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.
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
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:...
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...
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...
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.