Click on the link here for Audio Player – Special Report on the United Nations – September 23, 1960 – NBC Radio Network – Gordon Skene Sound Collection
September, 1960 was a milestone year for The United Nations. With Africa going through Independence upheavals, Cuba flexing its newly gained Communist muscle and the Soviet Union tossing around the infamous U-2 Spy Plane incident, it was a pretty dramatic, and worrisome time for the cause of peace – however tenuous and fragile it all seemed at the time.
During this week of September, the focus was on the situation in The Congo, a former Belgian colony going through cataclysmic changes on its way to achieving independence.
On hand to lend his two cents was the inimitable Nikita Khruschev, premier of the Soviet Union and a host of African dignitaries.
On his way to join the proceedings was Cuban President Fidel Castro, and another wave of controversy to take place later on in the week.
But this latest burst of activity and debate was covered in a special report by NBC Radio news, giving highlights of the proceedings and previews of coming attractions.
Never a dull day it seems, where the UN is concerned.
And that’s how it went on September 23rd, 1960.
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- From the archive, 17 August 1960: Lumumba declares martial law (theguardian.com)