Jews, Church & Civilization – Volume 7

continued

from Volume VI

1956 CE: TAU

Tel Aviv University founded.

TAU has over 30,000 students in 2007, and is a quite–important player on the Israel cultural scene.

1956 CE: GINSBURG – VIDEOTAPE

Charles Ginsburg commercially develops videotape.

Apr 14: Redwood City, CA: Quadruplex video recording machines introduced by AMPEX Corporation.

Research Team Leader: Ginsburg. Born: San Francisco, 1920; died 1992.

1956 CE: IN GOD WE TRUST

–designated U.S. national motto

1956 CE: HUNDRED FLOWERS CAMPAIGN

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Summer, China: Commencement of an approximately one–year period during which the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) encouraged a variety of views and solutions to national policy issues. The campaign was launched by Mao under the slogan: “Let a hundred flowers blossom and a hundred schools of thought contend…”

1956 CE: SUEZ CANAL NATIONALIZED

July 26: Sinai, Nasser nationalizes the Suez Canal.

1956 CE: SINAI CAMPAIGN

Gaza Strip and Egypt.

Oct 30: Sinai, Britain, France and Israel form an alliance: Israel is to invade Sinai and seize the Suez Canal under Anglo–French political cover—and supporting limited military actions—to force Egypt to cede control of the canal to Anglo–French oversight.

“The 1956 Sinai Campaign”…(Israeli operation name: Kadesh)…Moshe Dayan Israel Chief of Staff oversees the Israeli military sweep of Sinai…his key lieutenants include Ariel Sharon (future Prime Minister), and Rafael Eytan (future Chief of staff).
– after Wikipedia

1956 CE: JACOB JAVITS ELECTED AS THE U.S. SENATOR FROM NY

–Jewish–American. Reelected three more times, serving until 1981.

The Javits Center on West 34th Street in NY is named in his honor.

1956 CE: SINAI ROLLBACK

Dec: SINAI CAMPAIGN undone.

U.S. President Eisenhower forces them (Britain, France and Israel) to back–off and exit Sinai.

The Israelis exit by March 1957…messy for all–concerned.

1957 CE: SABIN

Develops oral polio live–virus vaccine.

–which precludes the actual contraction of the disease.

This vaccine, endorsed by the US Public Health Service in 1961, effectively eliminated polio from the United States.

Sabin’s professional ally Hilary Koprowski played a key and prerequisite role.

SABIN: Albert Bruce Sabin was born in 1906 in Bialystock, Russia (now Poland) to Jewish parents, Jacob and Tillie Saperstein. In 1921 the family immigrated to America. In 1930 Albert became a naturalized US citizen and in the process changed his name to Sabin.

KOPROWSKI: In 1939, subsequent to the Nazi invasion, Dr. Hilary Koprowski and his wife Irene, a biologist, fled Poland to Brazil. There he worked for the Rockefeller Foundation in Rio de Janeiro. Koprowski’s field of research employing his signature live–vaccine modality was instrumental in finding a vaccine for yellow fever; then, polio. The lines are blurred as to where Koprowski’s polio vaccine development ended–off and where Sabin’s polio vaccine achieved a breakthrough. Koprowski’s list of honors received around the world is long and numbing.

1957 CE: SPUTNIK I

Oct 1: The Russians place a space capsule in orbit… a “wake–up call” for USA.

1957 CE: FATE INTERVENES FOR LEONARD BERNSTEIN

Nov 14: Leonard Bernstein is emerging fill–in as Conductor of the NY Philharmonic (Born Aug. 25, 1918; died Oct. 14, 1990).

Britannica –
“[Jewish] American conductor, composer, and pianist noted for his accomplishments in both classical and popular music, for his flamboyant conducting style, and for his pedagogic flair, especially in concerts for young people.

Bernstein played piano from age 10. He attended Boston Latin School; Harvard University (A.B., 1939), where he took courses in music theory with Arthur Tillman Merritt and counterpoint with Walter Piston; the Curtis Institute of Music, Philadelphia (1939–41), where he studied conducting with Fritz Reiner and orchestration with Randall Thompson; and the Berkshire Music Center at Tanglewood, Mass., where he studied conducting with Serge Koussevitzky.

In 1943, Bernstein was appointed assistant conductor of the New York Philharmonic; the first signal of his forthcoming success came on Nov. 14, 1943, when he was summoned unexpectedly to substitute for the conductor Bruno Walter. His technical self–assurance under difficult circumstances and his interpretive excellence made an immediate impression and marked the beginning of a brilliant career. He subsequently conducted the New York City Center orchestra (1945–47) and appeared as guest conductor in the United States, Europe, and Israel. In 1953 he became the first American to conduct at La Scala in Milan.

From 1958 to 1969 Bernstein was conductor and musical director of the New York Philharmonic, becoming the first American–born holder of those posts. With this orchestra, he made several international tours in Latin America, Europe, the Soviet Union, and Japan. His popularity increased through his appearances not only as conductor and pianist but also as a commentator and entertainer. Bernstein explained classical music to young listeners on such television shows as “Omnibus” and “Young People’s Concerts.” After 1969, he continued to write music and to perform as a guest conductor with several symphonies throughout the world.”

Encyclopaedia Britannica Online. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/62641/Leonard–Bernstein (accessed April 5, 2009)

1958 CE: MAO ZEDONG LAUNCHES THE GREAT LEAP FORWARD

By the time Mao and his leap are finished, twenty million Chinese will die of starvation.

1958 CE: ECONOMIST JOHN KENNETH GALBRAITH PUBLISHES THE AFFLUENT SOCIETY

1958 CE: MARVIN MINSKY JOINS THE FACULTY OF MIT

(Born Aug. 9, 1927)

Britannica –
“[Jewish] American mathematician and computer scientist, one of the most famous practitioners of the science of artificial intelligence (AI).

Following service in the U.S. Navy from 1944 to 1945, Minsky enrolled in 1946 at Harvard University to explore his many intellectual interests. After completing research in physics, neurophysiology, and psychology, Minsky graduated with honors in mathematics in 1950. In 1951 he entered Princeton University, and in that same year he built the first neural network simulator. In 1954, with a doctorate in mathematics from Princeton, Minsky returned to Harvard as a member of the prestigious Society of Fellows. He invented the confocal scanning microscope in 1955.

In 1957 Minsky moved across town to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to pursue his interest in using computers to model and understand human thought. Among others interested in AI was John McCarthy, an MIT professor of electrical engineering who had developed the LISP computer programming language and contributed to the development of time–sharing computer systems (systems in which multiple users interact with a single mainframe computer). In 1959 Minsky and McCarthy co–founded what became the MIT AI Laboratory. It quickly became one of the preeminent research centers and training grounds for the nascent field of AI. Minsky remained at MIT for the rest of his career, becoming Donner Professor of Science in 1974 and Toshiba Professor of Media Arts and Sciences at the MIT Media Laboratory in 1990.”

Encyclopaedia Britannica Online, http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/384568/Marvin–Lee–Minsky (accessed April 16, 2009)

1959 CE: THE “KITCHEN DEBATE”

Dream Kitchen, American Exhibition in Moscow: Vice President Richard Nixon has an impromptu debate with Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev. The Soviet leader doesn’t believe that the average American family could actually potentially afford such a kitchen. Nixon insisted it could. In 1959, indeed it could.

1958 CE: EXODUS

(The book…about the ship)

American novelist Leon Uris publishes Exodus.

–Revolving around the Haganah’s endeavors to land the immigrant ship “Exodus” into then–Palestine…later (1960) to become the epic movie, as well.

[Known for his very extensive research, often on Jewish–related themes, Uris impacted world perceptions: important works: Exodus (1958); Mila 18 (1961); QB VII (1970); Jerusalem (1981); The Haj (1984); Mitla Pass (1988), among other gems].

1958 CE: CLIFF HILLEGASS PUBLISHES HIS FIRST CLIFFSNOTES

…for Shakespeare’s Hamlet, in the basement of his home in Lincoln, Nebraska.

1959 CE: RUSSIA LAUNCHES LUNA 1

Jan 1: Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, Soviet Union: Russia launches “First Cosmic Ship,” later dubbed Mechta and later dubbed Luna 1. Originally intended to hit the moon, a malfunction caused it to miss the moon by 6,000 km at its closest. Nevertheless, Luna 1 achieved several scientific historic “firsts,” including, amongst others:

• the first man-made object to reach escape velocity from the earth’s gravitational field
• the first ever detection and observations of the solar wind
• the first man-made object to reach heliocentric orbit (orbit around the sun)
– after it missed its intended goal of crashing into the moon.

1959 CE: REVOLUTIONARY FIDEL CASTRO

At age 33, he overthrows the Batista dictatorship in CUBA.

Castro then proceeds to jail his fellow revolutionary leaders to neutralize them as potential threats to his power monopoly. Most then spend the rest of their days in Castro’s political prisons.

1959 CE: STEVEN SPIELBERG, 12, RECEIVES HIS FIRST MOVIE CAMERA

–An 8mm Kodak

His first film is a 3 1/2 minute Western. Budget: $8.50 (talk about “creeping overhead”).

1959 CE: FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT’S PHILADELPHIA SYNAGOGUE

“Situated in a quiet suburb north of Philadelphia is Beth Sholom – the only synagogue designed by Frank Lloyd Wright during the architect’s long and storied career. The building marks an epilogue of sorts: Wright designed the synagogue near the end of his life and died only months before its dedication in 1959.”

http://www.haaretz.com/culture/arts-leisure/frank-lloyd-wright-s-philadelphia-synagogue-depicts-spirituality-through-modern-architecture-1.421367

1959 CE: RUSSIAN ROCKET IMPACTS THE MOON

Sept: Luna 2 spacecraft and rocket hit the moon (30 minutes apart).

The spacecraft and rocket contained several stainless steel pennants bearing the Soviet Coat–of–Arms.

1960 CE: THE FIRST XEROX IS SHIPPED

It was shipped to the Standard Press Steel Company in Jenkintown, PA.

The machine weighed 650 pounds. The invention took Chester Carlson, the inventor, 24 years to perfect; and the Japanese 24 weeks to copy (just kidding!).

1960s CE: THE SHADOW ARMY

Backing up the black Civil Rights movement was a complete Shadow Army – the Jews.

Heart, Mind, Body & Soul: In synagogues, Day Schools, Sisterhood Meetings, Parlor Meetings, demonstrations and on the front lines in the Deep South, the Jews of America signed–up.

PBS Documentary –
“American Jewish community and the Civil Rights movement

Many in the Jewish–American community supported the Civil Rights Movement and Jews were more actively involved in the civil rights movement than any other white group in America. Many Jewish students worked in concert with African Americans for CORE, SCLC, and SNCC as full–time organizers and summer volunteers during the Civil Rights era. Jews made up roughly half of the white northern volunteers involved in the 1964 Mississippi Freedom Summer project and approximately half of the civil rights attorneys active in the South during the 1960s.

Jewish leaders were arrested with Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in St. Augustine, Florida, in 1964 after a challenge to racial segregation in public accommodation. Abraham Joshua Heschel, a writer, rabbi and professor of theology at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America in New York was outspoken on the subject of civil rights. He marched arm–in–arm with Dr. King in the 1965 march on Selma…

The American Jewish Committee, American Jewish Congress, and Anti–Defamation Leagues actively promoted civil rights…”

From Swastika to Jim Crow – PBS Documentary, http://www.pbs.org/itvs/fromswastikatojimcrow/ (accessed July 7, 2009)

1960 CE Abduction! EICHMANN

Adolf Eichmann (Nazi war criminal) abducted.

…extra–legally by MOSSAD, (Israel foreign intelligence service), at a Buenos Aires, Argentina, and bus stop – 8:05 P.M. Wednesday May 11, 1960…

Then, after ten days in Israeli–captivity at a “Mossad–safe house” near his abduction, heavily–sedated Eichmann [a.k.a. “Ricardo Klement” of Buenos Aires] was spirited out of Buenos Aires, Argentina on an El Al Bristol Britannia commercial flight on May 21. Hanged 11:00 am, May 31, 1962, Ramleh prison, Israel…after 14–week “trial and conviction”…Eichman was maintained in a glass–booth during the trial….televised live worldwide. Ninety concentration–camp–survivor witnesses testify, among other witnesses. Eichman was prosecuted and convicted of, among other crimes, mass–murder and “crimes against humanity.”

1960 CE: PODHORETZ NAMED COMMENTARY MAGAZINE EDITOR–IN–CHIEF

Brownsville, Brooklyn–bred. The son of Jewish immigrants from Galicia, Central Europe, Columbia University and JTS–educated.

Norman Podhoretz will hold sway over the American Jewish intellectual scene from his Commentary Editor–in–Chief perch for 35 years, until 1995. He remains Commentary’s Editor–at–Large through completion of this work (end of 2008).

He has strongly advocated a color blind society on the social front, and is the “godfather” of the Neo–Conservative (“Neo–Con”) movement on the international front. Few Jewish American intellectuals have ever wielded such significant and long–tenured influence.

He is married to the author Midge Decter, is the stepfather of Rachel Decter (Elliott Abram’s wife) and is the father of the syndicated columnist John Podhoretz.

1960s CE: MILITANT BLACK POWER–PLAY

Employing time–honored fascist doctrine tactics, the militant wing of the Black Power movement first demonized the Jews in general, through vitriol and slander, then went after Zionism, then went after the premier Jewish activists in the Civil Rights movement, and then went after “Whitey” in general.

First, creating a wave of hate, and then riding it to power.

Stokely Carmichael, Farrakhan, Rev. Wright: “birds of a feather” hate–surfing together.

1961 CE: CHRISTIAN BROADCASTING NETWORK FOUNDED

1961 CE: ROSE ART MUSEUM FOUNDED AT BRANDEIS

Waltham, MA: Leading collection of modern and contemporary art in New England. Jewish–oriented museum at Jewish–oriented Brandeis.

The collection was launched originally with iconic works by Jasper Johns, Rauschenberg, Any Warhol, Ray Lichtenstein, and Willem de Kooning.

[Later, in 2009, an uproar would ensue after Brandeis announced it would sell off the entire collection in the face of the financial “Meltdown” of the so–called Great Recession. The Rose family was not amused.]

1961 CE: RUSSIA LAUNCHES A MAN INTO SPACE

Apr 12: Russia launches the first human (cosmonaut), Yuri Gagarin, into outer space and the first to orbit the Earth. He was 27. His spacecraft was Vostok 1.

1961 CE: MERTON

Thomas Merton’s The New Man

Trappist Monk (in Kentucky), writer, philosophical writer…. (1915 CE – 1968 CE); author of over 50 books…

Merton was a true philosophical artist.

(Author’s note: Merton would have made a great Jewish philosopher)

1961 CE: JOSEPH HELLER PUBLISHES CATCH–22

But, there was a catch.

1961 CE: JFK APPOINTS ARTHUR GOLDBERG TO THE SUPREME COURT

Associate Justice of the Supreme Court: Oct 1, 1962 – July 2, 1965
US Secretary of Labor Jan 21, 1961 – Sep 30, 1962
US Ambassador to the UN 1965–1968

Goldberg was the youngest of eight children of Ukrainian Jewish immigrants.

1962 CE: CHAGALL

Feb 6: (Twelve Tribes) “Chagall Windows” (stained glass) dedicated in Jerusalem…

…at Hadassah–Hebrew University Medical Center Synagogue in Jerusalem.

…Parisian–Russian artist Marc Chagall b. 1887, Belarus, Russia; d. 1979 France.

1962 CE: JOHN GLENN

–becomes the first American to orbit the Earth.

Feb 20: on “Friendship 7”

1962 CE: WILT CHAMBERLAIN SCORES 100 POINTS

“Wilt the Stilt” of the Philadelphia Warriors at the time, shatters all NBA basketball scoring records in this game against the NY Knicks (March 2 in Hershey, PA). [The Warriors won 169–147]

1962 CE: MAGNES MUSEUM FOUNDED IN CALIFORNIA

As noted in Encyclopaedia Judaica on Magnus Museum {1997} [CD–ROM] –
“Magnes Memorial Museum, Judah L., The Jewish Museum of the West. The Judah K. Magnes Museum in Berkeley, California, was founded in Oakland in 1962, moving to its current location in 1966. The museum is named in honor of Judah L. Magnes who was born in the Bay Area. In 1974 the museum was accredited by the American Association of Museums, the first U.S. Jewish museum to receive such recognition.

The general purpose of the museum is to “collect, preserve, and make available artistic, historical, and literary material reflecting Jewish life and cultural contribution throughout history.” The museum is also a repository for historical documents and landmarks of Western U.S. Jewry. To that end, the Western Jewish History Center was initiated in 1967…

The Institute for the Righteous Acts, a Documentation and Resource Center on the Altruistic Behavior of Rescuers of Jews in the Nazi Era is another department of the museum. The aim of this institute is to study the rescue of Jews by non–Jews during the Nazi era; to search into the motivations of the rescuers’ acts through empirical studies of the rescuers; and to apply the results of the studies to moral education and the training of positive character traits.”

1962 CE: VIETNAM:

By mid–1962, John F. Kennedy (president since Jan 1961) had raised the number of US military advisors in Vietnam from 700 to 12,000…the figure would reach 16,000 by the time of Kennedy’s assassination, Nov 1963. (The 16,000 figure included Green Berets Special Forces, as well as American pilots in a newly–crafted joint South Vietnamese–US Air Force). America had de facto committed…. With Kennedy’s assassination, Lyndon B. Johnson would inherit the ambivalent and contorted politico–military–strategic imbroglio…

Johnson would subsequently run on his own for the presidency Nov 1964, and win, by early 1968 the number of American servicemen in Vietnam will have risen from 16,000 to 550,000. Johnson will be succeed by Richard M. Nixon, who will preside over the depressing “end game” by the disastrous war’s end in Apr 1975, the disastrous American casualty count will register as follows: 55,209 American boys dead; 305,000 wounded; 2,000 missing—a total and unmitigated disaster on every conceivable level…aside from the tragedy and hyper–trauma to the direct casualties, their families, close friends and offspring, American society as a whole was rent…by this quagmire of quagmires…the country took, perhaps 10–20 years to “recover”…the 10,000 draft evaders were later pardoned by Jimmy Carter Jan 21, 1977 on his first day of office, consummating a campaign promise….John F. Kennedy’s “best and the brightest” advisors—many of whom were maintained by Johnson, proved to have been “not quite bright enough.” Once America was “ankle deep” in Vietnam by 11/63, it perceived itself, not unjustifiably, as simply unable to “extricate with honor”…the elusive “light at the end of the tunnel” repeatedly proved to be a mirage…and the one reminder–lesson of this “police action” was that best to engage far–away campaigns only excruciatingly carefully, inasmuch as—once–in, it is almost impossible to get out.

1962 CE Confrontation! CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS

Oct 22: JFK goes on national TV and announces U.S. quarantine of shipping to Cuba…as nuclear missiles supplied by the Soviets have been discovered on the island after US analysis of photographs by U–2 spy plane over flights of Cuba.

With the US blockade in–place and authorized to use small explosives to impose its blockade, at 10:25 A.M. Oct 24, the approaching Soviet ships go “dead in the water”—as the Soviets have “blinked.”

1962 CE: “UNTIL HELL FREEZES OVER”

Oct 25: Televised Emergency UN Security Council session, Manhattan: During the Cuban missile crisis, as US Ambassador to the UN Adlai Stevenson gives his presentation; he forcefully “presses his case.” Pressing the debate aggressively against the Soviet Union, Stevenson demanded that Valerian Zorin, the Soviet Ambassador, answer whether or not Russia had installed missiles in Cuba: Don’t wait for the translation; answer “Yes” or “No”

Following Zorin’s demurral to answer the aggressive debating posturing, Stevenson followed through with his (now immortalized and) resonant – “I am prepared to wait for my answer until Hell freezes over.”

Well, actually, all hell almost did break loose on the planet but the Kennedy’s “worked matters out” with (the Soviet chief) Khrushchev with nuclear brinksmanship.

Arch–intellect Stevenson – a darling of the Jews notwithstanding his two presidential–election defeats at the hand of Eisenhower in the ‘50s, had climaxed with a legacy flourish.

1962 CE: GERSHON SCHOLEM COMPLETES ORIGINS OF THE KABBALAH

A.k.a. Gerhard Scholem (1897–1982) was a Jewish philosopher and noted kabbalah scholar rose in Germany; emigrates in 1923 to the British Mandate of Palestine.

The work noted above was originally published in German under the title Ursprung and Anfange der Kabbala.

First English translation 1987 (25 years later) by JPS
(Jewish Publication Society, NY)
[Note: material in this 1987 English translation provided key kabbalistic buttress for the philosophical work God and Evil by KTAV (already in manuscript form at–the–time, but published in November 1988)].

1963 CE: PUFF!

PETER, PAUL and MARY release Puff the Magic Dragon

Based on a 1953 poem by 19–year–old Cornell student Leonard Lipton, who had passed it on to fellow Cornell student Peter Yarrow…who later joined Paul Stookey and Mary Travers to form the legendary musical group.

…the song’s saga takes place “by the sea” in the fantasy land “of Honah Lee.”

Peter, Paul and Mary’s iconic recordings include, among others–
500 Miles
Lemon Tree
If I had a Hammer (by Pete Seeger)
Where Have All the Flowers Gone? (by Pete Seeger)
The Times They are a–Changing (by Bob Dylan)
Blowin’ in the Wind (by Bob Dylan)
Leaving on a Jet Plane (by John Denver)

The group was originally launched at The Bitter End (folk music cafe’) in Greenwich Village in NYC in 1961 by impresario Albert Grossman (who also managed Dylan in the ‘60s).

1963 CE: “THE DEPUTY”

Feb 20, West Berlin: “The Deputy, A Christian tragedy”: A drama by Rolf Hochhuth, which indicts Pope Pius XII for failure to speak out forcefully against the Nazi terror–war against the Jews.

The play was first performed on February 20, 1963 in Berlin (in German). It received its first English production in London, by the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1963.

“The Deputy” was made into a film Amen by Costa Gavras in 2002.

1963 CE: READING OF BIBLE

Campaign by Madalyn Murray O’Hair results in U.S. Supreme Court ruling prohibiting reading of Bible in public schools.

1963 CE: THE BEATLES

–releases “I Want to Hold Your Hand” in UK.

Written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, the song was the starting gun for “the British Invasion” of America—and their assault on America’s music charts led by one of the 20th century’s iconic musical groups.

1963 CE: DYLAN

Penultimatec iconic late–20th Century American musical personage….captures the soul of many…releases “Blowin’ in the Wind”…Along with his song “The Times They Are a–Changin” becomes a quasi–anthem for both the anti–Vietnam War groundswell, as well as for the Civil Rights movement.

Born Robert Allen Zimmerman (Jewish name Zushe ben Avraham) in May, 1941 in Duluth, Minnesota, and raised there and in Hibbing, Minnesota on the Mesabi Iron Range…. Dylan, who in 2008 is still successfully touring, (named “The Never Ending Tour” by Dylan) achieved lasting iconic status in the inter–related 1960s American pop, anti–Establishment, and protest cultures.

Once Dylan wrote a song and recorded it, the song with its Dylan–cachet and inherent magic, when then re–released by other leading recording artists, often achieved mega–resonance.

Confidante Joan Baez, as well as Peter, Paul & Mary (just below) projected—and often helped launch his new songs around the globe, helping to immortalize all the entities concerned (meaning, the songs, Dylan the songwriter and all the groups involved).

(FYI, I personally preferred the British group Chad & Jeremy).

1963 CE: UNIVERSITY OF HAIFA

Opened in the Israeli Mediterranean port city.

Over 17,000 students in 2007…the university is affiliated with Hebrew U in Jerusalem.

1963 CE Dream! “I HAVE A DREAM”

Aug 28: Martin Luther King, March–on–Washington.

…followed 3 months later by the assassination (Nov 22) of President John F. Kennedy (in Dallas, Texas).

1963 CE: GERMAN–AMERICAN PAUL TILLICH WRITES THE ETERNAL NOW

NY: Charles Scribner & Sons publishers

1963 CE: BIRMINGHAM CHURCH BOMBING

10:18 A.M., Sept 15: Sixteenth Street Baptist Church: Birmingham, Alabama: Nineteen sticks of dynamite planted by the local Ku Klux Klan are ignited as 26 children walk into the church basement Sunday morning for closing prayers. Four black young teenage girls are killed.

At the funeral for three of the four girls, Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke of life as being “as hard as crucible steel.”

On July 2, 1964 (8 1/2 months later), President Lyndon Johnson signed the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964, codifying that equal rights of African Americans are guaranteed in the law of the land.

***

Aside from Martin Luther King, Jr., important American Civil Rights Leaders widely revered across a wide spectrum of America, include, among others–

Ralph Abernathy (1926–1990)
Julian Bond (b. 1940)
Coretta Scott King (1927–2006)
Stanley Levison (1912–1979)
John Lewis (b.1940)
A. Philip Randolph (1889–1979)
Bayard Rustin (1912–1987)
Michael Schwerner (1939–1964)
Roy Wilkins (1901–1981)
Hosea Williams (1926–2000)

1964 CE: MARTIN LUTHER KING, 35, WINS THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE

1964 CE: ED SULLIVAN OPENS ONE OF HIS SUNDAY EVENING SHOWS

New York, Sunday evening Feb 9:
“Ladies and gentlemen, The Beatles!”

Pandemonium ensues.

1964 CE: STEVEN SPIELBERG, 16, PRODUCES FIRELIGHT

Los Angeles: Budget: $400. A 140 minute science fiction film, his first “independently directed movie.” Shown at the local movie theater, it will make a $100 profit for Spielberg. Firelight will later inspire Close Encounters.

Born December 18, 1946 in Cincinnati Ohio. Early childhood in Phoenix, Arizona. After his parents divorced, he moves to Saratoga, California with his dad after his junior year in high school. His mom and three sisters stayed in Cincinnati. Spielberg’s main time with them until adulthood would be annual Passover Seders, back in Arizona.

1964 CE: SYSTEM / 360

Apr 7: IBM (Westchester, NY) announces mainstream computer family named IBM System/360 (a mainframe genre computer).

A client–upgradeable series and one of the most successful computers in history. Depending on model, it required space ranging from a small closet to a super–huge room…

(In Mar 2008, IBM introduces Mainframe System Z10 at $1,000,000 per unit… estimated total IBM mainframe sales in 2007: $3 billion out of a total of $100 billion IBM sales).

Computer Science emerges into mainstream 1960s onward…Silicon Valley, CA (south and contiguous to San Francisco) has been the scientific nexus.

1964 CE: SSSJ

Apr 27: Jacob Birnbaum founds the Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry…first meeting at Columbia University.

With point–person Glen Richter, the American Jewish community is energized and focused.

By the late 1980s, the grass–roots group will have achieved its primary goals.

1964 CE: SWAMP MURDER

June 21: Civil Rights activists Chaney, Goodman and Schwerner murdered by the Klu Klux Klan near Philadelphia, Mississippi.

All three Civil Rights activists were in their 20s. Chaney was a CORE field worker from Meridian, Mississippi; Goodman (an anthropology student) and Schwerner (a social worker) were (Jewish) activists from New York.

Massive FBI effort subsequently puts the Klan perpetrators behind bars [7 men found guilty].

1965 CE: MOSSAD OPERATION: CUKURS

Feb 23: Mossad assassinates Nazi war criminal Herberts Cukurs in Uruguay on a trip away from his Brazilian residence.

1965 CE: FEYNMAN

Richard Feynman is co–winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics.

Son of Melville Feynman, 1895 immigrant from Minsk, Russia.

Richard’s resume notes Far Rockaway High School, MIT, Princeton, the Manhattan Project, Cal Tech, and Challenger Disaster Commission.

He went to MIT in Boston, because he had been blocked from attending Columbia University by its Jewish quota. Very upstanding people.

Feynman: “Scientific advance is the confidence in the ignorance of experts”