FIRST SOVIET ATOMIC BOMB

FIRST SOVIET ATOMIC BOMB DETONATED 65 YEARS AGO TODAY

Semipalatinsk, USSR (JFK+50) Sixty-five years ago today, August 29, 1949, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics detonated its first atomic bomb.

The detonation took place at a remote test site here in Semipalatinsk.

The explosion, rated at 20 kilotons, was roughly equal to that of the Trinity test explosion by the United States.

An American spy plane flying off the coast of Siberia picked up evidence of radioactivity from the explosion on September 3.

Soviets explode 1st atomic bomb

ROBERT FROST ON GOODWILL TOUR OF USSR

Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) Fifty-two years ago today, August 29, 1962, New England poet Robert Frost left the United States for a goodwill tour of the USSR sponsored by the State Department.

Mr. Frost, who recited a poem at JFK's Inauguration, gave poetry readings, interviews and lectures while touring the USSR.

During the tour, Frost came down with "nervous indigestion" but was still able to meet with Premier Nikita Khrushchev for 90 minutes.  Mr. Frost told Khrushchev...

"A great nation makes great poetry and great poetry makes a nation."

Robert Frost on USSR Tour

HUMPHREY WINS DEMO NOMINATION

Chicago, Illinois (JFK+50) Vice President Hubert Horatio Humphrey was nominated by the delegates of the 1968 Democratic National Convention 46 years ago today, August 29, 1968, here in the Windy City.

The convention, as well as the Democratic Party, was divided on the Vietnam War.  The Vice-President supported President Lyndon B. Johnson's policy in Vietnam while others in the party opposed it.

Student protesters let their voices be heard on the streets outside the Convention hall, while Mayor Richard Daley, a Humphrey supporter, used the Chicago police force to attempt to control them.

Before becoming LBJs Vice-President in 1965, Humphrey had been a senator from Minnesota since 1948.  Senator Humphrey was an advocate of civil rights, arms control, a nuclear test ban and foreign aid.  

Hubert Humphrey Quotes:

"Compassion is not weakness and concern for the unfortunate is not socialism."

"It was once said that the moral test of government is how government treats those who are in the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the twilight of life, the elderly, and those who are in the shadows of life, the sick, the needy and the handicapped."

Hubert H. Humphrey

"The Happy Warrior"