Topics
Understanding our world and that of our enemies
Marilyn Sings Happy Birthday to JFK
$MarilynMonroe
#JFK
John Glenn Orbits Earth
In February 1962, Marine Corps pilot John Glenn Jr. become the first American to orbit Earth.
Memorial Day 1962
Memorial Day
Top Songs of 1961
Wilt Chamberlain Scores 50 Points/Game
In the 1961-62 NBA season Wilt Chamberlain scored 50 points/game.
Catch 22
In 1961 Joseph Heller published his satirical WWII novel Catch 22. Using non-chronological third-person omniscient narration, Heller described events from the points of view of different characters out of sequence. The title of the book refers to a fictional...
USSR Explodes Tsar Bomba
In October 1961 the USSR exploded the Tsar Bomba AN602, the most powerful nuclear weapon ever created and tested.
Paris Police Attack Algerian Protesters
Paris police attack Algerians
#ParisMassacre1961
Face-off at Checkpoint Charlie
1961 US and Soviet Tanks Faceoff in Berlin
Hurricane Carla
#HurricaneCarla
JFK meets Khrushchev in Vienna
In June 1961 JFK met Nikita Khruschev in Vienna
#JFK
#Nikita Khruschev
JFK Increases US Advisors to Vietnam
In November 1961 President Kennedy increased the number of US military advisors to South Vietnam from 1000 to 16,000. Source: JFK Library
Dick Van Dyke Show
In October 1961 "The Dick Van Dyke Show," also starring Mary Tyler Moore, made its debut on CBS. The show continued to 1966. https://youtu.be/f43vTGOSE6o https://youtu.be/71muiGjdd7c
Russia Resumes Nuclear Weapons Testing
https://youtu.be/YtCTzbh4mNQ In 1955, the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, France, and the Soviet Union began negotiations on ending nuclear weapons testing. As negotiators struggled over differences regarding inspections, the Soviet Union and the United...
Bob Dylan Debuts at NYC Coffeehouse
In January 1961 a 19-year-old folk singer named Robert Zimmerman took the stage name Bob Dylan for his public debut at the New York City coffeehouse Cafe Wha? https://youtu.be/vWwgrjjIMXA Source: Wikipedia
Dag Hammarskjold Dies in Air Crash
https://youtu.be/MBqNgtAf4TQ In September 1961 Secretary-General of the UN Dag Hammarskjold, was killed in a plane crash in Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia). Hammarskjold was flying to negotiate a cease-fire in the Congo where a rebellion was openly being backed by...
Berlin Wall Erected
https://youtu.be/aP96A_2IsTY?t=3 The Berlin Wall encircled West Berlin from 1961 to 1989, separating it from East Berlin and the German Democratic Republic. The wall included guard towers placed along large concrete walls and a wide area that...
Ernest Hemingway Commits Suicide
As an American novelist, short-story writer, and journalist, Ernest Miller Hemingway's understated style had a strong influence on 20th-century fiction, while his adventurous lifestyle brought him admiration from later generations. Hemingway published seven novels,...
USSR Nuclear Submarine Disaster
https://youtu.be/m2sdBqhJR4w Hastily built by the USSR in response to United States' developments in nuclear submarines as part of the arms race, the Soviet K-19 submarine developed a complete loss of coolant to one of its two reactors on its first voyage in...
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