Major "space race" and defense events of the year 1957. Laika, Soviet space dog prepared for the space flight. Laika takes off in Sputnik 2 in Soviet Union. An animation shows the spacecraft in outer space. In United States, Space Race efforts to launch a small "grapefruit" satellite on Vanguard TV-3 test rocket meet in failure as the rocket explodes at take off on December 6, 1957. View of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France. President Dwight D Eisenhower arrives in Paris, France to talk about the development of missiles with other NATO leaders. The French Prime Minister Felix Gaillard with President Eisenhower. View of Atlas missile SM-65A Serial 12A launched successfully from Cape Canaveral pad LC-14 in Florida, United States, on December 17, 1957.
Rebel uprising against Batista government ongoing in 1957: Tanks on the streets. Officials enter a building. Cuban President Fulgencio Batista greets dignitaries. 13 March 1957: Leader of the student movement, Jose Antonio Echeverria, organizes an attack on the Presidential Palace. Batista escapes and the student leaders are shot. The fighting spills on to the streets. Soldiers keep a vigil on the streets amidst the demonstrations and rioting. People and cars on the street. A policeman runs across a street. A man carries a wounded woman. Bullet holes. The police shoot down Jose Antonio Echeverria. A man and a woman grieve. Supplies including food, arms, ammunition and medical supplies reach the Sierra Maestra Mountains. A jeep driven on a dirt road in the jungle. A soldier drinks water. One checks another's blood pressure. A soldier patrols on a roof. 12 July 1957: Fidel Castro issues a manifesto. He talks to his soldiers and other revolutionaries. Havana: Buildings and high rises in the city. Anti-Batista opposition increases. Soldiers and officers. A man shows a bullet ridden car to an officer. Santiago De Cuba: People carry casket of underground rebel Frank Pais. A large crowd gathers to join In the procession. Women mourn his death and chant "Vengeance." A police officer and his soldiers inspect dead bodies of revolutionaries lying on the sidewalk. A framer suspected of aiding Castro's men is hanged in the jungle. Men seated in a court as a woman testifies. A woman prays at a grave.
View of Central High School, Little Rock Arkansas. Former student, Jefferson Thomas, one of the nine African American students who integrated the school in 1957, is revisiting the school. View of integrated student track and field team practicing.View of the front of the school. Flashback scenes of the "Little Rock Nine," black students trying to enter Central High School, Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1957. Police officer keeping back jeering local students. Racial fighting breaks out among people watching the event, and police try to maintain order. African American students unable to enter school while white students enter and police stand by despite federal school integration orders. Scene returns to 1964 briefly and then back to September 27, 1957, when on orders from President Eisenhower, a company of U.S. Army soldiers marches up takes up positions at the school. They set up barricades, maintain order, and provide armed escort for the nine black students entering school. The nine students enter army station wagons and drive to school accompanied by soldiers in an army jeep.Views of people mingling around the school as U.S. Army soldiers stand amongst them.
Gregory C. (Greg) Bell, a sophomore at Indiana University, is seen making his record-setting long jump of 26' 7", to win the national collegiate title on June 14, 1957, in Austin Texas. Bell sitting on the ground after his jump. Sequence shifts to the track where Don Bowden, of California, is running well ahead of favored Ron Delany, of Villanova, to win the 800 meter run in 1 minute and 47.2 seconds. (Note: Delany won the 1500 meter run in 4 minutes 6 and a half minutes.) The next day, on June 15, 1957, Bob Gutowski, of Occidental College,California, is seen breaking the World record in the pole vault at a height of 15 feet 9 3/4 inches. He poses momentarily afterwards.
MAAG (Military Assistance and Advisory Group) Mission in Vietnam. Road under construction in Vietnam. Women laborers work on highway construction. A group of women lifts sand with spades and levels the road.
MAAG (Military Assistance and Advisory Group) Mission in Saigon, Vietnam. Vietnamese Honor Guards stand with rifles in their hands. Colonel Nuygen Khuong, Chief Signal Officer of Vietnam; Minister of Defense and Assistance Secretary of State, Mr Dung present during the ceremony. Colonel Nuygen reviews Honor Guard. Vietnamese flag hoisted on pole. Colonel Nuygen speaks over microphone.