1960 may have been a big year for independence, but it was less of a year for freedom.
In 1960 Cuba's press stood in chains fresh-forged by Fidel Castro. On Formosa, Newspaper Publisher Lei Chen was imprisoned for daring to be critically independent of Chiang Kaishek. Indonesia's President Sukarno commanded editors to swear allegiance to his regime ("Our publication is duty-bound to support guided democracy") or lose their licenses.
Strongman Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalized—i.e., confiscated—the Egyptian press; and in Ceylon, a self-styled democracy, newly elected Prime Minister Mrs. Sirimavo Bandaranaike threatened to seize...
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