MANSFIELD SAYS AID TO VIETNAM IS WASTED
Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield (D-Montana) said today that military aid to South Vietnam has been wasted.
Senator Mansfield, back from a trip to Southeast Asia, reported to President Kennedy that the Diem regime has failed to win the support of his own people which is necessary for success against the communists.
The US has sent more than $2 billion in aid to South Vietnam since 1954.*
*Senator Mansfield was the 1st government official to publicly criticize the situation in South Vietnam. He served as Majority Leader from 1961 to 1977.
Born in New York City, Michael J. Mansfield was raised in Montana. He gave a eulogy for JFK in the Capitol Rotunda on Nov 24, 1963. During LBJ's Presidency, Mansfield continued to speak out against the war.
Mansfield died on Oct 5, 2001 at the age of 98. He was buried in Arlington.
Senator Mike Mansfield
December 2, 1961
CASTRO SAYS "I AM A MARXIST-LENINIST"
Havana, Cuba (JFK+50) Fidel Castro of Cuba announced today in a televised address that he is a Marxist-Leninist & added "and shall be one until the end of my life."
Castro went on to say:
"Marxism or scientific socialism has become the revolutionary movement of the working class."
Castro led successful guerrilla warfare against dictator Fulgencio Batista in 1959. Within 2 years he became Prime Minister, survived an attempted coup directed by the US CIA & formed an alliance with the USSR.*
Soviet Banner of Marx, Engels & Lenin
Image by Jgaray
*Marxism-Leninism, based on the theories of Karl Marx & Vladimir Lenin, promotes an international communist society directed by a single-party socialist state.
In a radio interview in the summer of 1963, Lee Harvey Oswald proclaimed that he was a "Marxist-Leninist" but in notes takes by FBI agent James Hosty, at the interrogation of LHO in Dallas, Oswald said he was a Marxist, not a Marxist-Leninist.
December 2, 1954
SENATE VOTES 65-22 TO CENSURE McCARTHY
Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) The United States Senate voted today 65-22 to censure Republican Senator Joseph R. McCarthy of Wisconsin.
The censure vote came for McCarthy's behavior of accusing government agencies as well as President Eisenhower & Secretary of the Army Robert Stevens of being "soft on communism."*
Senator Joseph R. McCarthy
"I do not like the way the Senate has been made a rendezvous for vilification for selfish political gain at the sacrifice of individual reputations & national unity."
Senator Margaret Chase Smith
June 1, 1950
*Senator John F. Kennedy did not cast his vote on the censure. He was recuperating from back surgery.
December 2, 1859
JOHN BROWN HANGED IN VIRGINIA
Charles Town, Virginia (JFK+50) Having been found guilty of treason, murder & insurrection, John Brown was hanged this morning here in Charles Town, Virginia.
The execution, witnessed predominantly by soldiers, came at 11:15.
The Connecticut-born abolitionist had orchestrated & led an unsuccessful attempt to capture the United States arsenal at Harper's Ferry in October of this year.
Brown was captured by the United States army led by Colonel Robert E. Lee.
Brown was found guilty at his trial here in Charles Town & sentenced to hang on November 2.
John Brown wrote a note & handed it to his guard this morning before execution. The note says:
"The crimes of this guilty land will never be purged away but with blood."
"The Last Moments of John Brown"
by Thomas Hovenden (1880s)
Metropolitan Museum of Art
