1961

1961 in various calendars
Gregorian calendar	1961; MCMLXI
Ab urbe condita	2714
Armenian calendar	1410; ԹՎ ՌՆԺ
Assyrian calendar	6711
Baháʼí calendar	117–118
Balinese saka calendar	1882–1883
Bengali calendar	1368
Berber calendar	2911
British Regnal year	9 Eliz. 2 – 10 Eliz. 2
Buddhist calendar	2505
Burmese calendar	1323
Byzantine calendar	7469–7470
Chinese calendar	庚子年 (Metal Rat); 4658 or 4451; — to —; 辛丑年 (Metal Ox); 4659 or 4452
Coptic calendar	1677–1678
Discordian calendar	3127
Ethiopian calendar	1953–1954
Hebrew calendar	5721–5722
Hindu calendars
- Vikram Samvat	2017–2018
- Shaka Samvat	1882–1883
- Kali Yuga	5061–5062
Holocene calendar	11961
Igbo calendar	961–962
Iranian calendar	1339–1340
Islamic calendar	1380–1381
Japanese calendar	Shōwa 36; (昭和３６年)
Javanese calendar	1892–1893
Juche calendar	50
Julian calendar	Gregorian minus 13 days
Korean calendar	4294
Minguo calendar	ROC 50; 民國50年
Nanakshahi calendar	493
Thai solar calendar	2504
Tibetan calendar	阳金鼠年; (male Iron-Rat); 2087 or 1706 or 934; — to —; 阴金牛年; (female Iron-Ox); 2088 or 1707 or 935

Millennium:	2nd millennium
Centuries:	19th century; 20th century ; 21st century;
Decades:	1940s; 1950s; 1960s ; 1970s; 1980s;
Years:	1958; 1959; 1960; 1961 ; 1962; 1963; 1964;

1961 (MCMLXI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1961st year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 961st year of the 2nd millennium, the 61st year of the 20th century, and the 2nd year of the 1960s decade.

As MAD Magazine pointed out on its cover for the March 1961 issue, this was the first "upside-up" year — i.e., one in which the numerals that form the year look the same as when the numerals are rotated upside down, a strobogrammatic number — since 1881.^[1] The next such year will be 6009.^[2]

Events

January

January 3
- United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces that the United States has severed diplomatic and consular relations with Cuba. Cuba–United States relations are restored in 2015.
- At the National Reactor Testing Station near Idaho Falls, atomic reactor SL-1 explodes, killing three military technicians.
- Aero Flight 311 (Koivulahti air disaster): Douglas DC-3C OH-LCC of Finnish airline Aero crashes near Kvevlax (Koivulahti) on approach to Vaasa Airport in Finland killing all 25 on board, due to pilot error: an investigation finds that the captain and first officer were both exhausted for lack of sleep and had taken excessive alcohol at the time of the crash. It remains the deadliest air disaster to occur in the country.
January 5
- Italian sculptor Alfredo Fioravanti marches into the U.S. Consulate in Rome, and confesses that he was part of the team that forged the Etruscan terracotta warriors in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
- Ather the 1960 military coup, General Cemal Gürsel forms the new government of Turkey (25th government).
January 7 – Following a four-day conference in Casablanca, five African chiefs of state announce plans for a NATO-type African organization to ensure common defense. The Charter of Casablanca involves the Casablanca Group: Morocco, the United Arab Republic, Ghana, Guinea, and Mali.
January 8 – In France, a referendum supports Charles de Gaulle's policies on independence for Algeria.
January 9 – British authorities announce they have uncovered a large Soviet spy ring, the Portland Spy Ring, in London.
January 17
- President Dwight Eisenhower gives his final State of the Union Address to Congress. In a Farewell Address the same day, he warns of the increasing power of a "military–industrial complex."
- Patrice Lumumba of Republic of Congo is assassinated.

January 20 – John F. Kennedy is sworn in as the 35th President of the United States.
January 24 – A B-52 Stratofortress, with two nuclear bombs, crashes near Goldsboro, North Carolina.
January 25
- In Washington, D.C., President John F. Kennedy delivers the first live presidential news conference. In it, he announces that the Soviet Union has 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).
- One Hundred and One Dalmatians is released in cinemas.
- Acting to halt 'leftist excesses', a junta composed of two army officers and four civilians takes over El Salvador, ousting another junta that had ruled for three months.
January 26 – President John F. Kennedy appoints Janet G. Travell to be his physician, the first woman to hold this appointment.
January 28 – Supercar, the first family sci-fi TV series filmed in Supermarionation debuts on ATV.
January 30 – President John F. Kennedy delivers his first State of the Union Address.
January 31 – Ham the Chimp, a 37-pound (17-kg) male, is rocketed into space aboard Mercury-Redstone 2, in a test of the Project Mercury spacecraft, designed to carry United States astronauts into space.

February

February 1 – The United States tests its first Minuteman I intercontinental ballistic missile.^[3]
February 3 – China buys grain from Canada for $60 million.
February 4 – The Portuguese Colonial War begins in Angola.
February 5 – February 9 – In Congo, President Joseph Kasa-Vubu names Joseph Iléo as the new Prime Minister.
February 9 – The Beatles perform for the first time at The Cavern Club.
February 12 – The USSR launches Venera 1 towards Venus.
February 13 – The Congo government announces that villagers have killed Patrice Lumumba.
February 14 – Discovery of the chemical elements: Element 103, Lawrencium, is first synthesized in Berkeley, California.
February 15
- President Kennedy warns the Soviet Union to avoid interfering with the United Nations pacification of the Congo.^[4]
- A Sabena Boeing 707 crashes near Brussels, Belgium, killing 73, including the entire United States figure skating team and several coaches.
- A total solar eclipse occurs in the southern part of Europe.
February 25 – The last public trams in Sydney, Australia, cease operation, bringing to an end the Southern Hemisphere's largest tramway network.
February 26 – Hassan II is pronounced King of Morocco.

March

March–April – Drilling for Project Mohole is undertaken off the coast of Guadalupe Island, Mexico.
March 1 – United States President John F. Kennedy establishes the Peace Corps.
March 3 – Hassan II is crowned King of Morocco.
March 8
- Max Conrad circumnavigates the earth in 8 days, 18 hours and 49 minutes, setting a new world record.
- The first U.S. Polaris submarines arrive at Holy Loch.
March 13
- Black and white £5 notes cease to be legal tender in the UK.
- A dam bursts in Kiev, USSR, killing 145.
- United States delegate to the United Nations Security Council Adlai Stevenson votes against Portuguese policies in Africa.
- United States President John F. Kennedy proposes a long-term "Alliance for Progress" between the United States and Latin America.^[5]
- Cyprus joins the Commonwealth of Nations, becoming the first small country in the Commonwealth.^[6]
- Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, takes in its first students.
- A second B-52 crashes near Yuba City, California after cabin pressure is lost and the fuel runs out. Two nuclear weapons are found unexploded.
March 15
- South Africa announces it will withdraw from the Commonwealth of Nations upon becoming a republic (31 May). The nation rejoins the organization in 1994.
- The Union of Peoples of Angola, led by Holden Roberto, attacks strategic locations in the north of Angola. These events result in the beginning of the colonial war with Portugal.
March 18
- A ceasefire takes effect in the Algerian War of Independence.
- Nous les amoureux by Jean-Claude Pascal (music by Jacques Datin, text by Maurice Vidalin) wins the Eurovision Song Contest 1961 for Luxembourg.
March 29 – The Twenty-third Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified, allowing residents of Washington, D.C. to vote in presidential elections.
March 30 – The Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs is signed at New York.

April

April 5 – The New Guinea Council of Western Papua is installed.
April 8 – The British passenger ship Dara blows up and sinks off Dubai; 238 passengers and crew are killed.
April 11 – The trial of Nazi Adolf Eichmann begins in Jerusalem.
April 12
- Vostok 1: Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin becomes the first human in space, orbiting the Earth once.
- Albert Kalonji takes the title Emperor Albert I Kalonji of South Kasai.
April 13 – In Portugal, a coup attempt against António de Oliveira Salazar fails.
April 17
- The Bay of Pigs Invasion of Cuba begins; it fails by April 19.
- The 33rd Academy Awards ceremony is held.
April 18 – Portugal sends to Angola its first military reinforcement.
April 20 – Fidel Castro announces that the Bay of Pigs Invasion has been defeated.
April 22 – Algiers putsch: Four French generals who oppose de Gaulle's policies in Algeria fail in a coup attempt.
April 23 – Judy Garland performs in a legendary comeback concert at Carnegie Hall in New York City.
April 24 – The Swedish ship Vasa is removed from the water after being sunk 333 years earlier.
April 27
- President Kennedy urges newspapers to consider national interest in times of struggle against "a monolithic and ruthless conspiracy" in an address before the American Newspaper Publishers Association.^[7]
- Sierra Leone becomes independent from the United Kingdom.

May

May 4 – U.S. Freedom Riders begin interstate bus rides to test the new U.S. Supreme Court integration decision.
May 5 – Mercury program: Alan Shepard becomes the first American in space aboard Mercury-Redstone 3.
May 6 – Tottenham Hotspur F.C. becomes the first team in the 20th century to win the English league and cup double. As of 2018^[update] this is the last time Tottenham have won the English League.
May 8 – Briton George Blake is sentenced to 42 years imprisonment for spying.
May 9 – In a speech on "Television and the Public Interest" to the National Association of Broadcasters, FCC chairman Newton N. Minow describes commercial television programming as a "vast wasteland".
May 14 – Civil rights movement: a Freedom Riders bus is fire-bombed near Anniston, Alabama and the civil rights protestors are beaten by an angry mob of Ku Klux Klan members.
May 15 – J. Heinrich Matthaei alone performs the Poly-U-Experiment and is the first person to recognize and understand the genetic code. This is the birthdate of modern genetics.^[8]
May 16 – Park Chung-hee takes over in a military coup in South Korea.
May 19 – 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 does not send back any data).
May 21 – Civil rights movement: Alabama Governor John Patterson declares martial law in an attempt to restore order after race riots break out.
May 22 – An earthquake rocks New South Wales.
May 24 – 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 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 to form 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 is later considered 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 and Andre Zelelr are sentenced to 15 years in prison.
- South Africa becomes a republic, and officially leaves the Commonwealth of Nations.
- President John F. Kennedy and Charles de Gaulle meet in Paris.
- Benfica beats Barcelona 3-2 at Wankdorf Stadium, Bern and wins the 1960–61 European Cup (football).

June

June 1 – Ethiopia experiences its most devastating earthquake of the 20th century, with a magnitude of 6.7. The town of Majete is destroyed, 45% of the houses in Karakore collapse, 17 kilometers (11 mi) of the main road north of Karakore are damaged by landslides and fissures, and 5,000 inhabitants in the area are left homeless.
June 4 – Vienna summit: John F. Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev meet during two days in Vienna. They discuss nuclear tests, disarmament and Germany.
June 16 – Russian ballet dancer Rudolf Nureyev requests asylum in France while in Paris with the Kirov Ballet.
June 17
- A Paris-to-Strasbourg train derails near Vitry-le-François; 24 are killed, 109 injured.
- The New Democratic Party of Canada is founded with the merger of the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) and the Canadian Labour Congress.
June 19 – The British protectorate ends in Kuwait and it becomes an emirate.
June 22 – Moise Tshombe is released for lack of evidence of connection to the murder of Patrice Lumumba.
June 23 – The Antarctic Treaty comes into effect.
June 25 – Iraqi president Abd al-Karim Qasim announces he is going to annex Kuwait (such an annexation of Kuwait would occur in 1990).
June 27 – Kuwait requests British help; the United Kingdom sends in troops.

July

July 4 – The Soviet submarine K-19 suffers a reactor leak in the North Atlantic.
July 5 – The first Israeli rocket, Shavit 2, is launched.^[9]^[10]
July 8 – A mine explosion in Czechoslovakia leaves 108 dead.
July 12 – A Czechoslovakian Ilyushin Il-18 crashes while attempting to land at Casablanca, Morocco, killing all 72 persons on board.
July 17 – Baseball legend Ty Cobb dies at the age of 74 at Emory University Hospital.
July 21 – Mercury program: Virgil I. Grissom, piloting the Mercury-Redstone 4 spacecraft Liberty Bell 7, becomes the second American to go into space (sub-orbital). After splashdown, the hatch prematurely opens, and the spacecraft sinks. (It is recovered in 1999.)
July 25 – U.S. President John F. Kennedy gives a widely watched TV speech on the Berlin crisis, warning "we will not be driven out of Berlin." Kennedy urges Americans to build fallout shelters, setting off a four-month debate on civil defense.
July 31
- At Fenway Park in Boston, the first Major League Baseball All-Star Game tie occurs, when the game is stopped in the 9th inning due to rain (the only tie until 2002).
- Ireland submits the first application from a non-founding country to join the European Economic Community.

August

August – The United States founds the Alliance for Progress.
August 1 – The Six Flags Over Texas theme park officially opens to the public.
August 6 – Vostok 2: Soviet cosmonaut Gherman Titov becomes the second human to orbit the Earth, and the first to be in outer space for more than one day.
August 7 – Vostok 2 lands in the Soviet Union.
August 10 – The United Kingdom applies for membership in the European Economic Community.
August 13 – Construction of the Berlin Wall begins, restricting movement between East Berlin and West Berlin and forming a clear boundary between West Germany and East Germany, Western Europe and Eastern Europe. On August 22 Ida Siekmann jumps from a window in her tenement building trying to flee to the West, becoming the first of at least 138 people to die at the Wall.
August 21 – Jomo Kenyatta is released from prison in Kenya.
August 25 – João Goulart replaces Jânio Quadros as President of Brazil. He is ousted in 1964.

September

September 1
- The Eritrean War of Independence officially begins with the shooting of the Ethiopian police by Hamid Idris Awate.
- The first meeting is held of the Non-Aligned Movement. The Soviet Union resumes nuclear testing, escalating fears over the ongoing Berlin crisis.
September 7 – Tom and Jerry make a return with their first episode since 1958, Switchin' Kitten. The new creator, Gene Deitch, makes 12 more Tom and Jerry episodes until 1962.
September 10 – During the F1 Italian Grand Prix on the circuit of Monza, German Wolfgang von Trips, driving a Ferrari, crashes into a stand, killing 14 spectators and himself.
September 12 – The African and Malagasy Union is founded.
September 14
- The new military government of Turkey sentences 15 members of the previous government to death.
- The Focolare Movement opens its first North American center in New York.
September 17
- Military rulers in Turkey hang former prime minister Adnan Menderes, together with the former Minister of Foreign Affairs Fatin Rüştü Zorlu and former Minister of Finance Hasan Polatkan.
- The world's first retractable roof stadium, the Civic Arena, opens in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
September 18 – United Nations Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld dies in an air crash en route to Katanga, Congo.
September 21 – In France, the OAS slips an anti-de Gaulle message into TV programming.
September 24
- The old Deutsche Opernhaus in the Berlin neighborhood of Charlottenburg is returned to its newly rebuilt house as the Deutsche Oper Berlin.
- In the U.S., the Walt Disney anthology television series, renamed Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color, moves from ABC to NBC after seven years on the air, and begins telecasting its programs in color for the first time. Years later, after Disney's death, the still-on-the-air program will be renamed The Wonderful World of Disney.
September 28 – A military coup in Damascus, Syria effectively ends the United Arab Republic, the union between Egypt and Syria.
September 30 – The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is formed to replace the Organisation for European Economic Co-operation (OEEC).

October

October 1 – Baseball player Roger Maris of the New York Yankees hits his 61st home run in the last game of the season, against the Boston Red Sox, setting a new record for the longer baseball season. The record for the shorter season is still held by Babe Ruth.
October 10 – A volcanic eruption on Tristan da Cunha causes the whole population to be evacuated to Britain, where they will remain until 1963.
October 12 – The death penalty is abolished in New Zealand.
October 17 – Paris massacre of 1961: French police in Paris attack about 30,000 protesting a curfew applied solely to Algerians. The official death toll is 3, but human rights groups claim 240 dead.
October 18 – West Side Story is released as a film in the United States.
October 19 – The Arab League takes over protecting Kuwait; the last British troops leave.
October 25 – The first edition of Private Eye, the British satirical magazine, is published.
October 26 – Cemal Gürsel becomes the fourth president of Turkey. (His former title is head of state and government; he is elected as president by constitutional referendum.)
October 27
- An armistice begins in Katanga, Congo.
- Mongolia and Mauritania join the United Nations.
- Confrontation at Checkpoint Charlie: A standoff between Soviet and American tanks in Berlin, Germany heightens Cold War tensions.
- Fahrettin Özdilek becomes the acting prime minister of Turkey.
October 29
- DZBB-TV Channel 7, the Philippines' third TV station, is launched.
- Devrim, the first ever car designed and produced in Turkey, is released. The project has been completed in only 130 days almost from scratch, a period including decision on the project, research, design, development and production of four vehicles.
October 30
- Nuclear weapons testing: The Soviet Union detonates a 58-megaton yield hydrogen bomb known as Tsar Bomba over Novaya Zemlya. It remains the largest ever man-made explosion.
- The Note Crisis: The Soviet Union issues a diplomatic note to Finland proposing military co-operation.
October 31
- Hurricane Hattie devastates Belize City, Belize killing over 270. After the hurricane, the capital moves to the inland city of Belmopan.
- Joseph Stalin's body is removed from the Lenin Mausoleum.

November

November 1
- The Hungry generation Movement is launched in Calcutta, India.
- The Interstate Commerce Commission's federal order banning segregation at all interstate public facilities officially comes into effect.
- The Madame Alexander Doll Club is founded by Margaret Doris Winson of Sweet Springs, MO.
November 2 – Kean opens at Broadway Theater in New York City for 92 performances.
November 3 – The United Nations General Assembly unanimously elects U Thant to the position of acting Secretary-General.
November 6 – The U.S. government issues a stamp honoring the 100th birthday of James Naismith.
November 8
- Imperial Airlines Flight 201/8 crashes while attempting to land at Richmond, Virginia, killing 77 persons on board.
- KVN, Russia's longest running TV show, airs for the first time on Soviet television.
November 9 – Neil Armstrong records a world record speed of 4,093 mph (6,587 km/h) in an X-15.
November 10 – Catch-22 by Joseph Heller is first published.
November 11
- Congolese soldiers murder 13 Italian United Nations pilots.
- Stalingrad is renamed Volgograd.
November 17 – Michael Rockefeller, son of New York Governor and later Vice President Nelson Rockefeller, disappears in the jungles of New Guinea.
November 18 – U.S. President John F. Kennedy sends 18,000 military advisors to South Vietnam.
November 20
- The funeral of longtime House Speaker Sam Rayburn is held in Washington, D.C. Two former Presidents (Truman, Eisenhower) and one future one (Lyndon B. Johnson) join President Kennedy in paying their respects.
- İsmet İnönü of CHP forms the new government of Turkey (26th government, first coalition in Turkey, partner AP).
November 21 – The "La Ronde" opens in Honolulu, the first revolving restaurant in the United States
November 24 – The World Food Programme (WFP) is formed as a temporary United Nations program.
November 30 – The Soviet Union vetoes Kuwait's application for United Nations membership.

December

December 1 – Netherlands New Guinea raises the new Morning Star flag and changes its name to West Papua.
December 2 – Cold War: In a nationally broadcast speech, Cuban leader Fidel Castro announces he is a Marxist–Leninist, and that Cuba will adopt socialism.
December 5 – U.S. President John F. Kennedy gives support to the Volta Dam project in Ghana.
December 9
- Tanganyika gains independence as a Commonwealth realm, with Julius Nyerere as its first Prime Minister, with Queen Elizabeth II as Queen of Tanganyika, and represented locally by the Governor-General of Tanganyika.
- Australian federal election, 1961: Robert Menzies' Liberal/Country Coalition Government is re-elected with a one-seat majority, narrowly defeating the Labor Party led by Arthur Calwell. One of the closest election results in Australian history, such a result would not be replicated again until 2016. Notably, former Prime Minister Earle Page lost his seat, although he died a few days later never knowing the result.
December 10 – The Soviet Union severs diplomatic relations with Albania.
December 11
- The American involvement in the Vietnam War officially begins, as the first American helicopters arrive in Saigon along with 400 U.S. personnel.
- Adolf Eichmann is pronounced guilty of crimes against humanity by a panel of three Israeli judges, and sentenced to death.
December 14 – Walt Disney's first live-action Technicolor musical, Babes in Toyland, a remake of the famous Victor Herbert operetta, is released, but flops at the box office.
December 15 – An Israeli war crimes tribunal sentences Adolf Eichmann to death for his part in The Holocaust.
December 17 – A circus tent fire in Niterói, Brazil kills 323.^[11]
December 18 – India opens hostilities in its annexation of Portuguese India, the colonies of Goa, Damao and Diu.
December 19
- The Portuguese surrender Goa to India after 400 years of Portuguese rule.
- Indonesian president Sukarno announces that he will take West Irian by force if necessary.
December 21 – In Congo, Katangan prime minister Moise Tshombe recognizes the Congolese constitution.
December 23 – Luxembourg's national holiday, the Grand Duke's Official Birthday, is set on June 23 by Grand Ducal decree.
December 30 – Congolese troops capture Albert Kalonji of South Kasai (who soon escapes).
December 31 – Ireland's first national television station, Telefís Éireann (later RTÉ), begins broadcasting.

Date unknown

"Barbie" gets a boyfriend when the "Ken" doll is introduced in the United States.
Sheila Burnford's The Incredible Journey, a story of three pets travelling through the Canadian wilderness, is published in the United Kingdom.

Births