Real Time 1960s

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

Dec. 8, 1963 - Here is a clip from today's game between the Chicago Bears and San Francisco 49ers at Wrigley Field. The Bears won the NFL contest, 27-7. Support this project at patreon.com/realtime1960s

Dec. 8, 1963 - Here is a clip from today's game between the Dallas Cowboys and Pittsburgh Steelers at the Cotton Bowl. The Steelers won the NFL contest, 34-19. Support this project at patreon.com/realtime1960s

Dec. 8, 1963 - Here is a clip from today's game between the Baltimore Colts and Minnesota Vikings at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. The Colts won the NFL contest, 41-10. Support this project at patreon.com/realtime1960s

Dec. 7, 1963 - Heavyweight challenger Cassius Clay was a guest tonight on The Jerry Lewis Show. Support this project at patreon.com/realtime1960s

Dec. 7, 1963 - Here is a clip from today's game between the Los Angeles Rams and Green Bay Packers at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. The Packers won the NFL contest, 31-14. Support this project at patreon.com/realtime1960s

Dec. 7, 1963 - The Toronto Maple Leafs blanked the Chicago Black Hawks, 3-0, tonight at Maple Leaf Gardens to shatter an unbeaten Chicago streak that had carried through nine games. The wild game was held up for 20 minutes late in the final period when a brawl broke out between the two teams and resulted in seven major penalties, six misconducts, and three game misconducts. The melee erupted shortly after Chicago's Reg Fleming was given a minor penalty for tripping. He was in the box when the Leafs' Bob Baun skated over, and the battle was on. Players, team officials, and spectators joined in the action. Support this project at patreon.com/realtime1960s

Dec. 6, 1963 - Here is a 5-minute excerpt from this evening's edition of NBC Nightly News. It deals with the aftermath of the Kennedy assassination, and it also includes a statement by the new First Lady, Lady Bird Johnson, on the lasting impression left by Jacqueline Kennedy on the White House. Mrs. Kennedy left the White House today after a quiet goodbye to the household staff and moved into a home in the Georgetown section of the capital. Support this project at patreon.com/realtime1960s

Dec. 5, 1963 - Governor John Connally, weak but ruddy-faced and smiling, left Parkland Hospital today for his home in Austin, Tex., where he will continue his recuperation from gunshot wounds sustained on Nov. 22, when President Kennedy was assassinated. Governor Connally, who was riding in the open-topped limousine with President Kennedy, was felled by a bullet that pierced his back, chest, right wrist, and thigh. The Governor said he understood his shattered wrist might stay in its cast at least 90 days. “It will be at least six months before it can be determined if I can have the full use of the hand and wrist,” he added. In response to a question, the Governor said he hoped a Texas court of inquiry, to be convened to study the assassination and subsequent events, would “shed great light” on the tragedy. Before he left Parkland, the hospital personnel applauded the Governor and his wife, Nellie. One final question concerned the strength of extremist groups in Texas. “I think they are flourishing because of a lack of articulation by the people of reason, the people of sound views, people of moderation,” he said. The man whom the police accused of murdering the President, Lee Harvey Oswald, was a self-professed Marxist. Texas — Dallas in particular — has gained the reputation of being a center of right-wing thought and action. Support this project at patreon.com/realtime1960s

"A Boy Named Charlie Brown" is an unaired television documentary film from 1963 about Charles M. Schulz and his Peanuts comic strip. The film was produced by Lee Mendelson with some animated scenes by Bill Melendez and music by Vince Guaraldi. Support this project at patreon.com/realtime1960s

Dec. 2, 1963 - Sonny Liston was interviewed today by Max Goldberg on the television program "On the Spot." Support this project at patreon.com/realtime1960s

In 1963, The Bee Gees performed Bob Dylan's "Blowin' in the Wind" on Australian television. Support this project at patreon.com/realtime1960s

Dec. 3, 1963 - The reduction of United States forces in South Vietnam began today. Three planeloads of men flew across the Pacific on their way home. The operation is intended to send 1,000 troops home for Christmas. A total of 220 servicemen — many of whom had seen their first combat in South Vietnam’s grinding war against Communist guerrillas — happily climbed aboard three Air Force C-135 jets bound for Hawaii, the first stop on their journey home. They received thanks and farewells from Gen. Paul D. Harkins, commander of the U.S. forces in Vietnam, and Gen. Tran Van Don, Vietnam’s Defense Minister. Although some of these men are being replaced, other jobs are being abolished, and the over-all strength of U.S. forces in Vietnam is being cut from 16,500 to 15,500. U.S. officials emphasized that the cutback did not signal any reduction of the American commitment to the war in Vietnam or indicate that the war situation had improved. Sgt. Matthew I. Wiley, on his way home to Columbus, Ga., today called combat operations in which he had participated “one heck of an experience.” “You actually have to be out with these people [South Vietnamese foot soldiers] to understand them,” he said. “They really surprise you — what they’ve gone through and what they’re still going through and what spirit they have.” Support this project at patreon.com/realtime1960s

Dec. 2, 1963 - The United States called on the Soviet Union today for a first small step toward joint exploration of the Moon. In a policy statement, the first on space from President Johnson's Administration, Adlai Stevenson said he was authorized to renew the offer for a joint lunar expedition that President Kennedy propose at the U.N. last September. "If giant steps cannot be taken at once, we hope that shorter ones can," Mr. Stevenson, U.S. delegate to the U.N., told the Political Committee of the General Assembly in opening the space debate. Support this project at patreon.com/realtime1960s

Dec. 3, 1963 - Mrs. Jacqueline Kennedy, wearing the same simple black suit which she wore during the funeral services for her husband last week, looked on today as a Secret Service agent, Clinton J. Hill, received the Treasury Department’s highest award for “exceptional bravery” in the assassination attack on President Kennedy. With other members of the Kennedy family, she came to watch Secretary of the Treasury Douglas Dillon present a gold medal and citation to the agent. Mr. Hill made no comment but shook hands with Mr. Dillon after accepting the award. Mr. Dillon said Mr. Hill’s actions added luster to the “great tradition of courage and heroism” of the Secret Service, which comes under his department. The citation said Mr. Hill had been standing on the running board of a Secret Service car just behind the Presidential limousine when the assassin fired his first shot in Dallas on Nov. 22. With the bullets still being fired, the citation noted, Mr. Hill “climbed on the rear of the President’s rapidly moving limousine and shielded the President and Mrs. Kennedy with his own body.” Mr. Hill, 31 years old, served three years in the Army’s Counter Intelligence Corps. He joined the Secret Service in September 1958 and was transferred to the White House detail in the Eisenhower Administration. About 75 persons, many of them fellow agents, witnessed today’s ceremony and applauded Mr. Hill, who has been assigned to remain on duty with Mrs. Kennedy. Mrs. Kennedy plans to move out of the White House Friday, when she is expected to move into the Georgetown home of W. Averell Harriman. No date has as yet been set for President Johnson and his family to move into the White House. Support this project at patreon.com/realtime1960s

Dec. 2, 1963 - White House Press Secretary Pierre Salinger today conveyed Mrs. Kennedy's thanks to the general public for the messages of support she has received since President Kennedy's assassination. Support this project at patreon.com/realtime1960s

Dec. 1, 1963 - Here are some highlights of today's game between the Chicago Bears and Minnesota Vikings at Wrigley Field in Chicago. The result of the NFL contest was a tie, 17-17. Support this project at patreon.com/realtime1960s

Dec. 1, 1963 - Here are some highlights of today's game between the Boston Patriots and Buffalo Bills at Fenway Park in Boston. The Patriots won the AFL contest, 17-7. Support this project at patreon.com/realtime1960s

Dec. 1, 1963 - Here is a highlight from today's game between the San Francisco 49ers and Los Angeles Rams at Kezar Stadium in San Francisco. The Rams won the NFL contest, 21-17. Support this project at patreon.com/realtime1960s