Cover story of Newsweek magazine: "The Teenagers". Inside was an 18 page report on teen's social habits, goals, and family relationships. A poll indicated that the person they admired most was John F. Kennedy, winner by more than 2 1/2 to 1 margin over Helen Keller. President Johnson came in 4th, just behind George Washington. 86% noted that their parents hadn't tried to run their lives too much (while just 12% did). In terms of what they owned, 75% of teenage boys and 90% of the girls said they owned records, 75 & 72% transistor radios, 64 & 60% encyclopedias, and 27% boys had guitars.
More Historic Events on this Day
1951 - Rosenburg's Convicted of Espionage
Julius and Ethel Rosenburg were convicted of espionage, and yet were executed as if they'd been found guilty of treason. They had been spying for the Soviet Union, to whom they transmitted secrets of the atomic bomb.
1961 - Alcatraz Emptied
The Alcatraz federal prison island in San Francisco Bay was emptied of its last inmates at the order of Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy after three decades of housing some of America's most notorious criminals.
1965 - MLk Leads March to Montgomery
More than 3,000 civil rights demonstrators led by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King JR began their march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, protected by federal troops following an assault on them by local police two weeks earlier. 25,000 people join in by the time the marchers reach the capital of Montgomery on the 25th. Later, at the end of the march, King will tell the crowd, "We are on the move and no wave of racism will stop us."
1967 - North Vietnam Rejects Johnson Overture
The North Vietnamese press agency reports that an exchange of notes took place in February between President Lyndon B. Johnson and Ho Chi Minh. The agency said that Ho rejected a proposal made by Johnson for direct talks between the United States and North Vietnam on ending the war. The North Vietnamese demanded that the United States "stop definitely and unconditionally its bombing raids and all other acts of war against North Vietnam." The U.S. State Department confirmed the exchange of letters and expressed regret that Hanoi had divulged this information, since the secret letters were intended as a serious diplomatic attempt to end the conflict. Nothing of any consequence came from Johnson's initiative.
Meanwhile, in South Vietnam, Operation Junction City produced what General Westmoreland described as "one of the most successful single actions of the year." In the effort, U.S. forces killed 606 Viet Cong in Tay Ninh Province and surrounding areas along the Cambodian border northwest of Saigon. The purpose of Operation Junction City was to drive the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese troops away from populated areas and into the open where superior American firepower could be more effectively used against them.
1971 - First Use of Computer Animation
The Andromeda Strain, the first movie to use computer animation, opens. The sci-fi thriller, featuring scientists racing against time and an alien virus, was also the first movie to be made from a Michael Crichton book.
1980 - Carter Announces Olympic Boycott
On this day in 1980, President Jimmy Carter announces that the U.S. will boycott the Olympic Games scheduled to take place in Moscow that summer. The announcement came after the Soviet Union failed to comply with Carter’s February 20, 1980, deadline to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan.
The Soviet military invaded Afghanistan in 1979 to reinforce the country’s communist regime against Islamic rebel forces. In a statement made after the invasion, Carter rebuked the Soviet Union, specifically Premier Leonid Brezhnev, and decried the invasion as “a deliberate effort by a powerful atheistic government to subjugate an independent Islamic people” that he called “a stepping stone to [Soviet] control over [Afghanistan’s] oil supplies." Brezhnev dismissed Carter’s statements as “bellicose and wicked.” The invasion threatened to revive the Cold War, which, during the late 1970s, had appeared to undergo a temporary thaw. Carter said his “opinion of the Russians has changed drastically” since the beginning of his administration.
In addition to the boycott, Carter increased pressure on the Soviets to abandon the war in Afghanistan by issuing a trade embargo on two U.S. goods that the country desperately needed: grain and information technology. He also restricted Soviet fishing in American-controlled ocean waters. Carter called on the U.N. to provide “military equipment, food and other assistance” to help Afghanistan’s neighbors (especially Iran and Pakistan) fend off further Soviet encroachment.
Canada, West Germany and Japan joined the U.S. in boycotting the games; Carter failed to convince Great Britain, France, Greece and Australia to also observe the boycott. When an international coalition suggested that the boycotting nations send athletes to compete under a neutral Olympic banner, Carter threatened to revoke the passport of any U.S. athlete who attempted to do so. His decision affected not only athletes, but the profits of corporate advertisers and broadcasting powerhouses like NBC.
Reaction to Carter’s decision was mixed. Many Americans pitied the athletes who had worked so hard toward their goal of competing in the Olympics and who might not qualify to compete in the next games in 1984. At the same time, the boycott symbolized commitment many Americans felt to fighting the oppressive, anti-democratic Soviet regime.
In retaliation for Carter’s action, the Soviet Union boycotted the 1984 Olympic Games held in Los Angeles.