As I am writing this, my wife (of Hungarian decent) and I were having a discussion about the current movement in Hungary towards socialism. She stated, "They haven't learned from their history, have they?". My reply was that the current generation was probably never taught the truth of their Communist past so they are destined to repeat it.
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| On The Cover - February 1949 |
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| Cardinal Mindszenty at his trial |
9FEB59 - USSR R-7 ICBM becomes operational - The USSR really was kicking our Space Race asses in the 1950s. This achievement, although obsolete as an ICBM before long, the R-7 became "THE" launch platform for the Soviet and then Russian space program. I found an excellent technical website with graphics, photos, and information to make any space geek's heart start to beat faster. You can link to it here - Russian Space Web.
For those that prefer to read books, there is a multitude of books on the Space Race; I found this one that covers the early years - Challenge to Apollo.
If you prefer your history in 2 hours; I found this movie an excellent quick study of the Soviet space program - The Rise and Fall of the Russian Space program.
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| Various iterations of R-7 Rocket |
10FEB62 - Spies swapped - Francis Gary Powers, any historian of the Cold War knows this story, even an amateur like me. On this day in 1962 the now famous spy swap was conducted. Multiple books, documentaries, and a hit Hollywood movie starring Tom Hanks has been done to share the story in many ways. Below, I share a book I found during my search for something different to post. The title is familiar to everyone because the movie also has that title, but the book is quite different from the movie version. The author, Giles Whittell, tells the story from the three main participants viewpoint, not the lawyer, James Donavan's view. Something new I learned is the real name of the Soviet spy. Check it out below.
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| Later Spy Swap at "Bridge of Spies" |
12FEB73 - First Vietnam War POWs head home - The first 20 prisoners are released in Hanoi in what was to be a programmed release of all 591 by 29MAR73. Operation Homecoming was negotiated at the Paris Peace Agreement which was signed earlier that year on 27JAN73. Link over to this YouTube video that initially looks like a North Vietnamese propaganda device; then transforms into the American view as the POWs are released. It is from the Maine Military Museum & Learning Center. I found other POW release videos there as well. Of course, numerous books have also been written on this event. I was in the Navy at that time, getting ready for my upcoming wedding (10MAR73) and, as we all were, very happy to see an end to the war. This event showed the country that the war really was over politically.
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| Iconic Image of Vietnam POW Return |
12FEB88 - USSR & USA Navy ships "Bump" in the Black Sea - Here is one for the Navy visitors, both USA and Russian (my site statistics show that I get Russian visitors). I read through the Youtube video comments and laughed because it caused such a stir with the uninformed. I lived this life (72-82), it was normal stuff. Granted, this one got escalated to the point where the ships touched and actual damage to the ships happened but it was part of a Navy man's life back during the Cold War, on both sides. You don't think the sailors on both the Soviet and USA ships didn't have a pucker factor going once the SKR-6 Captain rammed the Caron? And, then, the Bezzavetny rams the Yorktown? Everyone's pucker factor on both ships and back at HQ increased ten fold once that initial "Bump" happened. It just escalated from there. The Cold War had us challenging each other all the time. I remember Soviet "Bear" aircraft doing practice runs above the carrier group where we "lit up" their asses with the fire control radars. Guns and missiles. F4's or F14s were scrambled to intercept. Trawlers followed the fleet. Once we ran circles around a trawler to cause excessive wave action to bounce them around like a cork. Both sides screwed with each other as part of the game. Many incidents happened in the 46 years of the Cold war. This was just one of them.
The next story shows who won this game when all was said and done just a few years later.
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| Soviet Mirka-class frigate SKR-6 rams USS Caron first |
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| Soviet Krivak-class frigate Bezzavetny rams USS Yorktown minutes later |
7FEB90 Soviet Communist Party Gives Up Power - Reagan probably had a huge smile on his face on this day. He must have known that it was one of the steps in the Soviet Union failing. A little less than 2-years later the Soviet Union no longer existed. He may not have been President when it happened in 1991 (George H. W. Bush was) but Reagan caused it more than any other president. His policy of "We win, they lose" worked. Don't get me wrong, Gorbachov deserves his credit, or admonishment, depending on your view, but it was Reagan's plan that made this happen. The History.com article on the particulars of how this came to be is here.
New Feature - Special Report - 12FEB2002 - Milosevic Goes On Trial - This story is directly related to the Cold War in that he came to power in Yugoslavia during the Cold War and was one of the last hold outs for the old ways. Causing so much death and destruction in the 1990s. He also was an extreme hard liner, as so many Socialist/Communist leaders have been shown to have been. Yugoslavia was a Socialist country ruled by the Communist Party. He did not survive his trial by dying of a heart attack. The final court ruling is that there was no direct evidence that he ordered the genocide but was indifferent to it and did nothing to stop it. You can read more here.
Entertainment
Movie - Seven Days In May Released, February 12, 1964 - An excellent Cold War era film that explores the affects of the President's desire to rid the world of nuclear weapons. Filmed in black & white, the lack of color adds a sense of actually being there, watching the events unfold. The movie's story line shares what it would be like to have a pending Constitutional crisis as the military plots the removal of a President. I was able to find the movie for free on Youtube.com; Seven Days in May.
Top of the Billboard Chart - 1960 - Teen Angel by Mark Dinning - I must hear this song at every car show I attend. It was a huge hit and many people that were teens at that time want to hear it. I'm sure we have some Cold Warriors on here that are fans of this song from their youth. Listen here.
New Feature - Cold War Book - "BRIDGE OF SPIES", Whittell, Giles, Broadway Books, New York, 978-0-7679-3107-6. This book was added this week because, even though it was published in 2010, the book is the true story of one of this week's historical events; the 10FEB62 spy swap. This book is not the one the Tom Hanks movie was based on. That movie is based on the lawyer James Donovan's perspective and I covered it in a previous post (read archived Bridge of Spies movie review post). This book centers on the true story of the three main character's involved; William Fisher (Soviet Spy commonly known as Rudolf Abel), Francis Gary Powers (CIA U2 Pilot), and Frederic Pryor (GraduateStudent). Amazon provides a good synopsis, sample, and reviews of the book here.
Citations
History.com's On This Day... series is an excellent source for choosing what to post here.
Youtube.com - Thank you to all the posters that share movies and songs so I can share them with my visitors.
Google Search provided the images.
Russianspaceweb.com for allowing the link to their superb information on the R-7.
Amazon.com for allowing links to their site for book and movie purchases.
Maine Museum & Learning Center for the Vietnam War PO film
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