Topics
Understanding our world and that of our enemies
US Military Advisors in Vietnam War
In 1955 President Eisenhower sent economic aid and ~700 military personnel to the government of South Vietnam. This effort was foundering in 1960 when John F. Kennedy was elected president. In May 1961 Kennedy authorized sending an additional 500 Special Forces troops...
First American in Space
In May 1961 US Navy aviator Alan B. Shepard, one of the original NASA Mercury Seven astronauts, made the first crewed Project Mercury flight in a spacecraft named Freedom 7. The Freedom 7 craft entered space, but was not capable of achieving orbit. Source:...
Freedom Riders
Freedom Riders were civil rights activists who rode interstate buses into the segregated Southern United States in 1961 and subsequent years to challenge the non-enforcement of US Supreme court rulings that segregated public buses were unconstitutional. Source:...
To Kill a Mockingbird
https://youtu.be/WSRD1irS_ZY In May 1961 a Pulitzer prize was awarded to Harper Lee, author of "To Kill a Mockingbird." https://youtu.be/KR7loA_oziY In 1962 the motion picture To Kill a Mockingbird directed by Robert Mulligan starred Gregory...
Bay of Pigs Invasion of Cuba
https://youtu.be/T-jZ4ZUR6Qw In April 1961 ~1500 CIA-trained Cuban exiles launched the Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba (Invasión de Playa Girón) in an attempt to overthrow the government of Fidel Castro. Without any of the promised air support from the United States, the...
Yuri Gagarin: First man in space
In April 1961 the Russian cosmonaut Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin became the first human to journey into outer space. Gagarin completed one orbit of Earth in the Vostok 1 capsule, Source: Wikipedia
UN Condemns South African Apartheid
https://youtu.be/odXAghDLWKM In April 1961 the UN General Assembly condemned South Africa's apartheid policy. Leading the resistance to South Africa’s policy of apartheid in the 20th century, Nelson Mandela was incarcerated by the South African government...
Civil War in Laos
In association with civil wars in Cambodia and Vietnam, the Laotian Civil War was waged between the Communist Pathet Lao and the Royal Lao Government from May 1959 to December 1975. Both sides received heavy support in a proxy war...
JFK Announces Peace Corps Formation
President Kennedy proposed the Peace Corps as a means to improve America's global image and leadership in the Cold War. Established within three months of Kennedy's 1960 election, the Peace Corps garnered both bipartisan and popular support, particularly...
HAM – The first Chimp In Space
In January 1961, the chimpanzee HAM (AKA Holloman Aerospace Medical Center) made history as the first primate to travel in space aboard a Mercury Redstone rocket on a sub-orbital flight for NASA. Ham’s flight lasted ~16 ½ minutes at a speed of ~5800 mph to a height of...
Goldsboro Nuclear Near Disaster
In January 1961 a Boeing B-52 Stratofortress carrying two 3–4-megaton nuclear bombs broke up in mid-air near Goldsboro, North Carolina dropping its nuclear payload in the process. Ejecting at 9,000 ft, five crewmen landed safely....
Ask not what your country can do for you … JFK
In January 1961 John F. Kennedy made a stirring inaugural address from the steps of the US Capital. "... In the long history of the world, only a few generations have been granted the role of defending freedom in its hour of maximum danger. I do not shrink from this...
Patrice Lumumba Assasinated
In January 1961 Patrice Lumumba, the 1st premier Congo, was murdered after 67 days in office. The US and Joseph Mobutu (Congolese politician and military officer) were implicated but no conclusive proof has emerged. In 2000 the Belgium Parliament opened an...
Mister Ed The Talking Horse
Mister Ed was an American television sitcom that aired from 1961 to 1966. The show's title character, a talking horse originated in short stories by Walter R. Brooks.
Eisenhower’s “Military-Industrial Complex” Speech
As President of the United States for two terms, Eisenhower had slowed the push for increased defense spending despite pressure to build more military equipment during the Cold War arms race. Nonetheless, the American military services and the defense industry had...
US Severs Diplomatic Relations with Cuba
The United States severed diplomatic relations with Cuba on January 3, 1961, citing unwarranted action by the Government of Cuba that placed crippling limitations on the ability of the United States Mission to carry on its normal diplomatic and consular functions....
Timeline of Life in America – 1960
Airliners Collide Midair Over New York
In December 1960 a United Airlines Douglas DC-8 bound for Idlewild Airport (now JFK) in New York City collided in midair with a TWA Lockheed L-1049 Super Constellation descending toward LaGuardia Airport. 128 aboard the two aircraft and six people on the ground were...
JFK Elected President
Sen. John F. Kennedy defeated Richard Nixon in the US presidential elections as the first Roman Catholic to win the office. The Democratic ticket of Kennedy and Johnson received 49.72% of the popular vote to 49.55% given to Republicans Richard Nixon and Henry...
Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho
In 1960 Alfred Hicthcock's psychological horror thriller PSYCHO prompted me to keep my dog in the bathroom while showering.
US Reveals USSR Had Bugged American Embassy
A covert listening device (bug) was concealed inside a wooden gift of America's Great Seal given by Russia to the United States Ambassador to the Soviet Union, on August 4, 1945. Although not reported then, the device was extensively investigated and imitated by US...
Save The Last Dance For Me
https://youtu.be/vYgxbYlhUnw Throughout the 50-60s The Drifters had six number-one R&B hits: Money Honey (1953) Honey Love (1954) Adorable (1955) There Goes My Baby (1959) Save The Last Dance For Me (1960) Under The Boardwalk (1964).
Earthquake in Chile
In May 1960 Chile experienced the largest earthquake recorded in the 20th century with a magnitude of 9.5 on the Richter scale. Originating off the southern coast of Chile, the earthquake left two million people homeless, injured at least 3,000, and...
TV Commercials 1960
https://youtu.be/3kHPFjEcsFE https://youtu.be/jCKxWQCs3f0 https://youtu.be/PZFoJiqmW2s https://youtu.be/zWIykzZ8cMg https://youtu.be/1p9Yz5aJPpI
FDA Approves First Oral Birth Control Pill
https://youtu.be/jChyGqk0BO8 In May 1960, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) cleared Enovid, an oral contraceptive developed by G.D. Searle and Company, for commercial use. By June 23, “the Pill” — as the oral contraceptive was commonly known — was on the...