August 14, 1960: Castro Opposed, Soviets to Test our Nerves and Worldwide TV Someday

In Cuba, Anti-Castro forces have been gaining, according to a report in the New York Times for August 14, 1960. Opposition to Castro has "been increasing with amazing rapidity," the paper reported in its Sunday edition. Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev's offer of "rocket support" for Cuba against the United States is cited, in part, for the shift. According to the paper, "the statement in early July by Premier Khrushchev that the Soviet Union would support Cuba with rockets in case of an attack by the United States ... shocked and frightened many Cubans...."

The Soviet Union is getting ready to test the will of the West, according to West German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer. Adenauer said, according to a report in the New York Times on this day in 1960, that "the Soviet Union is preparing again to test the nerves of the Western Allies. Where and in what manner Premier Khrushchev might choose to apply the pressure is anybody's guess. But the first choice of most guessers, among them the West German Chancellor, is Berlin."

"New Eras in Space" is the headline of a New York Times editorial on this day in 1960. It hails the week's achievements, which include an orbiting satellite successfully ejecting "an instrumented space capsule" from 200 miles aloft after seven orbits. After failed attempts to catch the capsule in mid-air as it fell to earth attached to a parachute, a helicopter retrieved it from the Pacific Ocean. The other "breathtaking achievement" was the launch of a 100-foot diameter satellite balloon. "The giant sphere, as tall as a ten-story building, named Echo I, and called by some a 'satelloon,' ... [is] opening up a new era of communication that promises among other things world-wide telephone and television transmission."