History of 1961

During the year of 1961 the following events have happened in our world's history.

January 25, 1961 - 1st live nationally televised Presidential news conference (JFK)
January 25, 1961 - Walt Disney's "101 Dalmations" is released
January 26, 1961 - 1st woman `personal physician to President' - JG Travell
January 31, 1961 - Ham is 1st primate in space (158 miles) aboard Mercury/Redstone 2
February 12, 1961 - USSR launches Venera 1 toward Venus
February 14, 1961 - Element 103 - lawrencium - 1st produced in Berkeley California
February 16, 1961 - 1st all solid propellant rocket put in orbit-Wallops Island - Va
March 01, 1961 - Pres Kennedy establishes Peace Corps
March 09, 1961 - Sputnik 9 carries Chernushka (dog) into orbit
March 29, 1961 - 23rd Amendment ratified - Wash DC can vote for pres.
March 30, 1961 - P.J Melotte - discovered Jupiter's 8th satellite Pasiphae - dies
April 12, 1961 - Yuri A. Gagarin becomes 1st man to orbit Earth.
April 17, 1961 - Bay of Pigs - invasion.
April 25, 1961 - Robert Noyce granted a patent for the integrated circuit.
May 01, 1961 - 1st US airplane hijacked to Cuba
May 04, 1961 - Malcolm Ross & Victor Prather set altitude record for manned balloon flight - 34 -668 m - over Gulf of Mexico
May 05, 1961 - Alan Shepard becomes 1st American in space (aboard Freedom 7)
May 08, 1961 - Alan Shepard receives NASA Distinguished Service Medal - Washington
May 08, 1961 - 1st practical sea water conversion plant - Freeport Texas
May 09, 1961 - Jim Gentile hits grand slammers in consecutive innings
May 09, 1961 - FCC Chairman Newton N Minow criticizes TV as a `vast wasteland'
May 20, 1961 - White mob attacks `Freedom Riders' in Montgomery - Alabama
May 25, 1961 - JFK sets goal of putting a man on moon
May 28, 1961 - Amnesty Intl founded (Nobel Peace Prize 1977)
May 30, 1961 - Maris hits his 10th & 11th of 61 HRs
May 31, 1961 - South Africa becomes a republic (Natl Day)
June 11, 1961 - Roger Maris hits #19 & 20 of 61 HRs
June 16, 1961 - Rudolf Nureyev Soviet ballet dancer defects to West
June 19, 1961 - Kuwait gains independence from Britain
June 19, 1961 - US Supreme Court struck down a provision in Md's constitution requiring state office holders to belief in existence of God
June 25, 1961 - Yankee's Roger Maris hits his 40th of 61 HRs
July 01, 1961 - Haleakala National Park established in Hawaii
July 02, 1961 - Maris hits his 29th & 30th of 61 homers
July 02, 1961 - Ernest Hemingway shot himself to death in Ketchum Idaho
July 06, 1961 - Soviets launch Titov in Vostok 2; 17 orbits; 25hr/18 min.
July 14, 1961 - Astro's Eddie Matthews hits HR #500
July 17, 1961 - Roger Maris loses a HR due to a rain-out in the 5th
July 19, 1961 - 1st in-flight movie is shown (on TWA).
July 21, 1961 - Mercury 4 is launched into sub-orbital flight
July 21, 1961 - Launch of Mercury 4 (Liberty bell) with Grissom.
July 25, 1961 - Maris hits home runs 37 38 39 & 40 in a double header
August 01, 1961 - New SF Hall of Justice opens
August 05, 1961 - 48ø C (118ø F) at Ice Harbor Dam Washington
August 06, 1961 - Gherman S Titov second Russian in space aboard Vostok 2
August 07, 1961 - Cosmonaut Gherman Titov circles Earth for a full day in Vostok 2
August 13, 1961 - Berlin Wall erected in East Germany
August 17, 1961 - Alliance for Progress established
August 22, 1961 - Maris hits his 50th of 61 homers
August 26, 1961 - Official Intl Hockey Hall of Fame opens in Toronto.
August 30, 1961 - 1st Negro judge of a District Court confirmed - JB Parsons
September 13, 1961 - Car 54 Where are You? premiers
September 20, 1961 - Roger Maris hits home run # 59 & barely misses # 60 in game 154 of the season Yanks clinch pennant #26
September 20, 1961 - After 84 1/3 innings Bill Fischer gives up a base on balls
September 23, 1961 - 1st movie to become a TV series - How to Marry a Millionaire
September 26, 1961 - Roger Maris hits # 60 off Jack Fisher
October 01, 1961 - Roger Maris sets record of 61 homers last off of Tracy Sallard
October 02, 1961 - Ben Casey premiers
October 03, 1961 - Dick Van Dyke Show premiers
October 09, 1961 - Yank Whitey Ford breaks Ruth record of 29 2/3 consecutive inning - world series scoreless pitching streak Yanks beat Reds 4 games to 1
October 27, 1961 - 1st Saturn Made a unmanned flight test
October 30, 1961 - Soviet Union tests a 58 megaton hydrogen bomb
October 30, 1961 - Soviet Party Congress unanimously approves a resolution removing Josef Stalin's body from Lenin's tomb in Red Square.
November 29, 1961 - Mercury 5 launches a chimp (Ham/Enos)
December 02, 1961 - 1st OT Grey Cup game (Winnipeg 21 Hamilton 14)
December 09, 1961 - Tanganyika gains independence from Britain
December 11, 1961 - JFK provides US milt helicopters & crews to South Vietnam
December 18, 1961 - India annexes Portuguese colonies of Goa Damao & Diu
December 31, 1961 - Marshall Plan expires after distributing more than $12 billion