullivan Show, the Burke Family Singers performed "Silent Night." Sometimes referred to as "America's answer to Austria's Von Trapp Family," this mother, father, and their ten children have performed all over the United States and Canada. Support this project at patreon.com/realtime1960s

Dec. 20, 1963 - Rubin (Hurricane) Carter twice smashed welterweight champion Emile Griffith to the canvas tonight and scored a startling first-round technical knockout. The crowd of 5,436 in Pittsburgh’s Civic Arena seemed stunned by the abrupt ending to the non-title fight, then it burst into cheers for the victor. Carter, No. 2-ranked middleweight contender, floored Griffith with a vicious left hook shortly after the two fighters had broken from a clinch. Griffith beat the count but was obviously hurt. He put both hands to his head before Referee Buck McTiernan waved Carter in again. Carter moved in swiftly and raked the champion with a series of lefts and rights to the head, sending him to the canvas for the second time. Griffith managed once again to get to his feet, but McTiernan ruled he was unable to continue and awarded the fight to Carter at 2:13 of the first round. Carter weighed 155, Griffith 151½. It was the first time the New Yorker by way of the Virgin Islands had been knocked out. Griffith’s record now is 38-5. Carter’s record is 18-4, including 12 knockouts. After the bout, Carter said: “They ain’t got no business putting any welterweights in there with me. I told you that before. I want a shot at Joey Giardello’s middleweight title now. But he’s probably scared of me and won’t give me the shot even though I’m a top contender.” Griffith declared: “I got a bad deal, but maybe the referee thought he was doing his job right. Carter hit me on top of my head, and the referee didn’t take no chance. This isn’t going to get me discouraged. I’m still going to fight middleweights.” McTiernan disagreed, stating: “I gave Griffith a break the first time he was down, and I certainly did him a favor stopping it when I did. He might have been badly hurt if I had let it go on.” Support this project at patreon.com/realtime1960s

Here is a government-produced short film released late in 1963 which covers Lyndon Johnson's political career, with a heavy emphasis on his time as Vice President. Support this project at patreon.com/realtime1960s

“We'll Never Turn Back” was filmed in Mississippi in 1963 during a voter registration drive. Harvey Richards interviewed sharecroppers and activists in the registration campaign, including SNCC leaders Julian Bond, Bob Moses, Fannie Lou Hamer, Charles McLaurin, and Hollis Watkins. Support this project at patreon.com/realtime1960s

Dec. 17, 1963 - President Johnson, addressing the General Assembly of the United Nations today, said the U.S. wanted the cold war ended “once and for all.” He also urged the U.N. to join in undertaking a “global New Deal” that would bring a new era of hope “for that one-third of mankind still beset by hunger, poverty, and disease.” Mr. Johnson urged “a peaceful revolution in the world through a recommitment of all of our members, rich and poor, strong and weak, whatever their location or ideology, to the basic principles of human welfare and of humanity.” In his first major address before an international audience since he succeeded John F. Kennedy, Mr. Johnson reminded his audience that “peace is a journey of a thousand miles, and it must be taken one step at a time.” With this expression, President Johnson revived a figure of speech used by President Kennedy to emphasize that the world must never let up in its efforts to achieve peace. In a television speech July 27, Mr. Kennedy had said that no one could be sure that “the path to peace is open” but that every effort must be made to determine if it was. “According to the ancient Chinese proverb, a journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step,” Mr. Kennedy added. Mr. Johnson, declaring that “the assassin’s bullet which took President Kennedy’s life did not alter his nation’s purpose,” assured the Assembly that the U.S. supported the U.N. “more than ever.” As on his first trip to New York City for the funeral of former Senator Herbert Lehman shortly after Mr. Johnson assumed the Presidency, the Chief Executive was enveloped by strong security details. Four Secret Service agents, their heads bared to wintry blasts, rode the running boards of the Queen Mary, follow-up car behind the bulletproof Presidential limousine. An innovation was the seating of an agent in that limousine facing backward to scan the window of buildings just passed. Mr. Kennedy was killed by shots coming from behind as his open car passed a Dallas building with a sniper at the upper window. A V-shaped wedge of 12 blue-helmeted motorcycle police preceded the Presidential caravan, and 40 more cruised on its two flanks. Support this project at patreon.com/realtime1960s

Dec. 17, 1963 - This newsreel covers President Johnson's address today at the General Assembly of the United Nations. Support this project at patreon.com/realtime1960s

Dec. 15, 1963 - Here are some highlights from today's game between the Chicago Bears and Detroit Lions at Wrigley Field. The Bears won the NFL contest, 24-14. Support this project at patreon.com/realtime1960s

Dec. 15, 1963 - Here are some highlights from today's game between the Washington Redskins and Cleveland Browns at D.C. Stadium. The Browns won the NFL contest, 27-20. Support this project at patreon.com/realtime1960s

Dec. 15, 1963 - Here are some highlights from today's game between the Baltimore Colts and Los Angeles Rams at Memorial Stadium. The Colts won the NFL contest, 19-16. Support this project at patreon.com/realtime1960s

Dec. 15, 1963 - Here are some highlights from today's game between the Ne York Giants and Pittsburgh Steelers at Yankee Stadium. The Giants won the NFL contest, 33-17. Support this project at patreon.com/realtime1960s

Following their appearance on the BBC television show “Juke Box Jury,” The Beatles recorded a special concert appearance for the corporation at Liverpool’s Empire Theatre. The performance, which took place in front of 2,500 members of The Beatles’ Northern Area Fan Club, was filmed in its entirety by the BBC. Several clips appear in this short film. Support this project at patreon.com/realtime1960s

Dec. 15, 1963 - Dr. Dietrich Rahn, public prosecutor, spoke in Frankfurt today about the forthcoming Auschwitz death camp trial. Dr. Rahn has had long experience in dealing with war criminals and is considered expert in his knowledge of the early stages of the Nazi euthanasia program. Support this project at patreon.com/realtime1960s

Dec. 14, 1963 - Here are some highlights from today's game between the New York Jets and Buffalo Bills at the Polo Grounds. The Bills won the AFL contest, 19-10. Support this project at patreon.com/realtime1960s

Dec. 14, 1963 - The Justice Department announced early today that the FBI had arrested three men in connection with the kidnapping of Frank Sinatra Jr. and recovered almost all of the $240,000 ransom money. “Thank God it’s over,” said Frank Sinatra Sr. The big announcement came with dramatic swiftness when, not long after midnight, FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover announced the arrests of a house painter, a vacuum cleaner parts salesman and a self-styled boxer, along with the recovery of all but $23,135 of the ransom. Mr. Hoover identified the men as John W. Irwin, 42, of Hollywood, Cal.; Barry W. Keenan, 23, of Los Angeles; and Joseph Clyde Amsler, 23, of Playa Del Rey, Cal. Keenan, with blond, crewcut hair, conformed closely to various descriptions of the main suspect in the case. The FBI said Keenan has an arrest record for burglary and petty theft. He was graduated in 1958 from University High School in West Los Angeles in the same class as Nancy Sinatra, sister of Frank Jr. Sinatra, 19, was abducted from his motel room at Lake Tahoe, Nev., Sunday night and released early Wednesday after his father, Frank Sinatra Sr., paid $240,000 in ransom. Hoover said $47,938 of the ransom money was recovered from Irwin, a painter and Navy veteran who was taken into custody around 9 a.m. PST Friday in Imperial Beach, Cal. Almost all the remaining money was found in a Culver City (Cal.) apartment where Amsler was arrested shortly after midnight (PST), the FBI said. Mr. Sinatra Jr. is still at the home of his mother, Mrs. Nancy Sinatra, 700 Nimes Rd., Bel-Air. The young singer is expected to return to work Tuesday at Harrah’s Club in Lake Tahoe. Today, Sinatra Sr. pridefully gave credit for an assist in the detective work to his son. He said the boy furnished information — presumably about his movements and the house where he was held hostage — that helped the two-state task force of agents spring their trap. Support this project at patreon.com/realtime1960s

Dec. 11, 1963 - Frank Sinatra Jr., kidnapped Sunday night at a Lake Tahoe gambling casino, was released unharmed about 3 a.m. today after his father had paid a $240,000 ransom. Young Sinatra’s first words on being reunited with his parents were: “I’m sorry” — to which his father replied: “You don’t have anything to be sorry for.” The 19-year-old singer had spent the preceding 53 hours blindfolded. He also had been given sleeping pills and had made a number of trips in automobile trunk compartments — including, apparently, the 400-mile drive from Lake Tahoe, on the northern California-Nevada boundary, to Los Angeles. The FBI office in Los Angeles declined to comment on a report that a man had been arrested in the case. Los Angeles Police Chief William H. Parker expressed indignation that his department had been left in the dark about the ransom arrangements, in which the FBI apparently had a key role. Chief Parker intimated that if the LAPD had been brought into the operation, more might have been done about catching the kidnappers. Young Sinatra was let out of a car at the crest of the Hollywood Hills only a couple of miles from his mother’s West Los Angeles home, where she and his father, the 47-year-old singer, were waiting. The Sinatras are divorced. A private neighborhood protective patrol car picked the young man up as he was walking along a road and drove him to Mrs. Sinatra’s home. An hour earlier, his father and several unidentified men had made a trip to an undisclosed location “near the Veterans Hospital” on Wilshire Boulevard in West Los Angeles with the ransom in bills from $5 to $100. The elder Sinatra said he did not know how the $240,000 sum had been arrived at. Support this project at patreon.com/realtime1960s

Dec. 8, 1963 - President Johnson’s 2-hour-20-minute visit to New York City today, his first trip outside Washington since becoming President, was made under rigid security guard. There were no disturbances. Nearly 2,000 policemen and detectives were deployed along the 15-mile route from Idlewild Airport to Temple Emanu-El, where Mr. Johnson attended the funeral service for Herbert H. Lehman, who served as Governor of New York from 1933 to 1942 and then as a U.S. Senator from 1949 to 1957. Blue-helmeted policemen arranged their motorcycles into a phalanx around the President’s closed limousine. Secret Service agents with two submachine guns rode in an open armored car immediately behind. Two police helicopters patrolled overhead. And police officials kept turning their gaze toward the open windows of apartments, whose owners then sometimes hastily shut them. One elderly woman asked a policeman if President Johnson’s visit was the reason for all the police in the area. He nodded affirmatively. “That’s the way it should be,” the lady declared. The screening of mourners and visitors as they entered Temple Emanu-El went to rare lengths. Pocketbooks were inspected. Cameras were barred, and a bundle of newspapers was required to be left outside. Packages were opened. One turned out to contain a bologna sandwich on a roll with two apples. Hundreds of policemen were suddenly redeployed between the synagogue and the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel when President Johnson, on a half hour’s notice, decided to visit former President Herbert Hoover at the hotel before returning to the airport. In Manhattan, a Criminal Court arraignment disclosed the arrest yesterday of a 19-year-old Cuban owner of a rifle, Omar Padilla, who allegedly admitted having said jokingly that he was “going to shoot Johnson.” After intensive questioning of the youth by Secret Service men and police, detectives said they were satisfied Padilla had no connection with any subversive group. He has no known police record. Support this project at patreon.com/realtime1960s

Dec. 9, 1963 - On the Ed Sullivan Show tonight, 14-year-old Hank Williams Jr. performed a medley of hits by his father, including “Jambalaya (On The Bayou),” “Your Cheatin' Heart,” “Cold, Cold Heart,” and “Long Gone Lonesome Blues.” Support this project at patreon.com/realtime1960s

Dec. 8, 1963 - Here is a clip from today's game between the Detroit Lions and Cleveland Browns at Tiger Stadium. The Lions won the NFL contest, 38-10. Support this project at patreon.com/realtime1960s