197-582: The 1960s (pronounced "nineteen-sixties", shortened to the " ' 60s " or the " Sixties ") was a decade that began on January 1, 1960, and ended on December 31, 1969. While the achievements of humans being launched into space , orbiting Earth , and walking on the Moon extended exploration, the Sixties are known as the " countercultural decade " in the United States and other Western countries. There
394-499: A bird strike or because of a sudden move to avoid another aircraft. Because of the out-of-date weather report, the crew believed their altitude was higher than it was and could not react properly to bring the MiG-15 out of its spin. Another theory, advanced in 2005 by the original crash investigator, hypothesizes that a cabin air vent was accidentally left open by the crew or the previous pilot, leading to oxygen deprivation and leaving
591-526: A "sensible drinker", his touring schedule placed him in social situations in which he was increasingly expected to drink alcohol. Two years later, he was re-elected as a deputy of the Soviet Union but this time to the Soviet of Nationalities , the upper chamber of the legislature. The following year, he began to re-qualify as a fighter pilot and was backup pilot for his friend Vladimir Komarov on
788-873: A 12-mile (19 km) parade attended by millions of people that concluded at the Red Square. After a short speech, he was bestowed the Hero of the Soviet Union, Order of Lenin , Merited Master of Sports of the Soviet Union and the first Pilot-Cosmonaut of the USSR . On 15 April, the Soviet Academy of Sciences awarded him with the Konstantin Tsiolkovsky Gold Medal, named after the Russian pioneer of space aeronautics . Gagarin had also been awarded four Soviet commemorative medals over
985-594: A cadet in flight school, Gagarin met Valentina Goryacheva at the May Day celebrations at the Red Square in Moscow. She was a medical technician who had graduated from Orenburg Medical School. They were married on 7 November of the same year, the same day Gagarin graduated from his flight school. Valentina and Yuri had two daughters. Yelena Yurievna Gagarina , born 1959, is an art historian who has worked as
1182-615: A catastrophic drop in agricultural output; consequently, food shortages became widespread. According to demographic studies, the famine caused an estimated 15 to 45 million deaths, with rural areas being the hardest hit. Ashton et al. (1984) highlight, “During the period 1958-62, about 30 million premature deaths occurred in China: deaths that occurred earlier than they would have on the basis of mortality trends for more normal years.” During this rapid expansion, coordination suffered and material shortages were frequent, resulting in "a huge rise in
1379-587: A correspondence course programme at the Zhukovsky Air Force Engineering Academy . Gagarin enrolled in September 1960 and did not earn his specialist diploma until early 1968. Gagarin was also subjected to experiments that were designed to test physical and psychological endurance, including oxygen starvation tests in which the cosmonauts were locked in an isolation chamber and the air slowly pumped out. He also trained for
1576-497: A demotion he worked hard to lift. He was temporarily relieved of duties to focus on academics with the promise that he would be able to resume flight training. On 17 February 1968, Gagarin successfully defended his aerospace engineering thesis on the subject of spaceplane aerodynamic configuration and graduated cum laude from the Zhukovsky Air Force Engineering Academy. In 1957, while
1773-452: A full-size mockup of the Vostok capsule. Gagarin, Nikolayev, Popovich, and Titov all received excellent marks on the first day of testing, in which they were required to describe the various phases of the mission followed by questions from the commission. On the second day, they were given a written examination, following which the special commission ranked Gagarin as the best candidate. He and
1970-503: A halt to the backyard steel furnaces so as not to dampen the revolutionary enthusiasm of the masses. The program was only quietly abandoned much later in that year. On the communes, a number of radical and controversial agricultural innovations were promoted at the behest of Mao. Many of these innovations were based on the ideas of now discredited Soviet agronomist Trofim Lysenko and his followers. The policies included close cropping, whereby seeds were sown far more densely than normal on
2167-535: A high-level national hero might be killed, Soviet officials banned Gagarin from participating in further spaceflights. After completing training at the Zhukovsky Air Force Engineering Academy in February 1968, he was again allowed to fly regular aircraft. However, Gagarin died five weeks later, when the MiG-15 that he was piloting with flight instructor Vladimir Seryogin crashed near the town of Kirzhach . Gagarin
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#17327576957162364-633: A musical. There are statues of Gagarin and monuments to him located in the town named after him as well as in Orenburg , Cheboksary , Irkutsk , Izhevsk , Komsomolsk-on-Amur , and Yoshkar-Ola in Russia, as well as in Nicosia , Cyprus, Druzhkivka , Ukraine, Karaganda , Kazakhstan, and Tiraspol , Moldova. On 4 June 1980, Monument to Yuri Gagarin in Gagarin Square, Leninsky Avenue, Moscow ,
2561-557: A national conference of the Party, Mao declared that China "would catch up with and surpass the most powerful capitalist countries in several dozen years", and in October, Mao announced that he would complete the building of a socialist state in 15 years. In the late 1950s, China's socio-political landscape experienced significant rural reforms and the aftermath of previous policies aimed at collectivization rather than individualism. Before
2758-541: A new investigation. In April 2011, documents from a 1968 commission set up by the Central Committee of the Communist Party to investigate the accident were declassified. The documents revealed that the commission's original conclusion was that Gagarin or Seryogin had manoeuvred sharply, either to avoid a weather balloon or to avoid "entry into the upper limit of the first layer of cloud cover", leading
2955-618: A night in late June 1969, LGBT people resisted, for the first time, a police raid, and rebelled openly in the streets. This uprising called the Stonewall riots began a new period of the LGBT rights movement that in the next decade would cause dramatic change both inside the LGBT community and in the mainstream American culture. The rapid rise of a " New Left " applied the class perspective of Marxism to postwar America but had little organizational connection with older Marxist organizations such as
3152-580: A part in the role of "turning heads on". Psychedelic influenced the music, artwork and films of the decade, and a number of prominent musicians died of drug overdoses (see 27 Club ). There was a growing interest in Eastern religions and philosophy, and many attempts were made to found communes, which varied from supporting free love to religious puritanism. Yuri Gagarin Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin (9 March 1934 – 27 March 1968)
3349-615: A part-time dock labourer on the Volga River . In 1955, Gagarin was accepted to the First Chkalov Higher Air Force Pilots School in Orenburg . He initially began training on the Yak-18 already familiar to him and later graduated to training on the MiG-15 in February 1956. Gagarin twice struggled to land the two-seater trainer aircraft, and risked dismissal from pilot training. However,
3546-417: A passage that upholds the official Soviet position on religious belief: "The manned space flight was a crushing blow to the churchmen. In the streams of letters that addressed to me, I was pleased to read confessions in which believers, impressed by the achievements of science, renounced God, agreed that there is no god and everything connected with his name is fiction and nonsense". On 27 March 1968, while on
3743-608: A radio, television, refrigerator and motor vehicles. The Soviet Union and other Warsaw Pact countries were improving quickly after rebuilding from WWII. Real GDP growth averaged 6% a year during the second half of the decade; overall, the worldwide economy prospered in the 1960s with expansion of the middle class and the increase of new domestic technology. In the United Kingdom, the Labour Party gained power in 1964 with Harold Wilson as prime minister through most of
3940-542: A relatively linear progression of development and a worldwide revolution beginning with the most developed countries. At the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, the country was one of poorest in the world. The Great Leap Forward attempted to defy the conventional understanding of the time required for economic development. Through rapid industrialization, it aimed to close the gap between China's developmental stage and its political aspirations. In March 1955, at
4137-507: A reputation as an adept public figure and was noted for his charismatic smile. On 15 April 1961, accompanied by officials from the Soviet Academy of Sciences, he answered questions at a press conference in Moscow reportedly attended by 1,000 reporters. Gagarin visited the United Kingdom three months after the Vostok 1 mission, going to London and Manchester . While in Manchester, despite heavy rain, he refused an umbrella, insisted that
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#17327576957164334-523: A result of the famine. Author Yan Lianke also claims that, while growing up in Henan during the Great Leap Forward, he was taught to "recognize the most edible kinds of bark and clay by his mother. When all of the trees had been stripped and there was no more clay, he learned that lumps of coal could appease the devil in his stomach, at least for a little while." The agricultural policies of
4531-518: A routine training flight from Chkalovsky air base, Gagarin and flight instructor Vladimir Seryogin died when their MiG-15UTI crashed near the town of Kirzhach . The bodies of Gagarin and Seryogin were cremated and their ashes interred in the walls of the Kremlin . Wrapped in secrecy, the cause of the crash that killed Gagarin is uncertain and became the subject of speculation, including several conspiracy theories. At least three investigations into
4728-496: A semi governmental structure where activities in the countryside could manage what went on in there. People's commune took care of every aspects of people's lives: health care, job employment, food, housing, finance, defense, culture, education, political affairs and entertainment. People in the communes were united with the saying: Exceeding the UK, catching the USA, created by Mao to energize
4925-702: A series of subsequent orders issued until June. Gagarin began training at the Khodynka Airfield in central Moscow on 15 March 1960. The training regimen involved vigorous and repetitive physical exercises which Alexei Leonov , a member of the initial group of twelve, described as akin to training for the Olympic Games . In April 1960, they began parachute training in Saratov Oblast and each man completed about 40 to 50 jumps from both low and high altitude, over both land and water. Gagarin
5122-525: A speech given before a joint session of Congress on 25 May 1961: "I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth." The Soviet program lost its sense of direction with the death of chief designer Sergey Korolyov in 1966. Political pressure, conflicts between different design bureaus, and engineering problems caused by an inadequate budget would doom
5319-432: A well-developed imagination; quick reactions; persevering, prepares himself painstakingly for his activities and training exercises, handles celestial mechanics and mathematical formulae with ease as well as excels in higher mathematics; does not feel constrained when he has to defend his point of view if he considers himself right; appears that he understands life better than a lot of his friends. The Vanguard Six were given
5516-501: A wide range of policies which embraced Keynesian economics (which he is the first president to do so). Among these policies included a 7% tax credit for businesses that invest in new plants and equipment, Income tax cuts and an increase in the federal minimum wage. Although, the 1960s were not perfect. The government routinely produced fiscal deficits (as a result of the tax cuts and increased expenditure embarked under Kennedy), with only one surplus during this time period (as opposed to
5713-482: A widespread, eclectic collection of newspapers served as a unifying medium for the counterculture. The movement was also marked by the first widespread, socially accepted drug use (including LSD and marijuana ) and psychedelic music. The war in Vietnam would eventually lead to a commitment of over half a million American troops, resulting in over 58,500 American deaths and producing a large-scale antiwar movement in
5910-553: A window and jumped off a second floor balcony. The resulting injury left a permanent scar above his left eyebrow. In his youth Gagarin was a keen sportsman and played ice hockey as a goalkeeper. He was also a basketball fan and coached the Saratov Industrial Technical School team, as well as being a referee. Some Soviet sources have said that Gagarin commented during his space flight, "I don't see any god up here.", though no such words appear in
6107-563: Is called Yuri Gagarin Street . The town of Gagarin, Armenia was renamed in his honour in 1961. Gagarin has been honoured on the Moon by astronauts and astronomers. During the American space programme's Apollo 11 mission in 1969, astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin left a memorial satchel containing medals commemorating Gagarin and Komarov on the Moon's surface. In 1971, Apollo 15 astronauts David Scott and James Irwin left
1960s - Misplaced Pages Continue
6304-722: Is held annually to commemorate milestones in space exploration. In 2011, it was declared the International Day of Human Space Flight by the United Nations. A number of buildings and locations have been named for Gagarin, mostly in Russia but also in other Soviet republics. The Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City was named on 30 April 1968. The launch pad at Baikonur Cosmodrome from which Sputnik 1 and Vostok 1 were launched
6501-618: Is memorialised in music; a cycle of Soviet patriotic songs titled The Constellation Gagarin ( Созвездье Гагарина , Sozvezdie Gagarina ) was written by Aleksandra Pakhmutova and Nikolai Dobronravov in 1970–1971. The most famous of these songs refers to Gagarin's poyekhali! : in the lyrics, "He said 'let's go!' He waved his hand". He was the inspiration for the pieces "Hey Gagarin" by Jean-Michel Jarre on Métamorphoses , "Gagarin" by Public Service Broadcasting , and "Gagarin, I loved you" by Undervud . Vessels have been named for Gagarin; Soviet tracking ship Kosmonavt Yuriy Gagarin
6698-713: Is now known as Gagarin's Start . Gagarin Raion in Sevastopol was named after him during the period of the Soviet Union. The Russian Air Force Academy was renamed the Gagarin Air Force Academy in 1968. The town of Gzhatsk where he lived in Smolensk Oblast was renamed Gagarin after his death in 1968, and has since become home to numerous museums and monuments to him. A street in Warsaw, Poland,
6895-475: Is to be human. To share joy, grief, and pain is humanizing." Failure to participate in the CCP's political campaigns—though the aims of such campaigns were often conflicting—"could result in detention, torture, death, and the suffering of entire families". Public struggle sessions were often used to intimidate the peasants into obeying local officials; they increased the death rate of the famine in several ways. "In
7092-561: Is too much diversity and dynamism in the country for one work to capture ... rural China as if it were one place." Mahoney describes an elderly man in rural Shanxi who recalls Mao fondly, saying "Before Mao we sometimes ate leaves, after liberation we did not." Regardless, Mahoney points out that Da Fo villagers recall the Great Leap Forward as a period of famine and death, and among those who survived in Da Fo were precisely those who could digest leaves. The failure of agricultural policies,
7289-557: The Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI), the world governing body for setting standards and keeping records in the field, which at the time required that the pilot land with the craft. Gagarin and Soviet officials initially refused to admit that he had not landed with his spacecraft, an omission which became apparent after Titov's flight on Vostok 2 four months later. Gagarin's spaceflight records were nonetheless certified and reaffirmed by
7486-637: The Chicano Movement addressed what it perceived to be negative ethnic stereotypes of Mexicans in mass media and the American consciousness. It did so through the creation of works of literary and visual art that validated Mexican-American ethnicity and culture. Chicanos fought to end social stigmas such as the usage of the Spanish language and advocated official bilingualism in federal and state governments. The Chicano Movement also addressed discrimination in public and private institutions. Early in
7683-541: The Communist Party , and even went as far as to reject organized labor as the basis of a unified left-wing movement. Sympathetic to the ideology of C. Wright Mills , the New Left differed from the traditional left in its resistance to dogma and its emphasis on personal as well as societal change. Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) became the organizational focus of the New Left and was the prime mover behind
7880-824: The Fair Housing Act of 1968 that banned discrimination in the sale or rental of housing. Another large ethnic minority group, the Mexican-Americans , are among other Hispanics in the U.S. who fought to end racial discrimination and socioeconomic disparity. The largest Mexican-American populations were in the Southwestern United States, such as California with over 1 million Chicanos in Los Angeles alone, and Texas where Jim Crow laws included Mexican-Americans as "non-white" in some instances to be legally segregated. Socially,
8077-511: The Gagarin Cup . In a 2010 Space Foundation survey, Gagarin was ranked as the sixth-most-popular space hero, tied with the fictional character James T. Kirk from Star Trek . A Russian docudrama titled Gagarin: First in Space was released in 2013. Previous attempts at portraying Gagarin were disallowed; his family took legal action over his portrayal in a fictional drama and vetoed
1960s - Misplaced Pages Continue
8274-792: The Hero of Labour award from the Democratic Republic of Vietnam , the Italian Columbus Day Medal, and a Gold Medal from the British Interplanetary Society . President Jânio Quadros of Brazil decorated Gagarin on 2 August 1961 with the Order of Aeronautical Merit , Commander grade. During a tour of Egypt in late January 1962, Gagarin received the Order of the Nile and the golden keys to
8471-526: The Long March : "mass mobilization, social leveling, attacks on bureaucratism, [and] disdain for material obstacles". In the absence of material development inputs, Mao sought to increase development through voluntarism and organizational advantages brought about by socialism. Mao advocated that a further round of collectivization modeled on the USSR 's " Third Period " was necessary in the countryside where
8668-610: The National Organization for Women . In 1968, " Women's Liberation " became a household term as, for the first time, the new women's movement eclipsed the civil rights movement when New York Radical Women , led by Robin Morgan , protested the annual Miss America pageant in Atlantic City, New Jersey . The movement continued throughout the next decades. Gloria Steinem was a key feminist. The United States, in
8865-497: The Recession of 1969–1970 . It lasted a total of 106 months, which made it the longest recorded economic expansion in the history of the United States until the 1990s United States boom . On January 20, 1961, John F. Kennedy became the president of the United States. In his campaign, John F. Kennedy promised to "get America moving again." His goal was economic growth of 4–6% per year and unemployment below 4%.To do this, he proposed
9062-565: The Russian Orthodox Church as a child, and a 2011 Foma magazine article quoted the rector of the Orthodox Church in Star City saying, "Gagarin baptized his elder daughter Yelena shortly before his space flight; and his family used to celebrate Christmas and Easter and keep icons in the house". Nevertheless, Gagarin's officially sanctioned autobiography, released by the USSR's state publishing house in 1961, includes
9259-668: The Socialist Education Movement in 1963 and the Cultural Revolution in 1966 in order to remove opposition and re-consolidate his power. In addition, dozens of dams constructed in Zhumadian, Henan , during the Great Leap Forward collapsed in 1975 (under the influence of Typhoon Nina ) and resulted in the 1975 Banqiao Dam failure , with estimates of its death toll ranging from tens of thousands to 240,000. Classical Marxist theory hypothesized
9456-521: The Soviet Union . Together, taxation and compulsory purchases accounted for 30% of the harvest by 1957, leaving very little surplus. Rationing was also introduced in the cities to curb 'wasteful consumption' and encourage savings (which were deposited in state-owned banks and thus became available for investment), and although food could be purchased from state-owned retailers the market price was higher than that for which it had been purchased. This too
9653-607: The Soyuz 1 flight after five years without piloting duty. Kamanin had opposed Gagarin's reassignment to cosmonaut training; he had gained weight and his flying skills had deteriorated. Despite this, he remained a strong contender for Soyuz 1 until he was replaced by Komarov in April 1966 and reassigned to Soyuz 3 . The Soyuz 1 launch was rushed due to implicit political pressures and despite Gagarin's protests that additional safety precautions were necessary. Gagarin accompanied Komarov to
9850-595: The Vanguard Six or Sochi Six, from which the first cosmonauts of the Vostok programme would be chosen. The other members of the group were Anatoly Kartashov , Andriyan Nikolayev , Pavel Popovich , Gherman Titov , and Valentin Varlamov . However, Kartashov and Varlamov were injured and replaced by Khrunov and Grigory Nelyubov . As several of the candidates selected for the programme including Gagarin did not have higher education degrees, they were enrolled in
10047-574: The Vostok 6 mission. In 1965, Soviets launched the first probe to hit another planet of the Solar System ( Venus ), Venera 3 , and the first probe to make a soft landing on and transmit from the surface of the Moon, Luna 9 . In March 1966, the Soviet Union launched Luna 10 , which became the first space probe to enter orbit around the Moon, and in September 1968, Zond 5 flew the first terrestrial beings, including two tortoises, to circumnavigate
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#173275769571610244-433: The Vostok programme was overseen by the Central Flight Medical Commission led by Major General Konstantin Fyodorovich Borodin of the Soviet Army Medical Service. He underwent physical and psychological testing conducted at Central Aviation Scientific-Research Hospital, in Moscow, commanded by Colonel A.S. Usanov, a member of the commission. The commission also included Colonel Yevgeniy Anatoliyevich Karpov, who later commanded
10441-436: The director general of the Moscow Kremlin Museums since 2001; and Galina Yurievna Gagarina, born 1961, is a professor of economics and the department chair at Plekhanov Russian University of Economics in Moscow. Following his rise to fame, at a Black Sea resort in September 1961, he was reportedly caught by his wife during a liaison with a nurse who had aided him after a boating incident. He attempted to escape through
10638-421: The first humans landed on the Moon . The Apollo 11 mission, launched on 16 July 1969, carried mission Commander Neil Armstrong , Command Module Pilot Michael Collins , and Lunar Module Pilot Buzz Aldrin , and Aldrin and Armstrong flew the Lunar Module Eagle to the lunar surface. Apollo 11 fulfilled President John F. Kennedy 's goal of reaching the Moon by the end of the 1960s, which he had expressed during
10835-510: The possibility of causing World War III . However, after negotiations between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R, both agreed to withdraw their weapons averting potential nuclear warfare . After U.S. president Kennedy's assassination , direct tensions between the superpower countries of the United States and the Soviet Union developed into a contest with proxy wars , insurgency funding, puppet governments and other overall influence mainly in Latin America , Africa, and Asia . This " Cold War " dominated
11032-420: The 1947 Mendez v. Westminster U.S. Supreme Court ruling which declared that segregating children of "Mexican and Latin descent" was unconstitutional and the 1954 Hernandez v. Texas ruling which declared that Mexican Americans and other racial groups in the United States were entitled to equal protection under the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution . The most prominent civil-rights organization in
11229-592: The 1950s which produced 3). Furthermore, by 1966 inflation began to climb, which is a general trend that continued into the 1970's . By the end of the decade under Nixon, the combined inflation and unemployment rate known as the misery index (economics) had exploded to nearly 10% with inflation at 6.2% and unemployment at 3.5% and by 1975 the misery index was almost 20%. By the end of the decade, median family income had risen from $ 8,540 in 1963 to $ 10,770 by 1969. Prominent assassinations, targeted killings, and assassination attempts include: Natural: Non-natural: In
11426-425: The 1960s began, American cars showed a rapid rejection of 1950s styling excess, and would remain relatively clean and boxy for the entire decade. The horsepower race reached its climax in the late 1960s, with muscle cars sold by most makes. The compact Ford Mustang , launched in 1964, was one of the decade's greatest successes. The " Big Three " American automakers enjoyed their highest ever sales and profitability in
11623-413: The 1960s, but the demise of Studebaker in 1966 left American Motors Corporation as the last significant independent. The decade would see the car market split into different size classes for the first time, and model lineups now included compact and mid-sized cars in addition to full-sized ones. The popular modern hatchback, with front-wheel-drive and a two-box configuration, was born in 1965 with
11820-423: The 1960s. The Soviets sent the first man, Yuri Gagarin , into outer space during the Vostok 1 mission on 12 April 1961, and scored a host of other successes, but by the middle of the decade the U.S. was taking the lead. In May 1961, President Kennedy set the goal for the United States of landing a man on the Moon by the end of the 1960s. In June 1963, Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman in space during
12017-417: The Chinese economy had improved and the Ministry of Finance still decided to include the fiscal surplus of the previous fiscal year as credit funds in the 1953 budget revenue to cover the current year's expenditures. As a result, budget expenditures were expanded and so was the size of the budget. At that time, only the Soviet expert Kutuzov warned the Chinese fiscal authorities not to use the fiscal surplus of
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#173275769571612214-426: The Chinese were exporting food to Africa and Cuba during the famine. He said during the news conference on 23 May 1962, "Well, there has been no indication of any expression of interest or desire by the Chinese Communists to receive any food from us, as I have said at the beginning, and we would certainly have to have some idea as to whether the food was needed and under what conditions it might be distributed. Up to
12411-418: The Draft ", " draft dodger ", " conscientious objector ", and " Vietnam vet ". Voter age-limits were challenged by the phrase: "If you're old enough to die for your country, you're old enough to vote." Beginning in the mid-1950s and continuing into the late 1960s, African Americans in the United States organized a movement to end legalized racial discrimination and obtain voting rights . This article covers
12608-429: The FAI, which revised its rules, and acknowledged that the crucial steps of the safe launch, orbit, and return of the pilot had been accomplished. Gagarin is internationally recognised as the first human in space and first to orbit the Earth. Gagarin's flight was a triumph for the Soviet space programme and he became a national hero of the Soviet Union and Eastern Bloc, as well as a worldwide celebrity. Newspapers around
12805-594: The Great Leap Forward were accelerating the construction of waterworks on the North China Plain during the 1957-1958 winter and next the development of people's communes and crude forms of rural industrialization. Some Great Leap Projects had lots of long-term value to China's economy and continued to benefit China after The Great Leap Forward ended. Some of the projects included bridges, railroads, canals and reservoirs. However, some of these projects were completed quickly, resulting in errors and delays that did more harm than good. The Great Leap Forward campaign began during
13002-409: The Great Leap Forward, during the Seven Thousand Cadres Conference in 1962, which led him to launch the Cultural Revolution in 1966. Despite the harmful agricultural innovations, the weather was very favorable in 1958 and the harvest was also good. However, the amount of labor which was diverted to steel production and construction projects meant that much of the harvest was left to rot because it
13199-695: The Great Leap Forward, reflecting the government’s belief that collectivization and large-scale projects would boost agricultural and industrial outputs. The communes were meant to centralize farming and labour, supposedly leading to increased efficiency and output; still, in reality, and practice, these measures often disrupted traditional farming practices and led to decreased productivity. Dali Yang stated, "The initial stages of collectivization brought chaos and inefficiency, with agricultural productivity often declining". Before 1949, peasants had farmed their own small pockets of land and observed traditional practices—festivals, banquets, and paying homage to ancestors. It
13396-437: The Great Leap Forward, the Chinese government initiated land reforms that redistributed land from landlords to peasants, but these reforms still needed to attain the expected agricultural productivity. The early 1950s saw the establishment of agricultural cooperatives, yet these changes brought mixed outcomes. However, the push towards rapid industrialization and the establishment of people’s communes in rural areas were central to
13593-550: The Great Leap [Forward] was a very expensive disaster". The CCP studied the damage that was done at various conferences from 1960 to 1962, especially at the " Seven Thousand Cadres Conference " in 1962, during which Mao Zedong ceded day-to-day leadership to pragmatic moderates like Chinese President Liu Shaoqi and Vice Premier Deng Xiaoping . Acknowledging responsibilities for the Great Leap Forward, Mao did not retreat from his policies; instead, he blamed problems on bad implementation and "rightists" who opposed him. He initiated
13790-449: The Mexican-American community, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF), was founded in 1968. Although modeled after the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund , MALDEF has also taken on many of the functions of other organizations, including political advocacy and training of local leaders. Meanwhile, Puerto Ricans in the U.S. mainland fought against racism, police brutality and socioeconomic problems affecting
13987-405: The Moon. The deaths of astronauts Gus Grissom , Ed White , and Roger B. Chaffee in the Apollo 1 fire on 27 January 1967, put a temporary hold on the U.S. space program, but afterward progress was steady, with the Apollo 8 crew ( Frank Borman , Jim Lovell , William Anders ) being the first crewed mission to orbit another celestial body (the Moon) during Christmas of 1968. On 20 July 1969,
14184-504: The Red Army find mines buried in the roads by the fleeing German army. In 1946, the family moved to Gzhatsk, where Gagarin continued his education. Yuri and Boris were enrolled at a crude school built in the town and run by a young woman who volunteered to be the teacher. They learned to read using a discarded Soviet military manual. A former Soviet airman later joined the school to teach maths and science, Yuri's favourite subjects. Yuri
14381-619: The Second Plenary Session of the 8th Central Committee, "go all out, aim high, and build socialism with greater, faster, better, and more economical results" ( simplified Chinese : 鼓足干劲、力争上游、多快好省地建设社会主义 ; traditional Chinese : 鼓足幹勁、力爭上游、多快好省地建設社會主義 ) was adopted as the "General Line for Socialist Construction" in China. In 1955, Mao had already expressed his belief that socialist construction should achieve "greater, faster, better, and more economical" results. These led to
14578-729: The Soviet Union . Hailing from the village of Klushino in the Russian SFSR , Gagarin was a foundryman at a steel plant in Lyubertsy in his youth. He later joined the Soviet Air Forces as a pilot and was stationed at the Luostari Air Base , near the Norway–Soviet Union border , before his selection for the Soviet space programme alongside five other cosmonauts. Following his spaceflight, Gagarin became
14775-578: The Soviet attempt to land men on the Moon. Shortly after the American Apollo 1 disaster, tragedy struck the Soviet program when cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov was killed when the parachutes on his Soyuz 1 flight failed. A succession of uncrewed American and Soviet probes traveled to the Moon, Venus , and Mars during the 1960s, and commercial satellites also came into use. Shinkansen , the world's first high-speed rail service began in 1964. As
14972-489: The United States in industrial output in the next 15 years through peaceful competition. Mao Zedong was so inspired by the slogan that China put forward its own one: to catch up with and surpass the United Kingdom in 15 years. As with its approach to agriculture, the Chinese government attempted to compensate for its inability to invest in industry with mass mobilizations to increase human labor inputs. The initial projects of
15169-570: The United States known as the British Invasion ), the folk music revival , to the poetic lyrics of Bob Dylan . In the United States the Sixties were also called the "cultural decade" while in the United Kingdom (especially London) it was called the Swinging Sixties . The United States had four presidents that served during the decade; Dwight D. Eisenhower , John F. Kennedy , Lyndon B. Johnson and Richard Nixon . Eisenhower
15366-754: The United States. In 1962, Gagarin began serving as a deputy to the Soviet of the Union , and was elected to the Central Committee of the Young Communist League . He later returned to Star City , the cosmonaut facility, where he spent several years working on designs for a reusable spacecraft. He became a lieutenant colonel of the Soviet Air Forces on 12 June 1962, and received the rank of colonel on 6 November 1963. On 20 December, Gagarin became Deputy Training Director of
15563-414: The United States. As late as the end of 1965, few Americans protested the American involvement in Vietnam, but as the war dragged on and the body count continued to climb, civil unrest escalated. Students became a powerful and disruptive force and university campuses sparked a national debate over the war. As the movement's ideals spread beyond college campuses, doubts about the war also began to appear within
15760-753: The Western market, and popular economy models such as the Toyota Corolla , Datsun 510 , and the first popular Japanese sports car, the Datsun 240Z , were released in the mid- to late-1960s. Mopeds and Scooters gains popularity in these decade, with Honda Super Cub in United States, Japan and Europe, Mitsubishi Silver Pigeon in Japan and Vespa , Kreidler Florett , Zundapp and Sachs mopeds in Western Europe. The counterculture movement dominated
15957-464: The Western powers. Mao had become convinced that China should follow its own path to communism. According to Jonathan Mirsky , a historian and a journalist who specialized in Chinese affairs, China's isolation from most of the rest of the world, along with the Korean War , had accelerated Mao's attacks on his perceived domestic enemies. It led him to accelerate his designs to develop an economy where
16154-649: The administration itself. A mass movement began rising in opposition to the Vietnam War , including the National Mobilization to End the War in Vietnam 's 1967 march to the United Nations and its March on the Pentagon , the 1968 Democratic National Convention protests at which the slogan " The whole world is watching " became famous, and continuing in the massive Moratorium protests in 1969 as well as
16351-460: The ages of sixteen and thirty were considered ideal candidates for the militia. Peasants were working long hours, all year round, even contributed their own cooking utensils to be melted as a source of production. The consequences of the Great Leap Forward were devastating, leading to one of the most severe famines in human history. The policies that diverted labour from agriculture to industrial projects, such as backyard steel furnaces, resulted in
16548-513: The basis for determining the amount of grain which would be taken by the State, supplied to the towns and cities and exported. This barely left enough grain for the peasants, and in some areas, starvation set in. A 1959 drought and flooding from the Yellow River in the same year also contributed to the famine. During 1958–1960 China continued to be a substantial net exporter of grain, despite
16745-426: The call sign Kedr ( Кедр , Siberian pine or cedar ). The radio communication between the launch control room and Gagarin included the following dialogue at the moment of rocket launch: Korolev: Preliminary stage ... intermediate... main... LIFT-OFF! We wish you a good flight. Everything's all right. Gagarin: Off we go! Goodbye, until [we meet] soon, dear friends. Gagarin's farewell to Korolev using
16942-409: The central treasury tight again. This drew the attention of Zhou Enlai, Li Xiannian and others, and at a state meeting held on June 5, 1956, proposals were made to curb impetuousness and rash advances, revise the 1956 national economic plan, and cut capital construction investment. Such was the anti-"rash advance" movement. The excess of the first five-year plan gave the nation great confidence, and at
17139-556: The civil rights movement were passage of Civil Rights Act of 1964 that banned discrimination based on "race, color, religion, or national origin" in employment practices and public accommodations, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that restored and protected voting rights, the Immigration and Nationality Services Act of 1965 that dramatically opened entry to the U.S. to immigrants other than traditional European groups, and
17336-478: The commander of the regiment decided to give him another chance at landing. Gagarin's flight instructor gave him a cushion to sit on, which improved his view from the cockpit, and he landed successfully. Having completed his evaluation in a trainer aircraft, Gagarin began flying solo in 1957. On 5 November 1957, Gagarin was commissioned a lieutenant in the Soviet Air Forces , having accumulated 166 hours and 47 minutes of flight time. He graduated from flight school
17533-432: The commission approved the proposal and moved on to other last-minute logistical issues. It was assumed that in the event Gagarin developed health problems prior to liftoff, Titov would take his place, with Nelyubov acting as his backup. On 12 April 1961, at 6:07 am UTC , the Vostok 3KA-3 ( Vostok 1 ) spacecraft was launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome . Aboard was Gagarin, the first human to travel into space, using
17730-483: The commune system of their traditional means of being able to rent, sell, or use their land as collateral for loans. In one village, once the commune was operational, the Party boss and his colleagues "swung into manic action, herding villagers into the fields to sleep and to work intolerable hours, and forcing them to walk, starving, to distant additional projects." Edward Friedman, political scientist, Paul Pickowicz, historian, and Mark Selden , sociologist, wrote about
17927-489: The completion of the first 5 Year Economic Plan in 1957, Mao had come to believe that the path to socialism that had been followed by the Soviet Union was not appropriate for China. He was critical of Khrushchev's reversal of Stalinist policies and he was also alarmed by the uprisings that had taken place in East Germany , Poland and Hungary , and the perception that the USSR was seeking " peaceful coexistence " with
18124-441: The conservatism and social conformity of the 1950s, and the U.S. government's extensive military intervention in Vietnam. The youth involved in the popular social aspects of the movement became known as hippies . These groups created a movement toward liberation in society, including the sexual revolution , questioning authority and government, and demanding more freedoms and rights for women and minorities. The Underground Press ,
18321-433: The cosmonaut training facility. Soviet officials, including Kamanin, tried to keep Gagarin away from any flights, being worried about losing their hero in an accident noting that he was "too dear to mankind to risk his life for the sake of an ordinary space flight". Kamanin was also concerned by Gagarin's drinking and believed the sudden rise to fame had taken its toll on the cosmonaut. While acquaintances say Gagarin had been
18518-554: The country, but the provinces which had adopted Mao's reforms with the most vigor, such as Anhui , Gansu and Henan , tended to suffer disproportionately. Sichuan , one of China's most populous provinces, known in China as "Heaven's Granary" because of its fertility, is thought to have suffered the highest number of deaths from starvation due to the vigor with which provincial leader Li Jingquan undertook Mao's reforms. There are widespread oral reports, though little official documentation, of cannibalism being practiced in various forms as
18715-534: The country, especially in U.S.–Mexican border towns and East Coast cities like New York City, and the growth of the Cuban American community in Miami, Florida. The multitude of discrimination at this time represented an inhuman side to a society that in the 1960s was upheld as a world and industry leader. The issues of civil rights and warfare became major points of reflection of virtue and democracy, what once
18912-547: The countryside would solely be dependent on the peasants. Grain quotas were introduced with the idea of having peasants provide grains for themselves and support urban areas. Output from the industrial activities such as steel was also supposed to be used for urban growth. Local officials were fearful of Anti-Rightist Campaigns and they competed to fulfill or over-fulfill quotas which were based on Mao's exaggerated claims, collecting non-existent "surpluses" and leaving farmers to starve to death. Higher officials did not dare to report
19109-482: The course of his career. He was honoured as a Hero of Socialist Labour from Czechoslovakia on 29 April 1961, and Hero of Socialist Labour (Bulgaria, including the Order of Georgi Dimitrov ) the same year. On the eighth anniversary of the beginning of the Cuban Revolution (26 July), President Osvaldo Dorticos of Cuba presented him with the first Order of Playa Girón , a newly created medal. Gagarin
19306-705: The crash were conducted separately by the Air Force, official government commissions, and the KGB . According to a biography of Gagarin by Jamie Doran and Piers Bizony , Starman: The Truth Behind the Legend of Yuri Gagarin , the KGB worked "not just alongside the Air Force and the official commission members but against them." The KGB's report, declassified in March 2003, claimed that the actions of airbase personnel contributed to
19503-416: The crash. The report states that an air-traffic controller provided Gagarin with outdated weather information and that by the time of his flight, conditions had deteriorated significantly. Ground crew also left external fuel tanks attached to the aircraft. Gagarin's planned flight activities needed clear weather and no outboard tanks. The investigation concluded Gagarin's aircraft entered a spin , either due to
19700-474: The crew incapable of controlling the aircraft. A similar theory, published in Air & Space/Smithsonian magazine, is that the crew detected the open vent and followed procedure by executing a rapid dive to a lower altitude. This dive caused them to lose consciousness and crash. On 12 April 2007, the Kremlin vetoed a new investigation into the death of Gagarin. Government officials said they saw no reason to begin
19897-456: The decade included: During the 1960s the United States was in the postwar economic boom . The 1960s are remembered as a time period of rapid workforce growth (roughly 33% between February 1961 and December 1969), tax cuts , low unemployment, rapid GDP growth, gains in productivity and generally low inflation. After the Recession of 1960–1961 the United States experienced sustained rapid economic growth which began in February 1961 and ended with
20094-512: The decade. In France, the protests of 1968 led to President Charles de Gaulle temporarily fleeing the country. Italy formed its first left-of-center government in March 1962 with Aldo Moro becoming prime minister in 1963. Soviet leaders during the decade were Nikita Khrushchev until 1964 and Leonid Brezhnev . During the 1960s, the world population increased from 3.0 to 3.7 billion people. There were approximately 1.15 billion births and 500 million deaths. Prominent coups d'état of
20291-610: The deputy training director of the Cosmonaut Training Centre , which was later named after him. He was also elected as a deputy of the Soviet of the Union in 1962 and then to the Soviet of Nationalities , respectively the lower and upper chambers of the Supreme Soviet . Vostok 1 was Gagarin's only spaceflight, but he served as the backup crew to Soyuz 1 , which ended in a fatal crash, killing his friend and fellow cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov . Fearful that
20488-416: The destruction of many historical and cultural buildings, artifacts and materials all of which would last until the death of Mao Zedong . By the end of the 1950s , post-war reconstructed Europe began an economic boom . World War II had closed up social classes with remnants of the old feudal gentry disappearing. A developing upper-working-class (a newly redefined middle-class) in Western Europe could afford
20685-650: The dynamic of interaction between the Party and villagers: Beyond attack, beyond question, was the systemic and structured dynamic of the socialist state that intimidated and impoverished millions of patriotic and loyal villagers. The authors present a similar picture to Thaxton in depicting the party's destruction of the traditions of Chinese villagers. Traditionally prized local customs were deemed signs of " feudalism " to be extinguished. "Among them were funerals, weddings, local markets, and festivals. The Party thus destroyed much that gave meaning to Chinese lives. These private bonds were social glue. To mourn and to celebrate
20882-558: The economic disaster which was being caused by these policies, and national officials, blaming bad weather for the decline in food output, took little or no action. The major changes which occurred in the lives of rural Chinese people included the incremental introduction of mandatory agricultural collectivization . Private farming was prohibited, and those people who engaged in it were persecuted and labeled counter-revolutionaries . Restrictions on rural people were enforced with public struggle sessions and social pressure, and forced labor
21079-446: The end of Mao's Great Leap Forward in 1962 that led to many Chinese to die from the deadliest famine in human history and the start of the Cultural Revolution from 1966 to 1976. Its stated goal was to preserve Chinese communism by purging remnants of capitalist and traditional elements from Chinese society , leading to the arrests of a many Chinese politicians, the killings of millions of civilians and ethnic minorities, and
21276-517: The end of the civil war, was devastated, and in response to the severe conditions, there was resistance among the populace. The effects on the upper levels of government in response to the disaster were complex, with Mao purging the Minister of National Defense Peng Dehuai in 1959, the temporary promotion of Lin Biao , Liu Shaoqi , and Deng Xiaoping , and Mao losing some power and prestige following
21473-438: The end of the year approximately 25,000 communes had been set up, with an average of 5,000 households each. The communes were relatively self-sufficient co-operatives where wages and money were replaced by work points. The commune system was aimed at maximizing production for provisioning the cities and constructing offices, factories, schools, and social insurance systems for urban-dwelling workers, cadres, and officials.And also
21670-536: The end of traditional collective action and the beginning of a new era to be dominated mainly by the so-called new social movements . After the Cuban Revolution led by Fidel Castro , the United States attempted to depose the new leader by training Cuban exiles and invading the island of Cuba . This led to Cuba to ally itself to the Soviet Union, a hostile enemy to the United States, resulting in an international crisis when Cuba hosted Soviet ballistic missiles similar to Turkey hosting American missiles, which brought
21867-593: The existing collectives would be merged into huge people's communes. An experimental commune was established at Chayashan in Henan in April 1958. Here for the first time, private plots were entirely abolished and communal kitchens were introduced. At the Politburo meetings in August 1958, it was decided that these people's communes would become the new form of economic and political organization throughout rural China. By
22064-580: The facts of Negro life in the South and the big cities of the North. The proclaimed peaceful intentions of the United States contradicted its economic and military investments in the Cold War status quo." These intolerable issues became too visible to ignore therefore its repercussions were feared greatly, the realization that we as individuals take the responsibility for encounter and resolution in our lives issues
22261-541: The family was allowed to build a mud hut measuring approximately 3 by 3 metres (10 by 10 ft), where they spent 21 months until the end of the occupation. During this period, Yuri became a saboteur, especially after one of the German soldiers, called "the Devil" by the children, tried to hang his younger brother Boris on an apple tree using the boy's scarf. In retaliation, Yuri sabotaged the soldier's work; he poured soil into
22458-504: The first Five Year Plan. Millions of Chinese became state workers as a consequence of this industrial investment: in 1958, 21 million were added to non-agricultural state payrolls, and total state employment reached a peak of 50.44 million in 1960, more than doubling the 1957 level; the urban population swelled by 31.24 million people. These new workers placed major stress on China's food-rationing system, which led to increased and unsustainable demands on rural food production. Those between
22655-690: The first case, blows to the body caused internal injuries that, in combination with physical emaciation and acute hunger, could induce death." In one case, after a peasant stole two cabbages from the common fields, the thief was publicly criticized for half a day. He collapsed, fell ill, and never recovered. Others were sent to labor camps . About 7% of those who died during the Great Leap Forward were tortured to death or summarily killed. Benjamin Valentino notes that "communist officials sometimes tortured and killed those accused of failing to meet their grain quota". However, J. G. Mahoney has said that "there
22852-542: The formation of people's communes . Millions of people died in mainland China during the Great Leap, with estimates based on demographic reconstruction ranging from 15 to 55 million, making the Great Chinese Famine the largest or second-largest famine in human history . The Great Leap Forward stemmed from multiple factors, including "the purge of intellectuals, the surge of less-educated radicals,
23049-511: The gates of Cairo . On 22 October 1963, Gagarin and Valentina Tereshkova were honoured with the Order of Karl Marx from the German Democratic Republic . The date of Gagarin's space flight, 12 April, has been commemorated. Since 1962, it has been celebrated first in the USSR and since 1991 in Russia and some other former Soviet republics as Cosmonautics Day . Since 2000, Yuri's Night , an international celebration,
23246-563: The globe published his biography and details of his flight. He was escorted in a long motorcade of high-ranking officials through the streets of Moscow to the Kremlin where, in a lavish ceremony, Nikita Khrushchev awarded him the title Hero of the Soviet Union . Other cities in the Soviet Union also held mass demonstrations, the scale of which were second only to the World War II Victory Parades . Gagarin gained
23443-499: The incorrect assumption that seeds of the same class would not compete with each other. Yang provides data on the failure of close planting techniques, which reduced yields in Anhui province from 400 jin per mu to less than 200 jin per mu due to overcrowded plants competing for nutrients and sunlight." Deep plowing was encouraged on the mistaken belief that this would yield plants with extra large root systems. Moderately productive land
23640-584: The inequities faced by African Americans. Forms of protest and/or civil disobedience included boycotts such as the successful Montgomery bus boycott (1955–1956) in Alabama, sit-ins such as the influential Greensboro sit-ins (1960) in North Carolina, marches such as the Selma to Montgomery marches (1965) in Alabama, and other nonviolent activities. Noted legislative achievements during this phase of
23837-519: The informal phrase Poyekhali! ( Поехали! , 'Off we go!') later became a popular expression in the Eastern Bloc that was used to refer to the beginning of the Space Age . The five first-stage engines fired until the first separation event, when the four side-boosters fell away, leaving the core engine. The core stage then separated while the rocket was in a suborbital trajectory, and
24034-471: The introduction of the Renault 16 , many of this car's design principles live on in its modern counterparts: a large rear opening incorporating the rear window, foldable rear seats to extend boot space. The Mini , released in 1959, had first popularised the front wheel drive two-box configuration, but technically was not a hatchback as it had a fold-down bootlid. Japanese cars also began to gain acceptance in
24231-415: The jet into a "super-critical flight regime and to its stalling in complex meteorological conditions". Alexei Leonov, who was also a member of a state commission established to investigate Gagarin's death, was conducting parachute training sessions that day and heard "two loud booms in the distance". He believes that a Sukhoi Su-15 was flying below its minimum altitude and, "without realizing it because of
24428-420: The launch of Luna 3 on 6 October 1959, his recommendation to the Soviet space programme was endorsed and forward by Lieutenant Colonel Babushkin. By this point, he had accumulated 265 hours of flight time. Gagarin was promoted to the rank of senior lieutenant on 6 November 1959, three weeks after he was interviewed by a medical commission for qualification to the space programme. Gagarin's selection for
24625-419: The levels of the early 1960s. Large riots broke out in many cities like Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, New York City, Newark, New Jersey , Oakland, California and Washington, D.C. By the end of the decade, politicians like George Wallace and Richard Nixon campaigned on restoring law and order to a nation troubled with the new unrest. The Space Race between the United States and the Soviet Union dominated
24822-583: The limited space in the Vostok capsule , should weigh less than 72 kg (159 lb) and be no taller than 1.70 metres (5 ft 7 in); Gagarin was 1.57 metres (5 ft 2 in) tall. From a pool of 154 qualified pilots short-listed by their Air Force units, the military physicians chose 29 cosmonaut candidates, of whom 20 were approved by the Credential Committee of the Soviet government . The first twelve, including Gagarin, were approved on 7 March 1960 and eight more were added in
25019-424: The means and modes of production. Some wealthier families who refused to join a People's commune might be labeled as rightists. Escape was also difficult or impossible, and those who attempted were subjected to "party-orchestrated public struggle", which further jeopardized their survival. Besides agriculture, communes also incorporated some light industry and construction projects. Harvests did increase. However this
25216-551: The means to make significant capital improvements in agriculture. Viewing human labor as an underutilized factor of production , the government intensified the mobilization of masses of people to increase labor inputs in agriculture. In November 1957, party leaders of communist countries gathered in Moscow to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the October Revolution . Soviet Communist Party First Secretary Nikita Khrushchev proposed not only to catch up with but exceed
25413-460: The middle of a social revolution, led the world in LGBT rights in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Inspired by the civil-rights movement and the women's movement, early gay-rights pioneers had begun, by the 1960s, to build a movement. These groups were rather conservative in their practices, emphasizing that gay men and women are no different from those who are straight and deserve full equality. This philosophy would be dominant again after AIDS, but by
25610-516: The movement of farmers from agricultural to industrial work, and weather conditions suppressed the food supply. At the same time improvements in medicine, infant mortality, and average life expectancy promoted by the Patriotic Health Campaign led to a greatly increased need for food. The shortage of supply clashed with an explosion in demand, leading to millions of deaths from severe famine. The economy, which had improved since
25807-545: The movement of resistance to conscription ("the Draft") for the war. The antiwar movement was initially based on the older 1950s Peace movement , heavily influenced by the American Communist Party , but by the mid-1960s it outgrew this and became a broad-based mass movement centered in universities and churches: one kind of protest was called a " sit-in ". Other terms heard in the United States included "
26004-434: The need to find new ways to generate domestic capital, rising enthusiasm about the potential results mass mobilization might produce, and reaction against the sociopolitical results of the Soviet 's development strategy." Mao ambitiously sought an increase in rural grain production and an increase in industrial activity. Mao was dismissive of technical experts and basic economic principles, which meant that industrialization of
26201-658: The next day and was posted to the Luostari Air Base , close to the Norwegian border in Murmansk Oblast , for a two-year assignment with the Northern Fleet . He was assigned to the 769th Fighter Aviation Regiment of the 122nd Fighter Aviation Division flying Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15bis aircraft. By October 1959, he had flown a total of 265 hours. On 7 July 1959, he was rated Military Pilot 3rd Class. After expressing interest in space exploration following
26398-498: The next two highest-ranked cosmonauts, Titov and Nelyubov, were sent to Tyuratam for final preparations. Gagarin and Titov were selected to train in the flight-ready spacecraft on 7 April. Historian Asif Azam Siddiqi writes of the final selection: In the end, at the State Commission meeting on April 8, Kamanin stood up and formally nominated Gagarin as the primary pilot and Titov as his backup. Without much discussion,
26595-438: The opposition to the War in Vietnam. The 1960s left also consisted of ephemeral campus-based Trotskyist , Maoist and anarchist groups, some of which by the end of the 1960s had turned to militancy . The 1960s was also associated with a large increase in crime and urban unrest of all types. Between 1960 and 1969 reported incidence of violent crime per 100,000 people in the United States nearly doubled and have yet to return to
26792-490: The people and their work ethics by reducing the influence of Western Countries and reinforce his leadership legitimacy. Citizens in rural areas who criticized the system were labeled "dangerous". Later on, as more and more families link together to form people's communes, peasants started to lose individual identities, since families were from vastly different communities with different cultures views, political views, family and financial background, which created conflict regarding
26989-735: The period of the Second Five Year Plan which was scheduled to run from 1958 to 1963, though the campaign itself was discontinued by 1961. Mao unveiled the Great Leap Forward at a meeting in January 1958 in Nanjing . The Great Leap Forward was grounded in a logical theory of economic development and represented an unambiguous social invention. The central idea behind the Great Leap was that China should "walk on two legs", by rapidly developing both heavy and light industry, urban and rural areas, and large and small scale labor. The hope
27186-726: The phase of the movement between 1955 and 1968, particularly in the South. The emergence of the Black Power movement , which lasted roughly from 1966 to 1975, enlarged the aims of the civil rights movement to include racial dignity, economic and political self-sufficiency , and anti-imperialism . The movement was characterized by major campaigns of civil resistance . Between 1955 and 1968, acts of civil disobedience and nonviolent protest produced crisis situations between activists and government authorities. Federal, state, and local governments, businesses, and communities often had to respond immediately to these situations that highlighted
27383-567: The present, we have had no such indication." But Kennedy said that the US provided food for about half a million refugees in British Hong Kong. With dramatically reduced yields, even urban areas received greatly reduced rations; however, mass starvation was largely confined to the countryside, where, as a result of drastically inflated production statistics, very little grain was left for the peasants to eat. Food shortages were bad throughout
27580-557: The previous year, however, it was not heeded by the Ministry of Finance. In that year, the gross industrial and agricultural output grew by 21.3%, while the capital construction budget increased by 50% compared to the previous year, which led to an imbalance between production and demand. Such was the "small rash advance" (小冒進) at the start of the first five-year plan period. The issue had caused widespread social controversy. The faction of Li Xiannian , Chen Yun and others did not think it
27777-852: The proliferation of "folk furnaces". Mao was shown an example of a backyard furnace in Hefei , Anhui , in September 1958 by provincial first secretary Zeng Xisheng . The unit was claimed to be manufacturing high quality steel. Moreover, the experience of the intellectual classes following the Hundred Flowers Campaign silenced those aware of the folly of such a plan. According to his private doctor, Li Zhisui , Mao and his entourage visited traditional steel works in Manchuria in January 1959 where he found out that high quality steel could only be produced in large-scale factories using reliable fuel such as coal. However, he decided not to order
27974-402: The proportion of the harvest collected by the state to insure against further disasters. Moderates within the Party, including Zhou Enlai , argued for a reversal of collectivization on the grounds that claiming the bulk of the harvest for the state had made the people's food-security dependent upon the constant, efficient, and transparent functioning of the government. In 1957, Mao responded to
28171-413: The race to please superiors and win plaudits—like the chance to meet Mao himself—intensified. The state was later able to force many production groups to sell more grain than they could spare based on these false production figures. The ban on private holdings severely disrupted peasant life at its most basic level. Villagers were unable to secure enough food to go on living because they were deprived by
28368-400: The re-emergence of "rash advances", which further led to the reintroduction of policies and tendencies that had previously been overturned. Those who opposed Mao's policies were accused of not upholding the tenets of the "class struggle" under people's cult of Mao . Regarding agriculture, the Chinese government recognized the country's dilemma of feeding its rapidly growing population without
28565-490: The regime would get maximum benefit from rural taxation. The Anti-Rightist Campaign started on June 8th, 1957. The main goal was to purge "rightists" from the CCP and China altogether. It was believed that approximately 5 percent of the population was still "rightists" (Political conservatives sabotaging the revolution). In the early years of the New China, due to the lack of experience in financial and economic work, it
28762-471: The rocket before launch and relayed instructions to Komarov from ground control following multiple system failures aboard the spacecraft. Despite their best efforts, Soyuz 1 crash landed after its parachutes failed to open, killing Komarov instantly. After the Soyuz 1 crash, Gagarin was permanently banned from training for and participating in further spaceflights. He was also grounded from flying aircraft solo,
28959-444: The roof of the convertible car he was riding in remain open, and stood so the cheering crowds could see him. Gagarin toured widely abroad, accepting the invitation of about 30 countries in the years following his flight. In just the first four months, he also went to Brazil, Bulgaria , Canada, Cuba, Czechoslovakia , Finland, Hungary , and Iceland. Because of his popularity, US president John F. Kennedy barred Gagarin from visiting
29156-530: The same year that he sang the tune "The Motherland Hears, The Motherland Knows" ( "Родина слышит, Родина знает" ) during re-entry. Gagarin was recognised as a qualified Military Pilot 1st Class and promoted to the rank of major in a special order given during his flight. At about 7,000 metres (23,000 ft), Gagarin ejected from the descending capsule as planned and landed using a parachute. There were concerns Gagarin's orbital spaceflight records for duration, altitude and lifted mass would not be recognized by
29353-681: The second half of the 1960s, its most famous moments being the Summer of Love in San Francisco in 1967, and the Woodstock Festival in upstate New York in 1969. Psychedelic drugs , especially LSD , were widely used medicinally, spiritually and recreationally throughout the late 1960s, and were popularized by Timothy Leary with his slogan " Turn on, tune in, drop out ". Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters also played
29550-399: The second half of the decade, young people began to revolt against the conservative norms of the old time, as well as remove themselves from mainstream liberalism, in particular the high level of materialism which was so common during the era. This created a "counterculture" that sparked a social revolution throughout much of the Western world. It began in the United States as a reaction against
29747-598: The seventh grade and the vocational school with honours in mouldmaking and foundry work, he was selected for further training at the Industrial Technical School in Saratov , where he studied tractors. While in Saratov, Gagarin volunteered at a local flying club for weekend training as a Soviet air cadet, where he trained to fly a biplane , and later a Yakovlev Yak-18 . He earned extra money as
29944-627: The small Fallen Astronaut sculpture at their landing site as a memorial to the American astronauts and Soviet cosmonauts who died in the Space Race ; the names on its plaque included Yuri Gagarin and 14 others. In 1970, a 262 km (163-mile) wide crater on the far side was named after him. Gagarin was inducted as a member of the 1976 inaugural class of the International Space Hall of Fame in New Mexico . Gagarin
30141-453: The start of the Great Leap, China's industrial output would surpass that of the UK. In the August 1958 Politburo meetings, it was decided that steel production would be set to double within the year, most of the increase coming through backyard steel furnaces. Major investments in larger state enterprises were made: 1587, 1361 and 1815 medium and large-scale state projects were started in 1958, 1959 and 1960 respectively, more in each year than in
30338-630: The statue was moved to a permanent location outside the Royal Observatory, Greenwich . Great Leap Forward The Great Leap Forward was an economic and social campaign within the People's Republic of China (PRC) from 1958 to 1962, led by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Party Chairman Mao Zedong launched the campaign to reconstruct the country from an agrarian economy into an industrialized society through
30535-419: The streets, marching and protesting, authoring books and debating to change social and political views that limited women. In 1963, with Betty Friedan 's book, The Feminine Mystique , the role of women in society, and in public and private life was questioned. By 1966, the movement was beginning to grow in size and power as women's group spread across the country and Friedan, along with other feminists, founded
30732-416: The tank batteries gathered to be recharged and randomly mixed the different chemical supplies intended for the task. In early 1943, his two older siblings were deported by the Germans to Poland for slave labour . They escaped and were found by Soviet soldiers who conscripted them into helping with the war effort. They did not return home until after the war, in 1945. The rest of the Gagarin family believed
30929-400: The tensions which existed in the Party by launching the Hundred Flowers Campaign as a way to promote free speech and criticism. Some scholars have retroactively concluded that this campaign was a ploy designed to allow critics of the regime, primarily intellectuals but also low ranking members of the party who were critical of the agricultural policies, to identify themselves. By the time of
31126-404: The terrible weather conditions, he passed within 10 or 20 meters (33 or 66 ft) of Yuri and Seregin's plane while breaking the sound barrier". The resulting turbulence would have sent the MiG-15UTI into an uncontrolled spin. Leonov said the first boom he heard was that of the jet breaking the sound barrier and the second was Gagarin's plane crashing. On 14 April 1961, Gagarin was honoured with
31323-416: The three million Puerto Ricans residing in the 50 states. The main concentration of the population was in New York City. In the 1960s and the following 1970s, Hispanic-American culture was on the rebound like ethnic music, foods, culture and identity both became popular and assimilated into the American mainstream. Spanish-language television networks, radio stations and newspapers increased in presence across
31520-474: The time Yuri was born he was already helping with the cattle on the farm. His sister Zoya, born in 1927, helped take care of "Yura" and their youngest brother Boris, born in 1936. Like millions of Soviet citizens, his family suffered during the German occupation during World War II . During the German advance on Moscow , retreating Red Army soldiers seized the collective farm's livestock. The Nazis captured Klushino on 18 October 1941. On their first day in
31717-404: The time people realized, it was too late to correct statistics without angering Mao. The Great Leap Forward sought to revive folk technologies, including in the area of steel production. China's steel industry faced a shortage of imported iron and calls to increase production of "native iron" had begun in 1956. By mid-1958, the Chinese state began promoting indigenous metallurgical methods and
31914-435: The title of pilot-cosmonaut in January 1961 and underwent a two-day examination conducted by a special interdepartmental commission led by Lieutenant-General Nikolai Kamanin , the overseer of the Vostok programme. The commission was tasked with ranking the candidates based on their mission readiness for the first human Vostok mission. On 17 January, they were tested in a simulator at the M. M. Gromov Flight-Research Institute on
32111-437: The training centre, Colonel Vladimir Ivanovich Yazdovskiy, the head physician for Gagarin's flight, and Major-General Aleksandr Nikolayevich Babiychuk, a physician flag officer on the Soviet Air Force General Staff to the Commander in Chief of the Air Force . The commission limited their selection to pilots between 25 and 30 years old. The chief engineer of the programme Sergei Korolev also specified that candidates, to fit in
32308-529: The twentieth century, Mexican Americans formed organizations to protect themselves from discrimination. One of those organizations, the League of United Latin American Citizens , was formed in 1929 and remains active today. The movement gained momentum after World War II when groups such as the American G.I. Forum , which was formed by returning Mexican American veterans, joined in the efforts by other civil rights organizations. Mexican-American civil-rights activists achieved several major legal victories including
32505-407: The two older children were dead, and Yuri became ill with "grief and hunger"; he was also beaten for refusing to work for the German forces and spent the remainder of the war at a hospital as a patient and later as an orderly. His mother was hospitalized during the same period, after a German soldier gashed her leg with a scythe. When the Germans were routed out of Klushino on 9 March 1944, Yuri helped
32702-549: The upcoming flight by experiencing g-forces in a centrifuge. Psychological tests included placing the candidates in an anechoic chamber in complete isolation; Gagarin was in the chamber from 26 July to 5 August. In August 1960, a Soviet Air Force doctor evaluated his personality as follows: Modest; embarrasses when his humour gets a little too racy; high degree of intellectual development evident in Yuriy; fantastic memory; distinguishes himself from his colleagues by his sharp and far-ranging sense of attention to his surroundings;
32899-516: The upper stage carried it to orbit. Once the upper stage finished firing, it separated from the spacecraft, which orbited for 108 minutes before returning to Earth in Kazakhstan. Gagarin became the first human to orbit the Earth. "The feeling of weightlessness was somewhat unfamiliar compared with Earth conditions. Here, you feel as if you were hanging in a horizontal position in straps. You feel as if you are suspended", Gagarin wrote in his post-flight report. He also wrote in his autobiography released
33096-455: The verbatim record of his conversations with Earth stations during the spaceflight. In a 2006 interview, Gagarin's friend Colonel Valentin Petrov stated that Gagarin never said these words and that the quote originated from Khrushchev's speech at the plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU about the state's anti-religion campaign , saying "Gagarin flew into space, but didn't see any god there". Petrov also said Gagarin had been baptised into
33293-428: The very end of the 1960s, the movement's goals would change and become more radical, demanding a right to be different, and encouraging gay pride . The symbolic birth of the gay rights movement would not come until the decade had almost come to a close. Gays were not allowed by law to congregate. Gay establishments such as the Stonewall Inn in New York City were routinely raided by the police to arrest gay people. On
33490-399: The village, they burned down the school, ending Yuri's first year of education. The Germans also burned down 27 houses in the village and forced the residents including the Gagarins to work the farms to feed the occupying soldiers. Those who refused were beaten or sent to the concentration camp set up at Gzhatsk. A Nazi officer took over the Gagarin residence. On the land behind their house,
33687-413: The wage bill, largely for construction workers, but no corresponding increase in manufactured goods". Facing a massive deficit, the government cut industrial investment from 38.9 to 7.1 billion yuan from 1960 to 1962 (an 82% decrease; the 1957 level was 14.4 billion). partly due to misreporting, or corruption at every level of the government where they'd overreport harvest and steel production, by
33884-410: The widespread famine which was being experienced in the countryside, as Mao sought to maintain face and convince the outside world of the success of his plans. Foreign aid was refused. When the Japanese foreign minister told his Chinese counterpart Chen Yi about an offer of 100,000 tonnes of wheat which was going to be shipped away from public view, he was rebuffed. John F. Kennedy was also aware that
34081-431: The world's geopolitics during the decade. Construction of the Berlin Wall by East Germany began in 1961. Africa was in a period of radical political change as 32 countries gained independence from their European colonial rulers . The heavy-handed American role in the Vietnam War lead to an anti-Vietnam War movement with outraged student protestors around the globe culminating in the protests of 1968 . China saw
34278-474: Was a Soviet pilot and cosmonaut who, aboard the first successful crewed spaceflight , became the first human to journey into outer space . Travelling on Vostok 1 , Gagarin completed one orbit of Earth on 12 April 1961, with his flight taking 108 minutes. By achieving this major milestone for the Soviet Union amidst the Space Race , he became an international celebrity and was awarded many medals and titles, including his nation's highest distinction: Hero of
34475-413: Was a candidate favoured by his peers; when they were asked to vote anonymously for a candidate besides themselves they would like to be the first to fly, all but three chose Gagarin. One of these candidates, Yevgeny Khrunov , believed that Gagarin was very focused and was demanding of himself and others when necessary. On 30 May 1960, Gagarin was further selected for an accelerated training group, known as
34672-429: Was a common practice to include the fiscal surplus of the previous year in the budget of the current year. Because of the low level of budgeting in the fiscal sector and inaccurate estimates of economic development, revenues and expenditures were underestimated. However, no problems arose because the government usually managed to end the fiscal year with a surplus. In 1953, when China entered the first five-year plan period,
34869-401: Was a revolution in social norms, including clothing, music, drugs, dress, sexuality , formalities, civil rights , precepts of military duty, and schooling. Some people denounce the decade as one of irresponsible excess, flamboyance, the decay of social order, and the fall or relaxation of social taboos. A wide range of music emerged; from popular music inspired by and including the Beatles (in
35066-434: Was abolished and all households were forced into state-operated communes. Mao demanded that the communes increase grain production to feed the cities and to earn foreign exchange through exports. Apart from progressive taxation on each household's harvest, the state introduced a system of compulsory state purchases of grain at fixed prices to build up stockpiles for famine-relief and meet the terms of its trade agreements with
35263-415: Was also awarded the 1960 Gold Air Medal and the 1961 De la Vaulx Medal from the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale in Switzerland. He received numerous awards from other nations that year, including the Star of the Republic of Indonesia (2nd Class), the Order of the Cross of Grunwald (1st Degree) in Poland , the Order of the Flag of the People's Republic of Hungary (1st Class with diamonds),
35460-472: Was also exacted on people. Rural industrialization, while officially a priority of the campaign, saw "its development ... aborted by the mistakes of the Great Leap Forward". The Great Leap was one of two periods between 1953 and 1976 in which China's economy shrank (the other being the Cultural Revolution ). Economist Dwight Perkins argues that "enormous amounts of investment only produced modest increases in production or none at all. ... In short,
35657-467: Was also part of a group of children that built model aeroplanes. He was fascinated with aircraft from a young age and his interest in aeroplanes was energized after a Yakovlev fighter plane crash landed in Klushino during the war. In 1950, aged 16, Gagarin began an apprenticeship as a foundryman at a steel plant in Lyubertsy , near Moscow, and enrolled at a local "young workers" school for seventh-grade evening classes. After graduating in 1951 from both
35854-410: Was an emerging idealism of the 1960s. A second wave of feminism in the United States and around the world gained momentum in the early 1960s. While the first wave of the early 20th century was centered on gaining suffrage and overturning de jure inequalities, the second wave was focused on changing cultural and social norms and de facto inequalities associated with women. At the time, a woman's place
36051-526: Was appropriate to continue this practice, but they also had opponents. Li Xiannian finally decided to hold a collective meeting to discuss the issue, and after listening to the views of all parties, he decided to abolish the practice. Nevertheless, the controversy over the use of the fiscal surplus persisted, which brought another reckless "rash advance" to China's economic development in 1956. At that time, China lacked consideration in three areas: capital construction, employee wages and agricultural loans, making
36248-405: Was because of exceptional weather, not, which a lot of officials mistook, as the result of hard work of the peasants, creating further complications. (106) This lead to famine in the countryside since they were required to reach set harvest goal, leaving not enough food for themselves. Mao saw grain and steel production as the key pillars of economic development. He forecast that within 15 years of
36445-409: Was born 9 March 1934 in the village of Klushino , in the Smolensk Oblast of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic , near Gzhatsk (renamed Gagarin in 1968 after his death). His parents worked on a sovkhoz —Aleksey Ivanovich Gagarin as a carpenter and Anna Timofeyevna Gagarina as a dairy farmer . Yuri was the third of four children. His older brother Valentin was born in 1924, and by
36642-428: Was built in 1971 and the Armenian airline Armavia named their first Sukhoi Superjet 100 in his honour in 2011. Two commemorative coins were issued in the Soviet Union to honour the 20th and 30th anniversaries of his flight: a one-rouble coin in copper-nickel (1981) and a three-rouble coin in silver (1991). In 2001, to commemorate the 40th anniversary of Gagarin's flight, a series of four coins bearing his likeness
36839-541: Was done in the name of discouraging excessive consumption. Besides these economic changes, the CCP implemented major social changes in the countryside including the banishing of all religious and mystic institutions and ceremonies, replacing them with political meetings and propaganda sessions. Attempts were made to enhance rural education and the status of women (allowing them to initiate divorce if they desired) and ending foot-binding , child marriage and opium addiction. The old system of internal passports (the hukou )
37036-504: Was generally seen as being in the home, and they were excluded from many jobs and professions. In the U.S., a Presidential Commission on the Status of Women found discrimination against women in the workplace and every other aspect of life, a revelation which launched two decades of prominent women-centered legal reforms (i.e., the Equal Pay Act of 1963 , Title IX , etc.) which broke down the last remaining legal barriers to women's personal freedom and professional success. Feminists took to
37233-406: Was introduced in 1956, preventing inter-county travel without appropriate authorization. Highest priority was given to the urban proletariat for whom a welfare state was created. The first phase of collectivization resulted in modest improvements in output. Famine along the mid-Yangzi was averted in 1956 through the timely allocation of food-aid, but in 1957 the Party's response was to increase
37430-402: Was issued in Russia; it consisted of a two-rouble coin in copper-nickel, a three-rouble coin in silver, a ten-rouble coin in brass-copper and nickel, and a 100-rouble coin in silver. In 2011, Russia issued a 1,000-rouble coin in gold and a three-rouble coin in silver to mark the 50th anniversary of his flight. In 2008, the Russia-based Kontinental Hockey League named their championship trophy
37627-521: Was left unplanted based on the belief that concentrating manure and effort on the most fertile land would lead to large productivity gains per-acre. Altogether, these untested innovations generally led to decreases in grain production rather than increases. Meanwhile, local leaders were pressured into falsely reporting ever-higher grain production figures to their political superiors. Participants at political meetings remembered production figures being inflated up to 10 times their actual production amounts as
37824-451: Was near the end of his term and left office in January 1961, and Kennedy was assassinated in 1963. Kennedy had wanted Keynesian and staunch anti-communist social reforms. These were passed under Johnson including civil rights for African Americans and health care for the elderly and the poor . Despite his large-scale Great Society programs, Johnson was increasingly disliked by the New Left at home and abroad. For some, May 1968 meant
38021-454: Was not collected in some areas. This problem was exacerbated by a devastating locust swarm, which was caused when their natural predators were killed as part of the Four Pests Campaign . Although actual harvests were reduced, local officials, under tremendous pressure to report record harvests to central authorities in response to the innovations, competed with each other to announce increasingly exaggerated results. These results were used as
38218-418: Was opened. The monument is mounted to a 38 m (125 ft) tall pedestal and is constructed of titanium. Beside the column is a replica of the descent module used during his spaceflight. In 2011, a statue of Gagarin was unveiled at Admiralty Arch in The Mall in London, opposite the permanent sculpture of James Cook . It is a copy of the statue outside Gagarin's former school in Lyubertsy. In 2013,
38415-887: Was realized that Mao's policy of using a state monopoly on agriculture to finance industrialization would be unpopular with the peasants. Therefore, it was proposed that the peasants should be brought under Party control by the establishment of agricultural collectives which would also facilitate the sharing of tools and draft animals. This policy was gradually pushed through between 1949 and 1958 in response to immediate policy needs, first by establishing "mutual aid teams" of 5–15 households, then in 1953 "elementary agricultural cooperatives" of 20–40 households, then from 1956 in "higher co-operatives" of 100–300 families. From 1954 onward peasants were encouraged to form and join collective-farming associations, which would supposedly increase their efficiency without robbing them of their own land or restricting their livelihoods. By 1958, private ownership
38612-449: Was to industrialize by making use of the massive supply of cheap labour and avoid having to import heavy machinery. The government also sought to avoid both social stratification and technical bottlenecks involved in the Soviet model of development, but sought political rather than technical solutions to do so. Distrusting technical experts, Mao and the party sought to replicate the strategies used in its 1930s regrouping in Yan'an following
38809-506: Was viewed as traditional and inconsequential was now becoming the significance in the turning point of a culture. A document known as the Port Huron Statement exemplifies these two conditions perfectly in its first hand depiction, "while these and other problems either directly oppressed us or rankled our consciences and became our own subjective concerns, we began to see complicated and disturbing paradoxes in our surrounding America. The declaration "all men are created equal..." rang hollow before
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