Mark Scott Smith's Blog: Enemy in the Mirror, page 33

Superman George Reeves Dies

George Reeves (born George Keefer Brewer in 1914) died from a gunshot in June1959. He was best known for the television series Adventures of Superman (1952–1958).

Reeves death at age 45 remains controversial. Although ruled a suicide, some believed he was murdered or the victim of an accidental shooting.

Source: Wikipedia

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Ho Chi Minh Trail

 

In May 1959 the Peoples’ Army of Vietnam’s Military Transportation Group 559 was established in North Vietnam.

The group ultimately created and maintained the Ho Chi Minh Trail to facilitate the infiltratiion of troops and supplies from North Vietnam in support of the revolution in South Vietnam.

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First Grammy Awards

I think that dream like that

Will never return

I painted my hands

And face blue

Then all of sudden I was

Abducted by the wind

And I started to fly

In the infinite sky ….

first verse (https://lyricstranslate.com)

The First Grammy (Grammaphone) Awards presented by the Recording Academy were held in May 1959 to honor outstanding achievement in the music industry of the United States.

Domenico Modugno’s Nel blu dipinto di blu, also known as Volare, won the Grammy for 1958.

Source: Wikipedia

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Uprising in Tibet

Encyclopedia Britannica

In March 1959 a revolt erupted in Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, which had been under the effective control of the People’s Republic of China since 1951.

The uprising occurred amid general Tibetan fears that the Chinese government might arrest the 14th Dalai Lama.

14th Dalai Lama 1959 – Wikipedia

Clashes quickly became violent and the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) used force to put them down..

In its last stages, the uprising included heavy fighting, with high civilian and military losses. Thousands were killed although the exact number is disputed.

The 14th Dalai Lama escaped from Lhasa, while the city was fully retaken by Chinese security forces on 23 March 1959.

Source; Wikipedia

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Barbie Doll Released

In March 1959 the Barbie doll was unveiled by the American Toy Fair in New York City.

Doll No. 1 was sold by Mattel Toy Company for $3. 

Source: History.com

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Fidel Castro Visits USA

In February 1959 Fidel Castro was sworn in as Prime Minister of Cuba.

In April, Castro visited the U.S. on a “charm offensive” where Vice President Richard Nixon, described him as a sincere leader with naive ideas about communism who was going to be a great factor in the development of Cuba.

Although early in his regime Castro refused to categorize his government as socialist or communist, Castro appointed Marxists to senior government and military positions.

In the summer of 1959, Castro seized plantations and property previously held by foreign landowners and wealthy Cubans who had fled, and nationalized sugar production and oil refineries.

In February 1960, when I went on a winter break to Florida with high school senior friends. We saw signs in Key West advertising very cheap flights to Havana with hotel stay of 3 nights. We called our (shocked) parents when we arrived in Havana. “Norteamericanos y Cubanos son amigos,” Cubans we met told us …”pero nuestros gobiernos, no.”

Source: Wikipedia

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The Day the Music Died

On a February 3, 1959 tour of the Midwest, rock and roll musicians Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and “The Big Bopper” J. P. Richardson were killed in a plane crash near Clear Lake, Iowa, together with pilot Roger Peterson.

In 1971 “The Day the Music Died” by Don McLean referred to the tragic day..

Source: Wikipedia

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Rawhide

Rawhide was an American Western TV series starring Eric Fleming and Clint Eastwood that aired on the CBS network for 7 1/2 years.

The series was produced by Charles Marquis Warren, who also produced early episodes of Gunsmoke.

The show is fondly remembered by many for its theme.

Source: Wikipedia

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Alaska Becomes 49th State

In January 1959, President Eisenhower signed a special proclamation admitting the territory of Alaska into the Union as the 49th and largest state.

Although indigenous peoples inhabited the region for centuries, Europeans first discovered Alaska in 1741. Russian hunters soon exposed the native Aleut population to devastating foreign diseases. The first permanent Russian colony in  Alaska was established on Kodiak Island in 1784. By the early 19th century, Russian settlements spread down the west coast of North America as far as California.

With Russian activity in the New World declining in the 1820s, British and Americans obtained trading rights. In 1867 the United States purchased Alaska from Russia for $7.2 million. Although ridiculed in Congress as “Seward’s Folly,”  the Senate ratified purchase.

Source: history.com

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1958 Top News and Music

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