--------------------------- We are almost at the end of
our coverage of the 1950s. But the horrible events just keep on coming.
The United States lost two more nuclear weapons in 1958, one of which has never been found. �
The Chinese suffered what was perhaps the worst famine in history. Native Americans
put white supremacists in their place. And a bus crash killed several children.
It was a horrible year for a lot of people. � We hope you are ready to learn all about it.
Let’s get started. ------------------------------
Battle of Hayes Pond In 1954 the United States Supreme
Court ruled that segregation was illegal. In 1957 schools began integrating the races. White
supremacists, however, did not admit defeat.� They refused to give up without a fight.
All throughout the south the Ku Klux Klan began a campaign of intimidation against minorities.
There was a chapter of the Klan in Maxton, North Carolina as well. James W. Cole was
the organizer for this chapter, and he wanted to make sure minorities knew it. And Cole
didn’t just hate black people. Native Americans were considered to be a lesser race as well.
The Lumbee Tribe Of North Carolina was a group of native Americans that lived near Maxton. Cole,
for some reason, believed that he had them scared and on the run. So, he decided to hold a rally on
January 18. James Cole said it was "to put the Indians in their place, to end race mixing".
A sympathetic farmer outside Maxton allowed the Klan to use land near Hayes
Pond for the rally. On the night of the rally somewhere between 50 and 100 members showed up.�
Cole began setting up a PA system to speak to the crowd. And of course,
a wooden cross was erected. Before the rally could start, over 500
men from the Lumbee Tribe surrounded the Klansmen. The men of the tribe were armed
with only sticks and rocks. The Klansmen apparently doubted their racial superiority
and fled. Amazingly, nobody was killed or seriously hurt in the confrontation.
The Lumbee took the Klan banner as a trophy. Cole complained to local law enforcement
and the governor of North Carolina. None of them ever acted against the Lumbee Tribe.
Tybee Island Mid-Air Collision If you study the 1950s in any detail at all,
one of the most astounding facts is just how often the United States military
lost or destroyed nuclear weapons. It happened again in 1958. More than once.
On February 8, a B-47 bomber was on a simulated combat mission. It took off from Florida and
was carrying a 7,600-pound nuclear bomb. An F-86 fighter plane was also performing
exercises that day. Near Tybee Island, which is off the coast of Georgia, the F-86 collided
with the B-47. The pilot of the F-86 was forced to eject, and his plane crashed.
The B-47 dropped 18,000 feet before the pilot was able to stabilize the
aircraft. But since the plane was damaged, the pilot was understandably concerned about
an emergency landing with a large nuclear bomb.
He asked for permission to jettison the weapon, and permission was granted. The bomb was
dropped over the swamps of Georgia. Normally a conventional explosion would destroy the bomb.�
But the crew never saw that explosion. They did land safely after releasing the weapon.
Some sources claimed that the bomb was fully functional and contained a nuclear core. Other
sources stated that the crew was not authorized to travel with a bomb that had the core installed.
To this day nobody knows for sure because the weapon has never been found. As of 2007
studies have not found increased radioactivity in the area.��
So, either the bomb was completely safe,
or it is an ecological disaster waiting to happen. No news is good news in this case.
Kentucky Bus Crash When parents allow their children to board a
school bus in the morning, they expect to see them again. Sometimes reality has a different plan.
On February 28, 1958 it was a cold and cloudy day in Prestonsburg,
Kentucky. But the children still had to go to school. �
That morning the bus driver completed the morning route and picked up 48 students.
While attempting to transport the children to school disaster struck. The bus failed
to stop in time and ran into the rear end of a wrecker truck. Then the bus
slid down an embankment into a river. It is believed that everyone survived the
collision. Unfortunately, some did not survive long enough to escape the sinking vehicle.
Twenty-two children escaped the bus and made it to the riverbank. Everybody else was trapped
and became submerged in the river.�� Twenty-six children and the bus driver
drowned. The bus and its occupants were finally found fifty-three hours later by navy divers.
Mars Bluff Nuclear Weapon Incident The United States military loves its
nuclear weapons. And in 1958 it had a difficult time holding on to them.
On March 8, a B-47 took off from a base in Savannah, Georgia. It was heading to the UK
and then North Africa. The airplane was also carrying nuclear weapons just in case
war broke out with the Soviet Union. Not long after takeoff the captain of the
plane noticed a warning light. The warning meant that the bomb harness locking pin did
not engage. This was the mechanism that kept the bomb in place and kept it from exploding.
The navigator attempted to fix this. But as he pulled himself up to have a look,
he accidentally pulled the emergency release pin. The bomb dropped onto
the bomb bay doors. The bomb was very heavy, so the doors opened, and the bomb was released.
The nuclear weapon thankfully did not have a nuclear core installed. But it
did contain conventional explosives. The bomb fell 15,000 feet and landed 200
yards from a playhouse in the woods. The bomb exploded, destroying the playhouse and injuring
three young girls. The parents were also injured by the explosion.
The family eventually sued the United States Air Force. They received a settlement of
$54,000 which is roughly equivalent to $478,000 today.
Second Taiwan Strait Crisis China and Taiwan have never really
been friends. And they have had not one but two armed conflicts with each
other. The most recent event was in 1958. Taiwan was known as the Republic of China, or ROC
at this time. And China referred to itself as the People’s Republic of China, or PRC. Hostilities
began when the PRC started bombing the islands that were occupied by the ROC. China did this,
at least partially, to test what military capabilities the United States had in the area.
The ROC signed a defense treaty with the United States in 1954.�
President Eisenhower honored that treaty when the ROC asked for help. Eisenhower ordered
reinforcements for the naval fleet. He also sent supplies to Taiwan and ordered the US Air Force to
ship fighter planes to the islands. The US had also recently developed sidewinder
missiles. These are air to air missiles that can track a target and change direction to locate
it. The Chinese who were trying to invade Taiwan did not know about the existence of
this weapon nor that Taiwan had access to it. Eisenhower was serious about not letting China
invade Taiwan. He also moved mobile artillery hardware from the United States to Taiwan.
On September 28, the sidewinder missiles were used in combat for the first time.�
They destroyed numerous enemy aircraft. By October 6 China was unable to continue
the invasion. It would periodically shoot propaganda leaflets into Taiwan
but didn’t attempt to invade again. This situation continued until the United States and China
re-established diplomatic relations in 1979. It is also interesting to note that this conflict
produced very few casualties considering how much artillery was used. Both sides
focused on military targets and did not try to purposely kill civilians.
Still, when bombs fall people die. It’s unavoidable.
Great Chinese Famine The Great Chinese Famine is one of
the worst famines in history. Many historians consider it more deadly than even the Russian
Famine, which is quite an accomplishment. Historians also argue about when it started. Some
say it began in 1958, while others say it started in 1959. It didn’t end until 1962.
The famine coincided with the Great Leap Forward, which was a communist
initiative to reconstruct the country. � China was formerly an agrarian society.�
The communist party wanted to make it entirely communist.
This was done by creating communes. � Formerly, people in China grew their
own food and worked their own land. Under the communist regime they would have to do this as
part of collectives. Everything was shared including the farming tools.
This doesn’t just impact farming. Private ownership in general was not allowed.
The disruption of traditional farming practices caused crop yields to drop dramatically. At
the same time, droughts and floods hit China causing even more crop losses.
Furthermore, there were various campaigns that had
unintended consequences. For instance, the Four Pests Campaign called on citizens to
kill birds that ate seeds. The idea was this would protect crops.
The birds that were killed happened to be what kept the pest population under control.
Although the famine probably did start in 1958, its effects were
felt most strongly the following year. One Chinese reporter saw what was happening
but never reported on it. He later explained what he saw and why he remained silent:
...I took a long-distance bus from Xinyang to Luoshan and Gushi. Out of the window, I saw one
corpse after another in the ditches. On the bus, no one dared to mention the dead. In one county,
Guangshan, one-third of the people had died. Although there were dead people everywhere,
the local leaders enjoyed good meals and fine liquor. ... I had seen people who had told the
truth being destroyed. Did I dare to write it? As with all famines, there were reports of
widespread cannibalism. When people can’t eat the food they crave you can rest assured they
will eventually eat each other. ---------------------------
Racism, nuclear weapons, and starvation? Which one is worse? If you were alive in 1958 the answer
probably depended on where you lived. If you were in the United States,
then you might be concerned that nuclear death would suddenly fall from the sky. You might
also have thought it would come from the Soviet Union instead of the US Air Force.
If you lived in southeast Asia, then you were probably either fighting
China or starving to death in China.�� And if you were an unlucky kid in
Kentucky then there is a chance you rode a bus to the bottom of a river.
Look at the bright side.� It could always be worse.
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