{{yearbox| cp=19th century| c=20th century | cf=21st century | yp1=1958 | yp2=1959 | yp3=1960 | year=1961 | ya1=1962 | ya2=1963 | ya3=1964 | dp3=1930s | dp2=1940s | dp1=1950s | d=1960s | dn1=1970s | dn2=1980s | dn3=1990s | }} {{C20YearInTopic}} '''1961''' '''(MCMLXI)''' was a Common_year_starting_on_Sunday (link will take you to calendar). As ''MAD_Magazine'' pointed out on its cover for the March issue, this was the first "upside-up" year—i.e., one that looked the same upside down—since 1881, and the last until 6009. ==Events== ===January=== Image:JFKofficial.jpg inaugurated as President_of_the_United_States in January 1961]] * January_1 - The farthing coin, used since the 13th_century, ceases to be Legal_tender in the United_Kingdom. * January_3 - President Dwight_Eisenhower announces that the United_States has severed diplomatic and consular relations with Cuba. * January_3 - SL-1, an Atomic_reactor, exploded at National Reactor Testing Station in Idaho_Falls,_Idaho, killing 3 military technicians. * January_5 - Italian sculptor Alfredo_Fioravanti marches into US consulate in Rome and confesses that he was part of the team that forged the Etruscan_terracotta_warriors in the Metropolitan_Museum_of_Art * January_7 - Following a four-day conference in Casablanca, five African chiefs of state announced plans for a NATO-type African organization to ensure common defense. The Charter_of_Casablanca involved were Morocco, the United_Arab_Republic, Ghana, Guinea, and Mali. * January_8 - In France, Referendum supports Charles_de_Gaulle's policies in Algeria * January_9 - British authorities announce that they have discovered a large Soviet Spy ring in London * January_12 - President Dwight_Eisenhower gave his final State_of_the_Union_Address to Congress. * January_17 - Assassination of Patrice_Lumumba * January_20 - John_F._Kennedy becomes President_of_the_United_States * January_24 - US B-52 bomber with two 24-Megaton Nuclear_bombs crashes near Goldsboro,_North_Carolina * January_24 - Musician Bob_Dylan said to have made his way to New_York_City after bumming a ride in Madison,_Wisconsin. Dylan was likely on his way to visit his idol Woody_Guthrie. He later found fame in the Greenwich_Village protest folk music scene. * January_25 - In Washington,_DC John_F._Kennedy delivers the first live presidential News_conference. In it, he announces that the Soviet_Union had freed the two surviving crewmen of a USAF RB-47 reconnaissance plane shot down by Soviet flyers over the Barents_Sea July_1, 1960. (see RB-47H_shot_down) * January_25 - Acting to halt 'leftist excesses,' a junta comprised of two army officers and 4 civilians takes over the rule of El_Salvador, ousting another junta that had ruled for three months. * January_26 - John_F._Kennedy appoints Janet_G._Travell to be his physician. This is the first time a woman held this appointment. * January_30 - President John_F._Kennedy delivered his first State_of_the_Union_Address. * January_30 - Martin Luther King Jr. has a son - Dexter Scott King. * January_31 - Ham, a 37 pound male Chimpanzee, was rocketed into space in a test of the Project_Mercury capsule designed to carry U.S. Astronauts into space. ===February-March=== Image:Eichmann_trial_1961_in_glass_box.jpg on trial for crimes against humanity in a court in Jerusalem, Israel.]] * February_3 - China buys grain from Canada with $60 million * February_4 - The Portuguese Colonial War begins in Angola. * February_5 - The Sunday_Telegraph publishes its first issue. * February_9 - In Congo, president Joseph_Kasavubu names Joseph_Ileo as a new prime minister * February_11 - Trial of Adolf_Eichmann begins in Jerusalem. * February_13 - Congo government announces that villagers have killed Patrice_Lumumba * February_14 - Discovery_of_the_chemical_elements: Element 103, Lawrencium, is first synthesized (Berkeley,_California). * February_15 - A Sabena Boeing_707 crashes near Brussels, Belgium killing 73, including the entire United_States Figure_skating team and several coaches. * February_26 - Hassan II is pronounced King of Morocco. * March_1 - President_of_the_United_States John_F._Kennedy establishes the Peace_Corps. * March_1 - First elections held in Uganda and it becomes self-governing. * March_2 - US president John_F_Kennedy creates Peace_Corps * March_3 - Hassan II is crowned King of Morocco. * March_8 - Max_Conrad circumnavigates the earth in eight days, 18 hours and 49 minutes setting a new world record. * March_8 - First US Polaris Submarines arrive at Holy_Loch. * March_13 - Black and white £5 notes cease to be a Legal_tender in the UK * March_13 - A dam bursts on the Dnieper_river in the USSR - 145 dead. * March_15 - South_Africa withdraws from the British_Commonwealth. * March_18 - Ceasefire in the Algerian_War_of_Independence * March_29 - The Twenty-third_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution is ratified, allowing residents of Washington,_DC to vote in presidential elections. * March_30 - Single_Convention_on_Narcotic_Drugs signed at New_York. ===April=== * April_5 - New Guinea Council of western Papua installed * April_11 - Trial of Adolf_Eichmann begins in Jerusalem * April_12 - Albert_Kalonji takes a title of ''Emperor Albert I Kalonji'' of South_Kasai * April_12 - Yuri_Gagarin is the first human in space. * April_17 - Bay_of_Pigs_Invasion of Cuba begins, ending in failure April_19. * April_20 - Fidel_Castro announces that all invaders of the Bay_of_Pigs_invasion have been defeated * April_22 - Three French generals who oppose De Gaulle's policies in Algeria fail in a Coup attempt. * April_23-24 - Vasa raised in the Stockholm harbor. * April_25 - Robert_Noyce is granted the first Patent for an Integrated_circuit. * April_25 - General Maurice_Challe, who lead the Algerian army rebels, surrenders * April_26 - In Congo, soldiers arrest Moise_Tsombe in a political conference * April_27 - Sierra_Leone is granted its independence from the United_Kingdom. * April_29 - NSW votes at referendum to retain Legislative Council ===May=== * May_5 - Alan B. Shepard becomes the first American in space. * May_8 - British George_Blake is sentenced to 42 years imprisonment for spying. * May_14 - American_civil_rights_movement: A Freedom_Riders bus is fire-bombed near Anniston,_Alabama and the Civil_rights protestors are beaten by an angry mob. * May_16 - A military coup in South_Korea - Do_Young_Tsang takes over. * May_19 - Venera_program: Venera_1 becomes the first man-made object to fly-by another planet by passing Venus (however the probe had lost contact with earth a month earlier and did not send back any data). * May_21 - American_civil_rights_movement: Alabama Governor John_Patterson declares Martial_law in an attempt to restore order after Race_riots break out. * May_24 - American civil rights movement: Freedom_Riders are arrested in Jackson,_Mississippi for "disturbing the peace" after disembarking from their bus. * May_25 - Apollo_program: President Kennedy announces before a special joint session of Congress his goal to initiate a project to put a "man on the Moon" before the end of the decade. * May_27 - Tunku_Abdul_Rahman, Prime Minister of Malaya holds a press conference in Singapore announcing his idea of formation of the Federation of Malaysia comprising Malaya, Singapore, Sarawak, Brunei and North Borneo(Sabah). * May_28 - Peter_Benenson's article "The Forgotten Prisoners" is published in several internationally read Newspapers. This will later be thought of as the founding of the Human_rights organization Amnesty_International. * May_30 - Rafael_Leónidas_Trujillo, totalitarian despot of the Dominican_Republic since 1930, is killed in an ambush, putting an end to the second longest-running dictatorship in Latin_American history. * May_31 - In France, rebel generals Maurice_Challe ja Andre_Zelelr are sentenced to 15 years in prison * May_31 - South_Africa officially leaves the British_Commonwealth ===June-September=== * June_4 - John_F._Kennedy and Nikita_Khrushchev meet during two days in Vienna. They talk about nuclear tests, Disarmament and Germany. * June_17 - Paris-Strassbourg train derails near Ventyr-le-Francois – 24 dead, 109 dead * June_17 - The New_Democratic_Party of Canada is founded with the merger of the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) and the Canadian Labour Congress. * June_19 - British Protectorate ends in Kuwait and it becames an Emirate * June_21 - Russian ballet dancer Rudolf_Nureyev requests asylum in France while in Paris with the Kirov_Ballet * June_22 - Moise_Tshombe released for lack of evidence to connection to murder of Patrice_Lumumba * June_25 - US philanthropist George_Vanderbilt is found dead at the base of a San Francisco skyscraper * June_25 - Iraqi president Abdul_Karim_Kassem announces he is going to annex Kuwait - Kuwaiti government ask British help in June_27. British army begin to send in troops. * July_4 - Soviet submarine K-19 explodes in the North Atlantic - 22 dead * July_5 - The first Israeli rocket, Shavit_2 was launched. * July_8 - Mine_explosion in Czechoslovakia - 108 dead * July_21 - Mercury_program: Gus_Grissom piloting the Mercury_4 capsule "Liberty Bell 7" becomes the second American to go into space (sub-orbital). * July_31 - At Fenway_Park in Boston,_Massachusetts, the first All-Star_Game tie in major league Baseball history occurs when the game is stopped in the 9th inning due to rain. * August_10 - Britain applies for membership of the EEC. * August_21 - Jomo_Kenyatta released from prison in Kenya * August_13 - Construction of the Berlin_Wall begins. Movement between East_Berlin and West_Berlin remains restricted for the next 28 years, until November_9, 1989. * August_21 – Jomo_Kenyatta is fully released in Kenya. * September_14 - New military government of Turkey sentences 15 members of the previous government to death * September_17 - Military rulers in Turkey hang publicly former president Adnan_Menderes * September_17-18 - Dag_Hammarskjöld dies in an air crash en route to Katanga, Congo. * September_21 - In France, OAS slips an anti-de Gaulle message to TV programming * September_24 - The old Deutsche_Opernhaus in the Berlin neighborhood of Charlottenburg returned to its newly rebuilt house as the Deutsche_Oper_Berlin. * September_28 - A Military_coup in Damascus, Syria effectively ends the United_Arab_Republic, the union between Egypt and Syria ===October-November=== * October_10 - Volcanic eruption on Tristan_da_Cunha - whole population evacuated. * October_12 - The Death_penalty abolished in New_Zealand. * October_17 - "Battle of Paris": French police attack in Paris about 30,000 protesting a curfew applied solely to Algerians. Official death toll is 3, but human rights groups claim 240 dead. * October_19 - Arab_League takes over protection of Kuwait - last British troops leave. * October_25 - The first edition of ''Private_Eye'', the British satirical magazine. * October_27 - Armistice begins in Katanga, Congo * October_27 - Mongolia and Mauretania join the United_Nations * October_30 - Nuclear_testing: The Soviet_Union detonates a 58 megaton yield Hydrogen_bomb over Novaya_Zemlya (this is still the largest nuclear device to ever be detonated). Nikita_Kruschev announces that the scientists had planned to make it 100 megatons, but had reduced the yield so as to avoid breaking all the windows in Moscow. * October_31 - In the Soviet_Union, Joseph_Stalin's body is removed from Lenin's_Tomb. * October_31 - Hurricane_Hattie hits Belize_City. 400 dead, 65.000 made homeless. * November - Despite public protest, the demolition of Euston_Arch in London starts. * November_2 - Congo government troops march into Katanga * November_3 - U_Thant of Burma elected United_Nations_Secretary_General * November_12 - Stalingrad's name changed to Volgograd. * November_13 - Vladimir_Yefimovich_Semichastny succeeds Aleksandr_Nikolayevich_Shelepin as head of the KGB. * November_16 - British Conservative government introduces the Commonwealth Immigration Bill, limiting Immigration from British_Commonwealth countries to Britain. * November_29 - Mercury_program: Mercury-Atlas_5 is launched with Enos_the_chimp aboard (the Spacecraft orbited the Earth twice and splashed-down off the coast of Puerto_Rico). ===December=== * December_1 - Netherlands New Guinea raises new Morning Star flag and changes name to West Papua * December_2 - Cold_War: In a nationally broadcast speech, Cuban leader Fidel_Castro declares that he is a Marxist-Leninist and that Cuba was going to adopt Communism. * December_5 – US president John_F._Kennedy gives support to Volta_Dam project in Ghana. * December_9 - Tanganyika gains independence and declares itself a republic with Julius_Nyerere as its first President. * December_9 - The Australian government of Robert_Menzies is re-elected for a sixth term. * December_10 - Soviet_Union severs Diplomatic_relations with Albania. * December_11 - Vietnam_War officially begins as the first American helicopters arrive in Saigon along with 400 U.S. personnel. * December_11 - Adolf_Eichmann is pronounced guilty * December_15 - An Israeli war crimes tribunal sentences Adolf_Eichmann to die for his part in the Jewish Holocaust. * December_17 - India occupies Goa * December_19 - Goa officially ceded to India after 400 years of Portuguese rule. * December_19 - Sukarno announces that he will take West_Irian by force if necessary * December_21 - In Congo, Katangan primne minister Moise_Tshombe recognizes Congolese constitution * December_30 - Congolese troops capture Albert_Kalonji of South_Kasai (who soon escapes) * December_31 - The Marshall_Plan expires after having distributed more than $12 billion in Foreign_aid to rebuild Europe. * December_31 - Ireland's first national television station, ''Teilifís Éireann,'' (later RTÉ) begins broadcasting. ===Unknown dates=== *John_F._Kennedy begins the Apollo_program of U.S. manned spaceflight *The first Quasar is discovered by Allan_Sandage at Mt_Palomar, California ==Births== ===January-March=== * January_2 - Gabrielle_Carteris, American actress * January_2 - Todd_Haynes, American film director * January_8 - Calvin_Smith, American athlete * January_13 - Julia_Louis-Dreyfus, American actress * January_17 - Maia_Chiburdanidze, Georgian chess player * January_18 - Mark_Messier, Canadian hockey player * January_26 - Wayne_Gretzky, Canadian hockey player * January_31 - Lloyd_Cole, British singer and songwriter * February_1 - Volker_Fried, German field hockey player * February_9 - John_Kruk, baseball player and commentator * February_10 - George_Stephanopoulos, American political consultant and commentator * February_11 - Mary_Docter, American speed skater * February_11- Carey_Lowell, American actress * February_13 - Henry_Rollins, American musician * February_16 - Andy_Taylor, British musician (Duran_Duran) * February_25 - Davey_Allison, American race car driver (d. 1993) * March_4 - Ray_Mancini, American boxer * March_8 - Camryn_Manheim, American actress * March_10 - Laurel_Clark, NASA Astronaut (d.2003) * March_14 - Kirby_Puckett, baseball player * March_15 - Fabio, Italian model * March_21 - Lothar_Matthäus, German footballer * March_23 - Helmi_Johannes, Indonesian television newscaster * March_27 - Tak_Matsumoto, Japanese guitarist (B'z) * March_29 - Gerardo_Teissonniere, Puerto Rican pianist ===April-August=== * April_2 - Christopher_Meloni, American actor * April_3 - Eddie_Murphy, American actor and comedian * April_5 - Lisa_Zane, American actress * April_6 - Gene_Eugene, Canadian actor and singer (Adam_Again) * April_18 - Jane_Leeves, English actress * April_20 - Don_Mattingly, baseball player * April_23 - George_Lopez, American actor and comedian * April_26 - Joan_Chen, Chinese actress * April_30 - Isiah_Thomas, American basketball player, coach, and team owner * May_6 - George_Clooney, American actor * May_12 - Billy (William H) Duffy, English guitarist (The_Cult) * May_13 - Dennis_Rodman, American basketball player and actor * May_14 - Tim_Roth, English actor * May_17 - Enya, Irish singer and songwriter * May_27 - Peri_Gilpin, American actress * May_29 - Melissa_Etheridge, American musician * May_31 - Justin_Madden, Australian footballer and politician * June_1 - Paul_Coffey, Canadian hockey player * June_6 - Tom_Araya, rock musician (Slayer) * June_7 - Peter_Sterling, Australian Rugby_league player * June_14 - Boy_George, British musician and producer * June_18 - Andrés_Galarraga, Venezuelan Major_League_Baseball player * June_22 - Stephen Batchelor, British field hockey player * June_251 - Don_Grindle_Jr., Runner, Raquetball player, father, husband * June_26 - Greg_LeMond, American cyclist * July_1 - Kalpana_Chawla, NASA Astronaut (d. 2003) * July_1 - Diana,_Princess_of_Wales (d. 1997) * July_1 - Carl_Lewis, American athlete * July_12 - Ray_Gillen, American singer (d. 1993) * July_14 - Jackie_Earle_Haley, American actor * July_30 - Laurence_Fishburne, American actor * August_1 - Steven_F._Zambo, film producer, director, and screenwriter * August_3 - Nicholas_Harvey, English politician * August_5 - Clayton_Rohner, American actor * August_8 - The Edge, Irish guitarist (U2) * August_14 - Susan_Olsen, American actress * August_29 - Carsten_Fischer, German field hockey player ===September-November=== * September_2 - Eric_Dickerson, American football player * September_2 - Carlos Valderrama, Colombian footballer * September_6 - Paul_Waaktaar-Savoy, Norwegian guitarist (A-ha) * September_12 - Mylene_Farmer, Canadian singer and songwriter * September_13 - Dave_Mustaine, American musician (Metallica and Megadeth) * September_15 - Dan_Marino, American football player * September_22 - Scott_Baio, American actor * September_23 - William_C._McCool, United_States Army Commander, NASA, Astronaut, (d. 2003) * September_25 - Heather_Locklear, American actress * September_26 - Edward_Kennedy_Jr, son of Ted_Kennedy and Virginia_Joan_Bennett. * October_2 - Edmond_Yu, Chinese student (d. 1997) * October_11 - Steve Young, American football player * October_18 - Wynton_Marsalis, American trumpeter and composer * October_25 - Grover_Waldrop, American biochemist * October_26 - Dylan_McDermott, American actor * October_29 - Randy Jackson, American musician * October_31 - Alonzo_Babers, American runner * October_31 - Peter_Jackson, New Zealand film director * October_31 - Larry_Mullen,_Jr., Irish drummer (U2) * November_2 - K.d._lang, Canadian singer and songwriter * November_4 - Daron_Hagen, American composer * November_19 - Meg_Ryan, American actress * November_20 - Anthony_Warlow, Australian stage performer * November_22 - Mariel_Hemingway, American actress * November_22 - Randal_L._Schwartz, American computer programmer ===December=== * December_4 - Frank_Reich, American football player * December_8 - Ann_Coulter, author, political commentator and attorney * December_12 - Sarah_Sutton, British actress * December_15 - Karin_Resetarits, Austrian journalist and politician * December_19 - Matthew_Waterhouse, British actor * December_19 - Eric_Allin_Cornell, American physicist, Nobel_Prize laureate * December_19 - Reggie_White, American football player (d. 2004) * December_25 - Ingrid_Betancourt, Colombian senator * December_30 - Douglas_Coupland, Canadian author * December_30 - Sean_Hannity, American talk radio host and political commentator * December_30 - Ben Johnson, Canadian athlete ==Deaths== ===January-June=== * January_4 - Erwin_Schrödinger, Austrian physicist, Nobel_Prize laureate (b. 1887) * January_9 - Emily_Greene_Balch, American writer and pacifist, recipient of the Nobel_Peace_Prize (b. 1867) * January_10 - Dashiell_Hammett, American writer (b. 1894) * January_21 - Blaise_Cendrars, Swiss writer (b. 1887) * January_24 - Alfred_Carlton_Gilbert, American swimmer and inventor (b. 1884) * January_26 - Stan_Nichols, English cricketer (b. 1900) * February_17 - Nita_Naldi, American actress (b. 1897) * February_20 - Percy_Grainger, Australian composer (b. 1882) * February_22 - Nick_LaRocca, American jazz musician (b. 1889) * February_26 - King Mohammed_V_of_Morocco (b. 1909) * March_3 - Paul_Wittgenstein, Austrian-born pianist (b. 1887) * March_8 - Thomas_Beecham, English conductor (b. 1879) * April_6 - Jules_Bordet, Belgian immunologist and microbiologist, recipient of the Nobel_Prize_in_Physiology_or_Medicine (b. 1870) * April_9 - Ahmet Zog, King_of_Albania (b. 1895) * May_13 - Gary_Cooper, American actor (b. 1901) * May_30 - Rafael_Leónidas_Trujillo, dictator of the Dominican Republic (b. 1891) * June_1 - Melvin_Jones, American founder of Lions Clubs International (b. 1879) * June_6 - Carl_Jung, Swiss psychiatrist (b. 1875) * June_17 - Jeff Chandler, American actor (b. 1918) * June_30 - Lee_DeForest, American inventor (b. 1873) ===July-December=== * July_1 - Louis-Ferdinand_Céline, French writer (b. 1894) * July_2 - Ernest_Hemingway, American writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1899) * July_6 - Woodall_Rodgers, Mayor of Dallas, Texas (b. 1890) * July_17 - Ty_Cobb, baseball player (b. 1886) * August_20 - Percy_Williams_Bridgman, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1882) * September_18 - Dag_Hammarskjöld, Swedish Secretary_General_of_the_United_Nations, recipient of the Nobel_Peace_Prize (b. 1905) * October_11 - Chico_Marx, American comedian (b. 1887) * October_13 - Maya_Deren, Russian-born filmmaker (b. 1917) * November_1 - Mordecai_Ham, American evangelist (b. 1877) * November_2 - James_Thurber, American humorist (b. 1894) * November_16 - Sam_Rayburn, Speaker_of_the_United_States_House_of_Representatives (b. 1882) * December_20 - Earle_Page, eleventh Prime_Minister_of_Australia (b. 1880) *December_25 - Otto_Loewi, German-born pharmacologist, recipient of the Nobel_Prize_in_Physiology_or_Medicine (b. 1873) ===Unknown date=== * Empress Menen of Ethiopia, wife of Haile_Selassie ==Nobel Prizes== * Physics - Robert_Hofstadter, Rudolf_Ludwig_Mössbauer * Chemistry - Melvin_Calvin * Physiology or Medicine - Georg_von_Békésy * Literature - Ivo_Andric * Peace - Dag_Hammarskjöld - awarded posthumously Category:1961 Af:1961 Ar:1961 Ast:1961 Bg:1961 Be:1961 Bs:1961 Ca:1961 Cs:1961 Cy:1961 Da:1961 De:1961 Et:1961 El:1961 Es:1961 Eo:1961 Eu:1961 Fo:1961 Fr:1961 Fy:1961 Gl:1961 Ko:1961년 Hr:1961 Io:1961 Id:1961 Ia:1961 Ie:1961 Is:1961 It:1961 He:1961 Ka:1961 Csb:1961 Kw:1961 La:1961 Lt:1961 Lb:1961 Hu:1961 Mk:1961 Nl:1961 Ja:1961年 No:1961 Nn:1961 Os:1961 Pl:1961 Pt:1961 Ro:1961 Ru:1961 Sq:1961 Scn:1961 Simple:1961 Sk:1961 Sl:1961 Sr:1961 Fi:1961 Sv:1961 Tl:1961 Tt:1961 Th:พ.ศ._2504 Tr:1961 Uk:1961 Wa:1961 Zh:1961年