Continuing our week of year-enders past. 1964 as seen by a group of correspondents from ABC Radio News. The view from Southeast Asia was pessimistic, and for good reason; we were slowly sinking into the quicksand of a protracted war and no one had much idea what the outcome would be. There was fear of a major confrontation with China because of Vietnam, and naturally the hawks were adamant that a war was inevitable because it was the only way to thwart Chinese domination of the region (aka: Domino Theory). Russia didn't figure so prominently, probably because there was a huge power shift going on in the Kremlin, with Khruschev's ouster and Brezhnev's entrance. It was too early to tell how it would go with a new leader. But China was a big concern, since they had exploded their first Atomic bomb earlier in the year and they were accused of heavily aiding the North Vietnamese.
The subject of German reunification was brought up, with thoughts that most of the former Allied nations would be in favor, but the major stumbling block was the Soviet Union and several of the Warsaw Pact satellites who were most severely affected by German occupation during the war.
Speculation that 1965 would be a better year than 1964 were cautious everywhere except Vietnam. That was going to be the problem. And it was.
This year-end report, A Look At The Year 1965, was originally broadcast on December 28, 1964.
