Today in History - July 16: The river swim that signalled the start of a purge of millions of people
Chinese Premier Mao Zedong swam across the Yangtze River in Wuhan on July 17, 1966, a move that marked the beginning of one of the bloodiest periods in modern history.
Under pressure to leave office due to his age, Mao staged the stunt to show his athleticism and vitality.
The state news reported Mao had swam 15 kilometres in 75 minutes, a speed that would be record-breaking were he competing at the Olympics.
The propaganda success bolstered Mao's claim to the top job, and silenced his political rivals.
In the wake of his swim, Mao initiated the Cultural Revolution.
The Cultural Revolution was ostensibly a purge of capitalist and traditionalist elements within China.
But Mao also used the purge to rid the country of anyone who he viewed as disloyal to him.
Leading the violence and persecution was a mass movement of students that turned into a paramilitary group called the Red Guards.
Mao used the millions of youth to consolidate his power, allowing them to inflict violence on potential dissidents.
Anywhere between hundreds of thousands to tens of millions of people died in the Cultural Revolution.
Among those targeted were teachers, professors, ethnic and religious minorities, bureaucrats and intellectuals.
J. Robert Oppenheimer, who was head of the program to develop the atom bomb, was deeply troubled by the explosion.
He later recalled how he thought of a passage from the Hindu scripture the Bhagavad Gita.
"Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds," he quoted.
Within hours, the unassembled bomb which would be dropped over Hiroshima would leave San Francisco Harbour across the Pacific aboard the USS Indianapolis.
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