This Year in History:
1961
Discover what happened in this year with HISTORY’s summaries of major events, anniversaries, famous births and notable deaths.
In the climax of deteriorating relations between the United States and Fidel Castro’s government in Cuba, President Dwight D. Eisenhower closes the American embassy in Havana and severs diplomatic relations.…
On January 17, 1961, Dwight D. Eisenhower ends his presidential term by warning the nation about the increasing power of the military‑industrial complex. His remarks, issued during a televised farewell…
On January 20, 1961, on the newly renovated east front of the United States Capitol, John Fitzgerald Kennedy is inaugurated as the 35th president of the United States. It was…
On January 25, 1961, President John F. Kennedy becomes the first U.S. president to hold a live televised news conference. From a podium in the State Department auditorium, Kennedy read…
On January 26, 1961, just about a week after his inauguration, President John F. Kennedy appoints Janet Travell, 59, as his personal physician, making her the first woman in history…
The Misfits, a flawed but moving meditation on the vanishing spirit of western independence, opens in theaters on February 1, 1961. The Misfits had all the right ingredients to become…
On February 15, 1961, the entire 18‑member U.S. figure skating team is killed in a plane crash in Berg‑Kampenhout, Belgium. The team was on its way to the 1961 World…
On February 21, 1961, Christian Karl Gerhartsreiter, a con man who went by the alias Clark Rockefeller and passed himself off as an American blueblood, is born in Germany. Gerhartsreiter…
On March 1, 1961, President John F. Kennedy issues Executive Order #10924, establishing the Peace Corps as a new agency within the Department of State. The same day, he sent…
President John F. Kennedy proposes a 10‑year, multibillion‑dollar aid program for Latin America. The program came to be known as the Alliance for Progress and was designed to improve U.S.…
On April 7, 1961, President John F. Kennedy sends a letter to Congress in which he recommends the U.S. participate in an international campaign to preserve ancient temples and historic…
On April 10, 1961, Gary Player, a 25‑year‑old South African, beats defending champion Arnold Palmer and amateur Charles Coe by a stroke to become the first international champion at the…
On April 11, 1961, Bob Dylan plays his first major gig in New York City, opening for bluesman John Lee Hooker at Gerde’s Folk City. Who knows how many other…
On April 12, 1961, aboard the spacecraft Vostok 1, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin becomes the first human being to travel into space. During the flight, the 27‑year‑old test pilot…
The Bay of Pigs invasion begins when a CIA‑financed and ‑trained group of Cuban refugees lands in Cuba and attempts to topple the communist government of Fidel Castro. The attack…
On April 23, 1961, Judy Garland performs a gig at Carnegie Hall, often referred to as “the greatest night in showbiz history.” She was one of the biggest and most…
On May 4, 1961, a group of thirteen young people departs Washington, D.C.’s Greyhound Bus terminal, bound for the South. Their journey is peaceful at first, but the riders will…
On May 5, 1961, Navy Commander Alan Bartlett Shepard Jr. is launched into space aboard the Freedom 7 space capsule, becoming the first American astronaut to travel into space. The…
In This Day in History video clip – May 5, 1961: The first American in space – Cape Canaveral, Florida, Navy Commander Alan Bartlett Shepard Jr. is launched into space…
President John F. Kennedy approves sending 400 Special Forces troops and 100 other U.S. military advisers to South Vietnam. On the same day, he orders the start of clandestine warfare…
